The Adventures Of A Preservice Teacher

RRS 7: Common Core State Standards by McLaughlin & Overturf

Key Points/Quotes/Page Numbers:

 

Page 1525/5095 (Kindle Version): “The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts were written for regular education students, and at this point, there are no plans to modify them in any way.” – I found this quote very interesting because so many people try to make common core seem like a good thing, but parents think it’s a bad thing. This doesn’t help educators seem believable because they didn’t make it a point to help ELL students or students with disabilities.

 

Page 1535/5095 (Kindle Version): “What types of instructional considerations need to occur?” – I like how the book asked us questions because the questions were actually very thought provoking and had me thinking of answers to the questions. These questions could be good discussion questions and this specific question stood out to me because I wouldn’t have thought about these types of things without it.

 

Page 1535/5095 (Kindle Version): “ELL students in the United States come from over 400 different language backgrounds; however, by far the largest proportion – 80% - is Spanish speakers.” I felt that this was a good statistic and it really stood out to me. It made me realize that it would have been smarter to take Spanish rather than German and Italian during high school so then I would be able to use my own background knowledge when working with my students to help them the best that I can.

 

Responses to the Prompts:

 

1. According to the text, how can teachers best help ELL students successfully learn?

• When teaching ELL students, it is best to keep in mind their background and their previous experiences to help them learn. Teachers also need to have high expectations of the students in order for them to be able to achieve their goals. When teachers show kids that their backgrounds, abilities, languages and heritage are seen as strengths, the children feel empowered to do well. It is important to remember that when teaching ELLs to read, they benefit from explicit instruction relating to the components of literacy. ELL students should be given a wide variety pf texts at different levels and incorporate the use of pictures, giving students time and collaborating. It is important to observe students through their progress with the use of informative assessments because this allows teachers to see the child’s thinking and abilities. It is beneficial if teachers are well prepared and qualified to support ELL students, use literacy rich environments and give ELLs grade level work that prepares them for secondary education or a trade. Teachers also need to keep in mind to ensure ELL students success that they communicate, use ongoing assessments and know the English language well enough to provide modeling and supporting for the ELL students. If a teacher uses engaging texts that are culturally relevant and small group or pairs can ensure ELL students learning. Discussion circles, integrating technology and journal writing promote students to think in multiple ways.

 

2. According to the text, how can teachers best help students with disabilities successfully learn?

• Response to intervention is a great method to use with students that have disabilities. It integrates assessments with intervention to maximize student achievement and reduce bad behavior. Teachers use data to determine students that are at risk for poor learning outcomes, monitor student progress and provide the evidence needed for instruction. RTI is meant to provide information about student achievements and learning supports for kids that need them. RTI is the step before obtaining a more in depth retention or special services plan. IEP’s are beneficial to students with disabilities because it tells the teacher specifically what they need to do to meet the child’s needs. Common core states that the content should not be made easier for students, but to accommodate and provide support systems for the children that are under the IDEA. Instructional supports are beneficial to students with disabilities, changes in the materials or procedures used – not the actual standards, and to use technology devices and services to ensure the students are gaining the general education they need. Small groups or one-on-ones with the teacher are always a good idea, but to maintain some whole group lessons to keep the students interacting with the other students. Teachers need to be explicit and model for the students what they need to be doing as well as using scaffolding and allow practice. Using specific details when teaching students with disabilities is helpful. Another helpful thing to benefit students with disabilities is to allow them to dramatize a passage that they’ve read or create an illustration based off of it. Allowing students to choose what they want to read or how they want to create a report is very beneficial for students with disabilities because it shows kids that their disabilities don’t hold them back. It also benefits them to give them more time rather than make the assignment easier for them.

 

3. According to the text, how can teachers best help gifted and talented students successfully learn?

• Some very beneficial methods to ensure that gifted and talented students can continue to learn and benefit from common core is allowing them to read challenging materials and giving them deeper reading comprehension tasks. With this teachers can give students critical readings of texts and ask for analyses so children can develop an appreciation of diverse literature. Group discussions are helpful to the growth of gifted students and allowing them to write and present their findings. There are many ways that teachers can connect the common core to simple activities to make them gifted student friendly. Some of these are by allowing them to create elaborated projects such as creating their own newspaper based off of book characters or an event in a book. Gifted students can also discuss their findings when it comes to informational texts by using an extensive vocabulary because gifted students have an easier time understanding the pieces of reading, writing and speaking and reading comprehension. Engaging students in instruction that allows them to use their abilities for text comprehension and use appropriate materials to create a discussion can serve as a challenging task for gifted students. Lastly, allowing gifted students to analyze a text, research and have a debate or even create their own multimedia speech can be challenging and thought provoking tasks for gifted students that can be tied in with the common core.

 

Questions for Discussion:

1. If common core doesn’t have ways written in it to specifically help ELL students, then why do so many people praise it and make it out to be a great method?

2. Why wouldn’t educators work to fix the requirements and standards of common core if it affects so many students?

3. Why does the common core only have basic information for students with disabilities?

4. Was there a specific reason why the creators of common core didn’t think that this was important information to specify and add into the standards?