A New Tool for Content-Rich Teaching, Aligned with Common Standards

Teachers in the K-12 grades just received a gift: a free interactive site that provides a wealth of information for planning creative and content-filled lessons that align with the Common Core State Standards, which have now been adopted by 35 states and the District of Columbia.

The site, called the Common Core Curriculum Mapping Project, which opened earlier this month is something like a directory, roadmap, planning resource and brainstorming trigger all in one. It was designed by Common Core, a non-profit organization that advocates for comprehensive teaching of the liberal arts and sciences. (Common Core is not directly affiliated with the statewide Common Core State Standards Initiative, though their names are confusingly similar.) The content for the project was supplied by teachers.

Imagine, for example, that you are a kindergarten teacher who is working on storytelling. Want to tailor your lesson so that your students learn how to “compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in familiar stories,” which happens to be one of the common core kindergarten standards? The site will point you to texts such as Mr. Popper’s Penguins, an engaging chapter book that adults can read to children, and to beautiful picture books like Koala Lou, a tale of a young koala who wants her mother’s attention. These are ideas inside a suggested kindergarten unit called “The Great Big World,” which includes an extensive list of fiction and non-fiction readings as well as art and music pieces that can help children gain a sense of how to compare and contrast different landscapes, animals and cultures from different parts of the world.

The project’s emphasis on multidisciplinary exploration of high-quality books and media is a sight for sore eyes. From what we’ve seen so far, the site appears to be based on a philosophy of high expectations for what students are capable of tackling and learning even in the youngest grades.

Reading teachers may want to pay close attention to the “reading foundations” section, also designed by Common Core, which provides a “pacing guide” for the use of techniques in teaching reading that correspond with each unit.

(What about resources for pre-k teachers, you might ask? Since the tool was designed to match up with the Common Core State Standards, and those standards start at kindergarten, there was no way to create similar pages for pre-k lessons or activities. Early Ed Watch has written in the past about the missing link to pre-k, and we’ll be reporting over the next year on efforts to create common standards for younger children.)

Common Core is collecting comments about the project through September 17. After these initial comments are reviewed, the organization says that the site will remain open to public comment twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

“Anyone will be able to comment on any aspect of the maps—any essential question, student objective, text suggestion, etc.,” the site says. “Viewers also will be able to rate each map and many other map elements, such as sample activities. Comments on the maps will be moderated, but open for public view.”

Let’s hope that more teachers jump in and lend their expertise. It will be exciting to see how this site evolves over the coming years.