Planning Using Standards

We are going to start off today’s blog with your reflection question. Are you currently planning using the standards in your classroom? Take a moment to reflect on this question. Think about this question and answer to yourself honestly where you stand. 

When someone says standards, teachers can tend to shy away or get overwhelmed by thought. The reality is that there are so many standards out there. There are standards for language and there are content level standards. Trying to figure out how to use both in your classroom with your students can make you feel frustrated and overwhelmed. 

As a new teacher, when I saw the standards I was immediately confused. This led me to shut down and try to avoid them at all costs. I know now that avoiding the standards is extremely unrealistic. The standards were everywhere I turned, and I finally had to accept that the standards were an important part of my teaching journey. 

After the denial and acceptance stage of avoiding the standards, I started the process of reaching out for help. There were some amazing people that shared with me some resources and strategies to help me better understand the standards. 

The first tip that many provided to me was that one standard can ask the student to do multiple things. For example, there is one standard that is asking the student to do two important skills such as citing evidence and making inferences. This helped me to realize that I need to look at the standard from the point of view of what this standard is asking the students to do. This mindset helped me to break down the standards so that I can better explain the standard to the students.

Once I started to gain more confidence, I started connecting the content and language standards. After doing some research, I began to see there was an overlap between the content standards. This helped me to easily coordinate using both in my classroom. 

An initiative that my school district put in place that I actually found helpful was to annotate the standards for the students. Breaking down the vocabulary in the standards helped the students (and myself) better understand what the standard is asking both of us to do for the lesson. 

Keep in mind when planning that the standards can be asking the students to do multiple tasks. Break down the standard to help you determine what the standard is asking you and the students to do. When you are using content and language standards, determine if there is some overlap. By doing this, you will find that it is easier to incorporate both in your lessons. 

Finally, annotate your standards with the class. This is beneficial to you and the students because it provides a better understanding of those key tasks and vocabulary in the standards.

Now that you have some concrete strategies, I would encourage you to pick one and start planning. I want you to know that even though the standards can feel overwhelming, you can conquer them. Just start off slow and then build. Also, do not be afraid to reach out for help.

What is your biggest challenge when it comes to planning with the standards?

You can download the transcript here.