Cool Tool | myCore

This is Insight Education Group’s cloud-based platform for teachers and district leaders to plan and share lessons aligned to the Common Core State Standards and any other state standards. It can be accessed on a variety of devices via the Internet, including desktops and mobile devices. The platform walks teachers through a backwards-design lesson planning methodology (known as Strategic Design for Student Achievement) where they are encouraged to always keep the end in mind. Teachers begin by analyzing the standards with Bloom’s taxonomy, next build their summative assessments and then build out their units and lessons in alignment with the standards and summative assessment. In addition to creating units and lessons from scratch, myCore offers a library of dozens of units (and hundreds of lessons) in Math and ELA for grades K-6 that are aligned to the Common Core. The units and lessons provide educators with tangible examples of what it looks like to teach with the Common Core. Educators simply pull down relevant units and lesson to their dashboards and customize them according to the specific instructional needs of their students. The platform also provides teachers with access to real-time feedback from coaches as well as resources to assist in their process of creating strong instruction. After teaching their units and lessons, educators are encouraged to rate and reflect them. School and district leaders can use myCore to set benchmark assessment dates, track standards that have been taught, and view teachers’ units and lessons to provide them support. The educator-friendly interface is intuitive and requires minimal training. The support site (http://www.mycoreapphelp.com/screencasts.html) provides screencast videos to assist viewers with some of the main features and overall operating information, rounding off a solid teacher resource. Check it out.

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