Thursday, May 9, 2013

Literacy in the Content Areas

According to the Hunt Institute, the problem with eduction is that many students are unsuccessful in reading and comprehending books, documents, texts, websites and other media in the content areas upon high school graduation. Without literacy in the content areas, the supply of professionals in this area will dwindle because the education system is not meeting the needs of students who want to enter the field.

Therefore the standards in these areas--science and social studies, for example--do not merely teach students how to find and cite information, but, instead, to be able to read the media to understand and analyze what it does and doesn't say.

The standards were not only developed by educators, but also by professionals in the content area fields, so that they reflect the need for students to be literate in science and social studies and other technical subjects. 

In the video below, David Coleman, gives an example of building knowledge through reading and writing a document not merely to refer to it, but to have a command of the subject matter.

No longer will you as a teacher be able say I teach science through hands-on learning, but rather, I teach science thorough reading because scientists spend a good part of the day doing that.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Common Core Standards and Multicultural Education

Here in California, where I am located, you'll find that multicultural education is an important factor when planning curriculum.

This is true for other states also.

One good link for addressing the Common Core Standards when assigning a country report is at https://sites.google.com/site/multiculturalliteracy/


There is a twist to this project as students not only study the country in this project, but also a poet in the country.


You can assign a country report and add the one or more of the following topics for students to integrate into that report to address the Common Core Standards for the country report assignment.


1. a politican
2. a poet (as in the link)
3. a novelist
4. a muralist (great for Mexico and Latin America)
5. a painter
6. a business
7. a photographer
8. a journalist
9. a teacher
10. a doctor




Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Anchor Standards for Language

Anchor standards are the same for kindergarten to twelfth grade, each providing student knowledge to move into the future by providing a realistic approach to education, building upon each year's goals and objectives for reading, writing, speaking/listening and language.





The standards are tools to stimulate and build upon prior knowledge about a subject and relate it to the real world.

They're relevant to every grade level. The standards for each grade level relate directly to the Anchor Standards for consistency and focus in student learning of the academic subject matter.

Anchor Standards for Language

Monday, May 6, 2013

Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening

As the building blocks for students' successes after high school graduation, Anchor standards are those those that you follow to educate your students from kindergarten to twelfth grade, enabling students to build upon each year's goals and objectives for reading, writing, speaking/listening and language.

They're relevant to every grade level. In other words, the remaining standards from which they branch are their subsets.

They have teachers thinking about the skills students will face when entering the working or academic world.

Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening

Anchor Standards for Writing

Anchor standards are those those that you follow to get an overall look at what students should know by the end of twelfth grade.

 There are anchor standards for reading, writing, speaking/listening and language.

They are applied to every grade level. In other words standards for each grade level are structured by the anchor standards.

They have teachers thinking about the skills students will face when entering the working or academic world.

Anchor Standards for Writing

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Anchor Standards for Reading

Anchor standards are those those that you follow to get an overall look at what students should know by the end of twelfth grade.

 There are anchor standards for reading, writing, speaking/listening and language.

They are applied to every grade level. In other words standards for each grade level are structured by the anchor standards.

They have teachers thinking of graduation from the get-go, which means starting in kinder.

Anchor Standards for Reading

Monday, April 22, 2013

Common Core Standards for Math--Making Math Approachable

Many students have difficulty with math. They find it a challenge to approach any type of math assignment or math lesson. Some of that difficulty stems from a negative attitude, so as a teacher you should suggest to students the advantages of being good at math (cold hard cash when they get older because of the great jobs that involve math) and how a change of attitude can help them to better.

The last thing you want to hear a student say is, "I'm terrible at math" or "I can't do math." If they are saying these things, talk about how that type of thinking will not help him/her do better in math. Talk to him/her about metacognitive skills regarding math, such as take problem solving one step at a time and when he/she begins a math assignment to be sure to look over the examples carefully so that math will be easier to understand.

Finally, talk about that feeling of satisfaction when you've solved a problem correctly or have gotten an "A" on a math test.

The Core Standards for Math leads you to a dead link (http://www.corestandards.org/the-standards/mathematics/introduction/standards-for-mathematical-practice) on the Common Core Standards webpage. The correct webpage is at http://www.corestandards.org/Math.