Reading, questioning and Common Core's methods
Posted by Non_mooching_artist 10 years, 11 months ago to Education
This is a very interesting article, and shows just where the deficiencies in the cc methodology are.
The goal is to herd all these young minds in a predetermined direction, in order to produce unquestioning conformists, in my opinion. I'm not an educator, however if I were, this would be as abhorrent to me as it is as a parent raising my two children. One of the things I LOVED about my English classes were the debates that would ensue when discussing something we had read. There were so many different viewpoints that it made it that much more enriching an experience. Be wary, friends. Little automatons are on the rise.
The goal is to herd all these young minds in a predetermined direction, in order to produce unquestioning conformists, in my opinion. I'm not an educator, however if I were, this would be as abhorrent to me as it is as a parent raising my two children. One of the things I LOVED about my English classes were the debates that would ensue when discussing something we had read. There were so many different viewpoints that it made it that much more enriching an experience. Be wary, friends. Little automatons are on the rise.
And, you know, the Red Cross is a huge bureaucracy. They do good work, don't get me wrong, but they need a bureaucracy to do it.
This, people, is meme totalitarianism. Every concept wants to dominate. The only antidote is rational thought (non-contradictory integration). And for that you need the widest context, the freest mind.
Too many people seeing a devil behind every bush. If you've been in education long enough, you will find Common Core is nothing but new wrapping paper around a used product. Ten years from now it will change again. You can only sell so many books before the profits dry up and then you have to seek a new revenue stream. Most of this is corporate driven. Hundreds and millions are at stake and teachers seem to get the blame for what others mandate. 10 times out of 10 it is district level cronies adopt new materials because someone allocated a strings only attachment to getting new stuff. Naturally, school districts want that money and then school boards tell the rest of us to ditch what we have been doing and do something else. This cycle is ENDLESS. It is a never-ending chase for state and federal dollars. And while you all advocate for local control; those in local control are IGNORING you. I have seen people on school boards come and go. They get elected with an agenda...then abandon it once reality sets in. I have seen Union backed board members turn on those who endorsed them, and I've seen those who the Union were against come to the Union side.
All these arguments about liberal vs conservative are red herrings to redirect you away from incompetence of administrators and politicians.
Of course, teachers are not totally blameless. Like any career and enterprise there are DUDS among us. There are many avenues to get rid of them. So why don't they? Because administrators are explicitly told don't mess with it...because cost benefit analysis reveals that getting rid of an ineffective teacher will cost too much and rake precious resources. Do unions contribute to this...of course they do when there is an accusation of being "ineffective." Firing a teacher for misconduct is easy..."ineffective" however, is nearly impossible to define. My view of ineffective is different than your view of ineffective, just like a parent view of ineffective is going to be different. Tying test scores will never identify what ann ineffective teacher is. Too many variables to determine why a student did poorly and none identifiable.
AND...on a final note...parents and students are not blameless either. The culture of student and parent is frightening...hovercraft parents constantly calling and demanding negotiation of a grade...endless begging of extra-credit when a grade is lagging...yet the grade would be fine if the kid did the work in the first place. How about the kids who come to school stoned? How about the kid who didn't finish their homework because the electrify was shut off at home because the bill didn't get paid? How about the student who gets the shit beat out of him by an abusive parent who is drunk or crazy? How about the parent who complains that the textbook you have to use...but didn't adopt is some kind of liberal or conservative conspiracy to thieve the mind of their child. How about the parent who writes a letter to the school board because you showed a news clip from CNN or FOX news....or read an article in a local paper that didn't agree with their politics? The list of crazy shit people do everyday around education is insane. Or my personal favorite...the parent who tried to get me fired about 7 years ago when his daughter decided to go topless at the pool during a PE class...I wrote her up and sent her to the office and guess what...daddy wanted to know why I looked at her breasts in the first place???? This is the kind of shit that would have most of wondering why the F##K we even teach in the first place....but to end my rant here...most people in here seem to think we are a bunch of assholes all riding in the same boat to ruin your child.
That said, this methodology seems to me to have an agenda. Why are teachers being restricted in the textbooks they're using, or what they can teach?
I am responsible for my children's education, in making sure they do their homework, but they don't get a pass for handing in work that's not up to snuff. I certainly don't blame the teacher, or the glare from the sun or whatever other bullshit excuse gets floated out there. They pay for their mistakes, because they wouldn't learn otherwise.
Why was this implemented under the radar? Why is it only in the past year that it has come to light that no educators endorsed this as being an effective method? And why are there no answers by the people pushing it? I always found the most inspirational teachers were the ones who were free to bring in books, or materials that weren't necessarily part of the basic curriculum. This is now not the case. "Teach the materials provided, don't deviate." Well, that's unacceptable. Let the teachers TEACH! Not some agenda, either.
1) Textbook Restriction: Teachers don't get to choose textbooks. States adopt several and then districts choose from that list...at least in California. In our district...to save $$$ they will purchase the book that appeals to the lowest performing students. We have argued for years to let us choose at each school based upon our students...but that would cost too much. For me...the students check the book out...but we NEVER use it. its garbage.
2) You are the first parent to actually state that to me. 99% of the time parents blame the teacher and/or beg for extra credit.
3) Common Core (a new name for some of the same old methods) has been in the planning for the last five years. We started training for it three years ago. 40 States (bi-partisan effort) started adopting it. Common Core is only effective if a teacher knows what they are doing. Example: article on "Close Reading" That strategy has been around since I've been teaching. It is used with primary source documents. BUT- I don't use it until there is some level of understanding of the context of the historical situation.
4) In California there is the concept of "Academic Freedom" for teachers. I cannot be told how to teach, what methods to use, nor told specific lessons to teach. That is my professional discretion. NOW...there are instances I have seen where elementary school principals have been bullying the younger teachers to "do as their told" Usually a Union grievance shuts them up.
Unfortunately, in the end...each state is different. Administrators, like anyone else, don't want to be fired. Thus they try to ensure their future by making teachers do their will in teaching. As you said, let teachers TEACH. I know I do exactly that...and if it were not for the Union I belong to...probably would have been fired long ago. Many of my colleagues really don't have an agenda..they just love teaching...its the higher ups in Admin, school boards, and politicians who keep sticking their fingers in our eyes.
You want to see excellent education? Look at the private schools. They get to pick whom they accept and the parents of those kids know that it isn't the job of the teachers to teach discipline. And with the amount of money the parents pay, they are directly incentivized to get involved in their childrens' education - which by the way is the #1 most directly correlated success factor in education.
The sad side effect is that it will be an exam failure for the student to disagree with any opinion text. To disagree means they must bring in other information (from their own mind).
That sounds more like what they're trying to do in Colorado by trying to take the focus away from America's history in rebellion and protest. Fortunately the kids are seeing through it.