These directives are based on the belief that since informational books are receiving more emphasis, fiction is thus devalued. Another administrator asked the school librarian to weed out as much of the fiction collection as possible and purchase only nonfiction texts as replacements. A second grade teacher in Tucson sent home a message to parents, asking them to read informational books on topics such as animals and solar system to their children, noting some fiction was okay - but only in very small quantities. Myths about this focus on informational text are plentiful, but the most serious is the belief that fiction or literary texts are no longer valued or important in schools. Although there are differing statistics, researchers argue that only 10-15 percent of the texts read aloud by many teachers in primary classrooms are nonfiction (Duke, 2003). This shift is also seen as important in engaging readers who prefer nonfiction to fiction for their own personal reading. This shift in the balance of texts has received praise from those who believe that schools have focused too strongly on literary texts and failed to prepare students for reading the types of informational texts that daily fill their lives in college and in careers. The CCSS document calls for 50/50 split between informational and literary texts in kindergarten, gradually increasing to a 70/30 split in high school. One aspect of the Common Core State Standards that has received a great deal of attention is the increased focus on informational texts. The Balance of Informational and Literary Text in Children’s Lives Those barriers, however, are not insurmountable once educators are aware of their existence and can take positive action to globalize their approach to implementing the standards in their classrooms and schools. The assumptions that are built into the standards are more subtle and much more difficult to address, which could create significant barriers for global education. Ironically, most of the obstacles have resulted from policy makers and educators not engaging in close reading of the standards themselves, and so they can be fairly easily challenged and addressed by a close examination of the original standards document. Each of these foci provides both tremendous potential and huge obstacles for encouraging students to develop global perspectives. The three major emphases within the CCSS for ELA that connect to global education are informational texts, text complexity, and close reading. Through critically examining these possibilities, myths and assumptions as they connect to global education and intercultural understanding, educators can come to a better understanding of whether it is possible to globalize the CCSS or if teachers will again find themselves caught in a tug of war between two opposing movements. At the same time, the standards are surrounded by public myths that misrepresent their content and intent, as well as questionable assumptions that were built into the standards by their original creators. Close examination of these debates reveals that the standards do offer new possibilities for literacy instruction that could correct some of the imbalance from previous reform initiatives. Some of the blogs, articles, and books that swirl around the CCSS champion its new possibilities for literacy instruction, while others give dire warnings of its fallacies and false promises. Whether global education and the CCSS are in opposition to each other, able to peacefully coexist, or can build from and strengthen each other are critical issues for teachers who stand in the middle between these two movements. Both are clearly important to the changing context of schools and society, and to the significance of critical thinking and intercultural competence for success in an increasingly interconnected and complex world. On the other side are global education and intercultural competence, which have been gathering momentum over the last ten years. On one side are the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English Language Arts (ELA), which have a tremendous impact on educational policy and on literacy instruction in K-12 schools. Two major movements are currently enveloping schools. Globalizing the Common Core State Standards
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