Reply to Elementary teacher doesn't know Dickens rote Great Expectations

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Miss Havisham, people.  Miss Havesham.  She makes Great Expectations WORTH reading: best villain ever.  She lives in a creepy old mansion alone, wearing the tattered remains of the wedding dress she first put on years and years ago when her fiance stood her up on her wedding day.  She had the clocks in her mansion stopped at that time, and has the wedding spread table still set out, moldering under cobwebs.  And she's OBSESSED with getting her revenge on men.  So obsessed that she takes a little orphan girl and raises her to be a heartbreaking temptress, keeping her isolated in the old moldy mansion so no outside influences will halt the corruption.  AND THEN, Miss Havisham invites Pip, the main character, into the creepy old mansion to meet young Estella (the little girl Miss H has warped in the hopes of carrying out her revenge).

Read it, really.  So, so good.  [/quote]

It is SUCH a good book! And it allowed me, as a high schooler, to better understand some angsty Alanis Morrisette lyrics.

Little things like this are why I personally am a fan of the Common Core. I do believe that there are things we should all know and cultural references we should all get, and I also lose a little respect for people when they don't know things I think are important parts of our culture. (And they don't always have to be weighty and high-minded. Here I am thinking of the [American] teacher I know who professed this holiday season to never having heard Mariah Carey's classic "All I Want for Christmas is You" before AND, when I played it for her, complained that it was slow and depressing and asked me to put something else on. COME ON, Teach!)[/quote]

I don't think that Common Core is going to solve your Mariah Carey problem.  I'm also completely unsure why you think a teacher has to have the same taste in music as you.

Common Core only has a few required texts.  There are suggested reading lists at every grade, but they're suggested, and there are a few standards that make suggestions (e.g. the Letter from the Birmingham Jail is suggested in 9/10 informational text) but the only required texts are listed in these 2 standards from 11/12.

Analyze seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth-century foundational U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (including The Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address) for their themes, purposes, and rhetorical features.

Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text. (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by an American dramatist.)

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