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Inquiring Into the Common Core

By: Nancy Fichtman Dana, Jamey Bolton Burns, Rachel Wolkenhauer

Foreword by Ann Lieberman

While the Common Core couldn’t be clearer about what to teach, they never quite tackle how to teach. That’s what makes Inquiring into the Common Core such an essential resource.

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Product Details

Grade Level: PreK-12
ISBN: 9781452274263
Published By: Corwin
Year: 2013
Page Count: 112
Publication date: July 02, 2013

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Description

Common Core implementation begins with asking the right questions!

While the Common Core couldn’t be clearer about what to teach, they never quite tackle how to teach. That’s what makes Inquiring into the Common Core such an essential resource. It offers teachers an inquiry-based professional development model for achieving greater understanding of the standards themselves, then determining best ways to realize desired outcomes.

How exactly does the model work? Teachers take charge of their own professional development by posing questions, or wonderings, to stimulate action and higher-level insight into the big ambitions of the Common Core. At the very same time, they engage in a parallel process of inquiry with their students in service of the very same goals. Assisting teachers along the ways, Inquiring into the Common Core provides

tools to systematically study teaching effectiveness while adapting to new standards
classroom-ready, student inquiry techniques and strategies to apply within Common Core’s framework
real life inquiry-implementation examples from a high-need, high-poverty school

Ideal for both teams or individual teachers, there’s no better resource for laying the groundwork for successful and thought-provoking classroom actualization amid shifting times.

Key features

(1) Applies the process of teacher inquiry to help teachers gain insights into the Common Core as teachers try out new techniques and strategies related to Common Core implementation in their classrooms.

(2) Promotes the use of inquiry-based teaching to help students develop higher-order and critical thinking skills and prepare them for college- and career-readiness.

(3) Chapters Three and Fiveillustrate Teacher Inquiry into the Common Core Standards and Student Inquiry in the Classroom respectively with real examples from teachers and coaches from a high-need, high-poverty school that has focused its inquiry work around the Common Core.

(4) Book is well suited to the work of teacher teams as well as individual teachers.

Author(s)

Nancy Fichtman Dana

Nancy Fichtman Dana is professor of education and distinguished teaching scholar at the University of Florida, Gainesville. She began her career in education as an elementary school teacher in Hannibal Central Schools, New York. Since earning her PhD from Florida State University in 1991, she has been a passionate advocate for teacher inquiry and has worked extensively in supporting schools, districts, and universities in implementing powerful programs of job-embedded professional development through inquiry across the United States and in several countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands, China, South Korea, Estonia, Slovenia, Spain, and Portugal. She has published 12 books and more than 100 articles in professional journals and edited books focused on her research exploring teacher and principal professional development and practitioner inquiry. Dana has received many honors for her teaching, research, and writing. Among them are the Association of Teacher Educators Mentoring and Distinguished Research in Teacher Education awards, the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate’s David G. Imig Distinguished Service Award, the National Staff Development Council (now Learning Forward) Book of the Year Award, and was one of three finalist in Baylor University’s prestigious Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching 2020 competition. Before joining the faculty at University of Florida in 2003, she worked at The Pennsylvania State University for 11 years, creating and launching their award-winning inquiry-based Professional Development School program with the State College Area School District. At the University of Florida, she worked to embed inquiry as a signature pedagogy into the undergraduate teacher education program, as well as developed and taught three popular classes on inquiry at the master’s and doctoral levels. In partnership with the Lastinger Center for Learning, Dana led the development and implementation of inquiry-based professional development for teachers across the state that included several of the nation’s largest school districts. Further, she was instrumental in the development of UF’s Teacher Leadership for School Improvement Program and Professional Practice Doctorate in Teachers, Schools, and Society, both national award winning programs that highlight inquiry as a signature program feature and have been recognized by U.S. News & World Report as the #1 Online Graduate Education Programs in the nation.

Jamey Bolton Burns

Jamey Bolton Burns is currently a District Coordinator for the Lastinger Center for Learning in the College of Education at the University of Florida, Gainesville. In her role of district coordinator, she develops and implements differentiated professional development for teachers, coaches and principals, and facilitates teacher inquiry leaders throughout the district. She works intensively with Title I schools across the district and recently developed a professional learning community of principals and coaches that are systematically studying their implementation of the common core state standards. She has also coordinated an alternative Educator Preparation Institute through the University of Florida where she trained alternatively certified teachers in high need schools. Before working with the Lastinger Center, she was an inclusion teacher in both second and third grades and worked in a reading clinic helping students with dyslexia, ADHD and Autism.

Rachel Wolkenhauer

Rachel Wolkenhauer currently serves as Teacher in Residence for the Lastinger Center for Learning in the College of Education at the University of Florida, Gainesville. She began her career as a third and fourth grade teacher and became an avid teacher researcher. In her role as Teacher in Residence for the Lastinger Center, she develops and facilitates inquiry-oriented professional development for pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, and school administrators. Her work emphasizes practitioner inquiry as a mechanism for teacher leadership and as a pedagogical approach that encourages highly engaged teaching and learning.

List of Figures

Foreword by Ann Lieberman

Preface

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

1. The Common Core and Inquiry

What is the Common Core?

How did the Common Core Develop?

Why Is the Common Core Important?

How Is the Common Core Different from the Status Quo?

What Difference Will the Common Core Make to Teachers and Students?

How Can Teachers Learn More About the Common Core and Its Relationship to Their Practice?

How Can Teachers Actualize the Common Core in their Daily Approach to Teaching?

Where Can I Learn More About the Common Core?

2. Teacher Inquiry: The Basics

What is Inquiry?

Components of the Inquiry Process

Where Can I Learn More About Inquiry?

3. Teacher Inquiry Into the Common Core: The Story of Lareal

Finding a Wondering and Developing an Inquiry Plan

The Start of Lareal’s Inquiry

Collaborating with the Reading Coach

Continuing the Inquiry Journey

Summative Data Analysis and Sharing with Woodson Faculty

4. Student Inquiry: The Basics

What is Student Inquiry?

What Is the Relationship Between Student Inquiry and the Common Core State Standards?

How is Teaching as Inquiry Different from the Status Quo?

What Does Teaching as Inquiry Look Like in Practice?

What’s the General Structure for Student Inquiry?

Where Can I Learn More About Student Inquiry?

5. Student Inquiry and the Common Core: The Story of Mary

First Things First: Creating a Culture of Inquiry

Starting Small: An Inquiry-Based Lesson

Expanding Horizons: An Inquiry-Based Unit

6. Making the Common Core Come Alive Through Inquiry: Lessons Learned

Lessons About Teacher Inquiry and the Common Core State Standards

Lessons About Student Inquiry and the Common Core State Standards

The Most Important Lesson

References

Index

Reviews

"A well-organized, easy-to-read format makes Inquiring into the Common Core a great resource to guide teacher inquiry, discussions in professional learning communities, or a schoolwide book study. Centered around the stories and reflective voices of teachers, this book provides authentic and practical tools and resources for educators to effectively engage in the complex and rewarding work of understanding and applying these new standards for student learning."

Mary Conage, Title I Director
Pinellas County Schools, FL

"Using inquiry as a means of addressing the Common Core Standards is a wonderful way to transform the learning experiences for everyone. With teachers and students as learners, leaders and inquirers, the inquiry process provides a great framework for diving into the Common Core Standards. This book highlights possibilities for teaching and learning with the ingenuity of teachers and the resilience of students as they venture into the raised standards of the Common Core."

Donnan Stoicovy, Lead Learner
Park Forest Elementary School, State College, PA

"In Inquiring Into the Common Core, Nancy Dana has provided practitioners with another 'go to' book for ideas and guidance. Teachers, principals, and central office administrators will discover a very helpful book full of useful examples and references for implementing the Common Core State Standards. Once again, Nancy and her colleagues guide educators through the inquiry process with a focus on increased student learning. Inquiring Into the Common Core presents a well conceived process for using teacher and student inquiry to implement the Common Core State Standards."

Cynthia Simonsen, Director of Learning and Instruction
Anacortes School District, WA

"We must answer the call of the Common Core to empower our teachers as professionals and inquirers. Dana, Burns and Wolkenhauer provide a framework for how to go about this work in a clear and urgent manner. The Common Core is clear about what to teach. How to teach is up to us. To reach the promise of the Common Core, we must position ourselves as studiers of our own practice. As good as we are, we can always get better; this is the inherent message of Inquiring Into the Common Core. Inquiry is not a scary thing!"

Katherine Reed, Teacher Development Specialist
Hamilton Southeastern Schools, IN

"This book is clearly a must read for any educator responsible for implementing the Common Core State Standards. Through authentic classroom examples, the authors present a compelling argument for using inquiry as both a powerful professional learning design for developing teachers’ expertise in the implementation of the Common Core, and as an effective instructional approach to actively engage students in their learning of the standards."

Amy B. Colton, Executive Director
Learning Forward Michigan

"In the book Inquiring Into the Common Core, practitioners will find a roadmap, travel guide, and even 'snap shots' of inquiry work with the Common Core standards. As we travel a new path in education with the Common Core standards, the pioneers of this book and the teachers at Woodson Elementary provide practical tips and motivate us for the journey. Readers will learn how to use Common Core standards as the map and inquiry as the vehicle for the learning ride of a lifetime! THIS is how we should approach bringing the Common Core standards to life in our classrooms."

Kathy Christensen, 2010 Florida Elementary Reading Coach of the Year
Immokalee, FL

"Inquiring Into the Common Core is an excellent resource for educators who want to make the conversion to Common Core successfully. For anyone questioning the purpose of this broad movement in education, the authors provide us with the What, How and Why. Most importantly, this book helps to eliminate any fear associated with the transition to Common Core. This is a 'teacher-friendly' book; the authors truly understand and convey the complexities of the modern classroom and the relationship between teaching and learning. The way the authors have successfully and effectively linked learning theory to instructional practice is truly refreshing."

Neyland G. Clark, Superintendent
South Harrison Community School Corporation, IN