Common Core State Standards for ELA

If you are in the field of education in any capacity you know what Common Core State Standards are, however, if don't work in education or have a connection to education then CCSS might be a new or foreign concept to you. So here is a brief description of what CCSS means; they are national standards that states have the option of adopting which set goals for student learning in specific grade levels and subject areas and since its implementation by many states in 2009 there has been debate among teachers, administrators, politicians and parents about how effective these standards are. 

As a future teacher, I have mixed feelings about CCSS. The idea of CCSS was to help students across states, schools, economic levels and identities become successful in college and beyond. It creates a system of checks that keep teachers accountable for what is happening in the classroom. That core philosophy is one I fully support! More students should be taught the skills to be successful in higher education and not feel that their personal circumstances or life experiences are hurdles to overcome. However, there are two large problems that I have with how CCSS are implemented. 

First is that CCSS continues this mindset that every student should go to college and I think we need to change that to every student can but doesn't need to go to college. We have too many young bright kids in this country that think in order to be anything of significance you have to have a diploma and that simply isn't true. If I have a student in my classroom that loves cooking or working are cars they should go to a trade school not college. If I have a student that loves tattooing or construction then they should graduate and try to enter the job field or get an internship. College is not the be all, end all of success; it helps but it's not a guarantee and I think as teachers we are doing a disservice to our students if we only ever talk about their future in terms of a college education. 

My second problem with CCSS is that the standards are only for Math and ELA. Since I plan to teach Social Studies and ELA I spend a lot of time shifting between CCSS and Washington's Social Studies Standards and it is hard to balance a number of standards there are. In ELA there are 22 standards each of 6th, 7th and 8th grade, for Math there are 29 in 6th grade alone. For Science and Social Studies there are a total of 10 standards each for 6th through 8th grade and not one of the standards is content based. As a student teacher, it is hard to love what I'm doing when I am more worried about what standard I'm using in my lesson then if my students are enjoying the learning process. It is hard to be excited to teach one day when I see my mentor teacher have to fight to be seen as valuable in his school and has to compete for resources with the Math and ELA departments. It is discouraging to see that my students seen little to no value in the lessons I create because they are worried that if they fail Math or ELA they will fail out of Middle School. I love ELA, I wouldn't be getting endorsed in it if I didn't enjoy teaching it. Yet I think CCSS is so focused on getting the students where we want them to be eventually that it doesn't take into consideration where they are now. I remember being a student, you remember the material until you take the test then it all goes out the window because you have to make room for all the information needed to pass the next test. I liked Social Studies because I wasn't learning for a test or to get into college, I was learning because I had fun. I think we need to stop teaching to the test and start teaching for the students. 

 I think CCSS is a great place to start, but I think we should continue building on the things that are working and fix the pieces that are broken because how and what we teach will directly impact the world around us and the future we live in. 

Discussion as a Way of Teaching by Stephen Brookfield

I have always loved discussions/debates centered around sharing ideas and opinions in a respectful and educational setting. In the almost five years I have spent in college the classes I feel I have learned the most in and remember the most material from, have been those which based a lot of the learning on classroom discussions. I have a passion for sharing my ideas and hearing how they differ from other peoples ideas, I find myself often playing the "devil's advocate" because I think there is always a shred of truth and validity in every side of the equation.

Yet as I read Stephen Brookfield's article about teaching students through different classroom discussions I found myself lost in the wide variety of methods presented and how I could apply them to my current group of middle school students.  I kept asking myself how a group  6th, 7th and 8th graders would respond to this? How could I avoid the Discussion from Hell scenario with Gary and still encourage participation? Where in my units of instruction would I place a classroom-based discussion? How do I encourage my young students to think for themselves and not just repeat the ideas and opinions of their parents?

As a student teacher, I am still learning how to answer those questions and I will probably never have a completely fool-proof response. However, as a teaching candidate and student, there were a few approaches I would personally respond to and feel could be implemented in my classrooms:

1. Critical Debate: I really like the idea of making each student think about and present information on both sides of the debate because it forces them to break the "us vs. them" mentality. It's easy for a person to come up with a million reasons why their opinion is the best one, but I think the best way for students to learn is to force them to question why they think that way and whether the opposite side is just a right.
2. Snowballing: This idea would be great in a class where there is a mix of introverted students and extroverted ones because it gives each student plenty of time to develop their thoughts and opportunities for students to encourage each other to participate. It also helps avoid the pitfall of having a few students dominate the class.
3. Newsprint: I could see myself using this in my classrooms the most because it combines speaking and writing, so more voices can be heard and students who don't like to share out loud and still have their opinions represented. It also allows students to really process what was discussed because they can see it in writing and are actually paying attention to what is being shared instead of what they are going to say next.
4. Questionnaire: I love this approach because it gives teachers feedback on how each student felt during a discussion, which gives us a chance to improve our teaching and improve the class experience.

Overall the article had a lot to offer, and I will definitely be discussing with my mentor teacher ways be can bring more discussion into the classroom. However, the article also highlighted for me areas of my teaching where I still need to grow, and that the best way I can add a piece of myself into my work is by knowing my students and always putting their needs and skills first.