Common Core State Standards

            I have always been hesitant about fully conforming to the common state standards, especially due to the well documented struggles and faults that the no child left behind act created. Being someone who wants to become a teacher that is able to allowing students explore their own questions, come up with their own hypothesis, and inject their own opinion and knowledge into ELA, the common core state standards initially came off as another way to get students through standardized testing and on the next level by any means necessary. However, reading through the common core standards I realized that many of the key words to expanding and exploring the students own thought process was present. Words such as infer, analyze, and determine all were littered throughout the standards indicating that these standards are meant to engage and challenge the students to use their own ideas as well as information given to them to come up with solutions to the questions presented to them.

            In reading through the fact vs myth section on the common core website I was also able to discover the truth behind one of my main concerns. Being able to have control of my classroom in regards to what I am teaching, at least to a certain extent, has always been something I didn’t want compromise. At first glance the common core standards seemed to have been written so in depth that the ability to teach what I thought was important was being completely removed from my control. However, reading through I discovered that much of the crucial decisions in content teaching are left at the state and even local level.

            I am still not entirely educated on common core to give it a yay or nay for teaching as a whole. The standards have been written thoroughly and by initial indication advocate for the open thinking and exploring of the student in each content area, and if nothing else at least that’s a start.