Cathy Larson
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Use maxims to drive instruction

5/23/2016

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Nike lives by 11 guiding principles, their maxims: “It is our nature to innovate,” “The consumer decides,” “Evolve immediately,” and “Do the right thing” are just four of them. You can Google the rest; that’s how I found them all. Not only are they interesting, but they inspired me to take action.

I led a professional development meeting with my English department this week at school. The meeting was to refine our curriculum and embed more 21st century learning. We realized we couldn’t start this discussion until we’d decided on our English department’s maxims first.

So we set out to do just that. And we got to them by asking two guiding questions: “What are the fundamental principles that drive our instruction?” and “What type of English student do we want graduating from our department?” Honestly, how can a department of any discipline make decisions about end goals, assessments, mastery, homework, summer assignments, or even daily lessons without knowing what they stand for.

Philosophically who they are as teachers. And, most importantly, who they want the kids to become as learners and citizens of the world when the graduate.

As our brainstorming and planning day came to an end, I began to reflect on the experiences of my own children. I wonder if their teachers are clear on their purpose. If their teachers know the type of student they are trying to create. If their teachers talk about the driving principles of their discipline. Sometimes I wonder. When my kids come home with worksheets, packets, rote memorization tasks, and mindless regurgitation, I wonder if they feel as disengaged from the content as the work feels from real life.

I challenge you to ask, “What type of adult do your kids’s teachers’ activities intend to create?”

As a district, Los Alamitos is very clear about its brand. We ignite unlimited possibilities for students. We embrace the whole child. We build well-rounded students with a focus on activities, arts, athletics and academics. But how does this trickle down to each school and then, most importantly, into the classroom -- where the real work happens. It’s not enough to stand for the “what” without also building the “how.”

As a parent, I want us all to start asking the questions that get our district teachers to start asking questions of their practice. Why this assignment? Why this task? What’s the purpose? What type of adult is this activity building?
I also realized during my meeting this week that I want to more clearly identify the maxims for my family. What do we stand for? How do we make the tough decisions? How do we stay focused on what matters? As I type, I think about phrases I say over-and-over to my kids: “Anything worth doing is worth doing well,” “Effort unlocks your potential,” “Your level of success is completely up to you,” and “Find your own purpose.” I’m sure all of you have phrases that bounce off your walls on a regular basis, because as parents these are the principles we use to build our little adults. The same needs to apply in the classroom.

If every teacher worked to build little scientists or thinkers or innovators or independent learners -- whatever the courses’ maxims -- our kids would be engaged. They would be excited about their learning. They would be inspired to find their path.

It’s time for teaching and learning to be purposeful and meaningful every day with every assignment -- because the world can be changed one maxim at a time.
​

Just do it.
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The Best 7 Hours

4/18/2016

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I attended a College and Career Readiness workshop this past week facilitated by EPIC School Partnerships, an organization representing a new approach for improving student outcomes, grounded in over a decade of research by David Conley, author of “Getting Ready for College, Careers, and the Common Core.”

As hard as it is for me, or any classroom teacher for that matter, to spend time away from the classroom and leave our charges in the hands of an albeit qualified and well-intentioned substitute, I took advantage of the opportunity to participate in this professional development day. And like most PD days, I walked away with something that will change my teaching for the better. I love to learn. I love to be exposed to new ideas. I love to sit in a room with other educators and discuss our practice. It’s transformative. This day was no different.

“The best 7 hours” -- this is the phrase from the conference that resonated with me.

In fact, I picked my son up from school after the workshop and asked him, “How was school?” This question sound familiar? We all ask it when our kids come home from school. From my daugher, the answer is always filled with highs, lows, laughter and stories. For my son, the answer is always, “What do you think? It was school.” His answer comes with snark, sarcasm, bitterness. Granted, he is a teenage boy, so he isn’t nearly as verbose as my daughter, but, nevertheless, it makes me sad he doesn’t enjoy his time there.

This day, I pushed for a little more information. I asked, “Is school ever the best 7 hours of your day?” He looked at me and rolled his eyes. I continued. I shared with him that this question came from my day’s experience at a workshop, and the presenter reminding us -- the teachers -- that we should strive for this for our students. He responded, “Why would they do that?” More snark. He’s a tough audience.

Our kids today are part of a new generation. I know, we hear this all the time. But this workshop forced me to think about what this means?  And it dawned on me that this “new generation” is one that can’t even compare to my own. Whereas we have lived through the birth of technology innovation and have learned, and potentially even embraced, it as an add-on to our lives, our kids are tech-innate. Technology IS their lives. They know nothing else. They don’t have any idea what it’s like to have to go to the library to get an answer to something. When my kids don’t know something, they “Google it.” Their world is information rich; it always has been. Since day 1. The learning of knowledge for them isn’t the end product, because knowledge is everywhere.

Our world is no longer about what we know -- it’s about what we DO with what we know.

Our kids today want to DO. They want to use this abundance of knowledge. The want to create, to invent, to act. We all know they still need to “learn” in order to “do,” but the learning no longer has to be straight facts; rather, it can be patterns, creativity, collaboration, higher-level thinking processes, strategies, skills -- imagine, even, the power of their learning how to be curious.

If these were the traits of our local schools for EVERY PERIOD, EVERY DAY, then I can guarantee my son would love school. He would be doing. He would be active in his learning. He would see the connection of the content to his life; he would see relevancy and purpose. He would begin to think about his future and actually start designing it.

This isn’t a teacher issue -- it’s a system issue. And a system is hard to change, but it’s going to have to if we are going to inspire our kids for life beyond high school -- college, career, community -- and to inspire them to dream for a better world.

My hope is that our schools begin thinking about the seven hours they have and begin dreaming big. Remember the old KFWB mantra -- “Give us 24 minutes, and we’ll give you the world”?

Imagine the power of having seven hours -- the world would only be the beginning.

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The Forgotten "R"

1/18/2016

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Writing -- my passion, my life’s work, my hobby, the core of my educational philosophy, and right now, the largest source of my frustration with education. With No Child Left Behind, writing instruction and opportunities were lost, forgotten, pushed aside. But this forgotten "R" must be brought back into the forefront immediately.

I’m going to spend this week elaborating on the five key benefits of a writing centered classroom as identified by The National Commission on Writing:

Writing is able to [1] generate deeper thinking, because it’s hard to know what we actually think until it’s committed to paper. Until then, the thoughts are fleeting and unsubstantiated and twirling around in our heads amid thousands of other random thoughts. Ideas flit from point A to point Z in the blink of an eye. Stopping to write those thoughts allows us all to go deeper with each one. I remind my students in the classroom every day, “Writing is discovery, so write to discover all that you have to say.” Writing to generate deeper thinking can serve as a foundational skill for producing what we know, but it also generates new thinking. The key is to give students opportunities to write for both big and small tasks, for both high-stakes and low-stakes assignments, in both timed and un-timed situations, for close readings and summaries, for formal essays and freewrites. It's the combination of them all that gets kids thinking.

Jobs are competitive today. Any one job can generate hundreds of applicants. The trend in industry today is to require applicants to produce a writing sample. Basically, to get the career you want, you have to know how to write. This includes job applications for mechanics, firemen, OC sheriff’s,  computer programming, engineering, etc. The list goes on and on. So in terms of [2] career readiness, our students need to be writing more. Writing isn’t becoming a “thing of the past.” In fact, writing is becoming more important. And the writing that’s expected needs to be done quickly, efficiently and effectively. Memos need to be written now. Emails need to be answered yesterday. I argue writing is becoming even more critical; our world lives in technology today, and in order to share via technology, information needs to be written.

Writing [3] prepares you for college. Students are asked to write personal statements, complete writing placement exams, and communicate effectively in order to show proficiency and pass their classes. In The Nation’s Report Card: Writing 2011, NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) published the results of eighth and twelfth grade students’ assessments. Only one-quarter of students in the study, including both grade levels, performed at the proficient level in writing, leaving 75% of students performing basic or below basic. This is abysmal. This shouldn’t be acceptable; students, parents, schools, districts, communities and society at large should be furious with the underachievement in this fundamental skill. We need to better prepare our students for college or career success.

The [4] Common Core values writing. Writing doesn’t just belong in the English classroom anymore. Writing is literacy, and our students are being asked to produce independent thinking and coherent, relevant analysis in math, science, history. Writing, as outlined in the Common Core, also asks students to begin to blend genres. The narrative is not just “Tell Me What You Did Over Summer” anymore. Narratives are expected to be used to tell stories about history, make arguments in science, capture the attention of the audience in exposition. Blending genres requires craft, fluency, sophistication -- and practice.

Writing is hard; it is, without a doubt, cognitively challenging. But writing is worth the brain exercise. It helps us sort things out, adds depth to our thoughts, allows us to express our ideas, enables us to persuade, and, ultimately, makes us smarter. A struggle with writing is a metaphor for life. Let’s allow our students to struggle, to persevere, and, ultimately, to overcome. Let's help our kids find their self worth through accomplishment -- teach them that life isn't always easy. I want our kids to grapple with writing a grant that inspires the world to do better. I want them to write Yelp reviews that help me avoid the worst restaurants in town. I want them to write police reports that can stand up in court. I want them to write speeches that drive citizens to action. Writing isn’t just a book report or a fill-in-the-blank worksheet; [5] writing is life.

I guess this leaves me wondering where our district stands on writing. I have personal anecdotes and experiences from my own kids’ times in the elementary and middle schools in Los Al. I also bring knowledge from my work with students of all ages through Write Away U. These experiences make me want to scream from the rooftops: we need more writing in all classrooms across all curricular areas.

Writing is too important to let it depend on the teacher you get in school by luck of the draw -- it needs to be intentional, and it needs to be our next big push in education.
​

This "R" is not an option -- it’s a necessity.
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What are the "Habits of Mind"?

1/11/2016

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When we were students in the classroom, the world was a much different place. We were expected to read from a textbook and answer questions. We were expected to learn a math concept during class and do all the odd-numbered problems for homework. We were expected to memorize historical dates and names. We were expected to gather content knowledge and regurgitate that information on some test or quiz for the sake of a grade. Once done, the class moved on, and we were expected to do the same things all over again with new chapters and more content.

Then the world changed on us -- it become more immediate, more global, more intricate, more instantaneous.
With this change in the world should come a change in the expectations of our kids in the classroom. We can’t teach the same way anymore. Our kids need -- more.

One concept you’ll be hearing more about in the coming years is one called “Habits of Mind.” This phrase is being discussed in all our local districts, and I want to take a few minutes to be sure you have a working knowledge of its meaning.

The “Habits of Mind” are directly tied to literacy: reading, writing, speaking and listening. But literacy is not as simple as just this any more, because the demands of being literate in the 21st century are different from what it meant to be literate when we were in school.

Nowadays, students must learn how to engage in their literacy.

Let me put it another way. In the 21st century, literate students will not only be able to read, write, speak and listen, but they will be able to do so as scientists, historians, engineers, artists, writers, philosophers, mathematicians, engineers. Literacy today, in our changed world, means that our kids are literate from the perspective of all content areas.

In a reading class, being literate today means that our kids not only read and comprehend, but that they are also discerning and open-minded, questioning and assessing the claims and reasonings of assumptions and premises.
In a writing class, being literate means that our kids are able to write more than just a five paragraph essay. Literate writers both write -- and read -- with purpose. They look beneath the writing for the writer’s intent, bias and craft. And writers read as writers, not just as readers, developing a style all their own because of it.

In a history class, being literate means our kids aren’t just memorizing who authored a treaty or the capital of a U.S. state, but they are reading primary-source documents, evaluating evidence and asking questions about cause/effect, the past influencing the present, turning points, change and continuity.

In a math class, being literate means our kids can do more than the odd-numbered problems. We want our up-and-coming mathematicians to be pattern sniffers, experimenters, tinkerers, inventors, and visualizers who persevere and reason with precision, driving our next technology innovations.

In a science class, being literate means our kids have opportunities to do more than read about science from a textbook. Our next generation of scientists needs to be hands-on, curious, open to new ideas, intellectually honest, imaginative, creative and skeptical -- all at the same time.

These examples don’t come even close to the full range of “Habits” we want to see from our next generation of literate students, but it is the type of instruction we should be demanding of our schools.

I want my own kids to be able to manipulate their knowledge, respond to varying demands of each discipline, critique, be strategic, value evidence, understand others’ perspectives, demonstrate independence and be empowered to do and be -- more.
​

Because these “habits” are habits worth having.
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We Don't Need More STEM Majors

12/28/2015

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The field and science of education can be considered a study in the art of the pendulum. If anyone works in education long enough, the same approaches, beliefs, techniques, and ideas will come back around -- albeit, recycled with a few new elements, a new name and updated packaging.

Let’s take the vocational classes of the 1960’s as an example. My parents had options of graduating high school having taken classes that trained them for a job. My mom took classes that prepared her to be a secretary. My dad didn’t take any, but could have learned to be a car mechanic or electrician. Their generation spent high school learning a trade, giving them the experience to get work right after graduation.

These classes became the ROP I knew in the 1980’s. I could get out of school early to work or attend a trade school. Instead, I opted to take advantage of the “get out of school early” option and left school at noon every day of my senior year to work at the local movie theater in the evenings. Not sure this was the ideal use of my ROP opportunity.
Then ten years ago, I was involved in CTE (Career Technical Education). The local schools and community colleges were receiving money to align core curriculum with predetermined career technical pathways, intended to give kids real world experience in the classroom. I wrote curriculum for English classes that embedded cross-curricular career units. Because of this program, students were exposed not only to the content, but to its application, allowing them to make more informed college and career choices. This was presented as a novel idea, given that we were mired in No Child Left Behind at the time and schools were focused on tests, test taking and rote memorization. But we all knew we were simply participating in the movement of the pendulum once again.

Today, with the advent of Common Core, the push now is to prepare students for life after high school. Apparently we haven’t done this before. Today we are calling these courses Pathways. Again, not a bad idea -- in fact, it’s been a great idea since 1776 and the founding of the United States when we began training future leaders through apprenticeships and females for the teaching profession. And it’s been a great idea ever since.

This time, however, the pendulum has swung a little too far for my taste. The concept of Pathways allows students to take a sequence of coursework during high school to connect a student’s interest to a post-graduation career or college degree. Again, not a bad idea. But, unfortunately, the Pathways favor science, technology, engineering and mathematics, with some business courses thrown in for good measure. The newly minted label is STEM. My argument lies in what’s glaringly absent from these courses -- where are the liberal arts options? The art? Music? Language? Law? Writing? Philosophy? History? Anthropology?

Where are the courses that create well-rounded citizens of the world?

When I think about the companies that are currently changing the world, I see companies that embrace not just technology, but also design, sociology and storytelling. Apple is Apple because of Steve Jobs’s obsession with design, touch, feel -- the beauty of the art and aesthetic of his products. Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook is what it is today because he understands humanity and its need to be social -- a social media empire as much psychology and sociology as it is technology. And let’s face it, Starbucks does make great coffee, but this coffee company isn’t what it is today because of a specially-engineered coffee maker. It is what it is because of the culture, the people, and the story created around the brand.

Just like great movies take more than just a camera engineer and video editor to become classics. They take well-integrated music, camera angles, scripts, nuance, and storytelling.

Do we really want to be a country that writes bad software code because our programmers don’t understand fluency and cohesion? Do we really want to be a country that simply manufactures great microchips, but offers nothing value added? Or do we want to be a country that drives innovation because of our creativity, ability to solve the world’s problems and critical thinking prowess?

I will argue every day that STEM is only half the equation -- that a solid, well-rounded liberal arts education in conjunction with STEM will give us a leading edge advantage as a country and our kids the leading edge advantage as world leaders and innovators.
​

The world of the 21st century is going to need more than just STEM -- it is going to need another pendulum swing.
I just hope it isn’t too late.

​
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Roadmap for Writing Success

10/28/2015

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I spent this past weekend in Las Vegas. While driving the endless hours by myself through the Mojave Desert, I had lots of time to think -- lots of time. And my thinking led me to wonder about the parallels between my roadtrip and writing.

The connection between the two may not be obvious at first glance, but I will argue the parallels are intriguing -- and I guarantee I had plenty of time to work through the complexities of the connections before arriving on The Strip.
Let’s start with your own trip … a journey down memory lane. Think about your adult life and the various experiences you’ve had with writing.

In your professional life, you may have had to write a marketing proposal, a website landing page, an RFP, or a cover letter for a new job.

In your personal life, you may have written Christmas letters, Yelp posts, flyers for your kid’s school, or donation requests for nonprofit organizations in which you’re involved.

Whatever the writing task, I would bet the first step you take is finding a model. You probably visit Google and type in something like “Sample Marketing Proposal” or “Effective Flyers for Nonprofit Events.”  And if you don’t visit Google for your sample, you may ask a friend or colleague for one. Or your sample may even be something you’ve written before that you can use as a springboard. We all do it. We all do it, because we all need to know what a good final product should look like -- we need to know the “destination.”

It’s the most natural first step.  I promise you I couldn’t have made it to Vegas if I didn’t know I was headed to Vegas -- my “destination.”  

So why in the classroom do we assign writing without providing students with a destination -- a model text? A model text just like we need when we write?

I would no sooner have taken off on a road trip to Vegas or any other location without first having looked at where I was going. Knowing my destination allows for me to plan what freeway to take, avoid the roadblocks, estimate total driving time, calculate gas requirements, and arrive at the right place.

In the same vein, I would no sooner assign an essay in my classroom without first giving my students a model, so they can find the same success I had in finding my way to Vegas.

Let’s use a literary analysis argument essay as an example. If I ask my students to write a literary analysis argument essay, I show them their destination through sample essays -- examples of well-written essays that show them what’s expected. We spend significant amounts of time evaluating these samples together for their elements of good writing, including: organization, transitions, balance of evidence and elaboration, length, audience, claim. Then, and only then, can students confidently take off for the destination, because they now know where they’re headed.

Are you wondering at this point if all the essays will then look the same?

I can guarantee they won’t. This is because the how of achieving a well-written essay comes with individual style. Just like every driver handles a trip to Las Vegas with a different style -- speed, pitstops, alternate routes -- a student will do the same.  This is where detailed directions come into play.

When road-tripping, not only do you need to know your destination, but you also need these detailed directions for getting there. The same holds true for writing -- writers need both the destination and detailed directions. In the writing classroom, the detailed directions come in the form of rubrics.

Rubrics provide the details for how to arrive at the destination, the final product, successfully. Students need to know how they will be assessed, what will be scored, to what extent each category will weigh against the final grade, and any number of other specific requirements for the task. This information helps students learn how to write more effectively. They learn where they took a wrong turn and how to improve their trip next time out.

Without models and rubrics, how would a student know how to improve or what to focus on in order to achieve the next level of sophistication, mastery or competency? Why send them out on the road without preparation? Why set them up for failure? Without the pairing of these two tools, writing becomes just one more rote activity that has little impact on student achievement.  
​

Therefore, let’s provide students with a roadmap for success -- before we set them out on their writing journeys. ​
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Lead to Serve

10/10/2014

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I teach in the Anaheim Union High School District. This past year our district hired a new superintendent, Mike Matsuda. He has been a teacher, teacher leader and student advocate for many years in our district, and, as our new superintendent, he is changing the face of public education in California through innovation.

Today, our district leaders and local dignitaries arrived in full force at Oxford Academy to recognize this innovation, and I was able to see first-hand the impact of his leadership. While I sat in the bleachers of the gym listening to Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva, Congressman Alan Lowenthal, and Tom Torlakson, CA State Superintendent of Schools, celebrate the district’s impact on its community and students, I was reminded that education exists to not only prepare our kids for college and careers, but also to teach our kids that our job as educators is help  children find their passion. 

What good is an education without purpose?

The question as I see it:
  • Is education serving our students or are our students serving education?

For the first time in many elections, our own LAUSD community has the opportunity for new perspective and fresh blood. We have the opportunity to elect someone from the outside to replace members of our entrenched good-old-boys club. When an opportunity arises to do so, it’s important to bring in the best:

  • I offer experience from having taught for the past eight years at the #10 top high school in America, 
  • the #1 high school in CA, and 
  • the “most innovative district in CA” as just pointed out by the State Superintendent of Schools. 

I was talking to my dad just a couple nights ago, and he described me as the “rich uncle from out of state”:  still part of the family 
 – in fact, the best the family has to offer  – yet outside the gates of inbreeding. 

This significance isn’t in-significant. A fresh, new, exciting perspective is just what our district needs to help our kids be the best they can be, rather than helping our district be the best it can be. I oftentimes find myself wondering if the tail is wagging the dog here in LAUSD. We seem to chase the accolades, rather than allowing the accolades to be a reflection of real learning and student success. In fact, I will argue the legacy of the current board is both the successes for what has been accomplished and the responsibility for what hasn’t.

Which leads me to today’s blog topic: “Lead to Serve.”

AUHSD began a new Student Service Foundation this school year where students obtain funding to make student-proposed service projects a reality. The Foundation awards grants to empower students in the district to make a difference in their communities. This offers the students real opportunities to give back, engage with their learning and focus on problem solving. This Foundation is Common Core at its core – creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and communication with a few other C’s thrown in for good measure: compassion, character, community and caring. This Foundation creates learning with purpose.  This Foundation creates meaningful engagement with education. This Foundation has awarded its first grants to students who are creating community gardens, teaching literacy, and using STEM to study water conservation.

It’s time we stop to take a hard look at what we really celebrate in LAUSD. This can be a painful, tough process, but it is only with authentic, honest evaluation from “your rich uncle,” that we will walk away with empowerment.

  •  Are our kids becoming responsible, civic-minded leaders who serve for the good of humanity?
  • Are our kids receiving an education that serves them, allowing them to develop passions that in turn nurture innovation to make life better for us all?
  • Are our kids learning how to become global leaders and change makers?

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is … what are you doing for others?” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

So I ask: What are our kids doing for others?

Where in their LAUSD education are they learning that life doesn’t revolve around them, fundraising isn’t about what’s in it for them, and education isn’t just about knowing “stuff,” but about application and problem solving and creative thinking? 

Let’s move beyond the status quo, stop “feeding the monster,” evaluate our School Board candidates on their own individual merits, and turn this district into one that graduates civic-minded young adults who live beyond themselves for the betterment of mankind.

It’s time for innovation. It’s time for education to start serving our kids. It’s time for a new "uncle" in town to lead.

The time is now.

 

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To Common Core, or Not To Common Core

9/20/2014

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That is the question.

Common Core. What is it? What does it mean for our kids? What does it mean for our schools? Our teachers? The future of our society? Do we really want more federal control of local education? 

The questions are endless, and the answers are convoluted. What’s to believe, and what’s to dismiss?

I visited with a chapter of Republic Women’s Federated this afternoon, and Common Core was a hot topic. The members of the group asked very pointed questions about our feeling with regard to the implementation of Common Core.

Some of the concerns in the room:

  • loss of local control
  • “fuzzy” math
  • untested pedagogy 
  • children being used as guinea pigs
  • outdated and biased textbooks

I get it. I’m a school teacher and have been faced with the looming “Common Core” for the past several years. I’ve been on district Common Core Committees, studied the Common Core State Standards, been asked to implement Common Core strategies in the classroom, and been part of numerous discussions about what Common Core means to the future of America’s children.

You know what I’ve come away with? As simple as it sounds, I have honestly come to understand the Common Core as an opportunity to ensure America’s children are college and career ready. Can they read, write, speak and listen? Common Core means literacy across the curriculum. I truly believe it’s that simple. Get kids reading, writing, speaking and listening in all class, and we will have a generation of kids ready for the 21st century world.

That’s what colleges and Fortune 100 companies (P21) have told us … we need students who are globally aware, critical thinkers, collaborators, creative, and able to communicate effectively. Clearly, what we’ve been doing with No Child Left Behind (NCLB) hasn’t worked and has, ironically, left our children behind. Colleges tell us every new school year with incoming freshman that the children they are being sent aren’t ready for the rigor of college. Companies tell us with every new high school graduating class that the graduates can’t communicate or problem solve. So what are we fighting against exactly? Do we really want what we’ve had the past twelve years? Do we really want another generation of students who are only taught how to pass a standardized test?

Common Core simply offers opportunities for our students to demonstrate mastery through well-structured project-based learning, giving them opportunities to synthesize information to solve problems, create, innovate, explore, and build.

I work at Oxford Academy, a nationally-recognized high school in Cypress. You would be hard-pressed to find a classroom still being instructed using the traditional-rows-of-desks configuration, a teacher still using the same old worksheets of fill-in-the-blanks that have been used for the past ten years, students unable to synthesize primary source documents to construct well-organized arguments in history, politics, literature, science and world languages.

Common Core at Oxford Academy means rigorous curriculums, engaged students responsible for their own learning, well-trained teachers to facilitate learning, an expectation that all students can learn and excel, and an openness to believe that our educational system can only get better.

Do challenges exist with the Common Core? Absolutely. No program, regardless the industry, is flawless, but Common Core is a step in the right direction, and I teach at a campus that allows me to say just that. I’ve seen it in action, and our kids excel.

In a nutshell, a Common Core classroom simply expects students will be able to:

  • read and comprehend more complex texts
  • write arguments supported by text-based evidence
  • synthesize a variety of information to solve complex problems
  • engage in a global community and be able to communicate effectively 

Can a student more active in their own education and learning be a bad thing? Isn’t this just the type of person who ends up curing cancer, traveling unchartered missions into space, discovering the Autism link, solving the world’s natural resources challenges?

I believe it really is as simple … and complex as this.

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