Uncommon Core

Foreword by Grant Wiggins
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. The Promise and the Peril of the Common Core State Standards
What's to Like About the CCSS
What's to Worry About
What the Standards Leave Out
Chapter 2. Old Wine in Broken Bottles: The Common Core State Standards and "Zombie New Criticism"
A Lesson From the Classroom
Where the Authors of the Standards Go Wrong About Connecting Texts With Lived Experience
How You Can Get It Right
Sticking 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 Knowledge
Where the Authors of the Standards Go Wrong About Pre-Reading Instruction
Why It Matters
Preparing Students to Comprehend
How You Can Get It Right: Five Strategies That Connect Students With Critical Concepts
Moving Students to Independence
Chapter 4. Teaching for Transfer: Why Students Need to Learn How to Attend to Any Text
Where the Authors of the Standards Go Wrong About Closed-Ended, Text-Based Questions
Why It Matters
How You Can Get It Right: Six Strategies That Increase Comprehension and Independence
Moving Students to Independence
Chapter 5. No Text Is an Island: How to Get Students Farther With Text-by-Text Sequencing
Where the Authors of the Standards Go Wrong About Text-to-Text Connections
Why It Matters
How You Can Get It Right: Three Strategies for Developing Knowledge Across Texts
Chapter 6. Aiming for Complex Interpretation: How to Be Street Smart About Choosing Complex Texts
Where Interpretations of the Standards Get It Wrong
Three Ways to Choose the Right Books for Your Kids
Chapter 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 Approaches
Principles of Practice
Accountability and Assessments
Final Thoughts
References
Index