And Now? A Standards Antidote

Okay, here's my special challenge (and I take comfort in knowing that out there are other people who understand exactly what I am about to say).  I am an artist.  I am a teacher.  I am a teaching artist, curriculum developer, website designer, market research specialist, performer, agent, writer, editor, math student, calf wrangler...I am going insane!  Well, not really, but I do feel like I exist in multiple worlds simultaneously, sometimes to the point where I can completely contradict myself and agree with myself in the same moment!

Today I was all over those Common Core State Standards I wrote about yesterday.  I just spent the better part of the afternoon working with the new language.  I'm not making anything new up, just translating what I do, what I've always done, into the language of the most current stated education goals.  I've also been working on a grant project for the second pilot stage of Young Audiences, Inc. Signature Core Services program, which has meant working with new forms and terminology.

Along parallel lines, I have been spending the better part of my after-the-kid's-in-bed time systematically reading all my back issues of the Teaching Artist Journal (I'm into year five at this point).  I started this particular project in December because I figured that, as a recently appointed Associate Editor for this publication, I should probably have a working knowledge of what kinds of articles, topics, research etc. have been published in the past before I move forward with my new position.

Re-reading TAJ's has actually been really interesting and inspiring, and much less an exercise than my husband thought it might be.  It's been interesting because the process of reading them one after another is bringing me the big picture I never had getting each new TAJ one at a time, three months apart.   I'm learning a lot!  And, it's been inspiring, because I've been running into really great thoughts like this one (below), which balance out all my standards-based wonkyness of late.  So, without further ado, here's my standards antidote for today:

"Although making art does encourage curiosity, critical thinking, and empathy -- necessary tools in today's world -- these very qualities may also demand that one speak truth to power or insist on beauty.  Nourishing imagination may inspire one to declare along with Blake: Everything that lives is holy.  Such a vision might make one less suited for production lines, prison cells, or political speech.

"So how do we, as human beings and as artists, speak honestly about art?  I'm glad that we talk about the connection between art-integration and academic progress, art's value in passing down community wisdom, and the transferable skills that making art develops.  But I hope we also remember to say that making art is a voyage into the unknown and, therefore, not a process inherently practical, polite, predictable, or proper."

From Judith Tannebaum's article"Oh How We Sparkled: One Vision, Two Themes."  Teaching Artist Journal 4.4 (2006): 248-9.

Starting Work with the Common Core State Standards

I just had a great introduction to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for Mathematics!  I have to admit, there's always at least a little trepidation in me when I look at a new set of standards.  I started as a Teaching Artist in North Carolina, then expanded to South Carolina.  Later I moved to Indiana and also travelled to Kentucky on a regular basis.  My programs remain the same no matter where I am, and it's been a bit of a bear to 'translate' what I do into the different languages of each individual state's standards.  But boy am I in luck now!  Now we have the CCSS which are being adopted by most of the fifty states; I am happy about possibly never having to 'translate' my program again, but I'm also really excited about the fact that these new standards are as much about habits of mind and real learning as they are about tiny pieces of specific content. 

I started hearing about the Common Core State Standards back in the summer, I think.  I went to the website and couldn't really figure out what they were about; even though I've worked with standards in four different states, as a Teaching Artist it's still really not my language.  Fortunately, I have an ace up my sleeve in the form of Math in Your Feet's co-creator, educator extraordinaire Jane Cooney.  This last week I was met up with her, and another fantastic math educator, Indiana University doctoral student Lauren Rapaki.  Together, they drew me a marvellous picture.  Here is what I understand so far...

It turns out that there are two strands to the CCSS for math.  One is a content standard -- I've taken a look with Math in Your Feet in mind, and there's still enough there to be relevant to the specifics of what third, fourth and fifth graders need to be learning.  What is exciting to me is the other CCSS for Mathematics standard, Standards for Mathematical Practice:

"The Standards for Mathematical Practice describe varieties of expertise that mathematics educators at all levels should seek to develop in their students.  These practices rest on important “processes and proficiencies” with longstanding importance in mathematics education. The first of these are the NCTM process standards of problem solving, reasoning and proof, communication, representation, and connections. The second are the strands of mathematical proficiency specified in the National Research Council’s report Adding It Up: adaptive reasoning, strategic competence, conceptual understanding (comprehension of mathematical concepts, operations and relations), procedural fluency (skill in carrying out procedures flexibly, accurately, efficiently and appropriately), and productive disposition (habitual inclination to see mathematics as sensible, useful, and worthwhile, coupled with a belief in diligence and one’s own efficacy)."

When we first developed Math in Your Feet, Jane went straight to the NCTM principles (mentioned in the above quote) as a tool for finding the big picture connections between percussive dance and elementary math topics.  Problem solving, reasoning and proof, connections, etc. have always been at the core of what this program is about but, somehow, the process of parsing it all down into state standards and indicators seemed to dilute the importance of the higher order thinking that happens when kids make percussive foot patterns and learn math at the same time.  The reason the CCSS for Mathematics look so promising to me is that the Mathematical Practices standard is at least half of what kids will be required to do in their math classes; my program is a great match for this kind of inquiry and approach. 

Here's the list of specific mathematical practices outlined in the CCSS, all of which describe the core work of Math in Your Feet:

Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

Construct viable arguments and critique others' reasoning.

Model with math.

Use appropriate tools strategically.

Attend to precision.

Look for and make use of structure.

Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

The CCSS appear to be not just a set of common standards and words on the page, but the development of a nation-wide agreement on educational goals and the language used to organize and describe those goals.  As someone who has had to learn how to speak the standards language of many different states, I am relieved and happy about having a common language describe my program to schools, teachers and others in the math education world.

I'm interested in hearing different viewpoints on these new standards, so please let me know how they affect you!