Common Core
I finally got to sit down between conferencing with students today and look up some stuff on the Common Core. I honestly had not heard of Common Core prior to this class. I know that some of you referred to it in our last meeting but I didn't know what you were talking about. I've been out of the classroom a while so they were still using PASS standards here in Oklahoma the last time I taught middle school. I also don't have children of my own so I haven't really had much exposure to what has been going on in public schools for a while. I googled "Common Core" and found the main web site that discusses what these standards are as well as which states and territories have adopted them. I was surprised at how recent this was, it looks like this was just adopted by Oklahoma in 2009-10 and is expected to be fully implemented by 2014-15. After reading about the standards, I honestly think that they could be a really good thing. The thought of having national standards is encouraging and if everyone gets on board could potentially be tremendous for students and teachers. I love the idea of some sort of common goals--some consistency. I also liked the fact that it is presented that these core standards are designed to be relevant to what student's need in the real world. I found it very encouraging that those who had worked on these standards, referenced other countries so that our standards would be more in line globally as well.
I know that oftentimes people are resistant to change, I definitely observed this when I was teaching in public schools. If you really read about the standards, it doesn't really appear to be just totally off the wall, gigantic changes other than in some of the early math sequencing. It actually still allows a lot of freedom to teachers in what they want to teach. So, if people give it a chance, they will see that a lot of the things they have been doing (if they have been following state standards already) will probably still be applicable with the possibility of some tweaks here and there. It isn't re-inventing the wheel! I really see a lot of positive potential with these standards!
I guess if I were to have a fear about these standards, it would be that it ends up a "fad" that falls to the wayside like a lot of other "big" things in education have in the past. I would think, though, just looking at the scope of this that this won't be the case--however, it is going to take everyone to make this change turn out right. I know that I had plenty of teachers in my building that weren't even really doing what was necessary for the PASS standards. So, accountability is a big key here.
To become more knowledgeable about these would is not difficult. I found a lot of information on the Internet. I also found information on our Oklahoma State Department of Education web-site. Because these have been adopted by the state, I'm sure resources as well as training will be widely available.
I have not yet taught in a public school classroom, but I agree sometimes people are just resistant to change. I have looked at the PASS standards for prek and sometimes I wonder how in the world I will ever be able to be sure that each child in my class is proficient in everything. It is a bit overwhelming. There is so much that is expected to be done and there does not seem to be alot of explanation or accountability.
ReplyDeleteLindsay, I bet it is overwhelming! I've never looked at the early childhood/elementary required skills but I'm sure that it is a lot just because this is such a formative time for them. The information that Patsy shared with us was very interesting. As I mentioned above, I do think the consistency that these Common Core skills could bring is wonderful. It does, however, make me sad that the state is jumping in so quickly with so much that is ill-defined. I think the change is needed, but I think that there should be a solid foundation to hook the rope to before you go jumping off the side of the cliff! I hope that the information/explanations come about and are helpful for you all out there in the trenches!
DeleteI am really excited about Common Core as well, and share your fear that it will be a passing fad. Working with both student and science communication, I get a very close look at the difficulties and deficiencies of communication at many levels. My hope is that the reading and writing standards will better prepare students for the arguments they will write in all of their college classes. I also hope that we will begin to forge a generation that will be very comfortable translating between technical-speak and normal-speak. This is a skill that many scientists lack.
ReplyDeleteFor example, I was working with a student the other day who was writing (to a broad audience) about what he does in physics - preparing whoosits on the whatsit program to measure the vibration patterns of neutrons and calibrating 3.2 megapixel digital displays for the long range thingerdoo. Now, I'm a scientist and pretty good at technical speak, but clearly I remember nothing important about what he said. Come to find out, these projects were weighing particles tinier than atoms (can't just put those on a scale) and engineering what will be the newest and best telescope in the next few years (space is always cool).
I am so glad he totally got what I was telling him, because his science is really cool to "everyday people" once they can understand what he's saying. My hope is that Common Core will help more students come to college with these sorts of skills in place. Is my dream of better communicators just pie-in-the-sky? What do you think?
Yes, I agree that communication is tricky. After having worked with physicians and observing those who break things down to an understandable level for patients and their families and those who just speak like a medical textbook, I have the same hope that you do for better science communications skills. I don't think it is a dream or something unattainable. I think the key is for students to learn and then turn around and find a way to teach it to someone (like themselves) who knows nothing about what they learn. I think getting students to interact with those older and younger than themselves is helpful also in the communication aspect. If they can explain something to someone younger, then it forces them to break information down to a different level. I think it is all about them learning empathy in a knowledge based setting--if they can look at someone 5 years younger than themselves and realize the cognitive difference between that person and themselves and then construct how to communicate to that person, they will overcome the gap in communication you were describing. It's all about getting them to see how others might perceive their communication and how they can make it better????? Getting kids to communicate (or teach) their skills/knowledge to someone else of a different level would be a great assessment tool---what is it we often hear, "to teach something to someone else requires a good understanding of what your subject is".
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