Super Star Standards

• Calyanne Crouch
• Posted 10/19/20
• 0 comments

I love the National Core Arts Standards for music as much as anyone else – I think they are thorough yet flexible, rigorous but adaptable, and that they prioritize equity in experiences while highlighting the legitimacy of our curriculum.  

But sometimes, they feel like they are in another language. And for my music department colleagues, all speakers of English as a second (or third!) language, at the American School of Tegucigalpa Honduras, they literally are. But by identifying your personal “Super-Star” standards, you can make the National Core Arts Standards work to grant you clarity and save you time!  

National Core Arts Standards Categories: 

The National standards are categorized into four strands: Creating, Performing, Responding, and Connecting. By first identifying power standards within each category, we can build a solid framework for our curriculum, no matter our medium for delivery. In 2020 this is essential when reduced teaching time and lack of collaboration are typical, and we all feel pressure to be prepared to seamlessly transition between in-person, hybrid, live online, and asynchronous learning. 

When looking at your normally targeted standards, especially as music teachers, it is so tempting for us to identify the most important standards based on our interests and the resources we have available to us. I’m very thankful that specific rhythmic and melodic concepts and instrument techniques aren’t mentioned in our music standards!  

REAL Criteria 

But to truly identify what your “power” standards are, Larry Ainsworth suggests checking them for R.E.A.L. criteria. Do the standards help your students with Readiness for the next grade level or moving on to ensemble classes? Does the standard have the Endurance to go beyond this unit or grade level? Is this standard going to be Assessed in standardized testing? Finally, does the standard have Leverage across disciplines? 

Considering the R.E.A.L. criteria, we, as general music educators, are actually in a great place to quickly identify our power standards and start using them to our advantage! Teaching multiple grade levels, as the majority of us do, provides us a clear view of the Readiness and endurance that a standard provides.  

The National Coalition for Core Arts Standards has made comparison even more accessible with the at a glance feature. They are allowing us to compare pre-k through eighth grade at the same time to see which standards truly do endure and prepare our students for the next level. We are lucky not to have to worry about standardized testing in music, and we can more or less ensure that our standards have leverage by using the other National Core Arts disciplines.  

Identifying Power Standards 

So now comes the hard part of actually identifying which will be your power standards. You may have free reign to make your own choices, but you could consider collaborating at a district level with all music teachers or creating a building-specific set across arts disciplines. It may be a district-wide professional development focus, which is how I was introduced to the concept by our curriculum coordinator, or it can be pursued independently as the ultimate time-saver.  

Either way, it’s an excellent opportunity to break out your favorite highlighter and a printed copy of the National Core Arts Standards for music. Going unit by unit, start selecting one or two standards from each unit that will be your main focus to become your power standards and drive your lessons.  

Make a Plan 

Start highlighting these power standards in your printed N.C.A.S. copy. As you continue to layer the colors or your highlighters, again and again, your very own “Super-Star” Standards will emerge as the most colorful! Highlighting is great for us visual learners to see just how much we focus on these. Whereas using one or two power standards per unit will focus your lesson planning, throughout the process having one or two “Super-Star” standards in your course will drive your overarching goals for student success and program value.  

Keeping your own “Super-Star” Standards at the forefront will not only save you time in the day to day planning but grant you clarity when defining the purpose of your program and when facing the thorny question of content prioritization when transitioning between phases of learning. Of course, some of your units and lessons might not use these standards.  

A high school level colleague of mine selected one standard each from the strands of creating, performing, responding, and connecting. The design of each unit of instruction focuses singularly on the power standard from that strand. So consequently, the four selected power standards transformed themselves into his Super Star Standards.  

My own elementary general music units of instruction are more intricately spiraled and woven together, or as some may say convoluted, due to the need to change pace and activity more often as appropriate for the age level. With having my classes only once a week, my units of instruction tend to cover a small portion of each class for several weeks, rather than the whole class for a shorter amount of time. So while I wholeheartedly admit that some of my units do not cover my superstar standards, these standards are very much getting covered in every class through one unit or the other. 

However, you ultimately go about finding them, having your set of Super-Star Standards will provide you with a clear priority when interruptions to learning are bound to happen in this pandemic landscape. As previously mentioned, some of my class activities come from units that don’t reflect my Super-Star Standards, even though I have selected lower-level power standards for them.  

Constraints with Virtual Instruction 

During these first few weeks of teaching virtually, there have already been a few instances of loss of instructional time due to technological difficulties. Knowing which activities represent my Super-Star Standards made deciding what activities to cut and keep at a moment’s notice feel almost natural.  

As we prepare for the countless challenges we will face this school year; we know that flexibility is critical. Pinpointing your Super-Star Standards and relying on them in your teaching will not only unearth the areas in your curriculum where you can be flexible but highlight your program goals where flexibility is not your best option. In the end, especially this school year, using Super-Star Standards to bring a little extra time and a little additional clarity in our decision-making processes is all we can ask for.  

References

National Core Arts Standards Music at a Glance 
“Power Standards: It’s About Time!” AtlasNext Curriculum Development 
“Priority Standards: The Power of Focus” Larry Ainsworth’s Personal Website