As you read Ravitch and Peggy, think about how YOU can teach authentically with the Common Core (or PA Core in our case). In what ways can you and should you rebel against its deceptive charm? How can YOU make a difference in the lives of your students, with or without its effects on you? Discuss!
When it comes down to the Common Core standards, the chilling fact of the matter is that we, as educators, have a choice: either give up or find ways to resist the pressure of the unseen villain lurking around our own hallways finding ways to seep in. After reading Ravitch’s and Peg’s articles about their views of the Common Core standards, I couldn’t help but think of my kids. “Many believe they have no choice. More children view themselves as failures” (PegwithPen). My students’ faces are what haunt me more than the abstract and cold vision of the Common Core imposing in our schools. I see Anthony, Mike, Rachel, and Dylan. I see Taylor and Celina, Taraje, and Mikayala. You do not see its weight until you see those faces—the ones who feel lost and defeated in school, the beaten down and tired, the bored, the ones perfecting their strategies to know the system (to as Denise Clark Pope says how they “do school”), and the ones who look at a scantron test and believe themselves to be inadequate. Yet, as Peg nobly says, “we must carry on because the children are watching.”
ReplyDeleteAs I read, a ball of lint grew larger and larger in my lungs and my heart seemed constricted by those large, tan rubber bands squeezing against my arteries. How did I not know of this all until now? Perhaps, investigating at this point in my college career was perfect timing. Just another mask to switch on & off during the day.
I think the best way to teach authentically is to remember why I wanted to teach: the kids. Forever, I will advocate for all my students. I want to teach English, but I have a bigger responsibility: to see something in my students that they have yet to see in themselves. I want them to know their voices are worth being heard—that their life experiences and how they make sense of them empower others when they share in the conversation of the human experience.
My developing unit plan is geared directly towards this wish for my students. I will teach authentically by having my students truly grapple with their dystopian novel texts to find that we fight for humanity in subversive ways as the protagonists in those YA novels fight for their rights to freedom, love, and the right of being human. If a 16 year old Katniss Everdeen can start a movement, why can’t they? I’m bringing in real-life propaganda, “truths” that have been fed to us that cover up lies, and an opportunity for them to stand up for what they believe is right for the greater good of humanity as my summative assessment. My students and I will explore the world as critical examiners—not just consumers of this digital world.
In fact, I want my co-operating teacher to see this too; as Peg says, “a way to resist is to open the door to let them hear your children laughing, singing, learning and engaging in what is real and true.” Hey, if I can still pull the naïve student teacher card, why not? It’s for my kids.
It’s our choice to give up or resist in ways that fit what we want for our students. If I may be the ultimate dystopian YA novel nerd: “One Choice, One Choice, decides your friends. One Choice, defines your beliefs. One Choice, determines your loyalties—Forever. ONE CHOICE CAN TRANSFORM YOU.”
I choose to fight for my kids.
Becca this is great! I felt the other day that I might not be able to handle all of the things we are taking in right now: the pedagogy, the workload, the 'learning how to operate as a teacher in a classroom' thing. But then I told one of my students she was a writer, and she didn't believe me. I was struck by her question, "What did I do wrong?" She had asked me to read her personal narrative. I explained to her that it was her story, and that I had no business telling her what was right and wrong. "There is no right and wrong right now, because this is about the writing process."
DeleteI had to gently guide her into the realization that the suggestions I was giving her were not about failure to meet some goal, but because I wanted her to make her story better. I had to explain it without using terms like 'better' or 'write more because this is WAY too short.' So I asked her if she would be interested in this if she read it. She said she probably wouldn't because it was a little boring. Well, good grief, she walked right into that one. "Well make it less boring!" I said brightly. "It's YOUR story, and I want you to tell it. How about adding some of those storytelling techniques we talked about in class to spice it up a bit." I can be real tricksy sometimes. In the end, she expanded and revised her original attempt, and though it was no smashing hit, she went through the writing process and was able to tell her story.
Lily is a girl with a little attitude and tough facade, but at the end of our conversation there was a little glimmer of understanding, and perhaps empowerment.
I realized that glimmer is why I am trying this whole teaching thing.
(thanks for reminding me, Becca!)
I'm writing this from room 110 at Conestoga Valley High School. I just finished teaching the beginning of a creative writing project that should take the next 5-6 days to complete.
ReplyDeleteWe are currently reading "The Masque of the Red Death" by Poe, and this creative writing project was designed to mirror this short story. First I had the kids do a quick write where they compiled a list of their greatest fears. Then I had them choose one fear and personify it. I asked them to draw a picture of their personified fear and following the drawing asked them to write a 200 word narrative describing what they drew.
When I explained the project and told the kids that they would have to think creatively I got about 7 groans, I had one kid tell me that it was "too hard," and I had another who was absolutely distraught over "what exactly Ms. Cavanaugh wants to see." But, before I could get to disheartened I had roughly 10 kids jump right on the assignment and I had one kid pull me aside and told me that this was the most fun he had ever had in English class.
I only bring this up because I think it underlines the ideas put forth in both articles. I had kids groan at me because THEY DON'T KNOW HOW TO THINK CREATIVELY. The bureaucracy has crushed the creativity and the life out of these 11th grade students. Standardized testing has only taught them how to "do school" (as Becca so nicely put it), not how to think for themselves and, god-forbid, actually have fun doing it.
I think that, as English teachers, we will have the easiest time being subversive because the English Language Arts has so much to offer in the way of creative license, especially when it comes to writing. I can't think of an administrator who, in her right mind, would tell a student that they shouldn't be working on their writing skills, but should instead be practicing their scantron-bubbling-techniques.
You're right - we really are incredibly lucky to be teaching English because we can do so much with it! Our curriculum doesn't have the strict requirements and checkpoints like other content areas such as math or science. We have free reign and, as you mentioned, CREATIVITY - the one thing many others do not have access to.
DeleteBuuuut, we run into the problem of creativity being beaten out of the kids, as you also mentioned. And this brings up my other question: by the time students reach high school, is it too late to reverse the negative changes? In my placement, my middle schoolers still love school for the most part, and you can make them do just about anything and trick them into thinking it's fun. So maybe the issue is WHEN we start incorporating these new standards as to not inhibit creativity in the future. So is more pressure put onto the middle school teachers to create the foundation, or for the high school teachers to break down the barriers?
I agree with Ashley that English is probably one of the easier subjects to be subversive in because we are really teaching about things that aren't cut and dry. You can't tell someone how to interpret a piece of writing, and you really can't tell someone how to write. As English teachers we get to show students different perspectives on the world and we're supposed to make them analyze situations from different angles instead of just giving them the answer. However, as we've said a million times, even in English class students automatically ask which page or paragraph to find the answer in, and they do expect it spelled out for them. I honestly think that just by showing our students that there's not always one specific answer we will help them much more in life than the teachers who give answers at the back of the book.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the Common Core standards go, I think it's important at we make use of social media like Twitter to stay on top of opinions and information on these policies. However, I think the most important thing to remember is to keep our students as our focus. Just browsing over the PA Standards as I was working on my unit plan, I realized that I could really take my unit plan in any direction and include the standards easily. It's so important to be sure that we don't get bogged down by the idea of having to include standards because we really do have room within the standards to do what we want. The issues come in when people (normally administration and people who aren't actually in the field of education) see standards as the end all and be all. The best we can do as educators is to do our job well and fit the standards in afterwards. If you do what is right for our students they will do better on the exams than they will if we just cross standards off of a list. While administration may push the standards, we will have to stand up for our ideals as educators, and that's where being subversive is going to come in for us.
Doing the best for our students will probably often involve being subversive in one way or another. I had students on cellphones at McCaskey today looking up allusions that were pulled from The Crucible. My mentor wasn't there, so I'm sure I would have heard it if administration had walked in, but after looking at the allusions on the worksheet, there was no way that my students were going to be able to make connections by looking up the phrases in the limited resources we had in our room. I had students on two desktops in our room, and working in groups with smartphones out, and it was great seeing the students actually work things out for themselves and take ownership of something in their learning.
Gotta say, I'm torn. The PA core standards have been somewhat helpful to me so far, giving me vague direction that doesn't dictate how or even what I teach, but what my end game is. Isn't this the point? Isn't this what we try to do with backwards design? Don't we want to cut to the most broad and formless skills in this complex and subjective field and start from there, pulling in activities and assessments that will support that very mystic and elusive knowledge? That's why the core has been somewhat good to me thus far...it has given me just enough direction that I know where I'm going, but my means of transportation is up to me. A compass only tells you where north is...then, you must figure out how you're going to get where you need to go.
ReplyDeleteSo what's the big deal? In my classroom, my mentor often appears to me like a walking on tradition. She dislikes the common core but uses the Pearson worksheets and selection tests. She dislikes when teachers do not follow a common course for what they teach/assess and is frustrated that there is no real unity in some facets of the curriculum. She dislikes administrative interference but likes the data she gets from diagnostic tests. I guess this is why my position feels so oddly...well, as Diane classified herself as, "agnostic" toward the core. This is because I see the ways in which it helps...but I cannot align myself with it all.
I cannot align myself with govt funding being held ransom for states accepting common core standards, especially when they may have little or no say in what actually goes in them. I cannot align myself with students being assessed comparatively and not as individuals, not seen for how they personally progress and not appreciated for their little victories. I cannot align myself with standards that cause students to learn hand to mouth, with little creative thinking.
Is it the core that enforces all of these disparities? Or is it the corporate push behind the core? Is it the agenda of privatization? Is there really an evil illuminati behind this whole standards based curriculum, when we fight these standards but also realize that we MUST have standards? I suppose for me the big question is not is common core good or bad, but what are we going to do ourselves? How do we asses progress in such a subjective and formless field? How do we encourage creativity but still teach kids to thrive in a world in which the often must "play the game" to succeed? Are the students in "doing school" not learning additional life/work management skills when they do enough to "get by"? Are not many of us just trying to "get by" in life, and isn't that something to be proud of?
I don't have a lot of answers, but despite everything we must work against, I gotta say, the future's bright, man.
The Common Core is such a tricky subject, and I'm not quite sure what my views are on it quite yet. To some extent, it is nice to have because it gives you an outline of what needs to be covered over the course of the school year. Don't get me wrong, I love creativity and the freedom to put my own twist onto different assignments, but I've always been one that likes some sort of direction as a way of holding myself accountable. But the more I think about it, is that a result of the standardization of my own experiences in the secondary classroom?
ReplyDeleteAs a student, I have heard numerous statements of "you need to read this because it's part of the curriculum," "we're studying this for the test," and "you need this for the PSSA's and AP tests." What good does that do? None. I'll tell you what it does - kills creativity. As Ashley mentioned, I can't stress the idea of how students don't know how to think outside the box anymore. Every time my class is assigned some sort of project or worksheet, I'm constantly asked, "Where can I find the answer?" or "Am I doing this right?" There's no creativity, no risk-taking, and it blows my mind. Today, actually, one of my classes was assigned a worksheet where they had to read descriptions of white colonist items described by Native Americans and figure out what they were talking about. The answer couldn't be found in the book, but the students just could not grasp the concept of thinking outside the box to figure out the answer! So, the big question is, how can we teach authentically without completely neglecting the Common Core? Is it even possible?
Well, of course it's possible, but I honestly don't have the answer of HOW just yet. I remember in high school, one of the best teachers I've had used to disguise the standardized lessons by making it relevant to what we were doing. Instead of having specific lessons JUST for PSSA testing, she would give us little assessments and activities that prepared us for the tests as well as whatever the unit was at the same time. Again, I don't have the answer, but I think a key component of the solution is combination - not even defiance, but compromise and finding a happy medium.
Being in class, and reading everyone's posts made me realize a real trend in education. I constantly sit in class and see students with raised hands, anguished looks and concerned questions. "How am I suppose to do this?" "What are the page requirements?" "How can I please you teacher?"
ReplyDeleteStudents clearly have no ability to complete work with consideration of an audience outside of the teacher. They fiend for grades, stickers and reassurance they are doing a good job like addicts. The alarming fact is that these students are not in the halls of the high schools and middle schools we occupy; we are those students. We are addicts in this educational system and A's are our methadone. We complain that students do not want to think critically or creatively, but how many times in class do we ask the same questions? How often do we look for comfort in cookie cutter directions? I will be the first to admit that I never liked to color outside of the lines in school because I liked a nice sticker on my paper.
I am not sure if the standards and standardized test have influenced us. That might be true because many of us our products of No Child Left Behind and the wave of assessments that followed.
I need to reevaluate what success looks like for myself over the next few months in order to determine what success and learning look like in a classroom. As teachers, if we do not reevaluate what success looks like, then we will fall into the same trap as always. We will strive for a high mark on teacher assessments by following directions and asking, "what do I need to do to get a good grade?" All because we need our fix.
This is so true! I've seen this in my classroom time and time again: these kids are addicted to the grades. The students that are fighting for A's, A's and more A's are performing like machines. There is no passion, spark, or true engagement. It's simply another check off the list of what makes the teacher happy and what makes my GPA look good.
DeleteWe grew up in this same scholastic culture and your post made me aware of the danger of falling back into the trap of 'what do I need to do to get a good grade?' I never want my teaching to becoming robotic and stale, simply because all I care about is a good grade on my teacher assessments. How can we help ourselves not fall into this natural mindset, and at the same time prevent our students from growing up with this same mentality? This is a big question that I think needs to be discussed more often because it seems like we know schools need to be heading in the opposite direction, but everything is pushing us towards this machine-like school culture.
I must admit, I’ve been very frustrated recently with this onslaught of common core, teacher assessment, and standardized testing information. I know that there are ways we can subversively teach, but I have to be a realist. If I get hired as a first year teacher in a school that has common assessments, a strict curriculum, and little to no freedom as to what to teach, what exactly can I do? I know what I want to do, and how I desperately want to put my students first, but can it really be done? If I’m fired after one or two years, what will I have accomplished? Of course the good of the students has to come first, but four years of my time and money has been spent on training to be a teacher and what good does all that work do if I’m fired because I don’t agree with forcing my students to do things the school I work at might enforce? That’s what I’m frustrated about.
ReplyDeleteTo me the bad guy isn’t so much common core as it is the assessments. These standardized tests that can mean life or death to us as teachers. If we spend our time teaching how we want, and the students don’t perform well on those tests, we look like we haven’t done our job. It reflects on all of us. This is what I’m most worried about. I think we as first year teachers may need to just try and spread awareness alongside the older teachers who have more authority and respect within the schools. It may be sharing research with each other and helping older teachers renew their spark and passion for teaching their students and not just blindly accepting all these new requirements and assessments but questioning them and fighting them, that we can begin to make a difference.
Maybe I’m not thinking about this as positively as I should be, but I do know how I want to teach and how I may be forced to teach are two different things completely.
I have been listening to my instructors complain and warn about standards and testing for the past three years, and I still do not see what the big deal is. (ducks head and looks over his shoulder.)
ReplyDeleteIf we are teaching our subject with skills and understandings in mind, if our lessons have PURPOSE beyond entertaining our personal predilections, if our students are exploring and exercising the skills they need to be successful readers and communicators, they will do well on 'the test', period. Why worry about that which you cannot affect? The airplane will fly or fall regardless of whether I worry: I'll take the peanuts, thanks.
Seriously, I have clearly failed to grasp the magnitude of this threat. To my mind, I have more important things to do: I have kids to understand and support, and there are things I need to make them understand. Turns out, many of those things are spelled out on these lists of standards -- what a happy coincidence!
Wes,
DeleteIt's not the standards per se that educators object to though poorly researched and developed standards do have their problems. No, it's the way those standards are measured that is problematic. If we were allowed to measure understanding through project based, portfolio assessment, there would be little objection. It's not only that our students are taking way more inane tests than ever before and that so much instructional time is wasted in their preparation but now YOUR job is at stake if your students do not do well. Look at the class you are currently teaching, Wes. Do you really want your job to be based on how well your students do on a test that they are ill-prepared for and that matters very little to their future success? Standards are indeed necessary and good but let's make them relevant and meaningful not loosely developed and lacking connection to research as our current lot! Lawmakers more and more believe that YOU can indeed affect the outcome of these tests that are linked to the standards and so you do need to ask yourself if this is really the essence of good education. I would warrant that it is not. I will say to give it a few years in the classroom, Wes and see where you stand then. When your neck is on the line to teach in a way that contradicts your convictions, then you will understand what all the fuss is about. :)
I went to my placement today because we had a half day with the students and the rest of the day was spent grading all of the seventh graders informative essays they had to write last week. I found it very interesting to sit in with a large group of english teachers and listen to all their thoughts on this assignment. The students all were given a prompt and had to write an essay within a two-hour span. They had to choose an invention they thought had changed the world for the better. Each essay was the typical five paragraph essay that was required to have information they could defend, much like the RACERS they practice within class. The teachers were all so frustrated because they thought it was such a waste of time. The students are literally working on the same type of essay in their english class currently, and they have much more time and access to research. My mentor said requiring the students to write an essay with a prompt they've never seen, without access to research, in a two hour span of time is absolutely ridiculous. She said it's not a real-world skill and they shouldn't treat writing as such a mechanical act. I was encouraged because every single one of the teachers felt this way but completely discouraged because there is nothing they can do about it. It's going to be difficult to have to give our students these school wide assessments, especially when you know it's not an authentic way to assess their writing ability. I just thought it was a valuable experience to see how all the practicing teachers felt and reacted towards this and wanted share that they all feel the same way as we do! Hopefully change in on its way.
ReplyDeleteY'know, for the longest time I came out at the Common Core throwing punches. I had read some articles written by teachers, professors, and lovers of learning from both political parties slamming the standards for their irrelevance and low expectations. However, as I began seeing my mentor teacher work with them, I began to think that maybe they weren't as bad as everyone else had said. I enjoyed her teaching style, anyway, and she seemed to advocate for learning rather than regurgitation. If she was behind them, then maybe there was a little bit of hope. I ended up finding out that she hadn't been all that enthusiastic about Common Core, she was just trying to stay one step ahead of the game and ended up implementing them in her classroom before most everyone else in the building had. She follows standards-based grading and, introducing this on Back to School Night, explained that this type of grading grades skills more than it does behavior, which is why she accepts late work up until the end of a quarter. She justifies that by explaining that turning in work late is a behavior, she is only looking for mastery of a skill. THAT concept I liked. She also confessed that it was never too hard to plug the standards into what she had already been teaching for years. There is always some sort of standard that needs to be met.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with Common Core and Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind is that it rewards wrote memorization because of the forms assessment takes. There is too much standardized testing. There is too much emphasis on passing the test rather than learning the material, and with an already hectic schedule, few teachers have enough time to devote to teaching that which shows up on such standardized tests. Naturally, students end up not doing very well, and when they don't perform, teachers lose their jobs. The way the whole system is set up is unfair to those who deserve fairness. It promotes a type of learning that every self respecting educator wants to distance themselves from, and it's time to change it.