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.