RUSS PULLIAM

Common Core doesn’t worry literature teacher

Russ Pulliam

English teacher Jacob Pactor taught the classics before the Common Core academic standards became a hot topic of debate. He expects to keep teaching those same great stories whether the new standards are adopted, revised or rejected.

In his Speedway High School classes, he has a low-key but firm style of commanding student interest in books such as “Brave New World” and “The Scarlet Letter.” He’s in constant motion as he calls on students to dig into the texts with him.

“If you normally get by not doing the work, you won’t make it with this book,” he warns an Advanced Placement class in introducing the students to Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye.” “It will switch time periods and narrators.”

A graduate of Wabash College with a master’s in English from Butler, Pactor brings the texts alive with passing references to the Super Bowl and NBA basketball. He’s part of the Teach Plus Teaching Fellows, sponsored by the local Mind Trust education reform group.

Pactor invited me to class because of an earlier column on Common Core and critics’ complaints that the new standards don’t put enough emphasis on great literature in high school. His school has not yet adopted Common Core, but he doesn’t think the standards will have all that much effect on his classroom.

His skills as a teacher have far more impact in his classroom than any set of national or state standards. Pactor loves literature, and he insists that his students join him in his enthusiasm for great stories.

Students can’t hide in his class. He teaches with a rapid-fire series of questions. His ninth-grade English classes are covering “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” the 1937 novel by Zora Neale Hurston.

“Joe is doing what to Janie?” Pactor inquires.

“Controlling her,” answers a student.

“Do we feel sympathy for Janie?” Pactor asks.

“Yes!”

“No!”

The class divides down the middle over Janie as victim or fool.

Pactor brings a contagious enthusiasm for a great story, and the students, though restless at the start and end of class, are gripped by the characters and plot.

Pactor doesn’t see Common Core as a big deal. “If you go through the old standards and compare them to the new in high school English, they are almost the same,” he said. “If we can’t make the content come alive and connect with curious students, then no matter how good or local the standards are, they are just words on paper.”

The never-ending debate over Common Core has become a tragedy. Opponents complain about the lack of emphasis on great literature, and the National Education Association thinks the rollout of the standards has been terrible. Proponents defend the standards with talking-point comments about excellence.

The key to education reform lies elsewhere, in attracting teachers such as Pactor who thoroughly engage students in their passion for learning.

Pulliam is associate editor of The Star. Email him at russell.pulliam@indystar.com.