General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Common Core teaches Gettysburg Address with no context or background. Unbelievable. [View all]LWolf
(46,179 posts)What's "oddest" about the statements is this part:
instead of privileging background knowledge
Odd because we know that background knowledge is essential to comprehension. The goal is to increase the background knowledge of all, not take away the context that background knowledge gives and expect a "close reading" to generate appropriate comprehension.
And yes, that background knowledge is why some student do better than others, which is why we actually need to provide MORE to level the playing field.
This reminds me a bit of the current obsession with pre-testing; partly driven by those who are convinced that many students already "know" and a pre-test can exempt them from learning activities (which condition I've found to be almost non-existent in my decades in the classroom,) and partly because it's "data that will drive instruction," and "data" that will demonstrate growth when the post-test is administered. Because if we don't have the data, then they didn't learn anything.
It leads to real frustrations for students who are given tasks that they aren't prepared for so that they can "struggle." Many already expect to struggle, even with appropriate support.
Finally, to do a truly "distinguished" job of using evidence to support claims, background information is essential. Evidence taken out of context can be used to support just about any claim.