Well said, Sally. One of my objections to the CCSS is that the
reading selections are crazy. For example, they list "Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll as a selected literature
text for grades 4-5. Uh.... I don't think so.
At least they left Charlotte's Web in grades 2 & 3.
Another objection I have is that, once again, public school teachers
were not largely included in the process. If you look to see who
wrote these, it is a bunch of for-profit charter school people.
Sorry, but I have an objection to that.
And I will admit I have not been through them with a fine-toothed
comb in a systematic way, and frankly, the math ones seem better than
what we have now in California (CCSS are less nit-picky). But the big
thing is that they appear to be headed toward a national test and the
last thing we need is more testing.
bleagh to all of it
Renee
On May 23, 2011, at 4:15 PM, Sally Thomas wrote:
Mindy, I think you've described this very well. When we look at
standards
across states and etc. often they are much the same. I do think at
times
there are subtle differences, words that have very different
connotations if
we are serious about understanding different assumptions about
learning
though. And states do very with some very long fragmented lists of
very
specific pieces of knowledge and skills (like California's - my
state) and
others more general.
But if we know our subject/field etc. and how children learn and
grow and
develop in that field or subject, there is much to be agreed on and
they
just aren't that scary. I honestly never worried much about
standards. I
just knew how writing and reading develop across time and I just
started
where each child was and worked to support that child in moving
forward! I
was confident about my professional ability as a teacher.
But there are big problems with what is happening now I (and others)
believe. The common core standards are being set forth as ones
that we will
all follow. And this will enable curriculum developers to sell
their wares
across all the states. In fact, word has been sent out already to
all those
education entrepreneurs out there that this will make their jobs
easier.
And this will allow national assessments that will ensure that
everyone
follows and interprets these standards in the same way. And of all
this
frankly IS really scary.
Does this make some sense?
Sally
On 5/23/11 3:33 PM, "Melinda Jurus" <[email protected]> wrote:
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.
"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."
Dorothy Parker
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