On Feb. 6, Southwest administration held a workshop to introduce the Common Core standards at the elementary, middle and high school levels.
The workshop was a way to help parents transition into the new teaching and learning style.
By 2014, the Blue Valley district hopes to have fully implemented the Common Core standards in classrooms. These standards were officially adopted by Kansas on Oct. 12, 2010.
“I think that students will notice a little bit different classroom where students are asked to problem solve and engage in problem solving,” associate principal for curriculum and instruction Lisa Wilson said.
Common Core offers a new curriculum that covers a smaller array of topics but goes further in depth, however it is not a total alteration.
“This is not a curriculum shift. It’s not like anything new is being added,” mathematics department chair Richard said. “The shift is in learning. Students recognize more as how classrooms change.”
There are multiple ways to approach these shifts.
“Instead, [we] may see teacher discuss concepts and engage in learning conversations around multiple ways to solve a problem,” Lisa said. “It feels a little different. Ultimately it’s thinking like a mathematician. It’s the thinking and reading like a historian or scientist rather than just sit, learn, do, next.”
Many teachers support the options offered by Common Core.
“I’m totally for it,” communication arts teacher Tyson Ostroski said. “Just because I don’t like being in classes where it doesn’t seem like there is a purpose.”
There is a focus on reading level through Common Core; however, talk exists that Common Core will not support reading literature. This is because the standards recommend reading 70 percent informational text and 30 percent literary. These percentages go across a student’s day and include all classes. There will still be a literature focus.
“The nice part is they [the standards] leave open the ability for teachers to use their craft and work individually with kids to get them there. So they’re not so prescribed that it’s not like a cookie-cutter approach to education. Definitely the same destination everyone wants to get regardless of route they take.
One of the main reasons behind Common Core is to better prepare students for college and the work field or their future.
“We’re not training monkeys,” Richard said. “We’re trying to facilitate thinking and faster perseverance.”
Although when Southwest opened teachers made an effort to adopt these teaching methods after full implementation some adjustment will still have to occur.
“It’ll take awhile to get this going and until teachers feel more comfortable and students understand that perseverance is a part of it,” Ostroski said. “It’s okay to struggle through something.”
