The Core Six—Essential Strategies for Achieving Excellence With the Common Core

Silver, a workshop leader and consultant who co-developed a professional development initiative to make students as important as standards, et al. identify six research-based strategies to help teachers of all grades respond to the demands of the Common Core State Standards, particularly the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects: reading for meaning, to help develop reading skills; compare and contrast, to teach students comparative analysis; inductive learning, to help them find patterns and structures in content; circle of knowledge, a framework for planning and conducting discussions that engage students in deeper thinking and communication; write to learn, to develop writing skills in the key text types; and a vocabulary strategy to improve their ability to retain and use terms. Each strategy includes information on reasons for using it, the research behind it, a checklist for classroom implementation, sample lessons, and planning considerations. They do not discuss what the standards cover or how they are organized. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)