Surprise! We updated our Core Paths
When we were first creating Garbanzo, we knew it was important to write and organize lessons aimed at specific levels, but we wanted to do so in a proficiency-oriented, comprehension-focused way.
It’s why we focused on making sure all of our Core Paths (Core15, Core25, etc) had enough variety in lessons with regards to topics, vocabulary, length, and more.
For the past five years, our Core Paths have delivered input-rich reading to students, helping them efficiently acquire language while enjoying the process.
Now, we’re taking it one step further by launching new and improved Core Paths for Spanish Core5, Core15 and English Core10 – and totally new Core Playgrounds!
Why the change
With each new lesson launch, our Core Paths lesson library grew, but there was just one problem: we had WAY too many lessons in each path! Students that were assigned a path felt like it was the reading equivalent of running a marathon.
Additionally, the paths didn’t present a natural progression from lesson to lesson. There was just TOO much content.
We didn’t want to just shuttle these lessons off the site, or dump them into some random holding area for an unspecified amount of time, especially since we knew these lessons were ones students LOVED reading!
The solution? Create a new place to store lessons called Core Playgrounds for students who have completed all the required lessons on the path.
Paths vs Playgrounds
The easiest way to think about the new organization of our Core lessons is this: you have to take a path to play at a playground.
All of our Core Paths have lessons that should feel more or less easy to learners on the path. One or two lessons might present a challenge, depending on a student’s individual journey, but for the most part, progressing along the Core Path will feel natural.
The Playground lessons are different. Just like not all children are ready or interested in every obstacle on a school playground, so will different students have different levels of readiness and preference when it comes to playground lessons. All of our Core Playgrounds correspond to a Core Path, which means that they’ll have the same vocabulary, but they’ll vary in terms of material.
As mentioned above, some Core Playground lessons might be more challenging--maybe because they use a different verb tense than the learner is used to. Others may present information in a new format (ie, a news article instead of straightforward story).
Either way, the Core Playground lessons are NOT available to students until after they’ve completed the Core Path lessons. We’ve done this intentionally to make sure that learners are adequately prepared for lessons they might encounter in Core Playgrounds.
All of our content is school appropriate, but if your administration doesn’t approve lessons around certain topics, we suggest previewing the Core Playground lessons before assigning them. The Playgrounds are where you’ll find Garbanzo content that is appropriate for some contexts, but not all contexts--things like news articles on controversial topics, stories with tragic endings, and more.
Overall, we’ve optimized the following Core Paths and even created a NEW one! As of yet, the Spanish Core15 Core Path is the only one with a corresponding playground.
Spanish
Core5 (included in the free trial)
Core15 (included in the free trial)
English
Core10 (included in the free trial)
How does this change your classroom?
This Core Path optimization shouldn’t change things in your classroom too much, except that if you’re already assigned certain lessons to students, you may not be able to assign the same ones to any new students who enter the class.
We’ve created a reference document to help with the transition, called the Garbanzo Core Path Transition document.
What's next
Moving forward, we’ll be adopting the Path/Playground combo for all our Core Paths, and updating them to reflect that.
