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T3: Instructional Resources

    The search for quality questions, texts, tasks, etc. to use during instruction can often be a struggle. It isn't that there are not enough resources out there. There are plenty. But who has time to search the 1.6 million Google hits for the best resource to use in next week's lesson? I have found that having a brief list of go-to websites shortens my search and streamlines the planning process. Quality over quantity. I came across two sources that I wanted to share that would be helpful for math and English/Language Arts. Add these to your toolbox of resources.

    The first one is exclusively math, but has a huge bank of challenging math problems for all grade levels and math domains. The site is called Open Middle, and it is a resource co-developed by Robert Kaplinksy. He also has his own website with a plethora of math resources. Open Middle has a very basic, user-friendly website; it is easy to navigate to the grade level and domain of your choice. There are questions based on different topics within the Common Core standards. All questions require higher order thinking and problem solving, and there can be more than one way to solve many of the problems. Here's a 4th grade example within the Operations and Algebraic Thinking Domain:


    Many of the problems are formatted this way, requiring students to use the digits 1 through 9 only one time to achieve a goal. If students are stumped, hints are available. There are also answers provided for teachers to verify accuracy. This would be great to use as a problem of the day, to build into Number Talks, or as early finisher questions. Check it out!

    The second website is called Achieve the Core and provides resources for both math and ELA. You can create a free account so that you can save resources to view at a later time. For ELA, you can find short passages, questions, tasks, student writing samples, prompts, rubrics, and assessments. Some of the lessons reference books that are not included in the set, but check your library for these books if you are interested in using the questions. For math, there are lesson plans, sample questions, tasks, and assessments. All of these resources are aligned to Common Core Standards by grade level.
There are a few additional tools on Achieve the Core that I thought were pretty neat. There is a digital lesson planning tool as well as an observation rubric that can be used for self-assessment or peer observation. It is definitely worth a look!

    What are your go-to places for resources? Add them in the comments to share with other teachers!

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