Blog Post #2: Common Core Sate Standards

There exists a huge perception gap between what the majority of parents and students think of common core state standards and their reality. These standards are thought be be standardized curriculum, rather than the standards to which teachers are to drive their students to achieve. They are not a method, but instead are rather a goal. To put in place such a method would be to minimize the impact and influence a teacher can have on the classroom, which would be a disservice as teachers are the most important factor in the improvement of adolescent literacy. These standards actually offer a  great deal of freedom in how a teacher can choose to adhere to them, but often times this freedom is not exercised to its full potential. I was very interested to read about Liz Boeser's argumentative unit planning that involved student role-playing, discussion through the use of private forums, presentation through closed YouTube channels, and finally writing an argumentative paper to the school board to alter the web restriction policies that were currently in effect. Too often do I see students writing to only one audience composed of one individual: their teacher. In the real world, no proposal or argument will be written in that format to only one person. Writing to an audience is one of the cruxes of argumentative writing, and removing that audience by having it remaining so stagnantly specific does that prepare students for the larger world.
Using [newer] technologies such as these should be more regularly implemented in the classroom. These websites and media forms are ones that students are already familiar with, and including them into the curriculum will appear to their interests while also allowing them to develop the skills they already have in a more professional sense. It is foolish to assume that the written paper text format schools have been using for the past xxxx years will always continue to be in place when there are so many other forms of more readily available media. Teachers need to be free to develop their own curriculum in line with these consistent standards in a way that reflects the advancement of the technology in the world around them.

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