Re: [MOSAIC] Common Core - response to feeling the standards are always helpful
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 mindy...@gmail.com 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. Thanks in advance for your insight, Mindy On Mon, May 23, 2011 at 6:07 PM, Maureen Morrissey maureen.morriss...@gmail.com 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 Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org 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 Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org 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 Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Common Core - response to feeling the standards are always helpful
Will you tell us more about this? PatK On May 23, 2011, at 5:45 PM, Mena wrote: Billionaire's Boy's Club are financing grassroots movements. PatK ___ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Common Core - response to feeling the standards are always helpful
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/education/22gates.html?_r=1hp There are your billionaires. I think it's ironic that this is being called grassroots. Time for a push-back! Things are spinning crazily out of control and the kids are going to get hurt. How's this for insane: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/education/24tests.html?pagewanted=2_r=1ref=education Also ironic, how Whole Language was called an experiment on kids but what is going on with Race to the Top and NCLB is known as scientifically researched. We live in frightening times. Maureen ___ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Common Core - response to feeling the standards are always helpful
I am afraid the Common Core is another indicator that we believe that children are units, interchangeable, that all need to know the same thing and be taught the same things and be tested on the same things. You and I know they are not all the same, they develop differently, listen differently, are interested in different things. Teaching is not the one way street implied by those who think the children are widgets. ___ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Common Core - response to feeling the standards are always helpful
I love a dynamic conversation on Mosaic...I just have to contribute. I just want to add a warning that the standards don't result in more attention to testing and remove attention to learning that is acquired and not taught as Krashen would say..see his ed week blog s below... On 5/22/2011 11:41 AM, Stephen Krashen wrote: This is my comment on an ed week blog. Mary Ann Zehr reports on a paper by Robert Liquanti with suggestions for ELL assessment. Mr. Liquanti's paper, I argue, makes perfect sense if we assume that we LEARN academic language consciously. I suggest that most of academic language is ACQUIRED. I wonder if the testing community is even aware of this possibility. Re: Robert Linquanti, WestEd, Strengthening Assessment Posted on: edweek blogs Liquanti assumes that academic language can be defined, taught and measured explicitly (p. 16). If we accept this assumption, it makes sense to describe the trajectory of skills to be mastered (mapping out key academic competencies, p. 23) and confirm that students are learning them using formative tests. But this assumption is not supported by research or observation. The arguments and counterevidence have been in the professional literature for decades: The system is very complex: Linguists are still struggling to describe academic language and there are no known cases in which people have mastered more than small amounts of academic language through deliberate study. A better hypothesis is that nearly all of academic language is acquired, or absorbed, the way language in general is acquired: Through understanding message, or comprehensible input. This is confirmed by studies that demonstrate the success of sheltered subject matter teaching, classes in subject matter taught in English, with presentations and readings made comprehensible for second language acquirers. This is also confirmed by studies showing that students acquire an enormous amount of academic language through extensive reading, probably the most powerful tool for reaching advanced levels of English competence. I have argued that extensive pleasure reading is the bridge from lower to higher levels of competence, and brings students to the point where many difficult texts and aural presentations are comprehensible. If even some of academic language is acquired and not consciously learned, we have to rethink the entire testing situation. If it is true, we should invest in libraries, not more subtle (and expensive) means of testing. - comments Philomena Marinaccio-Eckel, Ph.D. Florida Atlantic University Dept. of Teaching and Learning College of Education 2912 College Ave. ES 214 Davie, FL 33314 Phone: 954-236-1070 Fax: 954-236-1050 -Original Message- From: kaui norton kauinor...@yahoo.com To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Mon, May 23, 2011 10:36 pm Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Common Core - response to feeling the standards are always helpful Mahalo Melinda. I appreciate all the comments I have read regarding standards. I never realized it was such a hot topic. I suppose, in education, we will always have differences of opinion which, isn't necessarily a bad thing. Isn't thinking for oneself, being an independent learner and using critical thinking skills important concepts we try to teach our students? For me, however, the standards are not the enemy. How we teach them is. I don't quite understand why so many believe we cannot teach and our students cannot learn what they need to if we teach standard based lessons? I have never felt my hands were tied. I still teach the same, but in a more focused manner. I don't believe being more focused is a bad thing. I think teachers need to really take a look at how they are teaching if they are so frustrated with what they are teaching. I believe, every philosophy of teaching has it's problems. There is no ONE right way. As an educator I try to figure out ways to meet the learning types of each of my students. Having a more specific notion of what to teach doesn't confine me, but instead, helps me to work what I am teaching around it. I still use all the same strategies. I still have whole group, small group, individual groups. I still use art, music, and P.E. to help cement the concepts they are learning. Again, I am very appreciative of all the comments, but I would, still, have to disagree with the idea that standards based learning is the problem with our educational system. The picture is much bigger than that, and teachers play a huge part in it. Kau'i =-) --- On Mon, 5/23/11, Melinda Jurus mindy...@gmail.com wrote: From: Melinda Jurus mindy...@gmail.com Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Common Core - response to feeling the standards are always helpful To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group
Re: [MOSAIC] Common Core - response to feeling the standards are always helpful
Don't apologize. When I am tempted, I stop and think I want to model that I'm not a perfectionist when I'm thinking out loud. Smile. Seriously I do sometimes go into feeling peer pressure, being an ex English teacher who should after all know better. But then I balance as I said. On 5/23/11 3:10 PM, Maureen Morrissey maureen.morriss...@gmail.com wrote: Practitioners...should have used spelling check :) On Mon, May 23, 2011 at 6:07 PM, Maureen Morrissey maureen.morriss...@gmail.com 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 Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org 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 Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Common Core - response to feeling the standards are always helpful
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 mindy...@gmail.com 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 ___ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Common Core - response to feeling the standards are always helpful
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 Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org 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.
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 maureen.morriss...@gmail.com 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 Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org 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 Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Common Core - response to feeling the standards are always helpful
As if on cue, Marion Brady's latest piece has shown up on the Washington Post The Answer Sheet blog. He directly addresses the very issue of standards we've been discussing. This is a must read!! Regards, John http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/wrong-question-wrong-a nswer/2011/05/22/AFZ5hS9G_blog.html -Original Message- From: mosaic-bounces+mentelibre=verizon@literacyworkshop.org [mailto:mosaic-bounces+mentelibre=verizon@literacyworkshop.org] On Behalf Of Maureen Morrissey Sent: Monday, May 23, 2011 6:08 PM To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Common Core - response to feeling the standards are always helpful 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? ___ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Common Core - response to feeling the standards are always helpful
Practitioners...should have used spelling check :) On Mon, May 23, 2011 at 6:07 PM, Maureen Morrissey maureen.morriss...@gmail.com 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 Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Common Core - response to feeling the standards are always helpful
I loved teaching in the 80's ..I loved the grassroots, whole language movement...but nowadays we have to be careful even about grassroots movements! I read on another LISTSERV that some in the Billionaire's Boy's Club are financing grassroots movements. So be careful that you find out who is behind a grassroots movement. It was a lot easier to tell the good guys back in the 80s. Mena Philomena Marinaccio-Eckel, Ph.D. Florida Atlantic University Dept. of Teaching and Learning College of Education 2912 College Ave. ES 214 Davie, FL 33314 Phone: 954-236-1070 Fax: 954-236-1050 -Original Message- From: Maureen Morrissey maureen.morriss...@gmail.com To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Mon, May 23, 2011 6:07 pm Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Common Core - response to feeling the standards are always helpful 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 Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org 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 Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Common Core - response to feeling the standards are always helpful
Another great article. Remember; knowledge is power. http://susanohanian.org/show_research.php?id=419 Lise ___ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org 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.
Re: [MOSAIC] Common Core - response to feeling the standards are always helpful
Mahalo Melinda. I appreciate all the comments I have read regarding standards. I never realized it was such a hot topic. I suppose, in education, we will always have differences of opinion which, isn't necessarily a bad thing. Isn't thinking for oneself, being an independent learner and using critical thinking skills important concepts we try to teach our students? For me, however, the standards are not the enemy. How we teach them is. I don't quite understand why so many believe we cannot teach and our students cannot learn what they need to if we teach standard based lessons? I have never felt my hands were tied. I still teach the same, but in a more focused manner. I don't believe being more focused is a bad thing. I think teachers need to really take a look at how they are teaching if they are so frustrated with what they are teaching. I believe, every philosophy of teaching has it's problems. There is no ONE right way. As an educator I try to figure out ways to meet the learning types of each of my students. Having a more specific notion of what to teach doesn't confine me, but instead, helps me to work what I am teaching around it. I still use all the same strategies. I still have whole group, small group, individual groups. I still use art, music, and P.E. to help cement the concepts they are learning. Again, I am very appreciative of all the comments, but I would, still, have to disagree with the idea that standards based learning is the problem with our educational system. The picture is much bigger than that, and teachers play a huge part in it. Kau'i =-) --- On Mon, 5/23/11, Melinda Jurus mindy...@gmail.com wrote: From: Melinda Jurus mindy...@gmail.com Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Common Core - response to feeling the standards are always helpful To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Date: Monday, May 23, 2011, 12:33 PM 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 maureen.morriss...@gmail.com 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 Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org 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 Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org 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 Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership
Re: [MOSAIC] Common Core - response to feeling the standards are always helpful
Kaui, You actually prove my point in your reply. I hear that you defer to the powers that be instead of trusting your own professional knowledge about teaching and learning. I understand that you believe you have to do this for the kids so they will pass the test. But what if the test is not worthwhile? What if it is not helping your kids be the best they can be? I can hear how much you want to be there for your students and are searching for answers that will help them, so I offer the following as a possible path to take in that search. I well remember MANY TIMES along the way in my own general when I had to start intensive inquiries into my educational beliefs and practices. I call them my born again times (with no disrespect intended for those to whom is this strictly a religious matter!). The teachers I network with, the research and informed education news and current educational books that I read regularly AND just as important what I've learned from and with children in my many classrooms over the years - all that tells me that the powers that be don't know very much about teaching. And they haven't even tried. For one thing, they've never even taught by and large. They haven't included our best educational leaders and our best teachers in their planning. And the tests measure only a superficial layer of what children need to know to be truly successful throughout their schooling and lives. This not to even mention the dreadful consequences of the constant testing time used up and pressures and stress felt by all. Standards and testing are going hand and hand in creating this situation. The standards are leading to school experiences that are more and more fragmented (almost because teachers want them to be more and more specific sadly - I do understand this urge). Problem is children do not remember information which is not experienced in meaningful contexts. They can learn it briefly sometimes (the spelling test on Friday is a great example - they forget it in their writing the next week! The kids that don't forget it by Monday usually had the words in the first place so the testing didn't really teach them anything - just gave them a privilege over the others.) Learning has to really hook to prior schema and hook deep to stay there. So they will not actually learn all the separate standards lessons for the test anyway. I'd like to invite you to participate in a list serve discussion next week on email. It happens 6 - 7:30 pm each day Eastern standard time - adjust in different time zones. We will be discussing Ken and Yetta Goodman's Declaration of Professional Conscience. This is part II of a previous discussion a month ago. That was rich and wide ranging and has led to many of us joining the challenge of gaining back respect for teachers and educators who have actually lived their work through the years, committed to what is best for their students, committed to life long learning and so on. http://www.rcowen.com/rcoprfdv.htm The invitation is open to anyone who would like to be included. It's asked that you read the Declaration (on the web page announcement) before joining in. Even if you won't be home or at your computer, you can sign up and you will get home to a plethora of emails all discussing back and forth implications of different issues dealt with in the Declaration. And you can add to the discussion your ideas later in the evening, tho some won't be responded to till the next day. TLN listserve by the way stands for The Learning Network. We have great discussions all the time but these focused discussion are giving all of us courage and more courage to stand up to those powers that be that think they know more than we do about children and teaching and learning. In solidarity, Sally On 5/22/11 11:41 AM, kaui norton kauinor...@yahoo.com 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
