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Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » More Common Core SNAFUs:

More Common Core SNAFUs

One inherent weakness in Common Core is how they tried to avoid controversy at their inception, by not wading into the troubled shoals of  curriculum and content. They discovered that since they were offering standards that were so “new” and “different” they had to show exactly what folks should be doing that was so different. So some examples were thrown up with David Coleman sharing how to teach “Letter from Birmingham Jail” that just left folks scratching (or banging) their heads.

Fortunately for the Common Core movement, Mr. Coleman moved on to a position at College Board. In that time, other exemplars and lesson plans have started to pop up. Most are from New York, which has been very aggressive in implementing Common Core. At this point, we at least haveactual teachers and students involved, but here is where the problem occurs with content. If I’m reading the intent of the standards correctly