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Sunday, March 25, 2012

Not Common. Not Core, Either. - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

Not Common. Not Core, Either. - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:


Not Common. Not Core, Either.

My friend Claudia Swisher, an exceptional veteran teacher from Oklahoma, recently posted an update inGoodreads, a kind of virtual book club where we hang out together. We have challenged each other to read 150 books in 2012. While I have been ripping through mysteries and historical fiction, Claudia just notched a professional volume--Supporting Students in a Time of Core Standards. (Interesting title, immediately bringing to mind Love in the Time of Cholera--but never mind.)
Claudia wrote a thoughtful mini-essay in her review, sharing some concerns and questions about what impact, exactly, the Common Core will have on teaching high school English, a field in which she has thirty-something years of experience. She did like the book, seeing it as valuable tool, "as we, once again, gear up to change our classrooms in response to edicts from policy makers who have never been in the classroom. We can do this...again."
Claudia is not the only one wondering about the Common Core Standards (CCS). There seem to be lots of