I'm not going to lie, but the CCSS are difficult to read and understand. However, from what I can gather, I think that the creators of the standards have very high expectations for our students. It appears that there will be no room for slacking because every skill in each grade level is crucial in order to advance smoothly to the next grade. On the plus side of this, I think the reading standards will be a great way for students to be better prepared for the rigorous reading amount they will encounter in college.
To continue, I mainly focused my attention on grades nine-twelve because I am placed in a high school classroom, so I felt it was best to familiarize myself with them. I initially noticed that with both literature and informational texts, each skill builds upon the other and increases in difficulty with each grade. For example, in RL.9.2, it says "determine a theme or central idea of a text" where RL.11.2 says "determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text." This is just one of the many instances where a great level will one up the previous one, while still keeping the same standard concept.
I also noticed that there was specific reading material listed required for certain grades. For example, 11-12th graders are required to read one play by Shakespeare and one by an American dramatist. This falls under the craft and structure section where students will determine the meaning of words as they are used in the required text and analyze in the impact certain word choices have. Currently, to meet this standard, my 11th grader American Lit class, the students are reading the play The Cruicible.
Overall, I feel like the CCSS have great intentions and will really prepare the students academically, but they are also difficult to understand, and some of them, I would have trouble applying.
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