"We have to believe that students can be successful with academic challenges the same way they are with character and physical challenges...We can't wait until they are "ready", because what happens is that students in poverty and students at risk never get to attempt that kind of work. All students need the same access to academics that will prepare them for college and beyond."
I have always had the thought that not all students are college-bound. Not everyone is cut out for college, nor should they be. We need people of all vocational interests to make our society thrive. However, the idea behind Common Core is that all students should have the CHOICE of furthering their education. That is something that, in the past, has not happened. People were trained completely vocationally with deep comprehension of text and finding the "why" behind mathematical concepts neglected.
It is important, with this new way of thinking about education, that we adopt a Growth Mindset instead of a Fixed Mindset. While I agree with this completely, students are sent contradictory messages as we try to convince them that they can "grow" their intelligence. EOG scores, GPAs, awards ceremonies that focus on honor roll, etc. fight against this notion.
The key to Common Core success lies in a students' ownership of their education. It is not enough to tell a child that what they are learning is important, we have to "sell" them on it to the point that they see the importance with their own eyes. One way to do this is to choose text purposely for them to read and analyze and pair it with text that takes the fictional narrative they love and enhances it with non-fiction.
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