Anne Matava wrote this, which ties into the discussion we are having right now with Lori:
Is anyone working in a school that is moving towards a standards-based model? My school is, and I am having difficulty reconciling the new demands with what we know to be true about language acquisition. Up until this point I have been able to flood the students with copious amounts of CI, assess for comprehension only, and let them speak and write when they are ready. No standards, no benchmarks, no formative assessments, just pure language. At this point, and my knowledge on the subject is admittedly scarce, it seems to me that language falls into a different category than math, science, history, etc., and therefore I should be able to at least do a modified version of this standards thing, if not be exempt altogether. The suits in my school will not agree. I could really use some support. Thanks.