Book of the Week  

Big Skills for the Common Core:

Literacy Strategies for the 6-12 Classroom

• Charts that break down the skills for each anchor standard and put them into teacher- friendly language. BONUS! The charts highlight the big shifts for teachers for discussion and sharing. 
• Practical strategies to help students tackle and understand complex texts.
• Helpful ideas for teaching argument writing, plus writing rubrics and assessment strategies.
• Clear information on Tier II and Tier III words and how to teach them.

In addition, each section of the book ends with "Classroom Close-Ups," which take you inside real classrooms that are implementing the Common Core. You'll see the standards in action across the curriculum and get takeaway tips you can use tomorrow in your own classroom!

Table of Contents: 

Introduction

Part 1: Reading
Chapter 1: Reading and the Common Core
Chapter 2: Meticulous Reading
Chapter 3: Recreational Reading: The Missing Ingredient
Conclusion: Reading
Classroom Close-Ups for Reading

Part 2: Writing
Chapter 4: Writing and the Common Core
Chapter 5: Creating a Culture of Writing: What Do Students Need?
Chapter 6: Writing to Learn: Science, Meet Syntax; Syntax, This Is Science
Chapter 7: Writing a Cogent Argument
Chapter 8: Formative and Summative Assessments
Conclusion: Writing
Classroom Close-Ups for Writing

Part 3: Speaking and Listening
Chapter 9: Speaking and Listening and the Common Core
Chapter 10: Traditional Classroom Discourse: The Recitation Script
Chapter 11: Moving Toward Socratic Dialogue
Chapter 12: Developing Social Competencies
Chapter 13: Whiteboarding
Conclusion: Speaking and Listening
Classroom Close-Ups for Speaking and Listening

Part 4: Language
Chapter 14: Language and the Common Core
Chapter 15: Grammar and the Common Core
Chapter 16: Teaching Vocabulary
Chapter 17: Spelling as Word Study
Conclusion: Language
Classroom Close-Ups for Language

Conclusion 

Appendix A: Checklist for Paragraph Development
Appendix B: Writing Rubrics
Appendix C: Academic Word List
Appendix D: Semantic Features Chart