Uncommon Core

Michael W. Smith, a professor in Temple University′s College of Education, joined the ranks of college teachers after eleven years of teaching high school English. His research focuses on understanding both how adolescents and adults engage with texts outside school and how teachers can use those understandings to devise more motivating and effective instruction inside schools.   Deborah Appleman is Professor of Educational Studies and Director of the Summer Writing Program at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. Her primary interests include adolescent response to literature, multicultural literature, and the teaching of literary theory to high school students. A high school English teacher for nine years, Deborah works weekly in urban and suburban high schools.  A classroom teacher for fifteen years, Jeffrey D. Wilhelm is currently Professor of English Education at Boise State University. He works in local schools as part of a Virtual Professional Development Site Network sponsored by the Boise State Writing Project, and regularly teaches middle and high school students. Jeff is the founding director of the Maine Writing Project and the Boise State Writing Project.

• Foreword by Grant WigginsAcknowledgmentsChapter 1. The Promise and the Peril of the Common Core State StandardsWhat′s to Like About the CCSSWhat′s to Worry AboutWhat the Standards Leave OutChapter 2. Old Wine in Broken Bottles: The Common Core State Standards and "Zombie New Criticism"A Lesson From the ClassroomWhere the Authors of the Standards Go Wrong About Connecting Texts With Lived ExperienceHow You Can Get It RightSticking With the Standards (Not With the Instructional Mandates That Showed Up Later)Chapter 3. Using the Most Powerful Resource We Have for Teaching Students Something New: The Case for Background KnowledgeWhere the Authors of the Standards Go Wrong About Pre-Reading InstructionWhy It MattersPreparing Students to ComprehendHow You Can Get It Right: Five Strategies That Connect Students With Critical ConceptsMoving Students to IndependenceChapter 4. Teaching for Transfer: Why Students Need to Learn How to Attend to Any TextWhere the Authors of the Standards Go Wrong About Closed-Ended, Text-Based QuestionsWhy It MattersHow You Can Get It Right: Six Strategies That Increase Comprehension and IndependenceMoving Students to IndependenceChapter 5. No Text Is an Island: How to Get Students Farther With Text-by-Text SequencingWhere the Authors of the Standards Go Wrong About Text-to-Text ConnectionsWhy It MattersHow You Can Get It Right: Three Strategies for Developing Knowledge Across TextsChapter 6. Aiming for Complex Interpretation: How to Be Street Smart About Choosing Complex TextsWhere Interpretations of the Standards Get It WrongThree Ways to Choose the Right Books for Your KidsChapter 7. Putting Our Money Where Our Mouths Are: Our Unit for Teaching "Letter From Birmingham Jail"David Coleman on King′s "Letter"An Alternative Approach: Our Unit for Teaching the "Letter"A Sample Unit: “Letter From Birmingham Jail”A Summary of This Unit′s ApproachesPrinciples of PracticeAccountability and AssessmentsFinal ThoughtsReferencesIndex

"This book represents what we should all be doing with the CCSS—making suggestions for modifying them so that they stand a chance of achieving the goals behind them. Unless the CCSS are a living document that can be shaped and reshaped by the educators and students who are held accountable to them, they will fail.  Read this book to help them succeed."