Common Core Language Arts

Point #3: The Importance of Writing
Writing is an essential skill for any career. Colleges have recognized this for a while and have pushed writing. When I was at BYU (pre Common Core), they were pushing writing in every class. Common Core recognizes the same importance. The writing section of the core is MUCH more developed than the section in Utah's old core, and it emphasizes expository and persuasive writing.

I have to admit, one of the weaknesses we have had as elementary teachers is doing too much narrative writing and not enough expository. The narrative is just so much fun! However, that puts kids in a really bad spot when they're suddenly expected to write 5 paragraph essays. The common core has students starting with drawing and dictating opinions, information, and narratives in kindergarten, and then it slowly builds on it. And it works! I am staggered by the quality of my sixth graders' writing. They can write a cohesive, 5 paragraph essay with an introduction, conclusion, 3 on topic reasons, cited evidence, explanations of that evidence, and relatively smooth transitions. As they made progress, they started saying to me, "I like writing now." In fact, they begged to write an argumentative essay on a proposed development in their community. Some were in favor of the development and others were opposed, but they could explain their thinking better than many of the adults in the community.

Point #4: Informational reading 
One of the milder reasons common core is controversial is because it pushes for teachers to teach/use 50% nonfiction (informational). High school English teachers have been a bit devastated by this because it has meant they've had to give up some of their favorite novels. One person I was talking to said in anguish, "But those novels are heart and soul!" I understand this perspective, I really do, but I support the common core approach for the following reasons.

Democrats and Republicans, Baptists and atheists, urbanites and farmers agree on almost nothing. The one thing they do agree on is that reading is an absolutely essential skill. I submit that, to be more specific, reading informational text is an essential skill. I could actually float through life pretty successfully without ever reading a novel. I would miss out on a lot of rich, important experiences, sure, but I could get a job and put food on the table. On the other hand, if I can't comprehend informational text, I can't even read the job application. Really, think about it: when was the last time you NEEDED to read a novel. Now, think about when was the last time you NEEDED to read something informational (be it a user's manual or the weather report). Reading fiction is good, reading nonfiction is vital.

Reading novels is about as different from reading informational text as speaking English is from speaking Portuguese. Punctuation is the same in both, pronouncing the words is the same, and they're both written on paper. That's it. Comprehending informational text (and comprehension is, after all, the point of reading) requires completely different skills. The context clues, authors' purposes, ways authors show their purpose and bias, ways paragraphs are broken up, ways sections are broken up, basic underlying text structures, sentence structures, presentation of the text, and readers' purposes are all different.

Let me illustrate my point. Last year, I pulled out a informational book with columns shortened by pictures in it for my fifth graders: they couldn't figure out how to read the columns. I had to explicitly teach them that.

And yet for many years, teachers, parents and authors of elementary age students basically pretended the nonfiction/informational category didn't exist. Then, students got to junior high where their English teachers continued ignoring nonfiction and their content teachers assumed they knew how to read it. Not surprisingly, that didn't work very well.

If students are to read informational text successfully, they have to be taught how. If that means pushing aside some great novels, that's a sacrifice I am willing to make. We get roughly 2300 days to take a child from ABCs to college and career readiness: we have to use that precious time wisely, and that means 50% informational text.

Now, fiction is still important and has its place. Wonder is teaching my kids vital life lessons right now, and The Westing Game really honed my kids' attention to detail. The Common Core welcomes this kind of reading 50% of the time and that's great.

Also, the standards for reading, both fiction and informational, are excellent and really teach kids deep thinking skills.