New Core Standards: What Will Get Left Behind?

I like the reading list I see coming out of the new core standards, but wonder what will get left behind? Will students get hooked on reading and take it upon themselves to seek out great new voices in fiction, and non-fiction?

I'm excited to see many of the additions and changes to the list, including Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake on tap for 11th graders. (Now I'd better hurry up and read it myself!)

But not everyone is pleased.

While I've never quite "gotten" poetry, it's strewn liberally throughout the curriculum. Perhaps we'll see a new generation of more thoughtful communicators. I can dream, right?

What do you think of the new standards, dear readers?

~Diane Stresing

Kids' Stuff: Reading & Typing

Summer reading. It's highly recommended by teachers and parents everywhere. Yeah, yeah. We know. While I'm a very enthusiastic supporter of the whole reading thing, I'm taking a break from that lecture to remind parents that keyboard skills are important to a child's education, too.

Here's a fun typing game for kids I found recently. Maybe your kids will appreciate a break from your particular lecture repertoire, too?

http://www.clubhousemagazine.com/games/type-logger

Stumbling Over Smart Guys and Trendsetters

Charles Murray's Opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, For Most People, College is a Waste of Time, is worth a read. Somebody, get this guy on a committee to reform education...and quick.

And I stumbled on this blog entry today - yeah, it's almost eight months old - and thought, yep, he's right: the iPhone and iTouch could replace a lot of retail sales people. (Sorry, guys.)

Then I thought, wait a minute. The technology I use isn't working quite so well. I subscribe to a couple of "trendspotting" newsletters, one RSS feed, and have three different Google Alert settings, yet I literally stumbled across these articles.

Sigh. See, this is why I like to keep track of my favorite reading material. Nobody else is really doing it for me...