As a HS English teacher I struggle most with the first shift. This has been horribly, horribly misinterpreted by my administration. The shift really calls for the other subject areas to infuse more literacy skills into their subjects. What is happening is that ELA secondary teachers are being forced to abandon fiction, poetry, etc. and being forced to teach Science and Social Studies texts. The 50/50 (or 70/30 in HS) split is supposed to occur across a student's ENTIRE school day, not just the 45 minutes they soend in English class. As a former 5th and 6th grade teacher who had the class for all the core subjects, I can see where the CC literacy pieces could easily fit into the day. But as usual, all these changes are dumped on the ELA teachers while the other subjects, sans math, continue on as usual. My 12th graders have read 1 piece of fiction all year. My Juniors also have only read 1 work of literature and they have to prepare for the NYS Regents. It is awful when these new things come into play and are put into practice improperly.
As a HS English teacher I struggle most with the first shift. This has been horribly, horribly misinterpreted by my administration. The shift really calls for the other subject areas to infuse more literacy skills into their subjects. What is happening is that ELA secondary teachers are being forced to abandon fiction, poetry, etc. and being forced to teach Science and Social Studies texts. The 50/50 (or 70/30 in HS) split is supposed to occur across a student's ENTIRE school day, not just the 45 minutes they soend in English class. As a former 5th and 6th grade teacher who had the class for all the core subjects, I can see where the CC literacy pieces could easily fit into the day. But as usual, all these changes are dumped on the ELA teachers while the other subjects, sans math, continue on as usual. My 12th graders have read 1 piece of fiction all year. My Juniors also have only read 1 work of literature and they have to prepare for the NYS Regents. It is awful when these new things come into play and are put into practice improperly.