Weekly Reading 7

 

I can honestly say that knowing a lot about common core and being able to teach using common core are two different areas of my teaching ability at this time.  I am able to say that I know "something" even if that means not doing as much in action as I would like.  I do believe that change is always going to happen no matter what the standards are and while change is not easy it is needed to continue to do better.  My concern is what seems to be this massive umbrella that has been put over the standards that educators are just supposed to align themselves with.  I am thankful that while attending FSU our professors had enough insight to also teach us in common core so that when other professionals ask I am able to give an answer. 

Because the standards are the roadmap for successful classrooms, and recognizing that teachers, school districts, and states need to decide on the journey to the destination, they intentionally do not include a required reading list. Instead, they include numerous sample texts to help teachers prepare for the school year and allow parents and students to know what to expect during the year.
The standards include certain critical types of content for all students, including classic myths and stories from around the world, foundational U.S. documents, seminal works of American literature, and the writings of Shakespeare. The standards appropriately defer the majority of decisions about what and how to teach to states, districts, schools, and teachers. (http://www.corestandards.org/other-resources/key-shifts-in-english-language-arts/).


This to me describes the power of representation.  Every standard that we teach or common core objective  are subjective in nature.  We interpret what we think from what we are reading and then attempt to teach and help our students think for themselves.  We do all we can to help them to continue to ask questions and keep their curious nature in one piece before the spoon feeding of education take over and they have no more desire.