Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Common Core Inaccuracies in the Washington Post

I woke up this morning to





8 comments:

  1. This year our Sophomores have added new titles to their existing list of classics. They are reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and The Hot Zone. They still read Macbeth, Lord of the Flies, Huck Finn, etc. But now they making connections in Science and in Social Studies with their reading skills. The students love it (especially the reluctant reader boys) and they find these books relevant and exciting. Win-win! Hurrah for the Uncommon Corps!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wonderful! Keep us posted on how the students (and teachers) respond to the transition, Pam. I agree, a win-win!

      Delete
  2. Bravo Mary Ann!, not only for getting up so early to respond, but for injecting some badly needed informed common sense into this discussion. As far as I am concerned, the exciting challenge for us is to incorporate outstanding nonfiction across the curriculum as a means of enlivening the school experience. That doesn't mean dropping fiction. It simply means boosting the rest of the curriculum. And yes, middle and high school content teachers should be teaching reading from their disciplinary perspectives because teaching reading shouldn't stop when children can identify words. It should continue as we support students in making sense of those words and critically evaluating them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you, Mary Ann for helping beat the drum for nonfiction. Read my post tomorrow and join us in this effort.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have to correct myself, in that there are a few middle grade and young adult nonfiction titles at the secondary level included. I was also pleased to see that a well-researched story on children's literature is on the front page of today's New York Times. While not on nonfiction specifically, it does focus on the very important need for children's and young adult literature of all genres to reflect a more diverse set of experiences, offering "windows and mirrors" for all children. The Times article focuses specifically on the dearth of Latino characters in children's fiction. You can find it at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/education/young-latino-students-dont-see-themselves-in-books.html?hp.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The article in the Times focused on the the need for children to see themselves reflected in at least some of the books they read. The article implies that there is need for more research on the impact of multicultural literature, since it stated that "research on a direct link between cultural relevance in books and reading achievement at young ages is so far scant." This doesn't mean there isn't such a link. Instead, it points out a longstanding need for more research on the impact of reading children's literature. In the field of social studies this has long been recognized. I am hoping that the move to implement CCSS spurs this research.

    ReplyDelete
  6. "It is up to the other subject areas to step-up and start providing real-world reading experiences for young adults, context-rich opportunities to explore nonfiction trade books, digital texts, newspaper articles, government reports, research papers, the works, rather than using a single text book that students don't read in the first place."

    I would love this to happen, but will it? In my experience with the teaching of writing, it ends up completely on the shoulders of LA and English teachers. And everything to do with reading as well. My impression is that the greatest misreading of the CCSS is that the responsibility for implementation is completely in the hands of LA/English teachers. I worry that supervisors and administrators are indeed asking only the LA and English teachers to do this and that would indeed require them to cut back a great deal of the fiction they currently teach in order to get in the percentage of nonfiction required by CCSS. And so that is why there is the sense of profound negativity on the part of many of them.

    Do you happen to know whether this is under consideration in those other disciplines? Are the science, history, social studies, and math professional organizations addressing this?

    ReplyDelete
  7. So interesting to hear another take, as I'd just read that Washington Post editorial. I also just posted an interview with a teacher in charge of implementing CCS (and linked to this post). I'm a fiction writer myself,so far anyway, but I know there are tons of talented nonfiction writers out there who I hope will be more appreciated in light of these changes.

    ReplyDelete