There was a clear pattern to the week: the crowds increased each day—and by Thursday, there was a waiting list for people who wanted to get into our packed sessions. (We’re scheduling a new event for them.) As the crowds grew larger, the attendees’ backgrounds got more diverse. When Sue and I began offering these workshops in August, almost all of the people who came were school librarians, and that held true earlier in the week. But by Thursday, more than half of the guests were public librarians, teachers, supervisors, and administrators. Geography played some part in this: the more rural the area, the smaller the crowd and the higher percentage of school librarians; as we moved into larger cities, more people attended and they worked in a wider variety of jobs. Yet, even if location was one reason for the change in attendance, there was a clear theme in the questions, discussions, and overall mood that matters to all of us: CC is no longer coming someday, it’s here.

As each day went by, the discussions became ever more practical and pragmatic. People were no longer questioning whether CC was a good idea or what it is or where to find basic information about it. Instead, they were talking about implementation: What can I do to make sure that Common Core is part of my next lesson or unit? It was this real-world practicality that made the event seem worthwhile to teachers and administrators. Perhaps the single most exciting aspect of the week was seeing these school teams arrive together and work together—the idea that Common Core will only succeed when everyone in the building works together (and the local public library is an informed, integrated, resource) was no longer an aspiration, it was an unfolding reality.

Of course, with the practical comes frustration. Here are some of the kinds of questions we heard:

“How can I do all of the wonderful work on evidence, argument, point of view, and juxtaposed sources that CC wants, when my shelves are filled with books that all use the same layout and same huge color images, and say little about their sources?” Our answer is to use multimodal resources—another CC mandate—juxtapose an article from a magazine or database with a book on your shelves. Look carefully with your students, are the books really identical? Do they all have page numbers, tables of contents, and references to experts that were consulted? Do the experts or the institutions they work at have websites where you can get new information? Do their sites recommend a book on the same subject written for older readers to compare and contrast?

Another important question we heard was, “How can I use longer nonfiction books by excellent authors in my class when the books are only in hardcover and cost too much?” One strategy to meet this challenge is to divide up your class into “literature circles” in which students thoughtfully discuss a work. Twenty-five kids can be divided into five groups of five: one might use that costly hardcover, which the library may have or be able to get through interlibrary loan; another group can use a paperback; a third can use an ebook that’s available to multiple users; a fourth can work from a magazine and a related database; and a fifth group might even find a relevant graphic novel. With this approach, the cost problem has been transformed into a differentiated learning opportunity. Of course, this means the teacher has to work closely with her librarian to select resources that fit together.

And then there was this dilemma: “Having a display on ghosts, are they real?, would be great, but I have too many parents in my community who would protest. I pick my battles and that is one I don’t want.” That isn’t a Common Core question—it’s an issue for how you run your library. But it’s true that in opening the door to evidence, argument, and point of view, Common Core will bring more controversial questions out in the open. The issue is no longer about giving one novel to one child, it’s about showing students the many ways in which library resources look at issues, including everything from global warming and fracking to animal testing and using instant replay at Major League Baseball games. Some parents are likely to object when they see a view they dislike on display. Where, I would respond, do you want your children to see these debates, on the Internet or in an environment where adults help them recognize different points of view and evaluate their arguments?

And finally, here’s another question that many in our audience grapple with: “I’m a public librarian and teachers come here, hand me a list of books that they say is Common Core–approved, and are mad when I can’t find them. Indeed, many are out of print.” That list is the infamous Appendix B to the Common Core English language Arts Standards. As the list clearly states, these books are exemplars, not selections (for more on this topic, see “The Problem with Common Core’s ‘Appendix B,’”). Push back by pointing out that nonfiction, in all areas, can’t be frozen in 2009. Instead, check out recent selections by the National Council for Teachers of English’s Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children, the National Council for the Social Studies and the Children’s Book Council Carter G. Woodson Book Awards, the National Science Teachers Association and the Children’s Book Council’s Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12, the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal, the Association for Library Service to Children’s Notable Children’s Books, and the Young Adult Library Services Association’s Award for Nonfiction for Young Adults. See if any of their award-winning books can meet the same needs.

Each of the above questions reflects real problems that aren’t easy to solve. But that’s what is so wonderful about them: they arise because Common Core is real, it’s here, it’s happening, and we’re learning, together, how to make it work.

Photo by Jupiterimages

We always warn kids not to “pile on”—adding an extra shove when another kid is already down. But in this case, I have to add my voice to Melissa Jacobs-Israel’s. Melissa has expressed her frustration with the Common Core’s infamous Appendix B: Text Exemplars and Performance Tasks, and I couldn’t agree more.Sadly, Appendix B isn’t down.

In fact, a big problem is that it’s standing all too tall. I’ve just heard that Massachusetts—the state that perennially leads the education pack—has endorsed it. As my wife recently pointed out to me, though, I’m a fixer: if something is wrong, I always assume there’s a way to correct it. So this column is neither a complaint nor a “me too,” but a proposed solution.

First the problem: friends—and that includes librarians, teachers, administrators, and publishers—telling schools to use Appendix B as a buying guide makes no sense. Student Achievement Partners, a New York–based nonprofit group, first promulgated the Common Core (CC) State Standards in 2010. Of necessity, the books the CC development team evaluated were from 2009 or (much) earlier. The CC team knew that, which explains why Appendix B offers not “must-have” lists but “exemplars.” These are the kinds of books the CC team of teachers and librarians found useful for supporting CC goals. They’re listed for your reference as examples.

Like many, I was surprised by the list: not merely the dated books for grades K–6, but the almost total absence of titles written for middle school and high school readers. As I said, I’m a fixer. So I found out who was responsible for crafting the list—Steve DelVecchio a bright former school librarian who now teaches in the library school at the University of Washington. Steve explained that a team of teachers tried out books in their classrooms (though they couldn’t get all of the titles they wanted) and then reported back on those that they found worked well to support the CC.

That’s fine as a process, but not as a guide: we have no access to what the teachers said, why they favored one book over another, which books they wanted and couldn’t get publishers to give them, or how they used them. So Appendix B is precisely the opposite of what it claims to be—the books (plus, 6 to 12 primary documents) are not “exemplars” because we have absolutely no way to know what they “exemplify.” Even an editor-friend-of-mine who was pleased to see books she had worked on appear on the list was totally baffled. Why those particular books by a certain author, when there are 20 others by the same writer in the same format that are not on the list? If the list stated what was valuable in that author and that format, libraries would know to select which of the 20 suited them, rather than dutifully purchasing the two that happened to be on the list. We can all say it in chorus, “That makes no sense.”

Enough. Let’s move on to solutions. One of the great values of CC is that librarians and teachers in 46 states will face similar challenges and can share their solutions. Sue Bartle, the school library system director for New York’s Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES, has started a new list of CC-enhancing exemplars, which better reflect what’s available in our library collections. These suggestions include annotations and information on why they are considered exemplars. It’s an open list, and everyone is welcome to add his or her suggestions and comments to it. Let’s build this list together, discuss it together, and craft it together to serve all of us as we implement the CC. Sue and I will have more to say about it in a feature we’re writing for SLJ.

Common Core tasks us to teach “critical reading” to young people, so that they are always questioning where information comes from and why the author reached his or her conclusions. We should be the same in our professional reading. Don’t accept a list because it exists: ask why, and then offer your own best insights. Help us build a “Better B” through our shared experience and intelligence, with all of our evaluation cards on the table. Appendix B will have served its purpose if it prompts us to be engaged readers sharing information we gather and stand by on our own. That’s the kind of example we need to set.