Let me begin this post by saying that I like the new Common Core standards and think that they can have a profound impact – for the better – on how reading is taught in this country.  I am a firm believer that lifting the expectations for  student performance and helping students be better readers [...]

The longer I review the learning expectations of the ELA Common Core standards, the more it becomes obvious to me how teachers will need to work collaboratively to help students learn reading and writing to the depths that will be needed to meet these new standards. Working collaboratively on the same topics across disciplines will [...]

One of the shifts that moving to the Common Core standards will require is asking students to have rich and rigorous conversations that are based on a common text that they have been reading. What does it mean to ask students to give a text-based answer? Let’s explore that concept and what it means to [...]