The Common Core. Are you shuddering at the mention? Anxious about the yelling match you might find yourself in the middle of? Sick of hearing about it, especially from politicians? Yes, the Common Core is a hot-button issue for education that is making waves in parenting groups, teachers unions, and political parties. You’ll be hard pressed to find a more controversial topic in education right now.
But if we want to understand the Common Core (as I urge everyone with an opinion to try to do!), we need to strip it down to it’s… core. (Sorry, I had to.)
Let’s set parents complaints about difficult homework aside. Let’s set politics aside. Let’s even set testing aside (as the Common Core doesn’t technically have anything to do with the high-stakes assessment discussion). Once we have stripped away all the contentious add-ons that have been implemented with the Common Core but aren’t actually a part of it, we can examine the Common Core for what it is: standards for what students should be able to do by the time they graduate from high school.
But if we want to understand the Common Core (as I urge everyone with an opinion to try to do!), we need to strip it down to it’s… core. (Sorry, I had to.)
Let’s set parents complaints about difficult homework aside. Let’s set politics aside. Let’s even set testing aside (as the Common Core doesn’t technically have anything to do with the high-stakes assessment discussion). Once we have stripped away all the contentious add-ons that have been implemented with the Common Core but aren’t actually a part of it, we can examine the Common Core for what it is: standards for what students should be able to do by the time they graduate from high school.
Disclaimer: I’m a Literacy Specialist, with a Masters in Literacy. While I enjoy math, I don’t claim any knowledge over the CCSS for Math. So this article is about the CCSS: English Language Arts.
When I graduated from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2010 and got a job teaching 11th grade British Literature and 8th grade Literature, the CCSS draft had just been released in Minnesota. The standards weren’t required to be implemented until the 2013-2014 school year, but as a brand new teacher I adopted them in my classroom right away because it made sense to plan my curriculum using them so I wouldn’t have to switch later. To prepare, I spent some time reading them (again, as I urge everyone with an opinion to do!) and found that the aim of the standards resonated with me, especially their description of what a College and Career-Ready students looks like.
Descriptions of a Literate Individual from the CCSS
- They demonstrate independence.
- They build strong content knowledge.
- They respond to the varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline.
- They comprehend as well as critique.
- They value evidence.
- They use technology and digital media strategically and capably.
- They come to understand other perspectives and cultures.
Of course as a brand new teacher, most of my time was spent writing lesson plans the night before and adjusting to an adult schedule after four years of college. Luckily, the school I was at provided the English teachers with professional development time to sort through the standards to align curriculum K-12. The standards were slowly nudging their way from my peripheral vision into the forefront of my thoughts.
The next year, I moved on to an 8th grade English position at a new school, and I brought my beginning understands of the CCSS with me. As I thoughtfully set up my room, hanging motivational posters and anchor charts for students, I also spent time thinking about the things I would spend my time looking at. Next to my desk was my bulletin board of important information: number of students in each class, the school’s address, the school calendar, phone numbers, and a poster of what the CCSS say a literate individual should do. I didn’t have a textbook to read a script from or a curriculum map to follow. I was (thankfully but terrifyingly) allowed to create my own path for students. I started the year by showing students this Prezi, explaining to students how the skills taught in English (the skills in the CCSS!) would help them to become powerful.
The next year, I moved on to an 8th grade English position at a new school, and I brought my beginning understands of the CCSS with me. As I thoughtfully set up my room, hanging motivational posters and anchor charts for students, I also spent time thinking about the things I would spend my time looking at. Next to my desk was my bulletin board of important information: number of students in each class, the school’s address, the school calendar, phone numbers, and a poster of what the CCSS say a literate individual should do. I didn’t have a textbook to read a script from or a curriculum map to follow. I was (thankfully but terrifyingly) allowed to create my own path for students. I started the year by showing students this Prezi, explaining to students how the skills taught in English (the skills in the CCSS!) would help them to become powerful.
Then I spent the next three years trying to create students who were literate - developing their critical thinking skills, their ability to cite evidence to support opinions, their questioning skills, how to use technology, and the list goes on. Every once in a while I would watch the Prezi or read the poster to remind myself that my purpose was not to make just readers or just writers. I was here to make students that were LITERATE individuals, who would bring these skills to our society as they became adults:
Do you want your boss to have these qualities? How about your colleagues or employees? Family members? Your children? How about the people who will run this country in 30 years?
Are the CCSS: ELA challenging? Absolutely. Are they time-consuming to plan for and implement? Of course. Are they scary because they ask us approach education differently? Yes. Are they divisive? Obviously. Are they misunderstood? I think so.
If you forget about the politics and the testing and the parent complaints, and remember that the standards are aiming to create individuals who are literate, the CCSS don’t seem so bad. I like the CCSS for the focus on evidence, critical thinking, communication and collaboration, multiple perspectives and freedom to use my own judgement about HOW I meet the standards and with WHAT.
One of the truths I’ve learned in education is that teaching is a job that you can never perfect. There will always be something more you could of done: a lesson you could have taught better, a discipline situation you could have handled better, a student you could have supported more. It can be incredibly frustrating and disheartening, but also wonderful. We are constantly able to improve what we do. Yes, the CCSS are divisive and challenging, and you won’t be perfect at them right away. But just think what our world might be like if we reach the goal of the standards and our students become literate individuals who are independent and knowledgeable and can comprehend, critique, use evidence, and think about other perspectives.
That is a world that I want to live in.
- They demonstrate independence.
- They build strong content knowledge.
- They respond to the varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline
- They comprehend as well as critique.
- They value evidence.
- They use technology and digital media strategically and capably.
- They come to understand other perspectives and culture.
Do you want your boss to have these qualities? How about your colleagues or employees? Family members? Your children? How about the people who will run this country in 30 years?
Are the CCSS: ELA challenging? Absolutely. Are they time-consuming to plan for and implement? Of course. Are they scary because they ask us approach education differently? Yes. Are they divisive? Obviously. Are they misunderstood? I think so.
If you forget about the politics and the testing and the parent complaints, and remember that the standards are aiming to create individuals who are literate, the CCSS don’t seem so bad. I like the CCSS for the focus on evidence, critical thinking, communication and collaboration, multiple perspectives and freedom to use my own judgement about HOW I meet the standards and with WHAT.
One of the truths I’ve learned in education is that teaching is a job that you can never perfect. There will always be something more you could of done: a lesson you could have taught better, a discipline situation you could have handled better, a student you could have supported more. It can be incredibly frustrating and disheartening, but also wonderful. We are constantly able to improve what we do. Yes, the CCSS are divisive and challenging, and you won’t be perfect at them right away. But just think what our world might be like if we reach the goal of the standards and our students become literate individuals who are independent and knowledgeable and can comprehend, critique, use evidence, and think about other perspectives.
That is a world that I want to live in.
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