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Where do I begin? Your Common Core State Standards (CCSS) document—get to know the standards for your target age group.  Note that the standards range from basic understanding to deep analysis (purposely reflecting Bloom's Taxonomy).  Pick 5-8 standards that you think you can cover in your curriculum guide - you don't need to touch on ALL the standards as students have the entire year to meet their grade-level CCSS. Get organized! Figure out what sections to include in your curriculum guide.  As a teacher, here's what is most useful:   - a Prior Knowledge section with discussion or writing prompts that students complete BEFORE they begin reading.  A good prompt relates students' prior experiences to themes in the book, and gets them excited and motivated to read.  For Dare to Dream . . . Change the World,  a poetry anthology, we have students find examples of poetry in commercials, songs, greeting cards, and nursery rhymes so they realize poetry...

The adoption  of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) by all but four states presents an unprecedented opportunity for publishers and authors. For the first time, teachers across the nation are teaching the same English standards.  What are the Common Core State Standards?  The CCSS are specific benchmarks, divided by grade level, that students should master by the end of each year in a certain subject. At this point, there are only standards for Language Arts and Math.  The L.A. standards are divided into Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language.  They are pretty specific.  For instance, one of the Reading Standards for 8th grade reads:                 3. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and  analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of ...

Fiction writers have viewed the adoption of the Common Core standards with skepticism. And maybe with good reason. These new standards require teachers to focus much more time on Informational text. Staff lounges and department meetings across the country are also abuzz right now with what this means for curricula. In actuality, the document and its standards are well organized, well-written, and a realistic interpretation of what we want kids to know and do at the end of each school year. For us, curriculum writers and teachers, the CCSS are refreshing. The adoption of the CCSS by all but 5 states is merely an outgrowth of a decades long push to incorporate standards-based teaching into schools. There were (and actually still are) 50 distinct state standards for major subject areas. Now, we have ONE set of standards for math and English for most of the country. Finally, we in the education world can talk the same talk and collaborate on promoting best practices. But what does th...

With the adoption and transition to the common core standards, teachers across the country are going to be looking for new ways to cover these more detailed student learning objectives. This is an opportune time for authors to get their books in teachers' hands, which equates to greater sales, more opportunities for speaking engagements, and longevity. Having a curriculum guide that accompanies your book sweetens the deal for most teachers. What is a curriculum guide? A solid curriculum guide includes all the necessary components for teaching a novel in an engaging way, while still reflecting the Common Core Standards. The most useful guides are those that are explicitly tied to the standards; pull out key, grade-appropriate vocabulary; offer a wide assortment of engaging activities for students to be involved in; contain thoughtful and spiraled discussion questions; and have at least one writing prompt. What's most helpful to a teacher--who is juggling so mu...