Hi Mindy, You didn't come across as defensive at all but merely inquisitive. You asked goof questions, in my opinion. First of all, one of the objections to the Common Core is that education is not the federal government's area of influence; it belongs to the States. I think this is spelled out in the Constitution. Second of all, because each State is so different it makes no sense to have a national set of standards that everyone must follow; that should be decided at the State level. Third, these new set of standards come to you without input from educators. This process has been heavily financed by the Gates Foundation and it is being accompanied by an increase in testing. The Core Standards are also tied to federal monies: States had to agree to adopt them and VAM in order to compete for Race to the Top funds.
Just my take on this, Elisa Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry -----Original Message----- From: Melinda Jurus <[email protected]> Sender: [email protected] Date: Mon, 23 May 2011 18:33:49 To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group<[email protected]> Reply-To: "Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Common Core - response to feeling the standards are always helpful Hi all, I'm enjoying reading all of the viewpoints on the Common Core Standards. Here is a question that I've always had in regard to the standards. Either my district, my state or my country is choosing the standards that our students will be learning that year. So no matter what, someone is making a decision on the course of learning for my grade level next year. What is the difference if it's done by my district vs. the federal level? When I compare the state/district standards to the Common Core they're not really that different, other than the Common Core have less individual indicators. Currently, I use my state standards. Soon I'll use the federal standards. Either way, I'm teaching them what a citizen needs to do well in life and in this country. With any standards I teach, I'm guiding them to question, think and read. We don't learn the material for the test. We learn the material because it's interesting, but also because more of their life will make sense if they understand these key concepts. I'm just wondering what I'm missing when I hear people upset that we'll all have the same standards, even though each one of our students already follows *somebody's* idea of what's important. Why not have it be common to everyone? I don't feel like I'm not educating my students if I'm feeding them the Common Core Standards. It's just a slightly different set of standards. I'm really curious about this, and hope it didn't come across as defensive. Thanks in advance for your insight, Mindy On Mon, May 23, 2011 at 6:07 PM, Maureen Morrissey < [email protected]> wrote: > Sally, > great response, I hope Kaui and others read it and it makes them think: why > did I go into teaching in the first place? To spoonfeed pap to my students > or to make a difference in their lives? To help them pass a test or to help > them develop into lifelong learners, thinkers, readers. I'm afraid we > cannot > have it both ways. It's sad to me that the question authority days are > over > and many in the profession are deferring to the powers that be. We are the > educated educators; we are the professionals who should be lifelong > learners > and reflective practicioners. We need to take back the educating of our > students, even if we have to start grassroots again like in the '80s. > Maureen > _______________________________________________ > 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. _______________________________________________ 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.
