The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are on many teachers’ minds this school year, and the Library of Congress is ready to help. The Library’s teacher resources are a great fit for teachers trying to meet key CCSS goals, including critical thinking, analyzing informational texts, and working with primary sources. They’re all free, and finding them is as easy as going to www.loc.gov/teachers.
Hundreds of Library of Congress lesson plans, primary source sets, presentations and more—all based on authentic primary sources from the Library’s online collections—are now aligned to the CCSS, to state content standards, and to several national organizations’ standards.
The Library’s updated Search by Standards tool makes it easy to find the resources you need to meet your Common Core or state standards. Select your state, grade level, and subject for a list of Library of Congress teaching materials aligned to those standards. Or, once you’ve found a lesson plan or primary source set that you’d like to use, one click will show you which of your standards that particular item meets.
All of your search results are easy to share or print, so you can pass the word to other teachers using your favorite social media tools. And you can continue to read the Teaching with the Library of Congress blog to learn more about how Library of Congress primary sources and teaching resources can help you find success with the Common Core State Standards.
If you’ve used Library of Congress primary sources to meet Common Core State Standard standards—or can think of good strategies for doing so–please let us know in the comments.
Comments (4)
Why is the LoC promoting CCSS?
Does anyone know if there is any pending legislation in Congress that will tie performance on the upcoming 2014 Common Core Assessments with Fed funding – i.e., Title 1?
In response to George:
The Library’s primary source-based teacher resources and professional development can help teachers in a wide range of instructional environments. A few years ago, in response to teacher requests, we implemented our Search by Standards functionality for state content standards, and since have heard from Common Core teachers asking if CCSS searching could be added.
We’re happy to discuss the ways in which Library of Congress primary sources can be used in your particular classroom. Please let us know what you’d like to hear about!
Nearly all states have adopted the Common Core State Standards. It is entirely appropriate for the Library of Congress to respond to needs that arise from the field. To provide guidance as this blog and the Search by Standards feature do is merely a recognition that teachers must teach to these standards. Teachers and students will make good use of the resources.