Recently I worked with the Teaching Channel on a series of short videos highlighting the nation’s shift to Common Core. One video, “Sharing Common Core Language with Students,” was received positively by many but not by everyone. Usually, those who viewed it negatively misinterpreted exactly what we were doing in class which only strengthened my conviction in the importance of the Common Core.
In the video, I was teaching about the biblical allusions in Old Man and the Sea (CCSS-L-7.5a). In a 4 second clip, I asked a student to act out a line from the text, “He [Santiago] pulled the blanket over his shoulders and then over his back and his legs and he slept face down on the newspapers with his arms out straight and the palms of his hands up.” Hemingway wrote Santiago as a Christ-like figure as a direct allusion to Jesus, who suffered greatly but was not defeated. When Santiago returned from his journey, after falling three times carrying his mast to a figurative Calvary, he collapsed in bed in a position that referenced the position of Jesus on the cross. The references are there, and I wanted to bring student attention to them. Many critics didn’t notice that we were doing a lesson on the novel. Others didn’t understand the allusion because they didn’t research the premise of the novel or take the time to contact me and ask questions. One woman did however, and although we chose to disagree at the end, we did so politely and respectfully. Although she is not a supporter of the Common Core, she embodied the type of thinking the Core encourages.
In our country, we have the freedom to oppose each other’s opinions, but there is a skill in doing so respectfully and credibly. When teachers align speaking and writing instruction to the Common Core, they help students to “express their own [ideas] clearly” (CCSS-SL-7.1) using “relevant evidence and accurate, credible sources” (CCSS-W-7.1b). Without that, the dissenting opinion is little more than propaganda. To help spread one’s message and avoid misinformation it’s important to “read or research material under study” (CCSS-SL-7.1a) and try to “acknowledge new information expressed by others and, when warranted, modify their own views.” (CCSS-SL-7.1d)
The key term is “when warranted.” The CCSS is not indoctrinating students. It’s helping them to “delineate an argument and specific claims, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning and the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence” (CCSS-SL-7.3) and then making their own decisions. The Common Core is not telling students what to think. It’s telling them how to think.
The Common Core is about teaching students to think critically, read purposefully, and write and speak clearly so they can be successful in college and their careers. It goes beyond that though. Thinking critically in this country helps us to exercise our constitutional rights as Americans and be better citizens.