Staff Development for Common Core Standards
Dr. Conrad-Curry is
an experienced leader in Common Core State Standards (CCSS) professional development for teachers K-12 and administration. Administrative sessions provide leadership with an overview of the standards and a sense of classroom climate where standards are being actively implemented. Staff trainings actively engage participants in a close reading of CCSS and model best practice for implementation. Additionally, Dea provides research proven strategies to support struggling readers as they ladder up their skills to meet CCSS expectations.
In July 2011, Dea attended a small group meeting with David Coleman, co-author of the ELA standards. During his presentation, Coleman modeled instructional methods to scaffold learners as they grapple with the demands of close reading. Although this method may be new to many, close reading is the methodology Dea used throughout her years as a classroom teacher. An extension of Northrup Frye’s approach to literary criticism, close reading requires that readers pay close attention to the text, separating subjective experience from the textual message.
Staff development on the Common Core can be delivered through a series of half-day sessions, full day sessions or concurrent multi-day sessions. Sessions are customized to meet the needs of large and small as well as regional offices of education. Dr. Conrad-Curry is well-prepared to address teacher’s questions and practices as we ratchet up instruction to meet CCS expectations!
Click here to see David Coleman speak about the CCS
Implementing the Common Core ELA Standards
The Common Core Literacy Standards for ELA empowers 6-12 teachers to build thinking students who not only understand narrative texts, but can also read for information and defend assertions with text-based explanations. The standards, a synthesis of international standards and what really matters for post high-school success, demand that teachers of English Language Arts shift the focus of instruction from literature to literary nonfiction, raising the bar on text complexity and sophisticated reasoning demands. In this workshop, participants will work with texts suggested in Appendix B of the Common Core Standards to practice and hone vocabulary instruction, close reading techniques, and related writing practices. The workshop will offer methods for incorporating language skills into writing instruction and rubric assessment as well as offering differentiated options for intervention of both struggling and accelerated students.
Common Core Literacy Standards for History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
How can we raise student achievement in our content courses and on their standardized reading assessments? We must quit using lecture to race through textbooks and select content judiciously. Most importantly, students must learn to read texts on their own—whether they are primary sources or textbooks. In this workshop, participants will work with suggested in Appendix B of the Common Core Standards (history and social science, natural science and tech fields) to learn content related reading strategies and practice exemplary methods of text analysis or close reading. Because the literacy standards for History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects also address writing, participants will practice manageable writing routines as extensions of the text that meet the rigorous expectations of the CCSS. The workshop will follow the best practices model of whole group and small group learning activities as well as offering differentiated options for intervention. Teachers will walk away with concrete learning practices and materials to replicate all workshop activities in their own classrooms.
