The Complicated Nature of my Short-Term Relationship with Common Core State Standards
Before joining the Education program at Eastern, my only exposure to Common Core State Standards was hearing politicized opinions of it in the media. In fact, my middle school and high school teachers never even mentioned it to me. For all I knew, it was just some theory tossed around by school administrations that never had an impact in the classroom. Now that I’m an Education major with an English emphasis and am approaching graduation, I realize the importance of CCSS in every classroom (not just ELA and math classes).
My first introduction to Common Core was my in my EDUC 305 class. It was the first class where I wrote a lesson plan based on Standards. My professor demonstrated how each of us could use the Standards (even those with a Physical Education emphasis). Initially, I thought I could write a lesson and somehow make a Standard fit my content, but as my professor pointed out, Standards guide lessons. They are not afterthoughts. At first, I was frustrated and assumed that this meant that there would not be any creativity in my lessons. I soon realized, with the practice of creating lesson plans, that that was not the case. Beach, Thein, and Webb state in their article “Teaching to Exceed the ELA CCSS” that “CCSS set general goals for student learning but they do not specifics what or how to teach” (4). The sooner I grasped this, the more willingly I embraced the guidance provided by CCSS.
My favorite parts of CCSS are their clear and concise way of communicating what needs to be assessed and their synchronization. They build on one another and create a system that can be used by any district, any school, and any teacher. This allows students to not fall behind if they switch classes or even move out of state. Not only are they helpful for students, however, they are also incredibly helpful for teachers in planning lessons and units. Although I am not a certified teacher yet, I speculate that CCSS make department meetings much simpler. And although the general public tends to speak negatively of the Standards, I see the value in implementing them in every state.
My first introduction to Common Core was my in my EDUC 305 class. It was the first class where I wrote a lesson plan based on Standards. My professor demonstrated how each of us could use the Standards (even those with a Physical Education emphasis). Initially, I thought I could write a lesson and somehow make a Standard fit my content, but as my professor pointed out, Standards guide lessons. They are not afterthoughts. At first, I was frustrated and assumed that this meant that there would not be any creativity in my lessons. I soon realized, with the practice of creating lesson plans, that that was not the case. Beach, Thein, and Webb state in their article “Teaching to Exceed the ELA CCSS” that “CCSS set general goals for student learning but they do not specifics what or how to teach” (4). The sooner I grasped this, the more willingly I embraced the guidance provided by CCSS.
My favorite parts of CCSS are their clear and concise way of communicating what needs to be assessed and their synchronization. They build on one another and create a system that can be used by any district, any school, and any teacher. This allows students to not fall behind if they switch classes or even move out of state. Not only are they helpful for students, however, they are also incredibly helpful for teachers in planning lessons and units. Although I am not a certified teacher yet, I speculate that CCSS make department meetings much simpler. And although the general public tends to speak negatively of the Standards, I see the value in implementing them in every state.
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