The Common Core Companion: The Standards Decoded, Grades 6-8
What They Say, What They Mean, How to Teach Them
- Jim Burke - Burlingame High School, Burlingame, CA
Corwin Literacy
Don't spend another minute poring over the standards. Jim Burke has already done the hard work for you with this roadmap of what each standard says, what each standard means, and how precisely to put that standard into practice across English Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects. Jim clearly lays out:
Grades 6-8 standards side by side with key distinctions
Different content-area versions of each standard
Explanations of each standard, with student prompts
Content to cover, lesson ideas, and instructional techniques
Glossary and adaptations for ELL students
Supplements
“I love what Jim Burke has done to make the Standards less threatening and more useful for teachers. In particular, the indicators for what students and teachers should be doing, given the Standard, are extremely helpful; as are such a clear glossary and illuminating examples. All in all, The Common Core Companion is bound to be enormously useful and thus dog-eared!”
“Fundamentally different from other Common Core books, The Common Core Companion is s a user’s guide designed by a teacher who actually uses the standards in his daily work with students. Jim Burke gently demystifies the Common Core State Standards and offers a practical tool for curricular alignment. I think you will find The Common Core Companion helps schools help themselves.”
“I have never read a book for teachers so well laid out and highly useful. I predict administrators across the country will purchase this book for their secondary teachers to use in their staff meetings, individual department meetings, their PLCs, and for individual teachers to use as Burke puts it as ‘a personal compass to navigate the complexities of the Common Core Curriculum.’”
“I must say, I am duly impressed. This book gives the kind of ‘hands-on’ support classroom teachers and curriculum committees really need in doing the work of ‘unpacking’ the standards and interpreting those standards into curriculum documents. The very detailed, complete discussions of the standards and the breakdowns that the Burke does are, in my opinion, exemplary . . . Well done!”
"This very practical guide makes a complex topic easier to understand and less formidable. Schools will want to purchase copies for all teachers and personnel working with the Common Core."
CCSS were not approved in Texas.
Extremely clear and useful! I had previous students explore the book to see what they though and they were all upset it wasn't out when they took the class. They've ordered copies on their own.