Common Core and Technology Integration

What is Common Core?

The Common Core State Standards is a state led and coordinated initiative from the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA) and the Council of Chief of State SchoolOfficers (CCSSO) that creates benchmarks for learning from kindergarten through 12^th grade. There are two sets of standards for English Language Arts (include History, Science, and technical Studies) and Math. A total of 45 states, District of Columbia, 4 territories, and the Department of Defense have adopted these standards. On April 9, 2013 a companion set of Science Standards, the Next Generation Science Standards, were introduced.  The standards seek to address developing students in the areas of content knowledge, communicating effectively, analyzing and evaluating complex texts, finding and demonstrating the use of evidence from a number of sources with proper citation, and using technology and digital media purposefully and competently.   These were developed with the support of the National Research Council. For those of you like me, the addition of technology into the standards was a welcome and refreshing addition that’s shows its significance within education. The standards also are set up in a Backwards Design way in regards to the fact that they are telling us where students should be by High School graduation. Being a fan of backwards design in the way I plan units, I find the flexibility and high expectations of the Common Core to be positive (and I like to stay positive about changes that occur within the Education sector and try to see how they will make my students better prepared for the future.)

How does the Common Core Integrate Technology?

Technology is a constant in the education sector today which means teachers need to understand how to best utilize the many technological tools, resources, and devices at their disposal. Specific standards within the Common Core call for the use of technology and digital media. For example within the Anchor Standards for College and Career Readiness for Writing students should be able to “use technology, including the Internet to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.” (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.6) The standards are written in an open- ended manner that allows teachers to teach using different ways of incorporating technology.

Another key Anchor Standard states that students should be able to “gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.” (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.8) Technology and ELA teachers and Library Media Specialist have already been stressing to students (and other teachers) the importance of analyzing different forms of content (print and digital forms) and how to integrate that information properly using proper citation but with the incorporation of this standard within the Common Core all teachers no matter what subject- area should be teaching and reinforcing this valuable technological skill that students need. In the past education technology has had separate standards so many teacher’s didn’t feel the need to integrate technology because it was specially outlines in “their standards.” The integration of technology benchmarks within the Common Core emphasizes the importance of students learning specific technological skills and outlines a cohesive implementation plan that all teachers can see what students should be able to know, understand and do.

Resources on Teaching Common Core:

Below I have listed some resources for implementing technology within specific subject areas.

General Common Core:

• Achieve the Core
• Getting Started Guides and exemplars for Common Core and NewYork
• Standardsfor the 21st Century Learner Lesson Plan Database
• LearnZillion

ELA:

• Libraryof Congress
• TeachingThe Common Core Standards in Language Arts & Literature 
• 11 Tipsof Teaching Common Core Critical Vocabulary  
• Ideas forImplementing Literacy Common Core in the Non-ELA Classroom 
• CommonCore in Action: ELA
• Literacy Design Collaborative 

Social Studies:

• SocialStudies Resources from Common Core Conversation
• SocialStudies Central (Includes lessons, additional sites, and tools)
• Guidesand checklists from Achieve the Core

Science:

• National Science Digital Library
• CommonCore Tips- Literacy in Science
• ScienceStandards 2.0- Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• SupportingScience and the Common Core 

Math:

• IllustrativeMathematics
• Classroomexamples and tools for mathematic instructors
• Research-Based professional development for math Common Core Implementation
• EduCore
• KhanAcademy
• MathematicalAssessment Project
• MathCommon Core Coalition