College+Readiness+-+Common+Core+Standards

Mary Bowers 3-10-2012 Reflection on //Supporting Students in a Time of Core Standards// Grades 6-8 Chapter 1 – “Demystifying the Common Core State Standards”

This chapter explained how the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) came about. I was unaware that much of the funding for the research came from the private donators such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and a few others. The purpose was to increase accountability toward student achievement. After reading the chapter, you could surmise that teachers should not fear the CCSS, but look at it as another tool they can use to help them improve on what they are doing, which ultimately helps the student. One message that kept coming throughout the chapter was, that using the CCSS teachers will still have the creative freedom on the “what to teach and how to teach it.” Page 11 explains how the CCSS will help with rigor by keeping a vertical alignment so that each year the students build upon skills mastered in the previous years. There is a strong focus on informational text, but this can be achieved in other content areas.

To eliminate fears of how the CCSS will affect students in Special Education or ELL students, there will be accommodations allowed.

Page 16 – student focused shifts //Meaning-making// --Reading not only for comprehension, but also to be able to synthesize texts and ideas. //Developing independence//—“to move students toward independent enactment of standards.” (p16) Students take responsibility for their learning. This shift relates to the vertical alignment of a particular standard. //Transfer of learning// – //College and career readiness-//“focus is on skills, strategies, and habits that will enable students to adapt to the rhetorical demands of their future learning …”

The Instructional Shifts did not seem like it would be a shift from what is already occurring in ELA classrooms

Dawn Trueblood: CCSS-Wessling

Robin: The Successful High School Writing Center

Ann-Marie: Literary theories advanced in the text.

Kristin: Literacy Theories and Literacy Implementation

@Goldie--Chp 1 Demystifying The Common Core State Standards Goldie--Chp 2 **Inquiry and Independence in the ELA Classroom**

Dawn Trueblood: Wessling Ch 2-