It's Monday! What are you Reading? Pathways to the Common Core

For anyone who knows me, they know that I am passionate about teaching reading and writing workshop, reading as many professional books as I can, and staying up-to-date with the latest thinking from the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project.  Ever since I heard that Lucy Calkins was working on writing the Pathways to the Common Core last year, I couldn't wait to get my hands on the book.  The day finally came on Friday when it arrived in my mailbox.  I have read and reread it already over the weekend and know that I will continue to reread parts over and over again.  It is a well-written professional resource that helps to unpack the Common Core State Standards for educators.  Every teacher, literacy coach, and instructional leader should have a copy of this book in their hands to read and discuss together as they begin to embrace the Common Core. 

Pathways to the Common Core is organized so you can choose to read it cover to cover at one time or read individual chapters that focus on the reading, writing, or speaking/listening and language standards.  I chose to read the book in its entirety because I always like to see the big picture first and then reread chapters to strengthen my understanding and focus.  Now that I have read the entire text, I can see how the parts of the Common Core connect to one another and how the skills build upon each other for students. 

I love that we are reminded in the introduction that we have the choice to either view the standards in a negative or a positive manner.  This statement directly relates to the growth and fixed mindsets that we have been talking about so much lately as educators.  We can either choose to complain and gripe about the standards OR we can choose to embrace the standards and use them as an opportunity to lift the level of our instruction in the best interest of students. I choose to embrace the standards and view them as an opportunity to strengthen teaching and learning. 

If you haven't purchased Pathways to the Common Core yet, I highly recommend that you make a visit soon to Amazon or Heinemann!  I'd love to hear your thoughts about this amazing professional resource we now have to help us unpack and embrace the Common Core Standards.

Happy Reading! :)