The Common Core Companion: The Standards Decoded, Grades 6-8: What They Say, What They Mean, How to Teach Them (Corwin Literacy)

“I love what Jim Burke has done to make the Standards less threatening and more useful for teachers. In particular, the indicators for what students and teachers should be doing, given the Standard, are extremely helpful; as are such a clear glossary and illuminating examples. All in all, The Common Core Companion is bound to be enormously useful and thus dog-eared!”

- Grant Wiggins, President, Authentic Education, Hopewell, NJ

That version of the 6-8 standards you wish you had

Don’t spend another minute poring over the standards. Jim Burke has already done the hard work for you  with this roadmap of what each standard says, what each standard means, and how precisely to put that standard into practice across English Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects. Jim clearly lays out:

• Grades 6-8 standards side by side with key distinctions


• Different content-area versions of each standard


• Explanations of each standard, with student prompts


• Content to cover, lesson ideas, and instructional techniques


• Glossary and adaptations for ELL students

A longtime English teacher, Jim Burke is the author of more than 20 books and senior consultant for the Holt McDougal Literature program. Jim has received several awards, including the 2000 NCTE Exemplary English Leadership Award. In 2009, he created the English Companion Ning—the largest online community of English teachers in the world. More recently, Jim has served on the AP English Course and Exam Review Commission and the PARCC Consortium.