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Thursday, November 7, 2013

11-7-13 THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG Common Core: An Educator's Perspective — Whole Child Education

Common Core: An Educator's Perspective — Whole Child Education:

Steven Weber

Common Core: An Educator’s Perspective

If the state of North Carolina decides to pull the plug on the Common Core State Standards, it will be a slap in the face to the teachers and administrators who have spent countless hours (most on their own time without reimbursement) preparing to implement the Common Core State Standards and to maximize learning for 1.5 million students.
On June 2, 2010, the North Carolina State Board of Education adopted the Common Core State Standards(CCSS) which were implemented during the 2012–13 school year. The CCSS represent K–12 learning expectations in English language arts and mathematics. They reflect the knowledge and skills students need to be college and career ready by the end of high school. Over the past few months, elected officials across the United States are beginning to question the CCSS. On June 4, 2013, North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest posted a YouTube video outlining his concerns.
While standing in the car rider line at an elementary school, I was approached by a classroom teacher. She asked, "Are we going to align our curriculum, instruction, and assessments to the Common Core State Standards next year?" I replied, "yes." Then I said, "The Common Core is not going away." The teacher replied, "The Lieutenant Governor is discussing eliminating the Common Core." I replied, "Which Lieutenant Governor?" The teacher said, "The North Carolina Lieutenant Governor, Dan Forest."
Prior to becoming an elementary principal, I was the director of secondary instruction for Orange County

Aiming High: Working Through the Common Core Shifts
Download Podcast Now [Right-Click to Save] "Educators need to prepare kids to be career and college ready, but they also need to prepare them for their present world. The Common Core State Standards set out to do that. They're not perfect, but they are a starting point" (Peter DeWitt). The standards are not a curriculum. Standards are targets for what students should know and be able to
ED Pulse Poll Results: Which Type of Parent Support for the Common Core Would Be Most Useful?
ASCD continually seeks to provide solutions to the challenges that face educators of all levels. Recently the ASCD SmartBrief ED Pulse poll sought to develop a short list of useful tasks for parents to implement in their daily routine to enhance what is being taught in the classroom. In response to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), many different groups have created documents for parents, e

11-5-13 THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG - Maintaining Resilience in Education
Maintaining Resilience in Education — Whole Child Education: THE WHOLE CHILD BLOGMaintaining Resilience in EducationNovember 5, 2013 by Dianna MinorResilience in education is best developed in the early grades when students' interests are keen and easiest to develop. This is often the time when a teacher can best motivate a child to believe she can do anything if she tries and puts forth her best