8/2 Self-Reflection

August 3, 2012 at 11:41 am | Posted in E1, O2 | Leave a comment
Tags: EDU 6134, self-reflection

We have recently been discussing our current Washington K-12 State Standards and comparing them to the upcoming Common Core State Standards, specifically in math. There are some serious changes coming our way, and every teacher in Washington will need to know these new standards inside and out. As a soon-to-be new teacher, I will be responsible for both the current and common core standards. The first paper I wrote for this entire program was evaluating the pros and cons for both the Washington K-12 State Standards and the Common Core State Standards for mathematics. The first thing I noticed was the common core had shifted a good deal of content around. I was looking for Algebra 1 standards under the Algebra category in the CCSS, and couldn’t find anything relating to Algebra 1. After a little detective work, I found the standards I needed but they were lumped into both 7^th and 8^th grade. This is going to be a big deal come 2014 when every teacher will have to track down specific standards which could be located in a variety of possible locations. That’s a lot of extra time and effort being spent, but hopefully it will only be for that first year. Also, in the CCSS you have domains that house clusters of standards relating to a similar topic. These domains are not numbered, making it even more difficult to find a specific standard. I wonder why they didn’t at least keep the numbering system used by the current state standards. The good news though is that the CCSS have trimmed down the total number of standards and the ones that stuck around have been reworded to go much more in depth on their topics. By going more in depth, the impact on student learning should be much more significant. Instead of just scratching the surface on many topics, students will be able to learn, retain and recall information on fewer, but more important topics. Of course who is to say which content stays and which goes? Or which content is broken down and divided into other areas? And how can we ensure that even if the CCSS are adopted by a state that they will strictly adhere to them? These are legitimate concerns with serious implications, ranging from the state level all the way down to the teachers and students. Hopefully those in charge of rolling out these new standards got it right, and we will be the generation of new teachers bringing our youth and our nation back to the top of the pack where we belong.