Understanding and Applying Standards

In Unit 1 of  TEACH-NOW Module 5, we've been tasked with understanding and applying overarching standards that will drive our development of curriculum and learning activities in the classroom. Standards are, while mandated, are very necessary component of determining appropriate approaches to learning--the key in managing and applying the standards lies in being able to connect them with specific student output that demonstrates learning has taken place.

My approach to this Unit's content has been to select Common Core State Standards that are relevant to my teaching at this moment. Unpacking those standards, that is, driving to the very heart of the intended performance and learning indicators, is designed to direct an educator's study of applicable standards in order to apply these standards meaningfully in context. From there, the idea of Backwards Mapping helps educators draw lines to the language of the standard and what students are actually doing in their classroom.

The choice of Common Core State Standards for this Unit has helped me apply some standards to the seemingly random input nature of Communicative-based language instruction. Although my school has determined a mission and a coherent set of values and expectations for student achievement, what lacks is a specific structure of standards guiding curriculum. Required material is approached from a basis of content and what should be known, but not a lot of direction is supplied in terms of what students will do with the knowledge they are required to understand, replicate, and produce.

In a typical Unit from our academic English textbook, a variety of language structures and goals are contained under an umbrella of keyword content--a sort of unifying concept behind the language goals for that particular Unit. Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking, Grammar, and Vocabulary are all taught concurrently, though the skills in the textbook build on previous Unit competencies, they can at times remain isolated from one another. As the teacher, it's therefore my job to attempt to thread the content to a reasonable demonstration of skills and the desired output for the Unit--usually in measurable written and speaking tasks.

Working with the Common Core State Standard to Research and Build Knowledge: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.8  as well as the Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.6 has given me insight into how to perform backwards mapping to meet overarching sets of standards. We're often thinking in terms of what we want students to do--if anything, I frequently start from a desired project, written assignment, or other kind of output to have something interesting to do in class that can engage learners and help them apply what they are studying.

In that sense, it was refreshing to learn that Backwards Mapping is sort of, kind of, what I've already been trying to practice--however without the specific terminology and method, and without that guiding light of standard to which I can connect student activity.

Of the materials studied this Unit, I remain very interested in exploring more of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe's Understanding By Design. In reviewing and working with design templates, I found myself really excited by the possibilities of integrating dozens of learning experiences and assessment into curriculum and keeping that engagement front and center. Designing and implementing more sophisticated lessons is what my teaching practice needs to become more relevant for myself, my students, and their learning experiences beyond my classroom. 

A challenge that has been revealed to me over the course of the Unit was how to manage my activity independently, selecting CC State Standards that are not in place in my particular teaching position at present. There's no requirement for me to do this, but in encountering the challenges of instilling certain understandings and practices in my students--particularly the use of information, and the language skill of paraphrase--into meaningful work.

My students are almost exclusively English Language Learners--some higher-level students are remarkably fluent in the language, but in the teaching of academic concepts of research, cross-curricular literacy, and presentation/speaking convention, you can find very easily in even the most fluent students a big gap in realizing what these concepts mean.

This adds another layer to incorporating applicable standards into my classroom learning activities--that of differentiation to meet myriad layers of ELL understanding and higher-order thinking in this area among my students. I expect applying a ELA-Literacy standard to an ELL classroom is going to have a few more steps than you may see in a native-speaking classroom-- steps that integrate with each other in the areas of Reading Comprehension & Analysis, Vocabulary Development, Cultural understanding of decorum (especially in Presentation-style speaking and using appropriate body language), which can also apply to the culturally-centric notion of Digital Citizenship.

In writing the above paragraph, I realized that those things I've mentioned above are most likely also present in a classroom of young native-English speakers as well. I think the key to understanding my position is developing relevant materials within the sphere of each standard that differentiate to my particular group of students-- beginning with the focus of ELL/ESL/EFL, and further differentiating from there based on student need. 

Overall, I think I have a lot to benefit from in Units such as these--pulling down the standard, magnifying it, breaking it down, and working backwards from tasks to develop the meaningful content I can apply, is the real meat and potatoes of teaching, to me. I've been working backwards already to meet the language objectives of the text I teach, which leads to several manifestations of testing environments, but what was different this time was really exploring the objectives and practices that speak to the greater standards and their "Big Ideas." Big ideas are good! It's having the tools to get from idea to reality that is really important in delivering, again, a meaningful and applicable learning experience, and even to "level up" our own skills as educators.