Core Values Reflection
Sarah Nitti
The purpose of the Connecticut Common Core of Learning is to
provide examples of skills, knowledge, and effective teaching practices
Connecticut teachers should demonstrate in their classrooms. The
teacher expectations werenot derived from general opinion but were
generated and supported by scientific research. It is also the
expectation that teachers will improve and develop more effective
teaching practices over time and seek opportunities for professional
development. The document outlined two phases of teaching which
include the induction phase, where the teacher is still relatively new to
teaching, and the continuous professional growth phase. Here a
command of the subject matter and passion for students to succeed
are emphasized.
Many of the standards in the Language Arts section focus on
student thinking. Teachers should help students consider the elements
of the writing process and also expand their knowledge of the world.
Teachers are also expected to be knowledgeable about the background
of their students. Teachers should be more cognizant of what is
influencing their students ideas, learning habits, and decisions. Other
standards focus on skills such as implementation of the writing
process, utilizing language effectively, and effective reading strategies.
In the Language Arts section Statement three concerning reading
and literature, emphasizesthe study of literature in order to expand self
and worldly knowledge. This ideal is particularly important because it
addresses the students in the context of the world. This is why almost
every American teenager has to read stories about coming of age.
Texts with this theme are more relevant to students because coming of
age and forming identity is a big part of adolescent life. The purpose
of English is to contemplate relationships and what it means to be
human. It is within this practice of reading and evaluation that we
come to know ourselves and formulate a basis for our personal values
and judgments. English is unique in that it allows one to accomplish
this formulation without physically experiencing the situation. Instead
the experience is internalized through the imagination and higher
order thinking.
In my student teaching I will push students to view the works
read in relation to themselves and their values. I will do this by
creating projects and activities which invite comparison of student
experiences with themes in the selected work.
Section two of the Common Core pertains to writing and the
elements which influence a writing process. In is necessary for these
elements to be emphasized. A good understanding of the process a
writer goes through and what he or she thinks about during
composition can help students better interpret the work as a whole.
Investigating an author’s process helps students expand their reading
of work outside the direct and literal meanings of the text within the
work. Thinking about certain elements of the author’s process such as
intended audience and modern conventions of the enables the student
to formulate an interpretation that encompasses a more
global/historical perspective. Evaluation of the writing process needs
to extend to student writing as well. Students need to be able move
back and forth through the compositional process in order to create,
critique and evaluate their own writing.
During my student teaching I will try to foster the larger view of a
particular work by placing an emphasis on what goes into a novel and
how it fits into a larger picture. I will accomplish this by collecting or
assigning students to collect historical information about the work and
its time period. I will also give background information about authors
and encourage students to incorporate this information in their
interpretations of the text.
I also believe that it is important for teachers to gather as much
information about their students, preferences, background, learning
styles etc… as possible. Some thing as simple as gathering
information about the preferred learning styles of students can go a
long way in terms of curriculum design and developing teaching
methods which reachout to as any learning types as possible. Knowing
your students also allows you to create a curriculum based on subjects
the students find emotionally engaging and personally relevant.
Goodman (2008) asserts, “students will learn more when they become
both cognately and emotionally involved in classroom subject matter”
(p.108). Students will be more intrinsically motivated to learn
something they actually are about, this is why it is so important to
engage with students in conversation about their likes and dislikes.
I plan go give my students a short quiz which will determine their
preferred learning style. I will then use the information to formulate
varied class activities that address the different learning styles of the
class as a whole. For example if I am explaining a difficult topic I will
utilize a power point presentation with pictures to reach out to the
visual learners, I will be lecturing so that will aid the aural learners and
I will then formulate a hands on activity where the idea is explored by
the students themselves for those who learn better by performing the
task.
