A Teacher’s POV
By Lelia Shipp Wendel
Common Core is a major
buzz word in the world of education right now, and there are so many sides to
the story. What is common core? What is it really going to do for our children?
How are the teachers going to use this in their classrooms? Is this just another
type of No Child Left Behind? What are the downsides to Common Core? These are
just a few of the many questions I set out to research and I hope to give you a
little insight into this new program.
So what is
Common Core?
According to their website,
the mission of Common Core State Standards is to “provide a consistent, clear
understanding of what students are expected to learn.” These are specific standards that are going
to be implemented across the United States, so that all students are on the
same playing field.
This is a huge benefit in many areas. If you have to move
states, your child should be learning very similar if not the exact same standards
as their previous school, which has not always been the case. Also, when your
child goes off the college, you can feel confident that your child has been
introduced to the same standards as their peers all across the nation. For many
years, states {and sometimes school districts} had their own standards, and
some states have yet to implement common core into their curriculum.
Is
this just another type of No Child Left Behind? No Child Left Behind was kind
of an sort of system that was put in place to make sure that we were truly
aiding children to become successful students. Common Core State Standards are more
about the specific standards that will be taught {i.e: a kindergarten
math standard is that all children be able to count to 100 by ones and by
tens.} This has been designed so that teachers know exactly what they should be
teaching in order for students to be on the right path in their education.
So
how are teachers going to be incorporating Common Core State Standards into
their classrooms? I decided to go straight to a Fort Thomas teacher to answer
this question. Kelsey Wind, a second grade teacher at Moyer Elementary School,
uses the Everyday Math series and the Journeys reading series in her classroom.
Ms. Wind explains that “both are closely aligned with the Common Core State
Standards. Of course, no series is perfect, but these do a fabulous job of
helping me cover the standards.” Ms. Wind brings up a fabulous point, so many
of the materials that teachers have to use in their classrooms today are
written alongside the Common Core State Standards, which helps a great deal
when planning! Ms. Wind also discusses
her love for the Common Core State Standard’s use of speaking and listening as
a learning objective: “I believe that in
today’s digital world students still need to participate in collaborative
conversations and use their oral language skills to present their knowledge and
ideas.”
Common
Core has, however, been getting a lot of backlash from teachers across the
country. With these standards, comes lots of assessing and documentation in
order to make sure students are learning and keeping a certain pace. This can,
and does, take a lot of teaching time away from the classroom. Many teachers
also feel that their creativity in their teaching has been limited because of
the strict standards and schedule that they have been put on. A Tennessee
student spoke out about Common Core, teacher evaluations, and education data at
a recent Knox County School Board meeting in November. He was quoted as saying
“If everything I learned in high school is a measureable objective, I have not
learned anything.”
I
am not here to tell you how to think, but to just present a tiny bit of the
conversation. I urge you to do your research and form your own dialog. However
I will say this: do your best to support your teachers. They are doing the best
they can in order to follow these guidelines and teach your children. Support
them, encourage them, and maybe guy them a coffee every now and then.
