As someone who was lucky enough to teach multiple lessons her first quarter of placement, I've had a good amount of experience with the Common Core Standards. Not only have I had to incorporate them into my lesson plans, but I have also gotten to talk to Chrisy (former professor and current cooperating teacher) about them during classes in both the college and high school settings.
Personally, I love the CCSS. I think it might be a bit more difficult for non-core classes to tie into these standards, but they help hold teachers accountable for the material they're teaching. There won't be nearly as much opportunity for "pointless days" where they just pop in a movie and get caught up on work. I don't feel as though students gain anything from those kinds of days and it's a waste of everyone's time to even be in the classroom on those days.
The CCSS allows for a more uniform look in material nationwide, but still definitely allows for creativity and individualism. I've looked into the standards a couple of times to try to understand them better and have come out of the experience more pumped up about them.
Now, all of this positive talk isn't to say that I don't have a couple of reservations about these standards. The main thing I'm concerned about is the testing that will take place in order to ensure that teachers are providing the information to their students in a way that they understand. I was the "guinea pig group" for the WASL graduation requirements and felt a large amount of pressure with that. The stress that is added on with new requirements of tests takes a toll on our high school students. And from what I hear... this test will be extensive and more stressful than the WASL was.
Overall, I'm stoked for the CCSS. I have a few concerns and reservations, but I love the overlaying concept of the whole system.
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