Common Core State Standards 

The standards aren’t supposed to play the role of the dictator on a teachers content, but with first hand experience as a college student neck deep into the education program, it does not at all feel this way. CCSS is being drilled into our heads along side TPA and other specifics. Going from being a student who does nothing but study the CCSS’s and TPA completing regulation to being a student teacher with a master teacher who not only disagrees with the new system of standards, but also doesn’t want to use them is really hard to work with. 

Chapter 1 deals primarily with the basics of the standards. The development and potential problems associated with the standards along with the correct ways to implement them into a curriculum. The curriculum must be balanced and a lot of problems are seen with teachers and finding a balancing between teaching to the standards and implementing them in a way that both strengthens skill sets and engages the students.

Standard can sometimes ruin teaching and lower the success of students because the teachers are so paranoid about abiding and achieving the standards that they forget about the students experience and learning process. The standards at times or for some teachers aren’t seen as an  opportunity to get creative and try new things but as a restriction. They over compensate on meeting standards and are too focused on the standard itself and therefor the transfer of information to the students is dull, boring, or too “homogenized” as far as the instruction goes. The CCSS isn’t designed to create turn the learning process into a dull or rigid hit or miss; cold, flat, and dry means of instruction. Standard is a scary word for educators I think. Especially when it comes at them in the form of a new method or regulation: CCSS. 

There has to be a balance between standard centered learning and working the standards into learning. I think one can look at the Common Core State Standards and curriculum the way we look at building a house. The standards are no different than the foundation and framework of the house. The way we teach these standards and incorporate the learning of 21st century skills and other important learning processes is like deciding what color to paint the house, what kind of siding, flooring, and curtains we are going to decorate our house with in order to make it a complete and adequate home to reside in. 

So in a sense instead of writing a specific standard to be achieved on the board each day, write out and “I can” statement that is supporting the meeting of the standard. A skill or demonstration of understanding that integrates the standard into completing the activity or skill. 

The before and after effect....

Before reading this section I had an opinion on the standards that wasn’t necessarily a positive or supportive one. The opinion I had was formed based on a lack of understanding of the standards and their purpose and especially how to implement them into the curriculum I teach. After reading this though, I definitely see the standards in a much more positive aspect. I know that I will really actually enjoy implementing the standards and creating lessons in a way that will be engaging and interesting to the students.

Discussion in a Democratic Society & How it Helps Learning and Enlivens Classrooms

9/28/2014

       Discussion can be used do evoke a variety of options and principals that singularly, a person may not have considered or thought about. Through using discussion, assuming everyone in a group or class setting participates and offers ideas, the ideas and conversations generated lets us learn from and through the participants of the discussion. When a topic is discussed, especially one that takes a position on an issue like the DNR situation, opinions on the issue typically vary and then the discussion produces positive and negative aspects resulting in more of a debate setting. This I believe allows for a more three dimensional look at an issue. 

Discussion I believe allows students and people in general to develop skills needed to defend an idea in addition to developing ideas as to alternative solutions or ideas. Through discussion, a topic, idea, or scenario can really be dissected and what seems a simple idea can become a very complex range of opinions. 

From both perspectives student or teacher, ideas are being exchanges that usually weren’t considered from an individual standpoint and the learning that happens continues to grow. Hearing another’s take on a scenario often will spark other ideas and avenues. It is a great way to dig into a topic and see how in depth things can become. Discussion searches for and helps find a “deeper understanding” of things. 

The article says that discussion nurtures and promotes human growth; a statement I couldn’t agree more with. I have always preferred discussion over lecture in terms of a classroom or meeting simply because I feel a sense of equality. From both student and teacher perspective, when discussion is the method of the analysis, I am not embarrassed to speak, in fact I feel like I can speak and I always learn more about the topic at hand because people contribute ideas that I never would have considered as an individual. Discussion gives everyone an opportunity to share and contribute because each person can provide the whole group with an avenue to dig deeper into the subject. Everyone has to be inviting and hospitable when a discussion is happening or it won’t be successful. There are a lot of forms of respect and trust between discussion participants that has to be present in order for a discussion to be successful. People can’t be afraid to speak or talk about the way they think, just as people need to leave their egos and such out of the discussion for the sake of keeping things at a respectful and open level of  learning and understanding. No one can be “the expert”, its discouraging. Everyone is equal in a discussion.

Collective Wisdom. Motivation to Learn. Exposure of New Ideas. 

When we compare discussion and conversation, I think that the simplest way to decipher between the two is their purpose. Discussion is aimed more so at developing and desiring a deeper understanding on a topic or issue. Discussion requires everyone to incorporate their opinion and understanding of something which allows the perspectives and depth of the topic to be explored from every angle. While conversation is more casual and isn’t necessarily aimed at seeking a deeper meaning, understanding or purpose of a subject or issue. Discussion is more serious and formal while conversation is less serious and more informal. Visually, I picture a discussion to have a more serious tone and taking place in a classroom or designated meeting space where a large number of people can contribute opinions and ideas equally where as I picture a conversation taking place at a coffee shop between a small group of two to three people simply speaking as a means of enjoyment and entertainment. 

Through discussion we learn to listen and understand the other’s thinking and ideas just as much as we do our own (to an extent). Discussion helps make participants more aware of their thoughts and the thoughts of other by considering, building off of, and respecting others. Discussion is a social skill that affects humans in not just an area of problem solving or idea development but also in social interaction. 

Application to my primary subject of teaching...

         In both student and teacher situations a like, I appreciate the use of discussion greatly because I feel of value to what is happening. I feel active and the questions and thoughts I have are so much more creative and in depth than just listening to someone lecture or being the one lecturing. When I have discussions with my art students about compositions we are viewing, students see things that I have never seen or considered and probably never would have without them having drawn my attention to it. In art, discussion is huge because it is how we judge and form opinions on works of art. What is good, bad, necessary, unnecessary, new, creative, smart, raw, and Lord only knows what else. Opinions and discussion in the art world is a necessity for not only progression but for growth and development.