3 Key Takeaways from the Core Advocates National Convening

-by Susan Hitt

No one understands the life of a teacher better than another teacher. This knowledge helps form instant bonds between near strangers when opportunities to meet and discuss our profession arise--like at conferences. I had this opportunity just a few short weeks ago at the National Core Advocates convening in Denver, Colorado. It was an incredible weekend of learning and networking.

For me, after attending any educational conference, I return to work excited to share with anyone and everyone all the helpful tips, tricks, and tools I learned. It was hard to pick just three from my most recent conference, but I narrowed it down to the following as my favorite, most impactful sessions:


1.) Mini-Assessments from AchievetheCore.org (presented by Jenni Aberli and Rob Woodworth)

First, these mini-assessments are amazing! They are aligned to the standards, are based on texts you probably are already using in your classroom, and even come with built-in rubrics to make grading even easier and more streamlined. Take a quick look at sample one dealing with Pride and Prejudice.

A few things to consider about the mini-assessments:

•Some mini-assessments are attached to a sample lesson on Achieve the Core. In these cases, teachers can conduct the lesson and then use the mini-assessment as a culminating activity (in conjunction with the writing prompt from the sample lesson). 

•Other mini-assessments stand alone and are not associated with a related sample lesson.

This video illustrates how to find and filter Achieve the Core's mini-assessments to use in your classroom. And it's FREE! 

2.) Tweet, Tweet, goes the Twitter Bird! 

Another session I attended had one of our district's very own members as a co-presenter, Andrea Raines! If you don't recognize the name, Andrea works with the beginning teachers in New Hanover County Public Schools and is phenomenal at her job! Andrea and the other presenters (Jeff Crayton and Claire Rivero) evaluated and discussed just how impactful twitter can be as an educational tool for teachers.  

Why is social media important for teachers, you might wonder? Just take a quick minute to watch the Internet in Real Time and you'll see why. Fascinating, right? In fact, leave that window open while you finish reading this blog post and then check back to see how quickly the stats have changed.

Let me stress that we can and should rely on our co-workers across the hall for help. Those relationships are essential to cultivating a happy and healthy school culture. But why not ALSO tap into the world of social media, in addition to those face-to-face relationships. 

I know that we, as educators, are hesitant to jump on the Twitter bandwagon. In fact, while I'm now a huge advocate for Twitter and all it has to offer for educators, I used to be just as big of a nay-sayer. Who needs that, I thought? It's just for celebrity gossip. Well, I'll be the first to admit that I thought wrong. It turns out I did need Twitter. And no, it's not just for celebrity gossip.  😊

Why should you embrace social media as an instructional tool? It allows for:

• Sharing ideas

• Partnering with other schools

• Gaining information

• Developing as educators

• Networking worldwide with other educators

Achieve the Core has an impressive twitter presence. I encourage you to check them out at @achievethecore and #coreadvocates. They're constantly updating educational materials on their site and subsequently sharing them via twitter. 

Want to learn more about Twitter for teachers? I'll be devoting an entire blog post focusing on this topic soon! Yes, Twitter deserves a blog post all to itself. 

3.) Blogging for Educators

Considering I'm relatively new to this whole blogging thing, this session, Blogging for Instructional Advocacy (presented by Bryan Drost, Sarah Galasso, Bob Janes, Claire Rivero, & Marni Greenstein) was one I was probably the most excited to attend. 

If you're thinking of starting your own educational blog, I walked away with some very helpful tips that I thought I'd share.

First, it's important to know why people read blogs:

Then it's important to remember these Best Practices for Blog Posts:

We also learned these tips on how to decide what to write about:

Finally, I thought I'd share with you Achieve the Core's blog: Aligned. 

Here are a few posts I thought you might enjoy. 

Limiting "Teacher Talk," Increasing Student Work 

Five Places for Trusted Resource Recommendations 

Four APPS to Redefine Your Language Arts Curriculum

If you have an educational blog, I'd love for you to share it in the comment section below! Or if you have a favorite blog you go to week after week for ideas and inspiration, please share that, too. 


Psssttt: Now, take a look at that tab you left open showing the Internet in Real Time. Amazing, right?!

-Susan Hitt