In the six months I have been working toward my Master’s Degree in teaching secondary English, I have heard the term “performance standards” no less than forty-five times. Today, I visited the website that explains these notorious “performance standards” for the state of Georgia. You can visit it here.
I am actually surprised that I am not completely turned-off by these standards. I like that they are broad enough to allow creativity on the teacher’s part, which is especially important in English classrooms. They don’t list specific works of literature as required reading, and they don’t specify the types of writing assignments that must be completed. I hope that continues to be the case.
There is an extensive list of available videos related to English courses that seems like it would be quite useful. I have not had a chance to watch any of those videos, so I can’t speak to their quality, but it is at least a start to have some videos available. The site seems to have some teaching resources available, but I did not see any relating directly to teaching English. The site seems to have some good things available to teachers, and I would recommend that any teacher take the time to look at some of those resources. However, it would be nice if the site would offer more resources in particular subject areas- not for teachers to use as “scripture,” but simply to provide ideas and useful information.
Likewise, the site could provide many more “sample tasks” relating to the particular performance standard mentioned. The tasks listed seem effective, but it would be great to see more examples about how to teach that particular concept in the classroom.
Although I don’t think the standards are poorly written, I see a risk of teachers becoming “bogged down” by the standards. Like most anything else, the implementation of the rules can be far more important than the rules themselves. I hope that the state, the school systems, and the teachers will not stifle creativity and imagination in pursuit of “The Standards.”
