Your work today will be in PLCs. You will need computers and each other. If you borrow one, please return it by noon. Here’s the plan for the day:

1. The first task for the day is to review the PCS Curriculum Guides. These guides were created last summer with the knowledge that they would change and grow as we become more adept with CCSS and NCES. Your input will help shape revisions of these documents. The best way to locate them is to start at tinyurl.com/pcscore. Click PCS Curriculum Guides and find your course.

The link for feedback ishttp://mbcurl.me/3C6N.

2. One of the concerns we’ve heard expressed over and over this year is a lack of available resources for teachers in implementation of the new standards.  While we don’t have funds to purchase resources, there are literally millions of resources out t here on the web (a recent Google search of “common core” resources turned up 5.5 million results).

Your task for the day is to review some high-quality sites for use in your classroom.  Personnel within the EPS department of Pitt County Schools has identified 50 web resources, covering every subject and grade level, that we feel are high-quality, updated regularly, aligned to the new standards, and reliable.  The resources are stored on Delicious, a social bookmarking site, for easy access.  Today you’ll pick 2 or 3 (and only 2 or 3) to examine in-depth and figure out ways to use them in your classroom.  We really hope you’ll spend a solid 20-30 minutes looking at and examining each individual resource (for a total of 60-90 minutes) rather than skimming over 25 or 30 resources and simply bookmarking them.  The goal of this activity, just like a goal of the new standards, is to examine something in depth rather than simply cover as many sites as you can.

The link to the Delicious site itself is https://delicious.com/pcsrttt  The link to the worksheet used to help you evaluate the websites, recording your thoughts and determining how you might use them as a resource, is http://mbcurl.me/3CAD.  Please print off 2-3 copies of the worksheet for your PLC to use as you review the resources.

Copied from Thomas Feller, successforeverychild.wordpress.com

3. The final activity for your PLC today is collaborating on your own terms. I would like to throw out a few suggestions, but do what your PLC needs to do:

-Discuss and respond to MSLs, especially the constructed response questions. Will your teaching change? Your assessment strategies? How?

-Make an assessment plan for the semester.

-Design a data plan. How will you use data to inform instruction this semester? What kind of data?

-Design common assessments, especially performance task assessments.

-Share resources.

-Plan instruction for the first six weeks.

As with yesterday, our training today is designed to be completed by lunch time so you can spend the afternoon working in your classroom, grading papers, and getting ready for the new semester.