HELP - HOW CAN I GET THE MOST OUT OF MY CLASSROOM, INC. PROGRAM?

A. Yes to both. Students first take a Prior Knowledge Survey to help teachers gauge their students’ familiarity with the industry and its vocabulary. The results of this informal assessment help determine how much background information students might benefit from. The simulation includes some built-in informal assessments as well—for some activities, students cannot proceed if they have provided incorrect information or answers, and for others, students receive immediate feedback on their decisions.

Our formal assessments include a written reading/language arts test focusing on comprehension, vocabulary, and writing for each simulation episode, and, for those using our Complete Learning Environment (which includes a math program), math tests that include a pretest, five math topic tests, and a posttest. Assessment scoring guides or rubrics and class assessment record forms are provided. We also furnish rubrics for evaluating writing in the student handbook and for scoring content-area projects.
 

A. No. Since the program is designed to improve students’ collaborative problem-solving skills (they work in teams of three), self-guided individual use is not the best application of Classroom, Inc. curriculum materials. The program software is purchased by schools to be uploaded onto individual school computers or installed on a school network.

A. The nonfiction books have been chosen to match simulation themes and to span the multiple reading levels found in most classes today. Many of the overarching themes of the books—for example, civics and justice, the environment, the arts, and sports—are also
themes commonly featured in core reading or English/ELA anthologies. The libraries, which have five copies of five books and 25 copies of one book, were originally created to be part of a balanced literacy approach and to encourage students to pick the books THEY want to read. In addition, teachers can easily pair books with appropriate reading selections in their core curriculum, choosing different leveled books to support struggling and proficient readers alike. Your teacher planner will offer concrete suggestions for incorporating the Nonfiction Library.
 

A. The flexibility of our curriculum makes it perfect for many extended-day, after-school and out-of-school time (OST) programs. Our program has a wide variety of activities—including projects, the computer simulation, libraries and workbooks—to engage students in ways that the regular school day often does not. We will customize a schedule to allow our various program components to fit your after-school schedule flexibly. Recent examples of how we’ve been used successfully in these settings include enrichment programs and after-school programs that require a robust yet engaging academic component to add to a recreational program.

A. Classroom, Inc.'s interdisciplinary programs focus on literacy and math skill development, and we will customize our programs to meet your students’ course credit needs. Our curriculum can be tailored to provide a program for the number of hours your students need, for example, a 27-, 54-, or 108-hour course to meet NYC course requirements. Our experienced staff developer can work one-on-one with administrators and/or teachers to develop a course that fits students’ needs.

A. Classroom, Inc.’s programs are interdisciplinary. Whether you are teaching language arts, social studies, business, or another subject, you can integrate one of our programs into your curriculum—or use it to extend your curriculum—because each program provides literacy and math skill practice, as well as practice in standards-based skills for at least one additional content area, such as civics, performing arts, health, and the environment. Our simulation industries are thematically linked to commonly used grade-level curriculum content.

A. As part of our professional development, CI stays with your class throughout your experience with the program. One of our experienced staff developers is assigned to you to provide customized on-site support keyed to the needs of your classroom and valuable implementation ideas. We might, for example, model or co-teach a lesson, or meet with a group of teachers for feedback or to address specific issues raised by the group. We make sure you have all the resources you need to get the most out of our program. Separately, we also conduct follow-up workshops on topics such as “Using Classroom, Inc. to Differentiate Instruction” or “Classroom, Inc. and Your SMART Board™: A Seamless Partnership.”

A. Teachers attend an initial full-day training session. There they get hands-on computer time to learn the simulation software, and they are introduced to all aspects of the integrated curriculum and how it aligns to local and state standards. Teachers practice using sample simulation activities and learn whole-class games that can be used to extend instruction. For small groups of teachers not located in NYC, we often conduct trainings via web conferencing. Implementation staff work with teachers at the training session to develop a customized planner which defines how our program will be used.

A. Definitely. As our program has always stressed workplace readiness, collaborative problem-solving,
the deep comprehension of informational text, and content-area literacy, it exemplifies key underpinnings
of the Common Core Standards. Find out more about how Classroom, Inc. addresses CCS's Anchor Standards
in Reading, Writing, Speaking & Listening, and Language, as well as Literacy in the Content Areas and
Mathematical Practice.  And go here to see full alignments of each of our simulations to CCSs.