English Language Arts CCSS

The English Language Arts Common Core State Standards(CCSS) have standards that progressively challenge students more and more the higher grade level they get. The standards for reading literature focus on a student being able to cite quotations from the text and explain why they are important to the story or piece of literature. This is important for students to be able to explain in papers and through oral communication why certain sentences or sections of a text are important to the overall piece of literature. It also focuses on how specific chapters or pieces of information fit into the overall structure of the text.

As the grades get higher, there is more emphasis on the important of defining a theme of a story and finding textual evidence to support theme. The standards include that students be able to identify characters who evolve throughout the story and why they are important to the overall text. These two things are very important for reading a piece of literature because it is important to see how characters change and progress throughout a story and why and what makes them change. It is equally important for students to be able to pick out a central theme of a story and support why the theme is the theme through the text.

In 11-12th grades Reading Standards for Literature, the standards include that students should be able to point out more than one theme for the literature which is important for a student to realize that there isn't just one theme for a piece of literature and that there can be multiple. This is important because it allows the deeper thinking to take place with students and it shows their ability to be able to accept the fact that there may be multiple answers instead of just one.

The Reading Standards for Informational Text is similar in that in focuses on students being able to pull a centralized theme out of the text and identifying how the author supports their claim or theme. The standards incorporate that students read important speeches in history such as the Gettysburg Address and are able to identify why they were important for their time. I believe this is very important and I am satisfied knowing that the standards have included a part for American History. The standards also list that students be able to analyze important documents for their literary and historical value such as the Declaration of Independence and The Bill of Rights which, as a social studies major, I think is very important. I used to tutor for Government 100 and there were freshman who didn't even know what the Bill of Rights were. Therefore, it is very important for students to read these documents in their Language Arts and Social Studies classes.
Overall, I am very satisfied with the standards.