Monday, 23 July 2012

Strengthening Our Common Core

Contributor: “Dr. J” Dr. J offers his irreverent, slightly irrelevant, but possibly useful opinions on health and fitness. A Florida surgeon and fitness freak with a black belt in karate, he runs 50 miles a week and flies a Cherokee Arrow 200.

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(CC) Russ Anderson/Flickr

Core strength is front and center in the world of health and fitness now. Our core is the large group of muscles that make up our midsection, which consists of the abdominals, obliques and muscles of the lower back. These muscles of your core are responsible for supporting the proper posture of our upper body. The core muscles contract to hold our body rigid, and in this way support our spine and prevent it from injury.

The core muscles are also involved with efficient movement. Without effective core strength, the upper body would move inefficiently and put unnecessary stress on other muscles and joints.

Maintaining a strong core helps us have better posture, stand up straighter, eliminate lower back pain, have good muscle tone, have improvements in physical performance, prevent injuries and many more important health benefits. A weak core contributes to poor posture, which can in turn result in lower back pain and muscle injuries.

Many types of exercises will help you develop your core strength. Numerous ones can be found at this site.

Just as core strength is important for the expression of our optimum physical health, our core knowledge is important for prosperity. How we receive this knowledge, and the design of our educational system, can make or break our lives just as our physical core does.

For the past several years Florida gave the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test to students to judge their educational strength. There has been a lot of controversy about the value of FCAT results to both teachers and students.

Florida has recently joined a new examination standard that will possibly be implemented in the coming years. The Common Core States Standards Initiative, termed the Common Core, aligns our educational standards with successful student standards from around the world.

The Common Core mission statement reads as follows:

The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy.

Educational standards help teachers ensure their students have the skills and knowledge they need to be successful by providing clear goals for student learning. Standards ensure that all students are prepared for success in postsecondary education and the workforce. The hope is that common standards will help ensure that all students are receiving a consistent, high-quality education. Common standards also provide the opportunity to share experiences and practices within and among different states.

Standards are not meant to tell teachers how to teach, but to aid teachers in figuring out the knowledge and skills their students should have and aid in lesson planning. Standards are also hoped to help students and parents by setting clear and realistic goals for success. They are meant to provide an accessible roadmap for our teachers, parents and students.

Forty-five states and three territories have formally adopted the Common Core State Standards.

Building a strong core, whether in our body or within our educational system, does not happen overnight. With consistency over time, however, we can develop this strong foundation both mentally and physically, which will serve us well throughout the rest of our lives and our country’s future.

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Strengthening Our Common Core is a post from: CalorieLab - Health News & Information Blog

Source: http://calorielab.com/news/2012/07/09/strengthening-our-common-core/

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