Tag Archive: Argument

Non-Freaked Out Common Core — Part 4 — Argument and Debate

May 8, 2013

If there is one way that you can begin implementing the writing and speaking/listening portions of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in a simplified, manageable, high bang-for-your-buck fashion, it’s simply this: have students argue.

Frequently.

Whether you teach science, social studies, technical subjects, ELA–even math–argument is a dependable path to enlivening your classroom, promoting long-term student flourishing, and pwning the heck out of a large chunk of Common Core literacy standards.

But don’t just take my word for it. In an article back in 2011, gurus Jerry Graff and Mike Schmoker (their books Clueless in Academe, They Say / I Say, and Focus have hugely shaped me) warned that, though the CCSS held promise, especially compared to the preceding generation of state-created wish lists, there was still too much fluff. Their fear was that the high impact standard of argument might get watered down amongst the rest.

Separate and way not equal

Even though the research appendix discusses the “special place” of argument in the CCSS (p. 24), the only hint of such importance outside of the appendices is that the “argument standard” (W.CCR.1) comes first.

This is problematic; many will not read the appendices and, as a result, will likely spread their curriculum too thin by trying to equally teach all 10 of the basic writing anchor standards. The simple problem with trying to equally teach all 10 is that, frankly, it can’t be done well, at least not by an average teacher like me.

And honestly, it’s not just a teacher thing. Students enjoy becoming excellent at the biggies and spending less time on minutiae.

Choosing to focus

So if you’re an average teacher like me, I advise the following non-freaked out, focused approach to the CCSS writing and speaking/listening standards: Read the rest of this entry »

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A Non-Freaked Out, Focused Approach to the Common Core — Part 1

March 15, 2013

CCSS Implementation Tip: When folks start to freak out about the CCSS, go to the Grand Canyon. (That’s me on the left.)

When I set out in June 2012 to blog through the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), I was, as long-time readers know, a diehard standards avoider. To me, standards were nothing more than codified wish lists created by committee. They were useful for getting good grades on School of Ed lesson plans, and that was the extent of their value.

But as I worked my way through each standard during Summer 2012, I began to sense that, even though there are only 32 “anchor” standards in the entire CCSS Literacy/ELA document, there are actually way fewer that need to be taught in an in-depth fashion. In other words, even though the CCSS were vastly more focused on long-term student flourishing than their “wish list” predecessors (and thus, in my mind, they were vastly improved), I thought it might be possible to boil them down quite a bit further.

So I started to explore these questions: What if there was a way to teach the Common Core effectively without a 100% throwing out of any non-CCSS curricula? What if there were key, super-croosch standards that, when taught well and extensively, would not just increase engagement in my classroom, but would actually increase long-term student flourishing? (And let’s face it: engaging our students doesn’t automatically translate into promoting their long-term flourishing.)

A refusal to freak

As many readers have shared elsewhere on the blog, Common Core implementation throughout the USA has been largely accomplished with scarce amounts of grace and heaping portions of fear, stress, and ignorance. Too few teachers are given paid PD time to simply read and process the CCSS as professionals, and even less are being trusted to determine with their colleagues what from the Standards is worth our focus.

And yet, despite this generally dismal picture, there are pockets of teachers in every school who refuse to freak out about the Common Core.

I love these people. Freaking out doesn’t get us where we want to go. Read the rest of this entry »

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A First Day of School Activity that Teaches Argumentation

August 31, 2012

It’s an icebreaker.

Next Tuesday, when our Michigan students come for their beautiful, post-Labor Day first day of school, I’m going to bust out something hot.

In our school, we have to set goals for ourselves that can be measured with data. My goals are focused around W.CCR.1 and R.CCR.10–writing argumentatively from a variety of complex texts. This is not because I’m a Common Core baller; rather, it’s because, during CCSS-ish experimenting with my courses last year, I found that students had little argumentative know-how and that argumentation was a lens through which so many of them began flourishing as intellectuals. Read the rest of this entry »

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Teaching the Core

A Non-Freaked Out Approach to the Common Core State Standards

Tag Archive: Argument