Last week I asked for feedback on The Naked Standard. I received feedback. I’m still receiving feedback. Thank you. Keep it coming.
Reflecting on some of my responses, I thought one was worthy of posting. The feedback was great. The responder shared concerns that I fully understood because I’ve spent the last two years developing leaders and teachers for embracing the Common Core. My response was long, so I’ll only share an excerpt. I hope that my sharing, helps you as you prepare to usher in the core in your school, district or state.
Hi [Responder], thanks for your feedback. It’s just what I asked for. Yes, you are absolutely correct about the standards being written for teachers to have clarity. Let me tell you what I experienced on my journey. Teachers would read them, say “they are great,” sit down to plan with them and say, “what do I do now?” I would also see teachers take an entire standard and plop “Students will be able to” in front of the standard. So it would look something like this on the board: SWBAT analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works such as the Bible, including describing how the material is rendered new. (That’s RL.8.9.)
Now you and I both know that throwing that up on the board on Day 1 won’t work. The teacher has to build the students up to that point, and this is where I saw teachers get stuck. They didn’t know how to build the the students up to the point of the standard. This is the reason why I created The Core Deconstructed. I saw teacher after teacher get stuck and wanted to help them get unstuck.
As my day progressed, I was inspired to write a story that encapsulated my experiences from 2009 until this year that shared a sliver of what I learned while helping educators grasp the depth of the the standards. If my story resonates with you, like it, Pin it, Tweet it, or simply let me know below. See my story here: Get Unstuck.
sheronbrownphd.com 