Guest Teacher Blogger – Winner of the 2012 Sopris Learning Blog Contest!
by Michelle George
This summer I attended an exciting Gilder Lehrman Teacher Seminar at James Madison’s Montpelier estate in Virginia. At the seminar I met some truly fantastic educators. These people were from all over the states with quite different backgrounds, but they all had a passion for teaching.
John was a veteran teacher from Wisconsin. At breakfast one morning he surprised me by stating how concerned he was about the impending implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). He had been hearing all sorts of horror stories about how history and science would soon be demoted to the elective category or, worse yet, dictated by some greater power with a political agenda. His comments launched our table into a discussion of what the CCSS really are, and what they might do to public education in the states.
I weighed in as the Common Core cheerleader and used the analogy that I heard earlier this summer at a state training. The implementation of CCSS is a lot like designing a car. The purpose, mechanics, and reliability standards are common for all, but the details are up to the artists in the profession: local educators.
Let’s first start with what the Common Core State Standards are. The CCSS website states the standards’ mission is “to provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers.”
The purpose of the reading standards is to ensure that all students have common high-level thinking skill sets that can be utilized to comprehend, analyze, evaluate, and create complex texts. The CCSS give us a blueprint for the working engine of the vehicle we will design.
Like any industry standard, the CCSS outline what the transmission system of public education should be able to do: what type of rigor our students should be prepared to tackle, including academic and discipline-specific vocabulary. They define safety standards—the skills our students will need in order to avoid reasoning pitfalls—such as identifying bias and recognizing warning from system errors. The CCSS identify communication standards: modern and integrated communication devices that provide a wide variety of genres and sources. They even call for a GPS system of sorts; they want educators to be sure that students across the country can navigate the same skills at the same ages no matter where they live.
The actual content of the curriculum is left for the states, districts, and schools to determine. Big Brother is not selling an ideology. Instead, educators and industry are demanding competent thinkers, communicators, and problem solvers. Not everyone is required to buy a Yugo. The CCSS have given us as educators the specs for a working machine … a complex, analytical, thinking mind. They are also working with educators to develop a performance track that tests how well our vehicles can manage the challenges.
Once the standards of the CCSS vehicle are clear, the expertise and creativity of the educator take the lead. All vehicles are designed to transport people and things, but the models vary widely. As professional educators, we get to design the models. Some people prefer a sleek, fast Corvette that looks as good as it drives. Those educators might choose products that incorporate art or develop intricate websites or publish a class book. Others might want a solid working vehicle, maybe a 4x4 Chevy half-ton pickup that runs on diesel fuel with side boards for big loads. Those teachers might go out in the community and identify real problems that students can research and strive to alleviate. Still others might prefer a safe SUV with built-in child seats and doors that open on both sides to make loading kids quicker and easier. Those education communities might tightly control the reading content for their students. Still others might want a GEO Leaf or an electric car to help minimize the carbon footprint. These educators could investigate worldwide social issues as they attack the learning standards. All of these vehicles serve the purpose of safe and efficient transportation.
Our curriculum is no longer dictated by the chapters in a textbook. I am interested in many things, but I love literature and history. I can design units around my passions. My students can study the framing of the Constitution and read historical fiction while learning about how to support an argument and analyze an author’s purpose and voice.
The process of learning is the focus, not isolated facts. Of course there are guidelines. The CCSS demand rigor. Texts should be complex and rich. That means that students will need to be challenged at their reading level with primary documents from our country’s history, information-rich documents from the math and science disciplines, and classical literature.
We aren’t designing tricycles; we are developing 21st century transportation. While we’re at it, how about a rocket ship that can take our students beyond the reaches of our known galaxy? After all, we are transporting the builders of our tomorrows.
Michelle S. George is a language arts middle school teacher in Orofino, Idaho. She has a B.A. in English and secondary certification in English, reading, and journalism. Michelle has been teaching seventh and eighth grade for 20 years, and still loves going to school—as a teacher and a student. She has published a variety of lesson plans and written several award-winning grants.
