#teaching today

[missbeccafitz]

I know they're Kindergartners but should they know what "voices off" means?

Like I actually got mad today. I actually yelled at a bunch of kindergartners.

[heuristicdevice]

What, then, is truth? A mobile army of metaphors, metonyms, and anthropomorphisms—in short, a sum of human relations which have been enhanced, transposed, and embellished poetically and rhetorically, and which after long use seem firm, canonical, and obligatory to a people: truths are illusions about which one has forgotten that this is what they are; metaphors which are worn out and without sensuous power; coins which have lost their pictures and now matter only as metal, no longer as coins.

-Friedrich Nietzsche, "On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense"

[haaslearning]

This piece is another one of those must-read pieces by an impassioned educator that understands the far-reaching implications of the saga that is only getting started in New York with the Common Core. It is more fallout from the Bloomberg blunder of a response to the test score in the state.

There are far too many bits worth quoting here but here are a few:

During his course, I learned that his favorite statement was that there are small lies, big lies and statistics. One can make a statistic mean anything.

This, my friends, is what Commissioner King and his cohorts ... have created a construct--a construct with a political purpose. Before they can destroy public education, they have to prove that it is a failure.

Educators did not develop the Common Core Standards. Many of those who developed these standards are deeply involved in the corporate educational reform movement. Many articles I have read about its development stated that the developers worked backwards and often disregarded some basic tenets of child development. Furthermore, we are taking on faith standards that have not even been longitudinally tested.

Our focus is completely wrong. These standards are broken and unrepairable. I fear, in the end, it will lead to the dismantling of our system of public education and social stratification in this great nation. In the 18th century, our founding fathers created a flawed constitution called the Articles of Confederation that they realized was unworkable. But they were smart. They scraped the document and started anew.

It is powerful stuff, as well as being spot on its criticisms, as well as assessment. Now if only leaders will begin to believe it and begin resisting, instead of proceeding as thought there is no choice. There is always a choice.

[haaslearning]

Having taken Gates money for an education project, which actually fueled my resistance to many of the reforms he advances, I must say the seven solid issues raised in this article are important for everyone to consider.

[haaslearning]

While an older article, this exemplifies more of my fears about the Common Core than anything. I am even more concerned as a parent than I am as a teacher. As a teacher, I have greater control and latitude about implementation. Plus, the changes between the previous state frameworks and the new ones are more marginal. Things seem completely problematic the younger the grade.

[haaslearning]

I am amazed that it has taken as long as it has for states to get wise to the costs associated with the Common Core testing regime. What's more none of it is likely to get any cheaper, never mind that most schools are not even equipped to administer the things.

[haaslearning]

This is a must-read for every teacher. Cody's essay highlights a fundamental truth about the reform movement, the testing regime will be used as a weapon whenever it is convenient for those advancing the agenda. If only more in the media had the insight and understanding of the issues.

The old journalism saw is follow the money, but not enough journalists seem to scratch beneath the veneer.