Understanding Common Core Standards

Common Core State Standards are easy to understand once you get an understanding of teaching. The reading literature standards are very straight forward and easy to grasp. All you are doing is writing a lesson that attaches to each standard. For example, RL.11-12.4 states students need to determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple means or languages that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. Words that we read can take on different means to different people and require further study and analysis. What Common Core Standards do is outline what a student should be learning. It is up to the teacher how they want to try and teach the techniques to the students.

I have recently been placed in a classroom to observe and teach. I have been excited to do this because you can only do so much reading and studying before you need hands on experience. One of the classes that my mentor teacher teaches is Bridge to College. This class is seniors who will not graduate because they did not pass the state tests and need more help making sure they can complete the common core state standards. The chapter “The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts Instruction in Grades 6-12” points out that the Common Core Standards were adopted to help students be prepared for the new skills that really must be acquired to live in our modern world.

I had not thought of how to adopt Common Core Standards and the current events into the classroom until I saw my master teacher doing an argumentative essay on “How close is Big Brother?”. The students are all given an initial article that they must read. Once they have read that article they must do further research based on what they saw in the initial article. They must complete all their own research and then formulate a thesis. Once they have done that they must write and well organized argumentative essay explaining their findings. This approach is having the students learn about events happening today while also formulating an opinion, but what this is also doing is teaching Common Core Standards in a way that students will become more engaged in.