Читать книгу The Common Core Companion: The Standards Decoded, Grades 3-5 - Leslie Blauman - Страница 9

Preface

Heading into each new school year, we face the same challenges: lots of kids, lots to learn, lots to teach, and the feeling that there is never enough time. Really, it’s so often about time — especially now, with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in place. I am sure you would agree with me that what we need most is time to decipher what the standards say, digest what they mean, and ultimately, figure out how to really use them thoughtfully when we are planning and teaching.

It was this lack of time, in fact, that moved me to create my own translation of the CCSS, one I could keep by my side for quick reference when designing a lesson, meeting with other teachers or the administrator evaluating me. You see, I like to tweak things to make them easier to use. So I reconfigured the layout of the standards in a way that everyone I showed it to found more intuitive, more efficient, and more conducive to the kinds of collaboration across grades that’s so critical to our work and our students’ success. The result was The Common Core Companion — one for grades 6–8 and another for grades 9–12.

I wanted my books to be schoolwide tools, making it easier for administrators and teachers to work together. Once the Companions were published, it was immediately obvious from teachers’ responses that they filled that need. It was also immediately obvious that intermediate elementary grade teachers were in search of the same kind of assistance. But I knew I would need not just a partner but my own mentor — someone who is a classroom teacher just as I am, but with an intimate understanding of grades 3–5 kids. Leslie Blauman was the logical choice. It is her wisdom and intelligence that fills these pages, for she is the one who helped me understand not only the meaning but the power and potential of the CCSS for grades 3–5.

While there is so much to recommend Leslie, especially her work as a literacy coordinator and a demonstration teacher at the Public Education & Business Coalition, it is her 30 years of hands-on experience in the classroom that make her uniquely qualified for this project—and her dedication to kids! This grades 3–5 version retains many of the formatting features that have worked so well with middle and high school teachers. But Leslie made it her own, pumping up the volume of teaching ideas and providing online resources, including graphic organizers, book lists, and a gallery of photos detailing CCSS- based teaching and learning. She knew what you would want, what you need.

This is the year we will all learn about the CCSS for real, in order to teach them so students will learn them. Thanks to Leslie, The Common Core Companion, Grades 3–5 provides you both a tool and a trustworthy friend to help you save time and teach even better what you have no doubt taught so well for so long.

—Jim Burke