Tools and Resources
Discover new tools and materials to integrate into you instruction.
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Growing Your Craft, Virtually!
Achieve the Core’s webinars can help your K-12 staff grow and reflect!
You Have a List of Culturally Diverse Texts. Now What?
Guidance on facilitating classroom lessons and discussions that push student thinking
Digital Coaching Menus Bring the Professional Learning Principles To Life
Designing effective coaching sessions that reflect teacher needs
5 Ideas to Engage K-2 Students in Math Remotely
Using video, interactive platforms, and at-home materials to support math instruction for young students
Class and Family Book Tasting During Distance Learning
Designing reading activities to engage K-12 students at home
3 Recommendations for Supporting Early Elementary Students Remotely
A kindergarten teacher shares strategies and advice
Coaching through the COVID-19 Crisis
Four suggestions for how to structure virtual instructional coaching
Top 5 Resources for Learning Online
Free, standards-aligned resources to facilitate remote learning
Mistakes Tell Us What Students Are Ready to Learn
Learning from students' mistakes to enhance instruction
Not Your Mom’s Professional Development
What needs to change in professional learning design
Designing for Equity (Teachers as Designers)
Helping folks who care about equity do equity.
How Does Education Research Relate to My Practice?
Is your reading program working? What can you do to improve it?
Tidying Up
Instructional Routines for Whole-Class Reading and Writing
Reaching New Heights
A Framework for Examining Cognitive Complexity in Mathematics
Classroom Strategies, Materials Adaptation, Research and Reflections, Standards-Alignment Information, Tools and Resources
Top Posts of 2019
Read the most popular posts of the year!
For the Love of Learning
How a focus on building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction can enrich ELA instruction and engage learners
Math Instructional Routines: Creating Opportunities for Students With Disabilities to Grapple with Grade-Level Math
How Routines for Reasoning can support all students to engage with the mathematical practices
I See Me
Building a diverse classroom library with the help of First Book Marketplace
Classroom Strategies, Materials Adaptation, Research and Reflections, Standards-Alignment Information, Tools and Resources
2019 Blog Contest
Creating Equity in the Classroom
Designing and Integrating a Grade 3 Assessment on Fractions
A Q&A With Raven Redmond and Jennifer Ahearn
What Makes a High-Quality Diverse Text and How to Get These Texts Into Your Classroom
Resources and guidance for educators
A New Way to Consider Cognitive Demand in ELA Assessments
A Framework for Text Complexity in ELA and Reading
Laying a Solid Foundation of Literacy
Building Teacher Capacity with the Reading Foundational Skills
Developing the Math Language Routines
Foster Student Participation Through Building Math Language, Practices, and Content
Striving for Foundational Excellence
Country Heights' Journey Through Foundational Skills Instruction
Quality Instructional Materials or Quality Professional Learning Opportunities for Teachers?
Support for educators serving English Learners
Designing a Holistic Learning Experience
Why school communities must integrate social, emotional, and academic considerations into instructional planning
Press Play
Using Podcasts and Documentaries to Supercharge Background Knowledge and Bolster Reading Comprehension
Social Emotional Learning and Academic Content: A Natural Pairing
Reflections on how best practices for social emotional learning (SEL) and academic instruction are mutually supportive
Connecting the Dots
Making a Match Between Assessment Texts and Materials in ELA
Three Simple Steps to Empowered Word-Learning
Using morphology, context clues, and outside resources to help students decipher word meanings
Classroom Strategies, Materials Adaptation, Research and Reflections, Standards-Alignment Information, Tools and Resources
Top Blog Posts of 2018
Here are our top 25 most-visited posts of 2018.
Encouraging a Growth Mindset through Art
Strategies for moving beyond "follow-the-leader" style art projects and developing an art curriculum that supports student learning across subjects
Observing Reading Foundational Skills Instruction
Introducing a new tool to observe the components of foundational skills instruction
Part 1
Addressing Common Challenges with Student Writing
Why aren’t students successful writers and what can teachers do to help?
Building A Culturally Responsive Classroom
Why building a culturally responsive classroom matters for the success of ALL students
Engaging Students with #BookSnaps
Reinventing how your students discuss text within the classroom
Formative Assessments and Feedback in the Digital Age
How implementing Pear Deck changed my classroom.
Inspiring Writers
A process for supporting writing practice with K-2 English Language Learners
enVisionmath 2.0: Focusing the K-5 Mathematics Curriculum
The process and the documents one district designed to support alignment of their curriculum to the standards.
Making enVisionmath 2.0 Work
An Introduction to Adapting enVisionmath 2.0 K-5
Compelling Digital Lessons for English Learners
How to use the free WriteReader app to support English Language Learners
Part 2
The 3 R’s + 4 C’s = 7th Heaven (Part 2)
A technology integrationist introduces digital tools to support collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking.
Part 1
The 3 R’s + 4 C’s = 7th Heaven
A Technology Integrationist’s Guide to 21st Century Learning (Part 1)
The Digital Coaching Menu: Four Reasons Why You Need One
Providing teachers with content-focused options for coaching support
Understanding vocabulary standards: Building students’ skills
Differentiation between the vocabulary standards in the Reading and Language Strands
Part 2
Supporting Our Youngest Readers: Teaching the Skills of Reading
Why using decodable readers can be powerful
Materials Alignment Quick Check
Introducing a new evidence catcher to facilitate instructional materials decisions
Three APPS to Support Students with Special Needs
Helping All Kids Grapple with Grade-Level Content
Part 2
Addressing unfinished learning in the context of grade-level work
Not all unfinished learning should be treated the same way
Creating Student Empowerment Through Your Garden-Variety Graphic Organizer
How I use graphic organizers in my classroom to promote student independence
Emerging Effects from CCSS
A high school math teacher shares examples of student progress following CCSS implementation
A Five-Course Meal Complete with Strategies for Assessment
Concrete strategies to help classroom educators get involved with assessment design
The Many Positive Uses for Assessment
Three ways to use assessment for good
Instead of…Try This
Avoid common pitfalls in the ELA classroom with these strategies
Materials Adaptation, Research and Reflections, Standards-Alignment Information, Tools and Resources
The Instructional Practice Toolkit: An Introduction
Learn how the Instructional Practice Toolkit can help teachers make connections between planning, instruction, and student outcomes.
Assessing Grammar and Language Convention Skills
New guidance explains how to assess writing skills through embedded-error passages and multiple-choice items
Blended Learning: The Station Rotation Model
Find out how a blended learning station-focused model can help you differentiate instruction and give ALL students the support they need to tackle grade-level work
Unfinished Learning in Math: How Do You Address it?
The role of coherence in ensuring all students stay on grade level
Piloting the Instructional Practice Toolkit
Two curriculum specialists who piloted the professional learning resource share their experience
Part 2
Looking At and Learning From Student Work, Part Two: Now What?
An 8th grade teacher models the process of using writing analysis checklists to make plans for future writing instruction
State of Our Classrooms: Instructional Materials
Findings from a 2017 survey about instructional materials usage among educators
Finding Our Way in Fluency – A School’s Journey to Strengthen Math Fluency Instruction
A personal story of how educators built their knowledge of mathematics fluency from the ground up, and identified creative ways to help their students master fluency expectations
Part 1
Looking at, and Learning from, Student Writing
An introduction to the Vermont Writing Collaborative's Writing Checklists
“We’re the best. Just trust us!”
Finding unbiased information about instructional materials.
Reading to Learn
Strategies to build a love of learning through content-rich nonfiction
Demonstrating Conceptual Understanding of Mathematics Using Technology
Using free recording software to capture students’ solution methods and help teachers reflect on their instruction
Five Places for Trusted Resource Recommendations
Amid the sea of free online materials and digital applications, here are five places we’d start our search.
Part 7
Empowering Primary Math Teachers
How one school moved from contention to ownership of their math curriculum
Forming a United Whole – The Coherence Map
A K-12 STEM District Supervisor Explains How He Used the Coherence Map to Improve His District's Math Curriculum
Part 4
Using an EdReports Review to Improve My Math Curriculum
A 5th grade teacher explains how she made small adjustments to improve the Everyday Math Curriculum after identifying its weaknesses.
Pinterest: A Useful Tool for the Educator’s Toolbox
Learn how educators can use Pinterest to identify and collect high-quality instructional resources
Getting to Know Mini-Assessments
Learn about free, high-quality mini-assessments for math and literacy.
Planning for Argument Writing
Learn how to plan effective argument writing instruction
Part 3
Determining Reading Fluency
Learn how to determine a student’s current reading fluency level and pinpoint problems impeding students from becoming fluent readers
Which text set approach is right for you?
Compare the features of popular text set sources
Four APPS to Redefine your Math Class
Focusing on building a student-centered classroom through the integration of apps in the math classroom
Part 1
What is Reading Fluency?
Literacy experts David Liben and David Paige explain the characteristics of reading fluency
Putting Focus into Practice: The Case of Word Problems in Grades K–2
Standards co-author Jason Zimba explains how word problems can build understanding of addition and subtraction.
Classroom Strategies, Research and Reflections, Standards-Alignment Information, Tools and Resources
Introduction to Argument Writing
A long-time middle school teacher and writing expert explains how to design strong writing instruction
Materials Adaptation, Research and Reflections, Standards-Alignment Information, Tools and Resources
Training Materials for the ELA/Literacy IMET
New training modules on the IMET’s Non-Negotiables and Alignment Criteria
Four APPS to Redefine Your Language Arts Curriculum
Focusing on building a student-centered classroom through digital applications
Supplementing Your Curriculum with Knowledge-Building Text Sets
Discover why text sets work and how to use them to build student knowledge
Materials Adaptation, Research and Reflections, Standards-Alignment Information, Tools and Resources
Part 2
Piloting New Curriculum Options with Educators
Learn about OUSD’s piloting process and find out what teachers thought of three popular ELA/literacy programs
Lessons from the Fordham Assessment Review
One of the reviewers explains how the assessment review was conducted and what the findings mean for educators and students.
