The state mandated standards curriculum is aligned with the Common Core State Standards (ccss) where I work as a public school substitute teacher. I noticed presents concerns about the emphasis on the "College and Career Readiness" aspects of ccss based state standards curriculum. I find it somewhat puzzling another vitally important and explicitly described CCSS aspect "Civic Engagement" was not directly and explicitly mentioned.
I see where I work as a substitute teacher evidence of how "Civic Engagement" is encouraged by curricular activities such as civil classroom debates and practicing of democratic principles.
Here is a link from another state that shows some of the "Civic Engagement" CCSS standards:
This is great, Jean-Pierre. It could be that writing might be redistributed in the curriculum to more directly involve community engagement. The Community Engagement Center at CSU Sacramento was integrated with writing courses in lower-division GE on an ad hoc basis.
Mostly agree - I certainly appreciate the ethical reasoning approach you wrote about and agree fully on your suggestion - I just lived out teaching Ethics in the public school for a semester [course was AI and Ethics] and what you suggested pedagogically was meaningful and rich, a noticeable shift from teaching still useful and enjoyable AP courses built on teaching close reading for an eventual 3 hour test that also offers financial benefit and clout. I also am so grateful to the administration at this district that they supported me trying ethics education here. But I think it needs the poetic sense as well, a multi modal pedagogy, and a structure where the educator can incorporate current events rationally first and then welcome the un-rational from every student.
I also add the state standards in PA are woefully vague on how to teach listening, which is increasing as a needed skill for career readiness as more for-profit companies shift to AI Human-on on Human-Out-Of-The-Loop. I don't know CCSS for listening, are there listening standards there at all?
Politically, I'll still challenge the stance here because voter choice throughout US history doesn't just change with any specific pedagogy. Someone's sense of being heard and known by a campaign in a democracy is both art and science - someone could ethically understand how a policy might cause suffering for someone else, but then subjective relativistic ethics or act and rule utilitarianism would end up an academic label for that person to justify their vote against someone else's preferred candidate. Poetry, plays, literature - those must remain in the mix, too. Thank you again for more good thinking and writing!
I agree, Scott. Specific pedagogies aren't going to change anything. But what if since 2012 our schools had been laser focused on every course as a core for critical thinking based on reason and a humanist morality. I have nothing against utilitarian calculus in certain contexts--beats Trumpian calculus. Deontology is also A good framework. James Mason University has a template of critical questions for svewryone to use. My point isn't that critical thinking itself is a pedagogy, but it is a learning outcome. If it had been embraced authentically, it might have made a difference. it's never too late.
And to your thoughtful reply, Scott, I would add that my students have wanted to wade into ethical ambiguity and uncertainty. A course called Moral Questions in Literature quickly became a favorite among our 11th and 12th graders because of the content and challenges.
To go back to Terry's post, we're both working with students through maybe a pre- IA Richards sense of literacy, and it is somewhat surprising how rapidly AI tools even push back at the efficacy of close reading for AP tests in many regards. Sounds like your course would be more flexible to hear and work with students on their lines of reasoning about ethical or moral answers? I hope you have flexibility to allow poetic or even playscript answers for your assessments.
Brad, where do you teach? Do you think there would be room for a semester course on AI and Ethics within your department? I would gladly send along curriculum now, and can have a much more revised, streamlined curriculum for you in your school if you can adopt later. ELA departments need a course like this badly right now, not just a unit within an AP class, and not even an overarching EQ within a literature class connected with a novel or short story. If you're interested (or someone else in your department) please let me know.
Hi Scott-sorry to be so long on the uptake. I rarely read on the app and instead through email, so I did not see your reply until now.
I think that AI education will happen in bits at my school; commonly, it takes 2 to 3 years to introduce a new course, though there is some appetite among the administration to help kids and faculty navigate the ethics and opportunities of AI.
The state mandated standards curriculum is aligned with the Common Core State Standards (ccss) where I work as a public school substitute teacher. I noticed presents concerns about the emphasis on the "College and Career Readiness" aspects of ccss based state standards curriculum. I find it somewhat puzzling another vitally important and explicitly described CCSS aspect "Civic Engagement" was not directly and explicitly mentioned.
I see where I work as a substitute teacher evidence of how "Civic Engagement" is encouraged by curricular activities such as civil classroom debates and practicing of democratic principles.
Here is a link from another state that shows some of the "Civic Engagement" CCSS standards:
https://civicsforall.org/pedagogy/6-national-standards/
This is great, Jean-Pierre. It could be that writing might be redistributed in the curriculum to more directly involve community engagement. The Community Engagement Center at CSU Sacramento was integrated with writing courses in lower-division GE on an ad hoc basis.
Mostly agree - I certainly appreciate the ethical reasoning approach you wrote about and agree fully on your suggestion - I just lived out teaching Ethics in the public school for a semester [course was AI and Ethics] and what you suggested pedagogically was meaningful and rich, a noticeable shift from teaching still useful and enjoyable AP courses built on teaching close reading for an eventual 3 hour test that also offers financial benefit and clout. I also am so grateful to the administration at this district that they supported me trying ethics education here. But I think it needs the poetic sense as well, a multi modal pedagogy, and a structure where the educator can incorporate current events rationally first and then welcome the un-rational from every student.
I also add the state standards in PA are woefully vague on how to teach listening, which is increasing as a needed skill for career readiness as more for-profit companies shift to AI Human-on on Human-Out-Of-The-Loop. I don't know CCSS for listening, are there listening standards there at all?
Politically, I'll still challenge the stance here because voter choice throughout US history doesn't just change with any specific pedagogy. Someone's sense of being heard and known by a campaign in a democracy is both art and science - someone could ethically understand how a policy might cause suffering for someone else, but then subjective relativistic ethics or act and rule utilitarianism would end up an academic label for that person to justify their vote against someone else's preferred candidate. Poetry, plays, literature - those must remain in the mix, too. Thank you again for more good thinking and writing!
I agree, Scott. Specific pedagogies aren't going to change anything. But what if since 2012 our schools had been laser focused on every course as a core for critical thinking based on reason and a humanist morality. I have nothing against utilitarian calculus in certain contexts--beats Trumpian calculus. Deontology is also A good framework. James Mason University has a template of critical questions for svewryone to use. My point isn't that critical thinking itself is a pedagogy, but it is a learning outcome. If it had been embraced authentically, it might have made a difference. it's never too late.
And to your thoughtful reply, Scott, I would add that my students have wanted to wade into ethical ambiguity and uncertainty. A course called Moral Questions in Literature quickly became a favorite among our 11th and 12th graders because of the content and challenges.
To go back to Terry's post, we're both working with students through maybe a pre- IA Richards sense of literacy, and it is somewhat surprising how rapidly AI tools even push back at the efficacy of close reading for AP tests in many regards. Sounds like your course would be more flexible to hear and work with students on their lines of reasoning about ethical or moral answers? I hope you have flexibility to allow poetic or even playscript answers for your assessments.
Brad, where do you teach? Do you think there would be room for a semester course on AI and Ethics within your department? I would gladly send along curriculum now, and can have a much more revised, streamlined curriculum for you in your school if you can adopt later. ELA departments need a course like this badly right now, not just a unit within an AP class, and not even an overarching EQ within a literature class connected with a novel or short story. If you're interested (or someone else in your department) please let me know.
Hi Scott-sorry to be so long on the uptake. I rarely read on the app and instead through email, so I did not see your reply until now.
I think that AI education will happen in bits at my school; commonly, it takes 2 to 3 years to introduce a new course, though there is some appetite among the administration to help kids and faculty navigate the ethics and opportunities of AI.
Wow. Please keep me in the loop if you two come up with something I can share with ltRRtl readers