Common Core State Standards for ENGL 6-12

Before reading this article, all I had ever heard about the Common Core State Standards was that they taught to the standardized tests that were given every year. I also heard how much my teachers didn't like Common Core because of this same reason. However, I like how this article explains the pros and cons of the Common Core State Standards and how they are supposed to work. What I personally like about the CCSS is that they are laid out for you, but you as the teacher (along with your fellow colleagues and districts) get to decide how to go about teaching to those specific standards depending on what grade you are teaching. I loved how this article emphasized that the CCSS is for setting high expectations and not standardizing. 

One of the sections I found interesting was "Learning in the 21st Century" because it gave an example of how students were given the option to choose what issue they wanted to discuss that they felt strongly about, concerning learning in the 21st century. They wanted to talk about how the school blocked certain sites on the internet and how some of those sites prohibited their research process sometimes. Their teacher then gave them roles as students and administrators, and they all had to talk on an approved site about why there shouldn't be a block on the internet and why the block should be required because of the possibility of students looking at pornography. Using the internet this way was an awesome way of using technology in the classroom and I thought it was a great idea because the students learned how to use counterarguments through role playing on an issue that they felt strongly about. It always makes learning more fun when the students actually care about what they are talking about. 

Other than this, I felt that this article was more cons than pros for CCSS. The examples they gave that could make the CCSS seen as a bad thing. The examples that stood out to me were homogenization, fragmented curricula and teaching to the test. Although these are ways not to teach, I feel like as long as you are a teacher who truly cares about learning and is excited about it, then the CCSS really shouldn't effect the way you teach, but just guide you and you do the rest.