You can’t really walk into any school in America without hearing the term Common Core at least 1,432 times. The document, complex, filled with standards, is supposed to create “common standards” for learning in America’s schools. I’ve even heard that it might possibly change the way teachers implement instruction, because the standards are written in a way to incorporate more integrated learning and more non-fiction learning.
Except lists of standards won’t change teaching.
Teaching will be changed through conversations. Tough conversations. Deep collaboration. Reflection together. Developing a common language. Rolling words through our staff meetings. debating them openly. Not reading them on a slide. Not getting a list of things to do. What does ‘resilience’ mean? What does ‘rigor through depth’ look like in a classroom? What does ‘reflection’ sound like? Until we develop a common understanding of the most important words in a learning environment, a standard will continue to just be a standard. Words on a document. A list of things to “do.” Checkmarks. One by one.
Imagine if the Common Core was one page. Imagine if we all made a list like this and compared it. And then went back to our offices, classrooms, curriculum departments, and looked at what we’ve developed and asked ourselves… is this working for our kids?
- Curiosity: Starting with that natural motivation of learning, the part that fires up your brain and gets your soul connected to content.
- Creativity: Thinking of old things in new ways. Invigoration of the depths of your brain.
- Collaboration: Your ideas might make my ideas better.
- Communication: How can I best get this message across? Technology? My voice? My choice.
- Critical Thinking: Looking at a problem in multiple ways, with multiple skills.
- Connections: What does this mean to me? How can I connect it to other things I have learned?
- Community: How am I a bigger part of a team?
- Resilience: Finding it within yourself to push through. Grit. Determination.
- Reflection: Pausing to think. Personal commitment to understanding and building new thoughts.
- Regulation of Self: Student driven learning. Their journey. Their thoughts. Their self management.
- Reasoning: Tackling challenges from a new angle, drawing on what you know, and learning new things. Powerful thinking.
- Rigor of Depth: Not do more stuff, but think deeper more consistently about the stuff you do.
- Relevance: If you even have to ask ‘why’ you need to learn something, it’s not real enough.
- Real World: See relevance. Seriously. We’re not creating learners FOR the real world. Learning IS the real world.
One page. We’d not only save on copy toner. We’d save learning. Someone will say, “Wait, these things are really difficult to test!” Not really. Life is the ultimate test, and isn’t that what we are preparing kids for?