Common Core Standards for Elementary School
Hi Classmates here is another blog about what we are learning in class:
After viewing the video and reading the articles I would have to say I am in support of the Common Core State Standards for numerous reasons. As the name of our country indicates, the "United" States of America, these standards will "unite" the educational standards across the nation: so kindergarten students in Maine will be taught the same set of standards as kindergarten students in California. This just make sense. It also makes it easier for students that move to another state to adjust to a new school setting as the requirements of what is being taught are the same. It also makes it easier for teachers that move to other states as well because they will not have to relearn what the state or school district standards are: they will already know because it is standard across the nation. This will also allow collaboration between teachers from different states to gain more ideas of how to implement these standards and be able to share ideas of what has worked and not worked for them.
After viewing the video and reading the articles I would have to say I am in support of the Common Core State Standards for numerous reasons. As the name of our country indicates, the "United" States of America, these standards will "unite" the educational standards across the nation: so kindergarten students in Maine will be taught the same set of standards as kindergarten students in California. This just make sense. It also makes it easier for students that move to another state to adjust to a new school setting as the requirements of what is being taught are the same. It also makes it easier for teachers that move to other states as well because they will not have to relearn what the state or school district standards are: they will already know because it is standard across the nation. This will also allow collaboration between teachers from different states to gain more ideas of how to implement these standards and be able to share ideas of what has worked and not worked for them.
I also like that these standards are moving away from rote memorization of facts and figures and gets the students more engaged in their own learning process. It gets the students involved with working with one another to learn a concept and present their findings. This moves students out of their virtual world realities into the real world and practical thinking. The math standards show students that in most instances there are numerous ways of coming up with the same answer and that no one way is necessarily "right." The math standards also require students to show their work and explain their answers. This allows teachers to see where the problems may be stemming from so they can help the student in the specific area of need. Currently students can guess or copy another student and the teacher would not necessarily know nor would the teacher know if the student was truly struggling and needed additional help.
As one speaker in the video stated these standards allow teachers to focus on doing fewer things in each grade so there is more time to concentrate on the needs of the students and work on areas where they may be struggling in. The domains, sequences and progressions will still build on each other at each grade level.
The English Language Arts standards also get the children moving and learning together. They have to take the evidence they find and make inferences as to what it means. They have to do more presentations as individuals and groups,which will hopefully help students overcome their fear of public speaking at a younger age in a nonthreatening and fun environment.
What I liked most about the implementation of these standards is that they provide the "what to teach" but leaves the "how to teach" up to the teachers. This will allow more creativity from the teachers and collaboration among teachers as well. As another speaker stated in the video 90% of what these standards are asking for is already occurring in the classrooms so it should not be "scary" for teachers already in the field to implement. And for us "up and coming" teachers it will be fun to be apart of something new and innovative for our future students.
I look forward to hearing you from you,
Sheila Lowe
Elementary School CCS: http://youtu.be/1IPxt794-yU
I look forward to hearing you from you,
Sheila Lowe
Elementary School CCS: http://youtu.be/1IPxt794-yU
Hello Sheila,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post it sounded like we both watched the same YouTube video on elementary school CCS. We agree on many of the view points the video shared about common core standards. It will defiantly be beneficial and easier when it comes to state-to-state learning. My education was actually affected due to me moving around a lot. I remember when I moved from California to Kansas between 6th and 7th grade. I actually had to take a science class all over again because the two states teach that subject at different grade levels. So needless to say I missed an entire year of science. I also like the idea that teachers and schools can not only share resources, but also work together and create ideas that can best benefit the students. I liked how you worded how the students would benefit from having common core standards: that it “moves students out of their virtual world realties into the real world and practical thinking”. I think this concept is huge. We need to bring common education into real world applications. So overall I do see having common core standards as being beneficial and more effective than the educational system we use today. I also like the fact that these standards are guidelines as to what needs to be taught in the classroom, and leaves the creativity and implementation up to the teachers.
Have a good spring break!
April E.