Common Core Resources for Special Education

Calling all special education teachers and administrators!

This wonderful website from the California Department of Education collects tons of great information about special education and Common Core. From webinars to presentations, resources to FAQs, this site can help you find what you need to know about making the transition to Common Core with your special education students.

CLICK HERE to go to the website, and be sure to take a few minutes to see what's offered!

FREE WestEd Webinar--Personalize Learning to Meet the Common Core

For educators who work with special education students, there are a number of questions about how Common Core State Standards will work in their classrooms. How can you balance the diverse needs of your students and meet the standards? How can you create personalized learning environments within your classroom?

This free 30-minute webinar from experts at WestEd can help you answer these questions and give you a better understanding of how personalized learning can support the Common Core.

CLICK HERE FOR THE WEBINAR and make sure to check out the supporting resources and PDFs as well.

Finding the Right Math Content for your Common Core Aligned Lessons!

The good news is that there are already thousands of great resources to be found online for math teachers who want to create fantastic lessons that are aligned to CCSS. The bad news is that there are thousands of great resources out there! How should you sort, sift, and dig through them all to find the resources and lesson ideas that are exactly right for your students and your classroom?

Check out ck12.org, a website run by the CK-12 Foundation, a non-profit committed to creating and aggregating top-quality STEM content. They have developed a Common Core Math Standards browsing tool that allows teachers to browse the standards and find aligned concepts, and then mine free, vetted resources to build out lesson plans for those concepts.

It may take a bit of practice to get comfortable with the tool, but it's a powerful resource that can help teachers find exactly the content they want to teach!

CLICK HERE TO TAKE A LOOK!

Digital Storytelling--Technology, Creativity, and Common Core

No teacher or parent can deny the power that storytelling has for children. In fact, children's fantasy author Philip Pullman writes, “After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” Stories help us make sense of the world around us, teach us to find meaning and purpose, and convey information in beautiful and sometimes unexpected ways.

What is digital storytelling? At its simplest, it just means using a variety of audio and visual technologies to share personal narratives, to illustrate and present the stories of others, and to expand on creative ideas. It can be a fantastic tool for helping students develop skills and capacities that are integral to the Common Core State Standards.

Students involved in a digital storytelling project can learn how to locate key themes in a narrative, develop deeper and richer vocabulary, and examine and compare different narrative perspectives. They can hone communication and collaboration abilities, as well, and gain confidence in public presentation skills.

Don't let the technology part of digital storytelling intimidate you! Check out this list of great websites for ideas on how to get started with digital storytelling in your classroom!

Edtechteacher.org -- Take a look at their digital storytelling page for tools, examples, and media resources!


Yesalliance.org -- This group (Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance) has a set of fantastic short briefs that show you how digital storytelling explicitly aligns with CCSS for grades K-6 and 7-12.

Shrockguide.net -- This page from ed tech specialist Kathy Shrock's blog offers an enormous set of links and resources, all related to digital storytelling. It can take a little effort  to find the things that will be most helpful, but it's worth it!