College and Career Readiness

When I think of the term, "College and Career Readiness", I immediately associate it with the standards that secondary schools assign their teachers in order to make their students both aware and prepared for University-level education and the competitive nature of the job-market.

But what I really think of when I hear, "College and Career Ready", I feel that the intentions of the term are largely overestimated and stigmatized through the standards that teachers actually wish to achieve. I believe that CCR simply implies that teachers dutifully perform their jobs in accordance with state standards so that the students come out of the secondary education environment with a concrete understanding and knowledge of the core subjects being: reading, writing, mathematics, and critical and creative thinking skills. That said, I believe it is a necessity that CCR comes in the form of goals set forth by administrators insuring their students proper preparedness for post-secondary education.

It is essential, I feel, that student's graduate from high school with the proper skills and experience in reading and writing skills in order to succeed in the college and job world. As a future educator, I will adhere to those standards and create a classroom environment for my students that will most benefit their futures. In that, I believe new and improved goals must be made each year, in accordance with CCR. These goals should be assessed by the students overall level of comprehension, regurgitation and analysis of any given written work or assigned material. When it comes to my own classroom, I will expect my students to be propelled into discussion through my mediation. Allowing them to create their own ideas, I feel,  enhances their ability to create and form hypothesis, which will in turn, enhance their comprehension and creative thinking skills.

Literally, Literate

When it comes to my own personal definition of "literacy" or the noun "literate", I must first consider to constraints which bound the current dictionary definition of the word, "Literacy"which is as follows: "The quality or state of being literate, or able to read and write." Now, I feel this vague definition does no justice to the complexity and formation of actually becoming literate. I believe social class has everything to do with the application of the actual word, "literate". It is my assumption that being, or the act of becoming, literate, is to be societally assigned and dictated to the "proper" way of speaking, reading, and writing. As opposed to being "illiterate" where the structure and function of language is not, nor cannot, be fully understood. Which is cause for concern because something as multi-faceted and durable as language, cannot and must not be restricted to two polar opposite forms of "correctness" in the form of the words, "literate" and "illiterate".

What My Parents Did

Growing up I was fortunate enough to have parents that truly cared about the positive influence reading has on a young child. Also, and fortunately as well, I was introduced to reading and writing before entering the 1st grade. Although these readings and writings were limited to the Church, I felt nonetheless, that I had a knack for reading comprehension, and overall enjoyed what tales my mother and father had told me. Contrary to my experience, are those who are not as privileged to have been brought up in this world with the proper guidance as I did. In this day and age, parent would rather plop their children in front of a television and resume their mundane existences as poor parents. This instability akin to lower-class families put's a strangle-hold on the modern education system in the form of poor concentration and separation from societal standards associated with reading and writing. As well as these new-age inexperienced parents that flood the education system with improperly learned students, so does the misconception that technology has the power to educate young minds. Tools of the age are available that may sort this issue; devices such as Kindle, Ebooks, and Nooks are all appropriate learning devices that have recently became available for learners of all ages.
As a product of the middle-class nuclear family, my family succumbed to the "maintown" ways of teaching me the necessity of language and language arts. My conforming to the socioeconomic norms of my class adhered to the principles in which I shall practice one day on my own children.