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Teaching and Learning with the
Common Core
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Merriam-Webster's definition of standards includes the following:
- "something established by authority, custom, or general consent as a model or example
- something set up and established by authority as a rule for the measure of quantity, weight, extent, value, or quality
- structure built for or serving as a base or support"
Standards define some of what should be but not all. On the plus side, they give us a focal point; on the minus side, they limit our ability to appreciate the forest. When used as the sole lens to determine what matters, standards operate as a set of blinders narrowing the universe of what we should attend to. The learners we desire should have multiple literacies but not all of these literacies live inside one set of standards. In our continued examination and use of the Common Core Learning Standards, we need to ask ourselves,
- What learning outcomes matter?
- How and where are these learning outcomes cultivated in our schools?
- How do the Common Core Standards support and strengthen them?
------------------------------------------------------------------------- Developing the Learners We Need by Dr. Giselle O. Martin-Kniep He perseveres; he understands what it takes to produce quality work and has the where with all to generate such work; he recognizes the importance of asking the right questions and has an arsenal of tools to generate them. He knows how to determine if he is on the right track in pursuit of a solution and can access a range of strategies to solve the problems he has determined to find. He is mindful of the interdependence of all systems and knows that the smallest of actions can have astronomical effects.read more |
