"The Biggest Fallacy of the Common Core Standards" response

Summary:
Diane Ravitch, author of "The Biggest Fallacy of the Common Core Standards," discusses her opinion of the new standards in her article on huffingtonpost.com. She uses an easy and straightforward tone to describe all of the obvious, yet not recognized, down sides to the Common Core State Standards. Some of these include the fact that nobody has proven that the CCSS will in fact accomplish what it claims, and that the 45 states that have adopted the Common Core were tempted by federal funds for their schools. She goes on to describe the statistics of students who were able to pass testing under the CCSS, "Only 3.2 percent of English language learners were able to pass the new tests, along with only 5 percent of students with disabilities, and 17 percent of black students." She wraps up her article by pointing out how confused the priorities of the United States are if they think that the CCSS will accomplish anything that it claims to accomplish.

Opinion:
The first thing that came to mind while reading a sentence in this article, "If you listen to the promoters of the Common Core standards, you will hear them say that the Common Core is absolutely necessary to prepare students for careers and college" was that current students of College, and students who have graduated from college and are now successful in their careers, have succeeded without the help of the Common Core State Standards; in fact, the ones who will be teaching students these new standards, have already graduated without them. I have to say, I completely agree with the authors opinion. She is very blunt in what she has to say and describes the Common Core from a point of view that I had not seen until now. Our priorities for our students ARE completely out of line, and the CCSS needs to focus on making schooling more efficient rather than more challenging. Like the author said, these standards will drive students away rather than encourage them to face the challenge of the new testing standards.

"The Common Core's fundamental trouble" response

Summary:
The article, "The Common Core's fundamental trouble" by Valerie Strauss covers a lot of information shared by the editors of a magazine called "Rethinking Schools." The article discusses yet another side of the new Common Core State Standards, and a cry for honesty from those who are so quick to implement the new standards. The article compares the new Common Core State Standards to the previous, and at the time "failing," "No Child Left Behind" policy. According to the author, the decade-long NCLB program caused more harm than good, and had standards that were set too high for students to reach the goals set for them. Under these previous standards, many schools fell in to a failing category and any that hadn't reached that point, were well on their way. The author describes that under the new CCSS standards, we are going to push students over the edge. The new standards have expectations that are too high, unreasonable necessities as far as technology, and no consideration from parents, educators or students about the implementation of this program.

Opinion:
I find that with every new article I read about the Common Core State Standards, my opinion changes a little more. Sometimes I find that I am easily swayed by the opinion of others, but all of the new information that is coming to light about the CCSS, both positive and negative, is allowing me to create my own opinion. This article address the previous failing program "No Child Left Behind," which is the program that I was in school with. I never knew very much about the program or it's effects on students until this article. If the NCLB standards were truly causing students to fail, and the CCSS is harder than the previous program, I do not understand why on earth anyone would want to implement it in to our school systems. At the end of the article, the author discusses the problems that occurred while students were used as sample testers for the Common Core State Standards tests, "Students reported feeling overstressed and underprepared - meeting the tests with schlock, anger, tears, and anxiety. Administrators requested guidelines for handling tests students had vomited on." When you're getting feedback like this from students, and you truly want them to succeed, why would you put a program like this in to effect? I am going to have to agree with the author in saying that this is going to cause more children to drop out of school than to meet college and career readiness. The negatives certainly do outweigh the positives.

Article Response

Summary:
The article, "How Teachers Are Integrating Tech Common Core" focuses mainly on the idea that the integration of technology in to schools is going to be a great assistant to the integration of the new Common Core State Standards. Technology is becoming increasingly more important as a means of both communication and learning in our world today. The author of this article takes a very positive approach to the use of technology in schools, especially as a way to assist students in learning the things that they are required to know in order to move on in their schooling. For example, the author describes that, "The [students] can define unfamiliar words as they read them or even have the pronunciation of those words spoken to them."

Opinion:
I have had varying opinions when it comes to the Common Core State Standards, but reading this article is swaying me back to the positive side of the CCSS. I agree entirely with the author that the use of technology will be a great advantage to students in the upcoming generations. However, I do think that for each positive thing involved with technology, there is an equally negative factor. It is going to be very important for teachers not only to integrate technology in to learning, but also to teach students how to use technology responsibly. I would worry about students being more involved with games and Facebook during their learning, rather than focusing on their lesson and coming to their full potential. On the other hand, the author's example is only one of many different positive aspects to using technology. Students will have instantaneous information at their fingertips, and they will learn to "survive" when it comes to their learning in the upcoming day in age.

Introduction

Hey Everyone!

My name is Tommi Crimmins. I am from Kodiak, Alaska. I am a junior year Elementary Education major. I can't wait to graduate and begin my career as a teacher. I am not sure what grade I want to teach yet, or where I want to start teaching, but somewhere down the road I would love to go back home to Alaska and take over the beginning photography program at my high school.In my spare time I love to hang out with friends; basically just laugh and have a good time. I love basketball, photography, and a really good book when I have the time to read it.