Initial thoughts on Common Core

I have a lot of people asking me my thoughts on Common Core.

I have to say, my initial thoughts are, for the most part, positive.

The most important piece to remember is that Common Core is NOT a curriculum, but a set of standards.  It's a set of standards that are designed to have students think critically of material set before them.

I may have a problem if I don't have choice with my curriculum.  I work hard every day to find things that will engage and challenge my students.  I want to prick their curiosity, engage them through interesting ideas and concepts, and help them develop a skill set to be successful in my class, throughout high school, and in life.  This is different for every child because every child has different needs.  Therefore, flexibility in curriculum is essential.

BUT the standards, the tools, may be more similar.  I took a three day training this summer put on by the State of Tennessee.  It was hard work, draining, and completely necessary.  Over those days we went through around 300 pages of material.  We took a sample PARCC assessment, developed scaffolded questions using close reading passages, practiced and engaged in accountable talk sessions, and created a team to head back to the schools to teach others.  It was valuable to self-assess.  I saw in myself areas of strength as well as areas that needed change.  I feel I have a better grasp on the shift facing our students.

Most importantly, I am blessed to work with an incredible team of educators.  It's always been true that together we are stronger.  In talking through these shifts, we've designed lessons that will meet both Tennessee State Standards as well as CCSS.  One of the first was this week as we approached William Sleator's short story "The Elevator."

Often when you ask kids to read something for the second, or third time, their eyes will roll.  It's more important to be finished instead of read critically.  Therefore we started the week by showing I Love Lucy's famous "Job Switch" episode.  With just a brief introduction, explaining that the show was shot live and broadcast, the kids engaged in the fun.  During commercial breaks (I'm too cheap to buy the DVD), we discussed plot elements and possible flubs in lines.  They fell in love with the story and compared it to the sushi episode in Drake and Josh, the fortune cookie episode in iCarly, and a My Little Pony remake.  It was a great way to review allusion.  Furthermore, it allowed a few of us to become experts (those in my study focus class who saw it twice).  They noticed new things when something was re-read.

Hold the phone.  They noticed something NEW the second time they viewed it?  Imagine if you saw it, gasp, five times?  (Hello, that's me . . . ).  This was a brilliant way to lead into the WHY of re-reading. (Million dollar smile inserted here).

So we headed toward our text books.  We discussed learning modalities - how some of us are visual, kinesthetic, or auditory.  We all learn something through engaging in literature through different modalities.  Guess what, the on-line Holt text book will READ the story to you while you read along.  This was our first passage through.  Each child had four sticky notes to write words that highlight the MOOD of the piece, and describe the CHARACTER of Martin, the lady, and the father  (engaging a somewhat kinesthetic activity), and to read (for our visual learners) along.  At the end of that pass, we shared the words with the class and added to our list as necessary.  We discussed the vocabulary, engaged in initial discussion about motivation, and how the author built suspense.  (We also had a great discussion on how the author was able to manipulate how they were feeling at the end of the piece - they were so on edge as the elevator door closed.)

That night they were assigned to read the story on their own and answer the 11 questions in the book about the plot of the piece.  A lot of the detail work was done through the notes we took in class.  Each child was challenged to find evidence to support their answer, and elaborate on how the evidence was important.  This required them to read the piece for the second time.  It required a deeper level into the how and why of the conflict presented in the story.  It also required them to take a side on if the lady was real or imagined.

The next day I had the pleasure of reading the story to them.  Now, I LOVE to read out loud, so I got into it.  I was told I was MUCH creepier than the person on the book.  (This allowed for a side discussion of how a speaker can add to an atmosphere of a piece.)  When the elevator closed, and the fat lady smiled and said, "Hello Martin," I put them into groups of three to take the ambiguity of the end of the story to resolution.  They had the tools to attack this with vigor.  Using evidence that they had culled from earlier sessions, we saw many possible solutions.  Most of my classes were divided on if the lady was real or not, so meaningful discussions went into the group work on how to make everyone feel validated.  I was impressed by the level of maturity shown in the discussion - often this type of ending would be gruesome to read and painful to hear about upon sharing, but the students really took the details of the story to make it more true to the original piece. 

After sharing, we debriefed with a few questions.  I was blown away with the deep, rich levels of engagement the kids had from this brief piece of writing.  One 8th grade boy began his explanation with, "I believe that the fat lady was a metaphor representing the manifestation of Martin's fears."  Another added, "I believe that the conflict in this story wasn't person vs. person, but rather an internal one where Martin was afraid that the weaknesses others teased him about were actually true.  He was fighting with himself not to be what he considered a coward."  Across the room, a young lady added, "I understand what your're saying, but I think the lady was real.  After all, there was the sensation of her coat scratching him, and the fact that she pushed buttons on the elevator."  One young lady was so excited when she came to the conclusion that the lady wasn't real.  She couldn't believe her idea was valuable (it was the first time it was mentioned in that class).  After I had her share her evidence to support this claim, her classmates were reinforcing the value of what she was saying.

Yes, you read that right.  They were listening, respecting, and responding.  They were supporting classmates and respectfully disagreeing.  It was the initial phase of accountable talk.  They could articulate their ideas, and bring them to the table.  This was happening in all of my classes (some with more leading from me, others with me stepping back to let them lead). 

That is how I can best explain common core.  It's thinking about concepts critically, finding evidence to support your ideas, and articulating why that evidence is important.  It's teaching kids to work together, build on each other's ideas, and bring a new understanding.  It's encouraging them to listen, argue respectfully, and find resolution.  It's knowing that we all have a unique viewpoint, so we all might come to a different conclusion - which is okay when we can support it.

It's giving kids the tools to think critically, so others don't do their thinking for them.

Next week we'll have the opportunity to meet Edgar Allan Poe.  I can't wait.