{"id":185,"date":"2014-01-27T10:34:34","date_gmt":"2014-01-27T15:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/?p=185"},"modified":"2014-01-27T11:05:42","modified_gmt":"2014-01-27T16:05:42","slug":"the-dreaded-ccss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/2014\/01\/the-dreaded-ccss\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dreaded CCSS"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have just finished reading Diane Ravitch\u2019s monologue against the Common Core<\/a> standards. (I\u2019ve linked to the English Language Arts section because I am, or was, and English teacher.) As always when I read something, a bunch of stuff comes to mind.<\/p>\n

First \u2013 I am impressed that Ravitch embodies the concept that there is no public stance that can\u2019t be retooled. In the Washington Post, February 26, 2010<\/a>, and coinciding with the publication of a brand new book, the reviewer writes, \u201cDiane Ravitch, an education historian, now renounces many of the market-oriented policies she promoted as a former federal education official with close ties to Democrats and Republicans.\u201d She was excused at that time as being brave enough to say when she was wrong. While I recognize my suspicion of her motives, the sincerity of her comments, as something of an ad hominem fallacy, Ravitch is guilty of bandwagoning. In the Post article from January 18, 2014<\/a> there is the transcript of a speech in which she comes out against the Common Core, not so much because it is trying to run a school like a business (her 2010 revisionist stance), but because it is associated with testing businesses like Pearson. So, if you\u2019ll excuse me, I\u2019d rather think this through myself.<\/p>\n

Second \u2013 Teaching to the test? Nope. I hold with Janet Allen\u2019s comment that if you teach well, teach skills that kids need to know in order to become good readers and active learners, the tests would take care of themselves. (My source here is a workshop I attended in the summer of 2001.) In my experience, my goals in teaching kids how to think critically, and use evidence to support their arguments \u2013 even if the argument is just \u201cThis is a cool place; here\u2019s why.\u201d \u2013 is above the normal standardized test scenario. The world is an infinite variety of colors, tones, and textures that can be honored, even in a classroom, while teaching to the test forces an unnaturally black and white world on all concerned.<\/p>\n

When is \u201cteaching to the test\u201d useful? Vocabulary. But not the kind of vocabulary where you learn Latin or Greek roots (although this kind of awareness of language might be part of it). Kids learn the buzz words that test makers use. Jim Burke\u2019s Academic Vocabulary<\/a> is super for this. Using the words in context is far more important, however, than just learning it by rote. They also need to know the vocabulary of how we talk about the tools we use, so words like \u201cellipsis\u201d and \u201cmetaphor\u201d and even (maybe) \u201czeugma.\u201d And I\u2019m big on \u201canalogy.\u201d For other subjects, more content driven, these English-y concepts and skills are the perfect tools for discussing the causes of historic events, or the processes involved in distinguishing different biological or chemical interactions.<\/p>\n

Third \u2013 Teachers, as do students, need to get back into the habit of thinking for themselves. I know that we have faced a reign of terror with the NCLB assault. But do we really, honestly, want to go to a prescribed system of classroom work? With the list of exemplars and models, we get into the issue, not of teaching to the test, but of teaching a uniform rostrum of work. These accompany the Common Core as explanation, but are not, as I understand it, the Standards themselves, rather just examples. Certainly it is easier for administrators to deal a prescribed system. Certainly it means that the teachers themselves can be much more plug \u2018n\u2019 play. (This further brings to mind the scene in \u201cCatch 22\u201d when one of the characters considers applying stationing rods through the hips and hands of soldiers, forcing their arms to remain in sync with their march step. I digress.) But we know that the best learning takes place when teachers and students are both excited and engaged. If students need to learn a skill, let them practice it using topics that engage them. Let teachers present that skill using topics that interest them. Teachers get to share the topics of their own passion, and students get the lure of knowing they will be able to get to their own ideas and demonstrate competency of newly learned skills. I have been to too many workshops where content is dictated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat books do you teach?\u201d is a question that makes me cringe. Frankly, I\u2019ve never taught books. I\u2019ve used books to teach reading, presentation, and research skills. I\u2019ve used them to teach reflection and analysis. But, with rare exceptions, do I find books, or stories, or articles, so important that I want to share the content of those. One of those exceptions is Catherine Ryan Hyde\u2019s \u201cPay It Forward\u201d; everyone should understand and practice that concept \u2013 but I recognize that as a personal philosophy, one that a local community might espouse, but not necessarily a Federal Government (although it would be nice).\u00a0 Yes, there are books I love and use as exemplars for the skills and strategies I am addressing with a class, but I consider my audience in choosing which ones I will use. I think of their interests, their reading levels, and the prior knowledge they bring to the party. I want them on board, not an entrenched enemy. I certainly don\u2019t want to be wed to the \u201cFederalist Papers,\u201d or \u201cMoby Dick,\u201d or \u201cLittle Women,\u201d or \u201cHamlet\u201d just because they are classics and on someone else\u2019s list. I read them once (OK, not more than 5 chapters of \u201cMoby Dick\u201d) and it was good for me. I can justify a good case of the chicken pox as a good exercise of my immune system, but I don\u2019t want to go through it on a yearly basis. I believe we want kids to take the skills they learn and be able to apply them to a variety of situations.<\/p>\n

Fourth \u2013 Let\u2019s separate the list of the Common Core elements from the rather lengthy narrative about how it should be assessed, anchor papers, and exemplar reading material. The roster of skills, whether math or ELA, is far more descriptive than prescriptive. ELA-CC describes the primary three modes of communication: reading, writing, oral. Math looks at numbers, manipulation, and problem solving in a variety of modes. The two are tied together using logic and situational analysis. All these can be applied to any content area. There should be this sort of cross pollination. I make equations of English concepts; a math teacher uses language to describe problems. Yes, this is overly simplified; yet the potential for a textured, colorful world view is here. Don\u2019t we go about the world, in our communities, encountering problems, figuring them out and then sharing our solutions? Isn\u2019t this how we got light bulbs, cars, and dynamite?<\/p>\n

I bring in dynamite on purpose. It is the heart of this analogy: just like dynamite, the Common Core can be used to clear space for productive thought, or it can destroy the fabric of education. We know that only the depraved would set off a explosive in a crowded stadium. Well meaning people also know that some well placed explosive can clear away a derelict building with a minimum of fuss and leave the space for something new, and more useful to be built.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have just finished reading Diane Ravitch\u2019s monologue against the Common Core standards. (I\u2019ve linked to the English Language Arts section because I am, or was, and English teacher.) As always when I read something, a bunch of stuff comes … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27],"tags":[29,30,28],"class_list":["post-185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","tag-common-core","tag-repurposing","tag-teaching"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Gnw9-2Z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":187,"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions\/187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}