Exactly what I was trying to get across. Thanks, Renee. Elisa Elisa Waingort Grade 2 Spanish Bilingual Teacher Spanish Learning Leader Dalhousie Elementary Calgary, Canada
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart. —Helen Keller The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water. -Former US Cabinet member John W. Gardner Visit my blog, A Teacher's Ruminations, and post a message. http://waingortgrade2spanishbilingual.blogspot.com/ -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] on behalf of Renee Sent: Sun 22/05/2011 3:41 PM To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Common Core The powers that be do not / will not change their minds until those doing the work stop saying that things are here to stay. My two cents. Renee On May 22, 2011, at 11:41 AM, kaui norton wrote: > Thank you for your thoughts. I do see your point. I suppose I > should say that, although standards teaching may not be the best > solution to our ongoing struggles to educate, it is, nevertheless, > here to stay. At least, till the powers that be change their minds > again! > When I say I like it, it is because I am tired of teaching a > gadzillion standards and benchmarks that are vague to say the > least. In Hawai'i we have a ridiculous number of standards to > teach. It has always been a guessing game for many teachers as to > how to apply the standards mandated by our state. Many teachers, > old and new, are totally lost because there is no direction in how > to go about teaching to the standards, thus, we have teachers who > don't teach them resulting in students who move on without the > knowledge that they are expected to learn. > Unfortunately, testing is always going to "drive" how we teach and > what we teach. I don't see it changing any time soon. So...if > that is so, then I believe I need to do the best, for my students, > with what I am given. Of course, I will make every effort to fill > the holes that appear. Honestly, I feel we are fighting a losing > battle and need to cut our losses. I do know, they can't mandate, > yet, how I teach the standards or what else I teach with them. > THerefore, it is my responsibility to ensure my students get more > than what they need to pass a test. "The important thing is not to stop questioning." ~ Albert Einstein _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
