After reading the Common Core Standards, we were asked to reflect on these questions: In connection with our recent assignments, what essential questions can you formulate about the CCSS. Please provide at least three. What do you notice about the content of the standards? Do you feel the content is a reflection of what your students need to know? Why or Why not? How will you align your curriculum to these standards? How do you know if you have aligned them well? What kind of assessment will be used to measure whether your students have met these standards?
Essential Questions
1. The Common Core Standards don’t seem to be very much different from the CLE’s except that they have even more requirements of students. However, students had trouble meeting the CLE’s before. I know that we should hold students to high standards, but is giving them more requirements really the answer?
2. Common Core suggests 70% of student reading should be nonfiction, but I believe there is as much, if not more, to learn from studying fiction. Why the sudden focus on nonfiction?
3. There is a focus on the author’s perceived purpose and opinion in the Standards. Why do we ask students what they think the author was trying to do instead of asking students what they got from the text?
Almost everything I read in the Standards sounds important to me; there was nothing I thought was useless knowledge. However, there were objectives that appeared as if they were only part of the Standards because a standardized test would have questions over it. For example, Language Standard 9-10.1.a-b suggests high school students should know the different types of phrases and clauses. However, evidence shows that teaching these types of mechanics to native speakers does not improve their writing or speaking skills. There was also, in my opinion, an unnecessary emphasis on the five paragraph essay. Though I know this is meant to teach students logic and how to structure an effective argument, we all know this is not the type of writing they will be using in college or the workforce. So yes, I think the content is, for the most part, a reflection of what students need to know, however, I also believe there is too much focus on certain areas of English.
Ms. Jordan suggested to us today that the best way to make sure our lessons align to the Standards is to simply use the Standards to write lesson plans. Many novice teachers, she said, will write lessons and then hunt down Standards that fit what they planned. If we do what Ms. Jordan suggested, our lessons will align very well with the Common Core.
I would like to use a form of assessment that allows students to choose their medium. In 302, my cooperating teacher assigned a final project that gave students many different options of activities to do. Each activity was assigned a point value based on the difficulty. Students had to complete 100 points worth of activities. I believe this is a really good way to assess students because it allows them to pick projects that play to their strengths. Not everyone is good at writing a five paragraph essay; therefore, if this is the only final project you assign, some students may not be able to display their knowledge affectively. If given choices, there is a better chance that students will be able to showcase all of their understanding and ability.
(I have attached a copy of the project from my 302 class; however, it is not the original: it is my adapted copy that I used for my unit plan.)
Essential Questions
1. The Common Core Standards don’t seem to be very much different from the CLE’s except that they have even more requirements of students. However, students had trouble meeting the CLE’s before. I know that we should hold students to high standards, but is giving them more requirements really the answer?
2. Common Core suggests 70% of student reading should be nonfiction, but I believe there is as much, if not more, to learn from studying fiction. Why the sudden focus on nonfiction?
3. There is a focus on the author’s perceived purpose and opinion in the Standards. Why do we ask students what they think the author was trying to do instead of asking students what they got from the text?
Almost everything I read in the Standards sounds important to me; there was nothing I thought was useless knowledge. However, there were objectives that appeared as if they were only part of the Standards because a standardized test would have questions over it. For example, Language Standard 9-10.1.a-b suggests high school students should know the different types of phrases and clauses. However, evidence shows that teaching these types of mechanics to native speakers does not improve their writing or speaking skills. There was also, in my opinion, an unnecessary emphasis on the five paragraph essay. Though I know this is meant to teach students logic and how to structure an effective argument, we all know this is not the type of writing they will be using in college or the workforce. So yes, I think the content is, for the most part, a reflection of what students need to know, however, I also believe there is too much focus on certain areas of English.
Ms. Jordan suggested to us today that the best way to make sure our lessons align to the Standards is to simply use the Standards to write lesson plans. Many novice teachers, she said, will write lessons and then hunt down Standards that fit what they planned. If we do what Ms. Jordan suggested, our lessons will align very well with the Common Core.
I would like to use a form of assessment that allows students to choose their medium. In 302, my cooperating teacher assigned a final project that gave students many different options of activities to do. Each activity was assigned a point value based on the difficulty. Students had to complete 100 points worth of activities. I believe this is a really good way to assess students because it allows them to pick projects that play to their strengths. Not everyone is good at writing a five paragraph essay; therefore, if this is the only final project you assign, some students may not be able to display their knowledge affectively. If given choices, there is a better chance that students will be able to showcase all of their understanding and ability.
(I have attached a copy of the project from my 302 class; however, it is not the original: it is my adapted copy that I used for my unit plan.)
302_book_project.docx |