American education system has already shifted to new methods and standards since 2010. The approved project called Common Core State Standards has been very controversial since then. It has gained a lot of feedbacks coming from educators and parents that are both positive and negative.
The catchy slogan of Common Core, saying that it helps prepare students for college, career, and life sounds very positive and along with this promising statement lies behind a lot of changes in the teaching methods.
Here are some ways how Common Core impacts teachers, students and the classroom.
1. Teaching methods of teachers are changed.
The goal of Common core is to prepare the students in every next grade level in a way of teaching specific subject topics per grade. But the teaching methods are changed where it will no longer be aiming for the student to fully understand and learn new techniques.
2. Teaching deeper details per topic.
The reason behind longer duration of teaching is to make students understand deeper the topic by providing enough details. This will result to fewer topics per grade level but deeper learning according to Teach Hub.
3. Concrete Evidence is required from students.
The learning and understanding of a student in a certain topic must have a well-understood evidence. Common Core suggested that self-interpretation of what he learned is not enough. There should be a factual evidence that supports their claims.
4. Application of learning with technology.
Using computer applications, online tools, personal hand devices like iPads are already part of the learning standards in Common core. They believed that once students will graduate and get a job, the training they had in school will help them to be more efficient in their jobs.
5. More Speaking-Listening and Reading-Writing training.
Students are required to practice some values in good communication. Listening attentively while respecting the turn of other parties to speak and vice versa is very important to have a good conversation. Not just with verbal communication but also through writing and reading.
