http://www.pioneerinstitute.org/blog/news/headless-horsemen-halloween-and-literature-in-our-schools/ Public Policy Research Tue, 08 May 2012 20:17:19 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 http://www.pioneerinstitute.org/blog/news/headless-horsemen-halloween-and-literature-in-our-schools/comment-page-1/#comment-7327 K. Seed Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:20:11 +0000 http://www.pioneerinstitute.org/blog/?p=4538#comment-7327 Point of order: I just attended the Fall conference for the New England Association of Teachers of English and spoke to two members who have reviewed and worked on the Common Core ELA/Literacy standards both at the national and state level (one of them was on the review committee) and there is a huge misconception regarding the reduction of literary texts and the direct focus on informational text. While the importance of informational texts in society is very clear, that does not mean we push literary texts out of the classroom. The breakdown, in terms of what is on the NEAP test at the 12th grade level is 30% Literary and 70% Informational texts. The Common Core standards take into account both the Science and Social Studies classrooms when deciding the amount of testing students will have on informational texts. So in a typical school day, 30% of their day should include literary texts while 70% should be informational texts. Since ELA classes typical are the only class where students experience literary texts, I would have to argue that while we will have to include more informational texts, it will be along with the rich literature our students are reading in the classroom already. Also, if you look at the suggested texts (Appendix B I believe) you will see the rigorous literary selections we will (and at some schools are) teaching. Point of order: I just attended the Fall conference for the New England Association of Teachers of English and spoke to two members who have reviewed and worked on the Common Core ELA/Literacy standards both at the national and state level (one of them was on the review committee) and there is a huge misconception regarding the reduction of literary texts and the direct focus on informational text. While the importance of informational texts in society is very clear, that does not mean we push literary texts out of the classroom. The breakdown, in terms of what is on the NEAP test at the 12th grade level is 30% Literary and 70% Informational texts. The Common Core standards take into account both the Science and Social Studies classrooms when deciding the amount of testing students will have on informational texts. So in a typical school day, 30% of their day should include literary texts while 70% should be informational texts. Since ELA classes typical are the only class where students experience literary texts, I would have to argue that while we will have to include more informational texts, it will be along with the rich literature our students are reading in the classroom already. Also, if you look at the suggested texts (Appendix B I believe) you will see the rigorous literary selections we will (and at some schools are) teaching.

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