Teaching Standards with Becoming Standardized
How do we utilize teaching standards while teaching in “authentic,” developmentally appropriate ways? This is the fundamental question at the heart of the national debate on standardize testing and the Common Core. Like blogger, Katrina Schwartz, I believe “the standards are the learning goal, the “what” of education, but there are many approaches to how those standards are taught.” We must get pass the notion that standards somehow restrict teaching and remember the standards are meant to give teachers “a common language to talk about one another’s ideas” while also giving students a consistency of instruction from teacher to teacher. Good teaching instruction is done in “creative, meaningful ways.” It also seeks to keep students “engaged in their own learning.” Ultimately, I believe (in order for our schools to survive) we must strive to strike a balance between maintaining authentic teaching practices while also creating uniform methods to “ensure our learning goals” are met on behalf of every child. Check out Katrina Schwartz’s blog on Mind/Shift.
About principalaim
4 comments on “Teaching Standards with Becoming Standardized”
Leave a Reply
Top Posts & Pages
Visual Q’s in Education
principalaim 
I had a friend get very upset about the Common Core standards and how that meant teachers wouldn’t be able to teach as creatively. He wrote quite a long and vehement post on Facebook about it. Another of his friends and I both replied to tell him this is really untrue. I let him know my lessons haven’t changed significantly as I was already using our state Grade Level Expectations so I sat down with a partner teacher and we aligned our GLEs with the CCSS. I simply replaced the GLE in the lesson objective with it’s corresponding CCSS and continued with the activities as usual if at the same grade level or with some adjustments at a different grade level. I’m amazed at the number of misconceptions the general public has about the Common Core standards.
Hello kedavis99 – it is amazing the number of misconceptions the general public has about the Common Core standards. It is why I believe it is so important to raise awareness about the pros as well as the cons of the Common Core. Thank you for your support! tlb
Reblogged this on How can I control my class? and commented:
Common Core standards still need individualized instruction by creative teachers according to students’ learning styles. Agree?
Hello patriciadorsey – I absolutely believe the best instruction takes into consideration the learning styles of every student; therefore, I agree that we need to continue to look at ways to ensure that the Common Core standards honor individualized teaching instruction. Thank you so much for sharing my content within your community. Keep visiting principalaim! tlb