Blog Post #2: "The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts Instruction in Grades 6-12: Origins, Goals, and Challenges"

 Throughout my first few years of college, I heard through the grapevine of how terrible the Common Core State Standards were for teachers, students, parents, and anyone who had a brain. As I started to take more education classes, I started to learn a little more about these standards and what they were really being used for. This last year, I did some research on my own and have been given a stack of papers on what these standards actually do for the education system and have gained valuable insight to these standards. This article informed me to an even further depth and my opinion of these standards has started to sway to one side. Obviously, there are upsides and downsides to these standards, but the authors provide a solid overview of what some of the benefits to having these standards in our schools can be.

            The authors of this article made it a point to show how learning in the 21^st Century is so important. They talked about curriculum framework that is built around 21^st century students and how we as teachers can help them lifelong learning skills and other real life situational abilities. I believe that it’s so imperative that students learn skills that they can take and use outside of the classroom in order to step into society and be a productive citizen. I find that some of these skills such as communication skills, social skills, life long learner skills, and reading and writing skills. The world is changing and the upcoming generation is going to have to adapt to the fast paced lifestyle ahead of them. Showing them skills that they can use inside and outside of the classroom has to be a main focus.

            One activity that really sparked my interested involved students online role playing and creating an essay based on topics that concern them directly. Not only does this activity differ from the traditional essay prompt, but it also gets students the chance to experiment with a topic they are truly interested in. This is vital in order to keep students engaged.

            Another segment that I really thought was well written was the “Homogenization of Instruction” section. One part says, “teachers teach the same content using the same methods regardless of differences in their classroom contexts or students.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve experienced a teacher doing this first hand. Regardless of culture, race, poverty, learning levels, or anything of that sort, a teacher will use the same exact material regardless of those circumstances. These tactics are lazy, scripted, and an easy solution to slothful teaching style. I liked that they addressed this issue with an actual story because this is such a real situation that plagues the education system.

Blog Post #1: "Discussion in a Democratic Society" Chapter 1

Classrooms that are run with democratic characteristics are unlike any I have ever experienced. In grade school, discussion based classes were non-existent. In middle school, the majority of my classes were lecture based. In high school, speech and debate was the only exposure I had ever dealt with in the classroom. By the time my freshman year of college rolled around, I had very little experience with any sort of large group discussions. After reading this chapter, I soon realized that this idea of democratic discussion was extremely popular amongst my English professors. I found that most of my professors liked to sit back and guide discussion rather than lecture for multiple hours. I thought that this article was fairly accurate when it talked about the upside and downside of having democratic discussions. Throughout my sophomore and junior year, I had plenty of experience with both very productive discussions as well as fruitless discussions. Though some discussions were wasteful, I’ve found that a democratically ran discussion provides students and educators with a great deal of beneficial information.

Democratic discussion “is premised on the idea that only through collaboration and cooperation with others can we be exposed to new points of view” (4). When I read this quote, I instantly thought of a traditional high school classroom where collaboration is virtually non-existent. My reaction to this thought was that students of this generation have some of the brightest and forward thinking mindsets on this entire earth. The problem with a teacher just teaching is that those ideas and concepts may never be tapped even if that is the teachers goal. Throughout my student teaching, I’ve found that collaboration, opinion, and cooperation with other students are a positive and valuable tactic to approach learning.

Later on in the chapter, the author talked about the main differences between discussions and conversations. The way the author articulated this idea was done perfectly. Discussion is far more serious and there is an end goal to reach. Conversations is more carefree, informal, and aimless. I started thinking about this to see if any of my other classes were having conversations or discussions. I found that my day consisted of both. In one class, our discussion was based on teacher qualities and how each one plays into being a successful teacher. We had an end goal in mind to reach an agreement for a bigger discussion. In another class, we had some free time and I struck up a conversation with the guy to my right. We spoke about school and where we worked and his cars. I soon realized that there was a huge difference between the two and I had never even thought about it before. I believe that there is a time and place for both conversations and discussions inside your classroom, but I see a lot of potential upside to holding important discussions with the entire classroom.