Common Core Standards

             The Common Core State Standards requirements have become the core to teaching methods, which can be intimidating for veteran teachers. I believe that the common core is needed and very unique for its innovative ways of providing expectations, but also allowing space for curriculum design and approach. The CCSS helps students receive individualized instruction for their classroom needs.

             Many great points are clarified through this chapter with a clear and concise explanation. One being the adversities students face when living in a low poverty area. These students are at unfair odds when compared to the wealthy. When looking at student success, the goals are set for all students. There is not one goal for the " at risk " and higher goals for the wealthy,because of course this would not be far. So why jumble all students into one boiling pot? Well, I believe all students deserve the best education, all students deserve a chance to succeed. So it only makes sense to design a educational outline that promotes equality.

         These lines by Richard Beach, the author of Teaching to Exceed The English Language Arts Common Core State Standards really stood out to me, " Standards provide a definition of what is possible, but standards are not curriculum documents...It is teachers as knowledgeable and engaged professionals who are the most important factor in the improvement of adolescent literacy". The part that is uncomfortable for teachers is that they are not handed what to teach, but given specifics on what their teaching should reach. Becoming comfortable with your ability to reach students on a deeper level without being handed the answers is one thing that I am still learning and continuing to learn about myself through the CCSS.

        I find that the CCSS for the language arts is easy to understand yet set to develope a well rounded student. Students are not only required to apply skills, but are expected to reach further and further into a well synthesized idea or conclusion based on research and collaboration. I find that the higher in grade the more complex the ELA is . These standards help guide the expectations from plateauing. The student is expected to continue to grow by allowing them to expand their thoughts and ideas. This allows students to trust what they know and their ability to recreate.

      As Beach says, "Common Core is a road map for developing your own curriculum that is relevant to your unique students". I love this statement because the focus is on the students and not what sounds the easiest. Common Core may be on the newer side of discovery for teachers, but is a well rounded approach to teaching and learning that will continue to exist, why not master the technique.

My Thoughts on Chapter One of "Discussion in a Democratic Society"

           Although chapter one seemed to feel very repetitive and i often found myself thinking that I had just read the same point with a new label, I found this chapter to be very beneficial to teaching practices and even student learning. I would even go as far as saying that in my own ideal classroom i would like my future students to read this chapter. You can't begin to understand different ideas until you have had the opportunity to become exposed to it.

          This chapter is very informative for teachers, and students in describing what a productive classroom discussion should look like. The teacher role is very detailed and purposeful which has made me realize just how important teacher objectives and actions really are. Students also play a role in this teaching, this was a new idea for me. Students teach students through this process of collaborative exchanges. The chapter brings up many new ideas and perspectives for me and had me relating alot of this information back to myself. For example, the small story within the chapter described a teacher who had a real confident stand on a subject pertaining to the school board's actions, his stance was so strong that he had managed to convince himself that this was also going to be the same stance his students would take. Well long story short, he found himself proven wrong and also ended up learning more about the opposing views. This reminded me of myself in allot of ways. I feel that the majority of people would agree with my beliefs and feeling with regards to caring for other people. The more i read the more i realized that we must never go into a discussion believing that this will be the outcome.

            Another point to this article is that students should be heard, but also reigned in to allow for a clear, thought, and purposeful idea. Students, or even adults for that matter can enter a discussion with solely a emotional drive without any solid backing. It is important to feel a connection or passion for input, but we must also become smart contributors. We as teachers must pull this information out of them through follow up questions. Learning how to deal with unproductive comments is essential for me to become a good teacher and contributor to a in class discussion.

          Teachers should know when to shut up. This was eye opening for me as a future teacher. For some reason I had this idea that my students need lecturing and that my input was a essential part to their learning, but according to this, it is not always needed nor productive for student learning. All students should be heard. In order to do this, we must allow enough time in discussion for all students to participate. While in my student teaching i am experiencing that I am happy for any response! Even if it's the same kid with the constant need for attention that answered every question throughout my lesson! I had rather have any response, then be left embarrassed with no student participation, but through this article i have realized that it is more important for me to reach all student voice than to allow that one student to guide the discussion. It is my job to find that break-through.

9-23-2015

Blogging today for the first time, and I am finding it to be a little ackward, but mostly intimdating. I really shouldn't feel this way considering I am an English major so this should all be relevant and boring to me. I feel as though blogging would take up alot of my time, but hey so does flipping through my cabel channels hoping to find some juicy reality t.v. show. For some reason those dumb catty shows keep my attention. I cant figure out if I enjoy watching over aged women fight like someone slapped their momma because I am trying to understand them, or because they are so beyond my perception of reality that even the word reality has changed to entertaining. Anyway, none of this seem to making sense, maybe I should become a more productive student and read one of the twenty books.