Greetings, literacy friends! I am involved as a member of a state committee charged with the task or revising our state essential knowledge and skills, aka-LA K-12 Curriculum....
Several teachers are concerned that in the end, our input and work will be reviewed by our SBOE, and possibly disregarded to put a "basic skills/knowledge-based" curriculum in place. The absolutely worst case scenario would be a mandate for scripted curriculum....... Are any of you working in schools using Hirsch's Core Knowledge curriculum? If so, are you able to implement Best Practices within, such as Writers' Workshop, time for reading "IN THE ZONE" (Atwell), conferencing, etc.? Please advise....I want to be able to communicate concerns as well as successes with other teachers and leaders. Hirsch claims test scores rise when using his Core Knowledge. Our state test is pretty difficult, even on the fifth grade level, where students are asked to use critical thinking and analysis in response to reading passages....The current assessment is not knowledge based at all. It seems apparent to me that if Hirsch's Core Knowledge is the curriculum, based on facts, then the assessment of that curriculum would be lower level, knowledge-based tests. I am making a huge assumption here, but won't most students perform well on a knowledge-level only driven assessment? Your thoughts? "The world of books is the most remarkable creation of man. Nothing else that he builds ever lasts. Monuments fall; nations perish; civilizations crumble and die out;...But in the world of books are volumes that have seen this happen again and again and yet live on. Still young, still as fresh as the day they were written, still telling men's hearts of the hearts of men centuries dead."--Clarence Day Melinda Hawkins 5th Grade LA/SS McCulloch Intermediate School Highland Park ISD (214) 780-2325 [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive
