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Unit/Lesson Plans
Understanding by Design (UbD)
Core Task Project - Find Common Core Reader Exemplars (Grades K-12), which are close reading demonstration lessons and writing assignments.
The Literacy Design Collaborative - Design units/modules/lessons, or copy and adapt hundreds of nationally vetted, teacher-created resources available in LDC CoreTools.
Putting Understanding Up Front - Utilize a simple four-part framework that gives teachers a language and strategy for enhancing their efforts to teach for greater understanding.
What I Use in My Classroom - Features resource recommendations from teachers in Student Achievement Partners’ Core Advocate Network.
The Workshop Model - Learn the components of the workshop model and how to apply this framework to daily instruction. See also the lesson plan template.
Lesson Plans
- Achieve the Core
- Basal Alignment Project
- Better Lesson
- Edutopia
- EL Education
- EngageNY
- The Learning Network
- LearnZillion
- National Core Arts Standards
- Newsela
- PBS LearningMedia
- ReadWorks
- School Journalism
- Teachers and Writers Collaborative
- Teaching the Core
- UnboundEd
- Vermont Writing Collaborative
Alignment Tools
EdReports.org - Publishes free reviews of instructional materials, using an educator-designed tool that measures alignment, usability, and other quality criteria.
The Right Tool for the Job - Read a report from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute featuring detailed reviews of nine K-12 ELA/literacy instructional tools, including strengths and weaknesses of each tool.
Achieve the Core Resources
Instructional Materials Evaluation Tool (IMET) - Utilize a tool for evaluating a comprehensive textbook or textbook series for alignment to the Shifts and major features of the CCSS.
Materials Alignment Toolkit - Access an overview of the Materials Alignment Toolkit that includes a brief one-page description of each tool.
EQuIP Resources
Educators Evaluating the Quality of Instructional Products(EQuIP) Rubrics - Explains a quality review process designed to determine the quality and alignment of instructional lessons and units to the CCSS.
The Student Work Protocol - Articulates the relationship between student work and the quality and alignment of instructional materials.
Institutes of Educational Sciences Resources
Rubric for Evaluating Reading/Language Arts Instructional Materials (Grades K-5) - Access a rubric where each criterion aligns with recommendations from six What Works Clearinghouse practice guides.
Open Educational Resources (OER)
Achieve OER Rubric and Evaluation Tool - Use criteria and a review process for examining the quality and alignment of Open Educational Resources instructional materials.
Guide to Using the OER and the EQuIP Rubrics - Use the guide to determine which rubric is most appropriate to use.
ELA/Literacy Organizations
State
- Everybody Wins Iowa
- Iowa Afterschool Alliance
- Iowa Council of Teachers of English
- Iowa Reading Association
- Iowa Reading Research Advisory Council
- Reach Out and Read Iowa
National