The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts Instruction in Grades 6-12

With this course being one of the first teaching courses I’ve ever taken, I don’t know very much about state standards. I do know that many people had negative opinions about George Bush’s “No Child Left Behind.” While reading the article and looking at the Common Core website, it seems this new set of standards is a step in the right direction. I like that they’re focused more on students’ experiences and the worlds they live in and allows students to draw from those experiences.

But with these new standards comes new responsibility from us as teachers. The reading, “The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts Instruction in Grades 6-12” says teachers must now wear multiple hats and become social planners, facilitators and co-learners instead of maintaining the traditional teacher role. I always enjoyed classes I took more when the teacher was involved and we had more of a discussion instead of the teacher talking at students. I like the idea of a teacher being more of a learning facilitator than the main source of knowledge.

The article explains that Common Core State Standards are generic, setting general goals for students. They don’t say what or how to teach. As a future educator, this is exciting. While there are still standards, the methods to reach those benchmarks are innumerable. Common Core seems to allow teachers to teach content in different and hopefully exciting ways for their students.

Although Common Core allows for more teaching freedom, the article points out it’s still a set of standards and isn’t fool proof. The reading says advocates for a standards-based approach argue that standards enhance student achievement. But there is no strong evidence that shows standards improve academic success. I agree there needs to be some sort of standard. How do we know when a student reaches the point they need to be at? But the standards need to be fluid and allow for successful learning of people from all backgrounds, which all teachers will certainly experience in their classrooms. At the very least, Common Core shows that the education system is starting to recognize the inequalities between schools with affluent children and schools with low-income children. I’m excited to continue to learn how to teach in a variety of ways so I will not become an educator who is too concerned with state standards and the school’s curriculum to make adjustments for students of different backgrounds.