Creatively Teach the Common Core Literacy Standards With Technology: Grades 6-12

by Catlin R. Tucker

Let technology pave the way to Common Core success.

Engage your students by delving into the Common Core ELA standards with the tools they use the most. As you explore the creative road to academic success, with the Common Core ELA and literacy standards—you will turn your classroom into a student-centered learning environment that fosters collaboration, individualizes instruction, and cultivates technological literacy. Features

Specific recommendations for free apps and tech tools that support the Common Core Step-by-step guidelines to breaking down standards by grade and subject Teacher-tested, research-supported lesson ideas and strategies Replicable resources, including prewriting activities and writing templates Real-life examples

Genres: School

232 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 16, 2015

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

An expert in edtech integration, one of Catlin Tucker’s earliest works, Creatively Teach Common Core Literacy Standards with Technology Grades 6-12, is a comprehensive look at the reading and writing standards. She differentiates the Common Core from the previous standards as a “...shift from what students must know, the emphasis on content and minutiae, to what they should be able to do with that information, the skills they need to develop” (Tucker, C., 2016, p. 1). She explains the progressive nature of the Common Core literacy standards, describing technology tools and implementation strategies, all in an easy-to-read, pragmatic style that appeals to educators across multiple disciplines. Throughout the book is the overarching theme that classrooms move to a student-centered model where technology can be leveraged to deepen students’ understanding and application of knowledge.

Author's Qualifications
Tucker is an internationally recognized leader in education, known for using blended learning to deepen and enrich students’ learning experiences (Catlin Tucker, 2020). A Certified Google Educator, she earned the Teacher of the Year Award for Sonoma County in 2010. In addition to teaching high school English, she is a CUE keynote speaker, author of several books on technology and blended learning, as well as the host of The Balance podcast. Her Youtube channel boasts over 8,350 subscribers with videos for teachers, students, and anyone interested in improving education (Catlin Tucker, n.d.). She believes in teaching skills necessary to help students become successful in whatever arena they choose after high school (Colt Briner, 2018).

Theme: The Design of Common Core and Knowledge Application
Tucker discusses the Common Core Standards and practical strategies to bring technology into a low-tech environment. The CCSS challenges students to apply communicative, collaborative, research, higher-level thinking, and digital literacy skills. Literacy is a “‘shared responsibility’” across multiple content areas and “it is crucial that students regularly read different types of texts -- fiction, nonfiction, and informational -- and write for various audiences and purposes” (Tucker, 2016, p. 5-6). Encouraging students to bring their own device makes educational technology possible, despite strained budgets. She reminds educators to establish norms and design collaborative opportunities to develop students’ technology and media fluency, highlighting her “go to” apps such as Socrative, Animoto, Evernote, and Instagram, providing implementation/lesson ideas for each.

Theme: Reading and Writing Standards
The next chapters cover the reading and writing standards. She explains text complexity and the push for informational text, suggesting pairing fictional literature with nonfiction and using programs like Newsela and StudySync to do so. She provides strategies for digital annotation, enhanced with collaborative tools such as Google Docs and Padlet. As she discusses argumentative, informative, and narrative writing, showing how technology helps teachers meet learners where they’re at by “creat[ing] and shar[ing] digital templates to scaffold writing in its early stages,” (Tuckler, 2016, p. 80). For each genre, she presents a visual representation of the scaffolded standards, the purpose, description, explanation, and digital/tech resources (such as templates and apps) to use when teaching the genre.

Theme: Literacy Skills
Chapter 7-9 discusses literacy skills of research, language, and communication. Using the features and tools of Google’s search engine, students acquire formal and informal research opportunities to “find, evaluate, analyze, and apply the information that is all around them and easily accessible from the little computers many of them carry in their pockets” (Tucker, 2016, p. 132). To improve language skills, Tucker suggests Grammarly, a tool that highlights errors, helping students identify corrections. For vocabulary, she recommends using the flipped classroom model so that class time is spent applying knowledge. Technology provides equitable opportunities for communication; students who are less likely to participate in class are given a voice when discussions are delivered through an asynchronous digital platform.

Theme: Looking Ahead
The final chapter of the book serves somewhat as a call to action -- challenging educators to try “one new tech tool at a time” (Tucker, 2016, p. 193). The career choices current students will fill have yet to be created, therefore, it is necessary that students cultivate critical thinking skills, autonomy, and creativity. Leveraging technology has the capability to breathe life back into students’ work, creating meaningful and relevant learning experiences through authentic audiences and global connectivity.

Critique
Overall, this is a well-written, informative, and practical guide to teaching the literary standards and infusing them with the power of technology. Tucker’s language is succinct. From the beginning of the book, she acknowledges that literacy spans multiple content areas. Thus, she writes for a multidisciplinary audience. She provides tools geared toward history and science teachers as well. Secondly, the tools and strategies shared are pragmatic and accessible to educators of all tech backgrounds. Included are multiple layers of support: step-by-step instructions, live links to all of the resources presented, as well as detailed implementation strategies are provided. Third, the visual presentation is appealing and manageable. With so many resources in one text, she crafts nothing short of an encyclopedia of literacy tech tools for teachers, yet the format makes the information easily accessible. The headings and subheading are clearly evident. There is an abundance of figures and tables to supplement and represent the written text. She provides images of: templates she’s created to support student literacy across multiple subjects; screenshots of programs that she employs such as StudySync and Newsela; and images of student exemplars.

Though this book was written four years ago, Tucker’s principles endure the evolution of technology. Though apps and programs continually update and add features, what doesn’t change is the objective of technology integration: to provide students with opportunities to deepen their understanding and apply their knowledge. Throughout the pages of the book is woven Tucker’s central message, that though there are a plethora of tools and strategies that can be employed, what matters most is that students are able to take what they’ve learned in the classroom and apply it to life outside the confines of the classroom walls.


References

Briner, C. (2018, October 8). Catlin Tucker on Education in the Exponential Age [Video file].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll7T0...

Catlin Tucker. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/user/catlintu...

Catlin Tucker. (2020, April 28). Spectrum TV -- Interview with Catlin Tucker [Video file].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIjEF...

Tucker, Catlin. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://catlintucker.com/

Tucker, Catlin. (2016). Creatively teach the common core literacy standards with technology
grades 6-12. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent ideas for using technology to blend instruction. The 2016 publication date means examining new technology for integration.

[Jennifer Margeson]

Some very helpful ideas for 20-21 school year

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent resource for ELA teachers. Although I was familiar with most of the suggested apps, Tucker did an excellent job outlining real world uses for classroom teachers. She also tied them to standards. As a high school level teacher if 9th graders , I look forward to trying some of her strategies with my students.

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summary

Caitlin R. Tucker’s (2016) book, Creatively Teach the Common Core Literacy Standards with Technology, is a valuable compilation of concrete technological resources for middle and high school teachers. Every technology tool or strategy is explicitly linked to the Common Core Literacy standards. The book begins with an overview of technology and the skills that are at the heart of the Common Core. This overview includes a description of the SAMR Framework, a great starting point for any discourse on educational technology. The subsequent chapters outline lesson plan ideas and technological tools to support different sections of the Common Core: the reading standards, argumentative writing, informative writing, narrative writing, research, language, and speaking and listening. The final chapter looks to the future of emerging technologies within education.
There are key elements of this book that have already proven useful in my own practice. In chapter 3, Tucker outlines the progression of the reading standards. Tucker’s staircase of gradual progression, outlining how a standard progresses throughout the grade levels, has proven very helpful in my own work on scope and sequence at my district.
“Identifying the skills targeted in the grades before and after the grade you teach is an advantageous exercise. It helps create clarity about where to begin the year, and ultimately, where students should end the year in terms of their skills. The Standards act like a staircase and become gradually more challenging as students progress up the staircase...As students advance through school. The reading skills gradually move them from asking and answering questions in early elementary to citing and analyzing textual evidence in high school” (Tucker, 2016, p. 34).
A helpful resource from chapter 4 is argumentative paragraph structures for sixth, seventh and eighth, and ninth through twelfth grades. It is helpful to have a resource that shows what writers in different grade levels should be expected to accomplish. The directions for downloading Tucker’s templates are extremely clear and comprehensible. Here is an example of her instructions for downloading a digital template for a 7th and 8th grade argumentative paragraph:
“1. Make sure you are signed into your Google account.
2. To find the Argument Paragraph Template for 7-8th Grade, go to http://goo.gl/efSfEK (*case sensitive).
3. Click “File” on the Google Docs.
4. Select “Make a Copy,” and you will be prompted to give your copy a name.
5. It will be saved automatically in your Google Drive” (Tucker, 2016, p. 70).
In Chapter 4: Narrative Writing, Tucker shares a technology tool that is new to me. She uses Google Story Builder to have students practice dialogue by creating stories that are conveyed exclusively through dialogue. “‘Let your characters talk.’ This is my mantra when we write” (Tucker, 2016, p. 110). Interestingly, one of the steps in using Google Story Builder is to select music as a soundtrack that helps convey the tone of the story. This helps engage students and make them excited to share their stories with each other, with a unique URL that Google Story Builder generates for each completed story.
Rather than simply discussing the value of gamification in the classroom, Tucker provides real activities that are quick and easy to incorporate gamification in the classroom. In Chapter 5: Rethinking Research, Tucker introduces Google A Day, a free game by Google that provides three trivia questions every day. “Students are timed and receive points based on how long it takes them to correctly answer each question. Each question is worth a certain number of points...The faster students search, the higher their scores will be” (Tucker, 2016, p. 136).
Critique
Oftentimes the books we seek out for professional development give us theoretical frameworks to create our own curriculum within. This is all well and good, but sometimes as teachers we need to be handed tools and strategies that are ready to use, no assembly required. Caitlin Tucker equips readers with a tool belt of different technologies to be used for various jobs. This promotes technology fluency for students, who will be able to navigate many different technologies. This enables students to be technology fluent in the rapidly changing world of emerging technologies.
Author’s Qualifications
Caitlin R. Tucker, like any quality educator, wears many hats. Beyond being a high school language arts teacher, Tucker is a Google Certified Teacher, CUE Lead Learner, facilitator, trainer, consultant, speaker, and author. Much of her authority on integrating technology in the classroom comes from her experience teaching online college level writing classes, which has developed her passion for blended learning. Other works by Tucker include Blended Learning for Grades 4-12, Creating a Google Apps Classroom, and articles in Educational Leadership, OnCue, and the Teacher Librarian Journal. In 2015, she delivered an EdTalk, entitled “Connect Students to an Authentic Audience.” She has a master’s degree in education from UC Santa Barbara and is currently earning her doctorate from Pepperdine University.