The Common Core State Standards for ELA Instruction in Grades 6-12

Until I entered this class, I honestly thought kids were still taking the WASL. I was so against standardized testing because we were being taught in a way that did not allow room for students who may learn differently. We were all being taught the same exact thing in the same exact way. I remember being so frustrated, especially in math, when my mom taught me a trick that helped me with fractions and my 6th grade teacher said I could not do it that way on the WASL test. There clearly needed to be some adjustments in the way in which students took standardized tests, as well as the manner in which we taught towards those tests rather than as a whole.

I am so excited that we are finally making a change in education, and I am so excited that I really get to be a part of this movement. I guarantee there will be some bumpy roads ahead for us as we step into implementing CCSS into our classrooms, but the authors of this article did a wonderful job of explaining what it looks like, how it works, and why it can not solve all of our problems. We have to understand that we as teachers can and should do everything possible to prepare our students for a bright future, but some things we simply cannot control. No matter what kinds of standards are being implemented into the education system, we will always have students who come from impoverished circumstances. What we can do is try our best to implement the CCSS into our classroom, and do our best to structure our classroom so that we are selecting readings that aren’t just in the “old dead white guys group.”

What I really love about these new standards is that they are preparing students, whether they choose to go to college or not, how to be successful after high school. By the end of 12^th grade, students should not only be able to comprehend a piece of literature, but history, science, and informational and technical texts. We want our students to be adjusted enough that if their boss asked them to read a manual on how to use new software at work, they would be able to fully comprehend it. That may sound silly and easy, but we don’t know what kinds of students we will have in our classroom and what their future endeavors may include. What we do know is that we want it as easy as possible for them to transition and adjust into college, as well as the working force.

I think that CCSS are going to be a difficult but much needed change in the education system. I am looking forward to learning more about them, and how it will shape my experience in college now as I work on my teaching degree.

Discussion as a Way of Teaching

The purpose of discussion is only partly to help students have a more informed understanding about the subject at hand; it more-so to have students engage in critique while enhancing their self-awareness, creating an appreciation for diverse opinions, and for you as the teacher to encourage students to make informed decisions and take action within their community.  Your goal as a teacher is to foster a place where students feel safe to vocalize their opinions, especially if they differ from the group. When we are able to at least understand where someone else has come from, maybe because of a personal experience or due to their background, it allows for open-mindedness and promotes human growth. We want to take our students, and transform their “they” mindset to “we” as often as possible.

I want to soak up every inch of pedagogical approach that I can. I have not taken any education classes in college until now, and so it fascinates me to read why things as small as “discussion as a way of teaching,” which I feel is so innate but clearly not easy to get students to engage in, is important to cultivate in the classroom. As a teacher, you are helping students to develop empathy, sympathy, and understanding to situations that may not touch them or circumstances they may not understand because it does not directly affect them. This can be hard for several reasons and on many levels.  However, the author discusses nine practices that not only we as teachers should be able to name and learn, but that we should have our future students be able to do the same, in order to have productive and educated discussions.

Finding ways to use discussion as a way to gently open minds, or at the very least, show students how to disagree with a viewpoint in a hospitable way, is greatly reading your students for their future and preparing them to enter into the world outside of their comfort zone. It is clear that, sometimes your class discussions will not go the way you want them to. However, discussion is a constant in the classroom, and by learning how to go with the flow, researching your students, and creating the conditions; you can only continue to improve its usefulness for learning. This will absolutely be something I will always be trying to implement and work into my own classroom, on a daily basis.