ENGLISH STANDARDS: RED LIGHT! GREEN LIGHT! BLUE LIGHT!
“The standards we wrote and reviewed do not create a license for curriculum specialists at the state or district or building level to mandate content, curriculum, or assessment to classroom teachers. Instead, as the standards state, they are designed to ‘support conversations’ that result in ‘rigorous and relevant curriculum’,” (Michigan English Standards).
NOTE 1: The majority of the “DO NOTS” are real life, teaching examples.
NOTE 2: The Blue Light symbolizes the voice of the Michigan ELA Common Core Standards.
Do NOT create a checklist for when every standard somehow has been met. Abiding an entire English curriculum by the English standards is NOT teaching, ladies and gentleman – it’s losing that simple teacher bear necessity of creativity.
If the checklist is the only format that can accommodate your teaching methods then I suggest that you try and follow Rick Wormeli’s approach: Every student will have two or three pages dedicated to his or her progress according to specific English standards (Differentiated Grading Webinar Fall 2010).
The ELA Common Core Standards have been created to help iliminate this tendency that many English teachers have - the step by step dwellers. Even though I find that CC standards are rather vague, they enable all English standards a lot more room for their own teaching strategies and creativity.
One of my personal ideas is after every assignment, have every student write a reflection as to what he or she has learned or accomplished; As you read these reflections, make a list of the achievements. BUT once the list has been made, stash the list away into a folder; and at the end of the term, look them over – you’ll be amazed to see how many standards were accomplished in just one assignment and without you necessarily focusing on such standards!
Do NOT try and fit all 91 expectations into every unit.
Do NOT write a new “must achieve” standard every day before class.
Do NOT have your students read ANY of the English standards.
- The only time that this would be acceptable is if the teacher knows for a fact that this is one standard that the ACT or SAT will have a strong focus. Perhaps, this could be used as an effective tool for ACT or SAT prep aka the already – established Prep classes.
then our students will begin to think: “I need to have this standard met!” instead of “I want to do well on this writing assignment!” This is just another way of dominating our students with product learning instead of proficient learning.
Thankfully, the CC standards eliminate the freak out sessions Engish teacher's have when they see the ungodly amount of standards that need to be met by the end of term or semester; and even though it's quite easy to meet many of the standards in one lesson, English teachers won't think that way.
“Given the diversity of students in many classrooms, it is often wise to teach multiple texts simultaneously, using literature circles, workshops, and individualized and independent instruction. It is also important to preserve a variety of pathways through four years of English studies, including focused elective classes that can play their role in helping to meet the variety of standards. The opportunity to dig deeply into a specific area or strengthen a particular skill, is necessary to developing the in-depth thinking and mastery of tools necessary for college and workplace success,” (Michigan English Standards). I don’t just mean to copy a paste, but I could not agree more with this statement! When it comes to English, every student has a different proficiency rate. Also, every student has higher and lower levels of proficiency rates in different aspects of English: reading, writing, critical thinking, etc, etc. In that case, having different classes, workshops, instructional method doesn’t leave any English student behind – they, our students can indirectly chose what standards they want to meet; and us as teachers, it is our duty to make sure that their standards are met accordingly.
Even though the Michigan ELA Common Core Standards give English teachers a lot more freedom and creativity in their teaching styles, they really need to be a lot more specific. I do believe that the reading standards are fair, but the writing standards need a lot more guidance. I believe that their should be a standard for each type of writing style that will be required of the classes that correspond with standardized tests; and even though the already stated standards give room for grammar lessons, i believe that it is crucial to include some form of a grammar standard - even if it's very basic. For example, maybe even in one of the the Writing standards, particularly number three starting at grade nine, it could have a couple more letters regarding towards grammatical aspects.
“The standards we wrote and reviewed do not create a license for curriculum specialists at the state or district or building level to mandate content, curriculum, or assessment to classroom teachers. Instead, as the standards state, they are designed to ‘support conversations’ that result in ‘rigorous and relevant curriculum’,” (Michigan English Standards).
NOTE 1: The majority of the “DO NOTS” are real life, teaching examples.
NOTE 2: The Blue Light symbolizes the voice of the Michigan ELA Common Core Standards.
Do NOT create a checklist for when every standard somehow has been met. Abiding an entire English curriculum by the English standards is NOT teaching, ladies and gentleman – it’s losing that simple teacher bear necessity of creativity.
If the checklist is the only format that can accommodate your teaching methods then I suggest that you try and follow Rick Wormeli’s approach: Every student will have two or three pages dedicated to his or her progress according to specific English standards (Differentiated Grading Webinar Fall 2010).
The ELA Common Core Standards have been created to help iliminate this tendency that many English teachers have - the step by step dwellers. Even though I find that CC standards are rather vague, they enable all English standards a lot more room for their own teaching strategies and creativity.
One of my personal ideas is after every assignment, have every student write a reflection as to what he or she has learned or accomplished; As you read these reflections, make a list of the achievements. BUT once the list has been made, stash the list away into a folder; and at the end of the term, look them over – you’ll be amazed to see how many standards were accomplished in just one assignment and without you necessarily focusing on such standards!
Do NOT try and fit all 91 expectations into every unit.
Do NOT write a new “must achieve” standard every day before class.
Do NOT have your students read ANY of the English standards.
- The only time that this would be acceptable is if the teacher knows for a fact that this is one standard that the ACT or SAT will have a strong focus. Perhaps, this could be used as an effective tool for ACT or SAT prep aka the already – established Prep classes.
then our students will begin to think: “I need to have this standard met!” instead of “I want to do well on this writing assignment!” This is just another way of dominating our students with product learning instead of proficient learning.
Thankfully, the CC standards eliminate the freak out sessions Engish teacher's have when they see the ungodly amount of standards that need to be met by the end of term or semester; and even though it's quite easy to meet many of the standards in one lesson, English teachers won't think that way.
“Given the diversity of students in many classrooms, it is often wise to teach multiple texts simultaneously, using literature circles, workshops, and individualized and independent instruction. It is also important to preserve a variety of pathways through four years of English studies, including focused elective classes that can play their role in helping to meet the variety of standards. The opportunity to dig deeply into a specific area or strengthen a particular skill, is necessary to developing the in-depth thinking and mastery of tools necessary for college and workplace success,” (Michigan English Standards). I don’t just mean to copy a paste, but I could not agree more with this statement! When it comes to English, every student has a different proficiency rate. Also, every student has higher and lower levels of proficiency rates in different aspects of English: reading, writing, critical thinking, etc, etc. In that case, having different classes, workshops, instructional method doesn’t leave any English student behind – they, our students can indirectly chose what standards they want to meet; and us as teachers, it is our duty to make sure that their standards are met accordingly.
Even though the Michigan ELA Common Core Standards give English teachers a lot more freedom and creativity in their teaching styles, they really need to be a lot more specific. I do believe that the reading standards are fair, but the writing standards need a lot more guidance. I believe that their should be a standard for each type of writing style that will be required of the classes that correspond with standardized tests; and even though the already stated standards give room for grammar lessons, i believe that it is crucial to include some form of a grammar standard - even if it's very basic. For example, maybe even in one of the the Writing standards, particularly number three starting at grade nine, it could have a couple more letters regarding towards grammatical aspects.