Mary Lou Baker asked:

"How can we best prepare our students for the common core in language arts?"

As I mentioned in the last post, I have been no fan of the Common Core standards (see The Best Articles Sharing Concerns About Common Core Standards). However, one of the key lessons I learned in my nineteen year community organizing career was that, though we should always recognize the tension inherent in "the world as we'd like it to be" and "the world as it is," living in the former seldom leads to success in the latter. The Common Core is the reality for most of us, and I've begun collecting the most useful resources for implementing them.

However, not everyone agrees with my position that it is unwise to put energy into trying to stop the Common Core. I'd encourage you to check-out a spirited discussion in the previous post's comments section to to see what others say (I've also included Stephen Krashen's thoughts later in this post) and my response to them.

Part One in this series featured responses from educator/authors Christopher Lehman, Amy Benjamin and Ben Curran. Today, teachers Alice Mercer and Dina Strasser and contribute their thoughts, as do many readers.

Click here to continue reading.