New state language arts standards offer opportunities for new collaborations

First of all, welcome to the Cultural Connections with Students initiative blog. We will keep you updated on the journey and will delve deeper into topics related to the initiative.

A year ago, The Patterson Foundation's Cultural Connections with Student Initiative embarked on a journey to work with its partners to create an integrated experience for Sarasota County K-12 public school students by connecting the classroom with Sarasota's rich array of community assets.

The Sarasota School District,  Community School Partnership for the Arts (C/SPA),  Science and Environment Council of Sarasota County (SEC), and the local cultural organizations have already created longstanding programs that enrich Sarasota students' learning experiences.

Surveys and interviews done for this initiative show a passion for the connections and a strong belief that we can better integrate classroom and community.

Next Generation State Standards

New state standards - Next Generation State Standards - have been adopted for language arts, math and science while other subjects will follow. The standards call for more rigor and relevancy in the curriculum. United States school standards are known to be a "mile wide and an inch deep."  The new standards call for mastery and applied learning.  This means extending the classroom with quality community experiences is even more important.

Language Arts - Reading, comprehension, listening, speaking and writing are cornerstones for learning.  Some of the language arts skills students must learn include:

1) Identifying main idea/plot and purpose

2) Understanding comparisons and cause and effect

3) The ability to apply critical thinking to what they read.

What experiences are you providing through cultural connections that help students become proficient in these areas?

What convinces you that the experiences make a difference?

What new ideas do you have to make experiences more effective?