The Standards Inferno

March 17, 2016

An Oklahoma Teacher on Spring Break

In the beginning of Dante's Inferno, Dante says that "Midway on our life's journey, I found myself in dark woods, the right road lost." The road to approving the standards has been lost by all the suggestions that either relate to common core or are Much Ado about Nothing.

The suggestions that relate to common core are reading the founding documents, literary text examples for each grade level, test and writing exemplars, and that the standards are too vague.These suggestions should not be considered because if even one of these ideas is used, then some one is breaking the law. The example literary text suggestion caused a big commotion in the state when a book that will not be named was used as an example. Okay, I will mention this book title, but please forgive me for this sin. The Bluest Eye was used as an example text to show the reading difficulty needed for the CCSS. I don't need example literary text, and if a high school teacher has students read Dr. Seuss books for the reading standard, then that teacher should be fired.

 Narrative writing should not be used in the upper grades because it does not relate to  college and career.  Argument should be changed to opinion or persuasion.

I disagree with these suggestions. I know that my seniors who have taken concurrent enrollment at Cameron University had to write a narrative essay in Comp I, and in Comp II, they had to write an argumentative essay. This is nothing new; it's been going on for years. The types of informative essays that they have written include definition, compare/contrast, and rhetorical analysis along with a research paper. My curriculum this year has followed what Cameron requires because most of my students will attend Cameron or another state college. Informative writing is not just about giving the facts or regurgitating the material. If done correctly, it is critical writing.

Literary and informational critical reading standards

I am insulted with this assertion that English teachers have not been trained to teach informational text and that the informational text would relate to topics that belong to other subject areas. Furthermore, if English teachers don't understand what literary texts mean, they should not be teaching in our state. In Comp I and Comp II, students have to read informational text. It would be ignorant to read just literary text when at the college level, they have to read informational text. Furthermore, the literature textbooks contain informational text, AKA nonfiction.

 Include Oklahoma authors and their books

Well, this idea works for a unit lesson plan but not for a standard. What I have found out with senior students is that they have had enough of forced reading. If I let them choose or relate the books to career choices or their interests, then they will read it without complaining about it. I will use this as one of my unit lesson plans, but my students will have the final choice. By the way, students take an Oklahoma history class in the 8th or 9th grade, so maybe that's where the unit should go.

Standards are the parts that make up the curriculum map; standards are not the curriculum. In my opinion, I want vague standards because I can create curriculum that fits in the individual needs of my students; more precise standards would lead to a particular test, relate to common core, and present a "one size fits  all" curriculum. 

Now to blog about why I like #ourstandards.