| Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were created to unify what and when students learn throughout the United States. For many states, this will be the first year of state tests with the new standards although NY gave the new exams earlier this year. See below for samples of New York's new tests given in Spring 2013. Other features are goal setting for 2014 and a blog post on AP courses and grading. |
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Web Site for Middle School Common Core Math
 New York State's engageny.org has examples of the expectations at each grade level with curriculum modules for teaching and learning. This makes clear what content should be taught in each grade. There are samples of the Spring 2013 grades 3- 8 exams in both Math and ELA which was the first administration of the new tests. Grade 6 and Grade 7 each have 3 modules while Grade 8 has 4 modules. There are Copy Ready Materials that do not include answers or solutions that can be used by teachers, parents or students. |
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Math Confidence Blog Post of the Month
Is the student learning? Is she putting in effort?
These are the two top questions to ask the student and the family.
Too often, people rate themselves on Math by their grades.
Is she getting a C- because of exam scores? Very likely...how can she improve her scores? She needs to evaluate the artifacts (old exams and quizzes) and figure out if she made conceptual errors (not understanding something) vs fuzzy errors (like 2 to the 3 power is 6 rather than 8!). To prepare for an exam, she needs to practice problems over and over and over.
I have been a Math educator for 13 years and work with people to get them to think on their own so they can do it when I am not there :)
This post was in response to a NYTimes blog on When AP is a Struggle
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Goal Setting for 2014
2014 is rapidly approaching and December is a great time to plan ahead. This quiz from Darren Hardy's The Compound Effect asks for self-ratings on categories like Relationships, Physical, Business, Financial, Spiritual, Mental and Lifestyle to inspire thinking about where you are and where you want to go. Please print out these Free Resources so you can design your 2014.
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