Okay, am I the only person out there who didn’t know the term blob storage? A BLOb refers to “a collection of binary data stored as a single entity in a database management system. Blobs are typically images, audio or other multimedia objects” (thank you Wikipedia!). I love the term because I often feel that my brain, like a computer, is in the business of managing huge amounts of BLObs. And I love the related lingo that comes with the expression, such as, “Just blob that data over.”
I bring up BlObs because I was in the virtual audience for a webinar last week that focused on a couple of different school districts (both in Maryland) that are doing the hard work of getting ready to implement the new Common Core standards in their schools. Their efforts are impressive—and the amount of work involved made my head spin. BLOb overload?
We at Lerner Publishing Group, like our colleagues at other publishing houses in the school-library world, are of course working just as hard to prepare for the implementation of the CCSS. We want to facilitate the correlation between our titles and CCSS academic benchmarks so that librarians and teachers can see exactly how our books support a wide range of CC standards. It’s an exciting time because our mission has always been to provide materials that get kids thinking analytically, that encourage them to share what they’ve learned with others, that pair well with other fiction and nonfiction titles, and that approach any given topic from multiple angles. As just one example, we were recently outlining the ways in which one of our picture books might be used to support Common Core Standards for English Language Arts. We determined that this one title could support the anchor standards below.
Key Ideas and Details
–Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting
details and ideas.                                           
Craft and Structure
–Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and
figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.
–Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
–Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as
well as in words.
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
—Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.
[Because this particular picture book is also math-related, it could be used to support some of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics.]
–Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
Mathematically proficient students start by explaining to themselves the meaning
of a problem and looking for entry points to its solution. They analyze givens,
constraints, relationships, and goals. They make conjectures about the form and
meaning of the solution and plan a solution pathway rather than simply jumping into
a solution attempt.
–Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
Mathematically proficient students make sense of quantities and their relationships
in problem situations. They bring two complementary abilities to bear on problems
involving quantitative relationships: the ability to decontextualize—to abstract
a given situation and represent it symbolically and manipulate the representing
symbols as if they have a life of their own, without necessarily attending to
their referents—and the ability to contextualize, to pause as needed during the
manipulation process in order to probe into the referents for the symbols involved.
–Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
Mathematically proficient students understand and use stated assumptions,
definitions, and previously established results in constructing arguments. They
make conjectures and build a logical progression of statements to explore the
truth of their conjectures. They are able to analyze situations by breaking them into
cases, and can recognize and use counterexamples. They justify their conclusions,
communicate them to others, and respond to the arguments of others.
BLOb overload yet? Let us know how your school is getting ready to implement the CCSS. And check in again in two weeks for more from TFCB!
[photo: Drupal.org]