Is the Common Core possible for the "in-betweeners"?
Today has been a frustrating day. (Sorry, I realize this post is not strictly literature related, but it does apply.) Yesterday my Social Studies classes began a close reading of the Declaration of Independence. Just the first paragraph. Really, just the most famous sentence in the first paragraph. ("We hold these truths to be self-evident...") My intro to this has always been pretty effective, you know, that this is possibly the most important sentence in American history... that this sentence sums up the foundations of our government... that the idea that all people owned these rights was truly revolutionary , and in many ways still is! *insert crickets chirping here* Me: Well, okay. Let's look at the text here. What rights did the authors believe all people have? *chirp chirp* Me: Look at the text! What rights are all people given by God? Random student: Uhhhhhh, the right to separate from the British? Me: No! ...