Ah…summer! A perfect time to pour an iced tea, reflect and luxuriate over next year’s lesson plans. In this leg of my teaching odyssey, I am a blissful lotus eater. On my summer island, the Common Core State Standards, this year’s new PARCC Assessment, and the new teacher evaluation process seem like a dream…
But these are reality for teachers, even as debates about the Common Core rage on.
In fact, last year, we “unpacked” those Common Core Standards. (“Unpacking” is Eduspeak for, “We read them closely to figure out what they meant.”) So, now that I have an idea of what these Standards say, the next step is to find a way for my students to meet them.
As I review a couple of the Standards, I note that my 6th Grade Reading students will need to do such things as “Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says…” and “[i]ntegrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.” [1] This means that my students will need to read closely and understand what authors say. Also, my students will need to be able to analyze different texts and media to learn something new. Important stuff for kids who will be writing the news someday…and voting.
So, it’s time to keep calm, pour another iced tea, and try some of the following:
(1) Surf the Internet and Twitter for some insightful professional conversations and resources related to the new core standards.
(2) Become familiar with school district resources and any new Common Core teaching materials for my classes that are accessible to me this summer.
(3) Identify which of the Common Core Standards are addressed in existing lesson plans and how they are assessed.
(4) Make notes about Common Core standard objectives that are not met through the current lesson plans, and brainstorm ideas to adjust and differentiate existing lessons for student success and engagement. (These can be discussed and developed with colleagues in the fall.)
(5) Develop tools to help students track their progress and reflect on their learning.
(6) Discover some meaningful ways to integrate technology for 21st Century Learning.
It’s a long summer…so why panic?. . . Pass the sugar and the lemon.
[1] See Common Core State Standards Initiative http://www.corestandards.org/
Patricia Steinmeyer 