The Core Standards

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Photo by Matt Botsford on Unsplash

During the 2019-2020 school year, I served on a statewide committee to revise our ELA standards. I was assigned to examine the speaking and listening standards with colleagues from across the state of Wisconsin.

I learned a lot from the experience. For example, I understood the importance of ensuring the language of the standards was culturally responsive and inclusive of all people.

While I appreciated the experience, I couldn't help but feel a little left out by not being selected for the reading or writing standards group. To me, these felt like the standards, especially reading, given all the attention it receives. If I were more involved in those standards, I thought, I could have a greater influence on the area that matters most to our students.

Fast forward to the present: an American citizen with a green card is currently being held in custody for being publicly critical of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Mahmoud Khalil graduated with a master’s from Columbia and his wife is expecting their first child. His Syrian descent certainly (and unfairly) plays a part in this situation. But what strikes me about why he's in jail, without being able to speak to his attorney, is because of something he said.

By multiple accounts, Khalil is described as "kind, expressive and gentle", as well as a “consummate diplomat” during the protests he helped facilitate on the Columbia campus. His careful consideration of his words and actions, whether one agrees or not with his positions, are protected under the first Amendment.

While we can and should decry this abuse of the justice system, we can also see how powerful the spoken word and the capacity to hear multiple perspectives can be.

Speaking and listening are not consistently taught with the same explicitness as is reading. Considering the ways in which people seek influence in today's world, why not?

• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a master at using social media, especially video, for getting her positions across to her constituents and beyond. When she asked her followers where they primarily get their news, the majority said her.

• When the U.S. tried to ban TikTok, a video-based social media platform, the pushback has been so strong that the government has stalled to implement the decision.

• Current reading legislation that mandates foundational reading skills instruction and related professional development, was largely spurred by the Sold a Story podcast series. This highly produced and emotionally-laden media project relied mostly on audio and recorded interviews to spur action at the state level.

Given today's reality, we need to revisit what educator Erik Palmer laments as the "forgotten standards". Speaking and listening skills are the core standards.

Next are some initial suggestions for embedding these standards in any classroom::

• Begin with the end in mind when designing instruction. Use the speaking and listening standards to help envision what you want students to know and be able to do by the end of instruction or unit of study. Break the standards down into learning intentions and success criteria. When I have coached teachers through this process, their creativity for how to teach these standards with challenging and engaging instruction is unlocked. They can “see” how the standards can come to life in their classrooms. Check out the example below.

Source of the standards can be found here. Developed with the help of Claude.ai.

• Develop performance tasks for summative assessments. Expect students to produce a podcast, a TikTok video, or engage in literature circles. One teacher I support developed a checklist with success criteria aligned with speaking and listening standards. She uses it to assess her students’ skills while observing them discuss their reading. The data she gathers guides her future instruction, including plans to model specific speaking and listening skills that lead to more productive conversations.

• Integrate speaking and listening with the other literacy strands. Show the connection between writing & speaking. Using the podcast example, students would draft a loose script with talking points and key questions to ask a guest prior to recording. Students also can be expected to read up on the topic and/or the guest to prepare the script. During the performances, peers can be empowered to offer feedback on what went well and what could be improved. When taught how to engage in this process, peer assessment benefits both the assessed and the assessor.

Do you agree that speaking and listening are the core standards in today’s world? How do you elevate these skills in your classroom or school? If speaking and listening are not a priority in your curriculum, where might you start?

Related Resources

• Some educational resources I recommend to support the inclusion of speaking and listening skills include: Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World by Heidi Hayes Jacobs and colleagues, Most Likely to Succeed: Preparing Our Kids for the Innovation Era by Tony Wagner and Ted Dintersmith, and World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students by Yong Zhao. They were all published at least ten years ago, but the ideas they present are timeless.

• The Buck Institute of Education has some excellent resources for teachers looking to incorporate project-based learning (a great approach for embedding speaking and listening) into their classrooms. Check out their “Complex Communication Rubrics” and other free downloads at https://my.pblworks.org/.

• Teachers need support from leaders to help make this work happen. Earlier this week, I posted a guide for principals and teachers leaders on how to leverage small changes in one area to see improvement in other areas. Read more at the link below (full subscribers only):