UW Madison American Education Week

My talk from November at UW-Madison is now available on their YouTube page. Close to 400 of you attended in person and online and the School of Education wanted to make the talk available to you to share.

In it I discuss two diverging decisions we can make in our schools about how to approach the ELA Common Core Standards, we can take the route of initiatives simply for initiative’s sake or we can take the route of our students, seeing their needs and responding to them.

I also take on the topic of CCSS “aligned” products, including exemplar modules and rubrics found online. I discuss where the creation of those modules began and how they miss the mark of both good classroom practice and the standards themselves.

I then describe promises we must make to our students and ways of aligning your instruction to their strengths and needs. Throughout I include the comments of our fellow educators and how they are navigating these challenging waters.

My sincerest hope is that you feel empowered to make the decisions that are best for you and your students. I hope you enjoy it and look forward to your insights and ideas.

(time correction): November 6 at 11:15 CST join me as guest host of the #LeadAndLearn chat live from The Leadership and Learning Center’s “Common Core State Standards Summit 2.0: Getting Ready for the Next Generation Assessments” in New Orleans.

The summit is on the Math and ELA CCSS and assessments, as well as the Next Generation Science Standards. I’m excited to give the keynote on the first day and attend several sessions.

Topic: What’s Next for #CCSS and Our Schools?”

Draft questions are posted here and open to revisions, comments, and additions.

Use your twitter account and apps or websites like twitter app, tweetchat.com, or twubs.com to follow the hashtag #LeadAndLearn from 11:15 to 12:15 CST to participate. Be sure to include that hashtag in every tweet you send so the entire group can see it.

On the Road

My blog has been a bit quieter than I like these past few weeks because I’ve been on the road. I enjoyed working with a school district in Michigan, keynoting the Annual Reading Conference at Cleveland State University in Ohio. I just got back from a weekend keynoting and presenting in Dubai at the MENA Common Core conference, and in a few hours I head to the airport again for The Leadership and Learning Center summit.

Join me in person or online at UW-Madison

I’d especially love to extend an invitation to you to join me in person or virtually for my evening talk on the Common Core State Standards at the University of Wisconsin Madison’s School of Education (go badgers!) on Wednesday, November 20 from 6-7:30PM CST. The event is free in person or online, but both do require advanced registration which you can find here.

I’m talking Common Core sanity. Hoping to balance out the extreme views on both sides and offer research based, practical advice to educators, parents, and leaders for moving forward. There are also a few surprises in store that I’m very excited about.