The ideal?  Newly minted high school graduates all across the nation, each one a complex text genius, a writer and analytic thinker beyond compare. All on to glorious colleges and careers, thanks to the Common Core. The reality? The 1.3 million students who fail to graduate from high school each year and the hundreds of thousands more who either gave up or lost interest long ago . . . The reality is why Common Core CPR is needed. Urgently. Because if we continue to insist that all students meet expectations that are well beyond their abilities and mindsets, these kids will only decline faster. We must be brave enough—and trained enough—to cast aside what we know harms students and apply with renewed vigor the teaching methods we know work. Releah Lent and Barry Gilmore rise to the challenge, and there are no two authors better equipped to do so. They embrace what is best about the standards—their emphasis on active, authentic learning—and then explicitly show teachers how to connect these ideal outcomes to practical classroom strategies, detailing the day-to-day teaching that can coax reluctant learners into engagement and achievement. You’ll learn how to:  Consider choice and relevance in every assignment Plan and spot opportunities for success Scaffold students’ comprehension of complex fiction and nonfiction texts Model close reading through thoughtful questioning Teach students to use evidence in reading, writing, speaking, and reflection . . . And so much more  It’s not the big sweeping formulas for achievement that will win the day; it’s the incremental growth that teachers need to make happen: that one book, that one writing assignment, to help a student turn a corner. "If we can get that one transformational moment to occur, and follow it up by designing more opportunities for success, that’s the ideal," say Lent and Gilmore.

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Richard L. Allington Introduction: Meeting Common Core With Common Sense Defining "Standards" An Introduction to the Standards Important Considerations Using Common Sense: What Is Not Covered by the Standards A Portrait of a Young Student: What We Cover in This Book Keeping the End in Mind Acknowledgments Chapter 1. How Do We Reach Reluctant Students? Understanding Reluctance: Why Daniel Struggled Final Thoughts: Leaving Daniel (for Now) Chapter 2. Why Scaffolding Complex Text Is Crucial Creating Proficient Readers: What′s a Teacher to Do? Text Complexity: Difficult to Define Scaffolding: Building the Bridge Untangling Complex Text: A Commonsense Approach Scaffolding in Action: Practices That Support Learning Build Background Knowledge to Make Learning Stick Final Thoughts Chapter 3. How Do We Engage All Students in Reading and Writing? Starting With Reading: The Importance of Audience and Purpose Audience and Purpose in Writing Final Thoughts Chapter 4. How to Go Deeper: Creating Analytical Thinkers A Case of Aliteracy: The Bubonic Plague Deepening Understanding Through Critical Literacy A Critical Look at Close Reading Final Thoughts Chapter 5. Why Evidence Matters: From Text to Talk to Argument Paideia Seminars: A Focus on Evidence Paideia Seminars and Struggling Students Problem- and Project-Based Learning: Using Evidence The Project Realized: Envisioning the Future Fair The Advantages of Project-Based Learning Final Thoughts Chapter 6. How Using Diverse Media and Formats Can Ignite Student Learning The Scope of Technology in an Inquiry-Based Classroom Preparing for Reading and Writing: Interpreting Material in Diverse Formats Speaking and Listening: Technology and Student Presentation Final Thoughts Chapter 7. Why a Culture of Reading Is Critical--and How to Create One A Culture of Reading: How It Supports the CCSS The Workshop Approach: Does It Meet the Standards? Understanding Perspectives: A Piece of the Portrait Literature Circles: Sharing Perspectives Do Literature Circles Meet the Standards? Creating a Culture of Literacy in a Middle School Final Thoughts Chapter 8. What Do We Do About the Language Standards? What Do We Do About Grammar? What Do We Do About Vocabulary? Final Thoughts Afterword by Sharon M. Draper Appendix A. Standards for Motivation and Engagement With Teacher Tools Appendix B. Books for . . . Lists References Index About the Authors