CCSS's Fundamental Trouble

        Valerie Strauss uses the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) reform to present her argument.  She says it was a failure during its active decade and people should take that into consideration when promoting the Common Core.  Instead of the NCLB benefiting the students, it only caused many to blame the schools and teachers for its mistakes.  The NCLB reform required students to be tested in grades 3-8 and again in high school.  Unfortunately, this resulted in over half the schools in the nation to fail.  Strauss sees the Common Core as worsening the situation.  She says that students, teachers, parents, and communities should have more of a voice rather than bureaucracies and democracies.
        Strauss is very concerned about the result of the Common Core.  Her opinion is highly respected and should be heard by many.  However, being part of the NCLB era and being a future teacher, I have faith in the Common Core.  Some teachers are and were the blame for students being left behind.  I am a witness to that.  That is why I truly feel that teachers play a fifty percent role in the success of students.  Therefore, I differ with Strauss' reasoning of why the NCLB may have not been the best choice for failing schools.  For example, although we have produced some awesome, well rounded students who have gone on to do wonderful things, my high school was considered a failing school while I was in attendance there.  Now that they have gotten a new principal, the school has been on the right track for the last past year.  So I do not think it was the reform that caused us to be a failing school, instead it was the leadership.  I know this may not be the case for other schools, but Strauss' evidence can be debatable.

Biggest Fallacy of the CCSS

        Diane Ravitch says that the CCSS have made so many promising claims that are, in reality, "ungrounded predictions."  She says there is no evidence to prove that the Standards are beneficial to anything.  The promotion of College and Career Readiness (CCR) has influenced everyone to climb aboard the Common Core.  Many people including the Council on Foreign Relations and the nation's major corporations and chambers of commerce feel that the Standards will better the economy and military.  Ravitch is skeptical and that is quite normal.  She makes a good point by stating that forty-five states have adopted the CCSS while referencing Obama's Race to the Top federal funds of 4.35 billion dollars while leading her readers to think that maybe that was their reason for doing so.  But, is this necessarily a bad thing?
        I completely agree with Ravitch.  Nothing is promising especially when it comes to leveling all students.  However, I think the Common Core is a move towards the right direction.  I'm not sure if the Standards will benefit the economy and military, but I highly feel that our students will get the best out of this.  It takes time for anything to work properly.  It's a matter of trial and error.  You don't want anyone to suffer, but those are the consequences.  Ravitch uses percentages to back her claim up, but my opinion still remains the same.  Yes, everyone is not meant for college, but the same professional skills you learn in college must be used in any career setting.  The same way one applies him/herself in the classroom will be how he/she reacts on the job.  Also, the CCSS require more of the teacher.  That is something Ravitch did not mention.  Teachers must engage their students more.  That will determine how students react with more difficult work.  Ravitch feels that students may give up when approached with these tasks, but if the teacher abides by the standards of the Common Core, then I think our students will be prepared for those challenges.

Teachers Integrate Tech in CCSS

        Fred Sitkins says that there couldn't be a better time to see technology integrated into the Common Core State Standards.  While the CCSS are being adopted and adapted to, educational technology is making its grand entrance.  This brings many possibilities for children.  It puts the world at their fingertips.  Educational technology makes sharing and interacting with others easier than ever before.  While students  read iBooks they can define words and share notes with their peers and teachers.  This process is easy for teachers as well.  This transformation clearly shows how students are learning.  Through educational technology students obtain knowledge, demonstrate what they have learned, and share it with the global community.
        Yes, I would consider myself as an advocate of educational technology, however, I feel that this may handicap our children.  In high school, my math classes were in the process of converting over to the complete use of calculators.  So I had the privilege of learning how to answer problems with and without one. Therefore, the question is will students become so dependent on technology that they get lazy.  Traditional educational models are not a bad thing.  It takes more work though, but neither is that a bad thing.  I do not want to create students who are dependent on anything else other than their God given brain.  Unfortunately, this world is becoming technical based and may, as a consequence, handicap us all.  Some people are lost without their phones, but wasn't it only thirty years ago or less that cellular devices were invented?  I want students to gain as much knowledge as they can, but I do not want to leave them dependent on anything prone to failure.  In the next twenty years will students know what wood pencils are?  Will they know how to sharpen one?  Is the world being at their fingertips really a good thing?  Would they use the perks of technology responsibly or take advantage of it?  Of course I think that this integration is a good thing, but I do feel that the consequences of it all will leave our students dependent.  I would like to see technology used as a convenient accessory.  However, our growing technical world says otherwise so I do feel that this integration is for the better and will greatly benefit our students in and out of the classrooms.

Introduction

Hello, my name is Jacqueline McMillian!

I am from the lovely city of Moss Point, Mississippi; a coastal area.

I am an Elementary Education major and Speech Pathology minor.

I am currently a junior and will graduate in May of 2015.

As much as I love to be outdoors, indoors is even better.

I like to walk on the beach, exercise, and watch movies.