Common Core's epic fail: Special Education

[Anonymous]

The thing I see is K students are now given math worksheets where they are expected to read.

Back when I was in K, we played. We learned letters and numbers. It was a half-day. That's what K should be. That's what lays the foundation for learning ahead.

Just accelerating everything doesn't make kids smarter or better learners. We can see all over the country though that the joy is being sucked out of K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The thing I see is K students are now given math worksheets where they are expected to read.

Back when I was in K, we played. We learned letters and numbers. It was a half-day. That's what K should be. That's what lays the foundation for learning ahead.

Just accelerating everything doesn't make kids smarter or better learners. We can see all over the country though that the joy is being sucked out of K.

At least at my school, Kinder kids always do math worksheets in small groups. So, while there might be word problems on them, they aren't expected to read them independently. We don't send math worksheets home as homework, but if we did it would be on assumption that someone in the house can read.

[Anonymous]

Foundational skill in Kindergarten in being aware of phonemes, and being able to break words into phonemes and blend phonemes into words, is the foundation of being able to learn to decode and to spell and there IS evidence that children who are taught these skills in Kindergarten learn to read better in the later grades.

Some people are clueless. K teachers have always taught phonemic awareness--maybe they called it "sounds"........but they taught it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Foundational skill in Kindergarten in being aware of phonemes, and being able to break words into phonemes and blend phonemes into words, is the foundation of being able to learn to decode and to spell and there IS evidence that children who are taught these skills in Kindergarten learn to read better in the later grades.

Some people are clueless. K teachers have always taught phonemic awareness--maybe they called it "sounds"........but they taught it.

Of COURSE they taught it! Which is why it is a completely appropriate standard for Common Core to set as an expectation for end of year K students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Foundational skill in Kindergarten in being aware of phonemes, and being able to break words into phonemes and blend phonemes into words, is the foundation of being able to learn to decode and to spell and there IS evidence that children who are taught these skills in Kindergarten learn to read better in the later grades.

Some people are clueless. K teachers have always taught phonemic awareness--maybe they called it "sounds"........but they taught it.

Of COURSE they taught it! Which is why it is a completely appropriate standard for Common Core to set as an expectation for end of year K students.

But that's not only what CC calls for. That was taught even in my day in the 60s. Now they are supposed to be writing opinion papers in K.

http://www.literacycenter.net/resources/common-core-state-standards-for-kindergarten-writing/

[Anonymous]

Sure, sounds (phonemic awareness) should be taught, but some K kids are not ready for it to be a "standard". When you teach, you start with a baseline--find out where the kids are and teach them from there.

[Anonymous]

"Writing opinion papers" in kindergarten? "Writing expository text!!!"

Holy shit! That sounds super scary and outrageous! In KINDERGARTEN?!?!?!

Wait a minute....

The standards actually say....

Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.

Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book (e.g., My favorite book is…).

etc.

So when I teach my Kindergarten ESOL students, we read a book about a snowman. Then I have them "write" in their journal about the snowman. I have them draw a picture of their snowman and add some details, like a hat and a scarf. This is drawing, it is fun and enjoyable for them.

Then underneath, they "write" their "expository text"!! Maybe they tell me about their snowman, and I write it for them. (dictation). Maybe I write the word "snowman" on the board and they copy it underneath. Some kids already can sound out words, so they might write "snm" for "snowman". Some are more advanced and write "I lik mi sno man" Kids in the grade level classroom (not ESOL) can often write : My snowman has a red hat" or whatever -- my kids aren't that far along yet.

All of these responses are part of the "expository text" we are looking for by the end of K year -- this idea that you can tell other people some information about something in your own head.

NOT SCARY AT ALL IT TURNS OUT!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sure, sounds (phonemic awareness) should be taught, but some K kids are not ready for it to be a "standard". When you teach, you start with a baseline--find out where the kids are and teach them from there.

Yes. You find out where the kids are and teach them so that they can reach the standard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Writing opinion papers" in kindergarten? "Writing expository text!!!"

Holy shit! That sounds super scary and outrageous! In KINDERGARTEN?!?!?!

Wait a minute....

The standards actually say....

Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.

Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book (e.g., My favorite book is…).

etc.

So when I teach my Kindergarten ESOL students, we read a book about a snowman. Then I have them "write" in their journal about the snowman. I have them draw a picture of their snowman and add some details, like a hat and a scarf. This is drawing, it is fun and enjoyable for them.

Then underneath, they "write" their "expository text"!! Maybe they tell me about their snowman, and I write it for them. (dictation). Maybe I write the word "snowman" on the board and they copy it underneath. Some kids already can sound out words, so they might write "snm" for "snowman". Some are more advanced and write "I lik mi sno man" Kids in the grade level classroom (not ESOL) can often write : My snowman has a red hat" or whatever -- my kids aren't that far along yet.

All of these responses are part of the "expository text" we are looking for by the end of K year -- this idea that you can tell other people some information about something in your own head.

NOT SCARY AT ALL IT TURNS OUT!!!

Note that this is a thread about Special Education and Common Core. Many, many kids with disabilities cannot do this. So they are "failures" starting in Kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Note that this is a thread about Special Education and Common Core. Many, many kids with disabilities cannot do this. So they are "failures" starting in Kindergarten.

But what do you want to be done about this? Should there be only standards that everybody can meet? Should there be no standards?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Note that this is a thread about Special Education and Common Core. Many, many kids with disabilities cannot do this. So they are "failures" starting in Kindergarten.

But what do you want to be done about this? Should there be only standards that everybody can meet? Should there be no standards?

Common Core supporters keep running back to this lame argument. Here's how an actual business would do it:

-Identify a need (students allegedly slipping behind other countries.)

-Create a prototype curriculum, vetted by experts.

-Test it in the field to make sure it ACTUALLY WORKS. Fix all the kinks in it.

-Roll it out.

-React to feedback, tweaking and perfecting the plan.

Common Core has little of that. It was slapdashed together, and it was copyrighted so no one could change it, just add up to 20 percent to it. Tests were added to the process to make sure everyone was learning (or in this case, not learning) the exact same thing. These tests will start quickly to function as a straitjacket as teachers' jobs and students' very futures are tied to them.

All this, with zero proof Common Core holds together as a curriculum and will actually advance our children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Writing opinion papers" in kindergarten? "Writing expository text!!!"

Holy shit! That sounds super scary and outrageous! In KINDERGARTEN?!?!?!

Wait a minute....

The standards actually say....

Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.

Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book (e.g., My favorite book is…).

etc.

So when I teach my Kindergarten ESOL students, we read a book about a snowman. Then I have them "write" in their journal about the snowman. I have them draw a picture of their snowman and add some details, like a hat and a scarf. This is drawing, it is fun and enjoyable for them.

Then underneath, they "write" their "expository text"!! Maybe they tell me about their snowman, and I write it for them. (dictation). Maybe I write the word "snowman" on the board and they copy it underneath. Some kids already can sound out words, so they might write "snm" for "snowman". Some are more advanced and write "I lik mi sno man" Kids in the grade level classroom (not ESOL) can often write : My snowman has a red hat" or whatever -- my kids aren't that far along yet.

All of these responses are part of the "expository text" we are looking for by the end of K year -- this idea that you can tell other people some information about something in your own head.

NOT SCARY AT ALL IT TURNS OUT!!!

Note that this is a thread about Special Education and Common Core. Many, many kids with disabilities cannot do this. So they are "failures" starting in Kindergarten.

I would not label a child with disabilities a failure in Kindergarten if they were unable to draw a picture of a snowman by the end of the year (or something) and then in some way, through dictation, or copying text, or more drawings be able to tell information about that snowman (or picture).

However, if a child with disabilities was unable to do that, yes, it would be true that the child had failed to meet grade level standards by the end of the year. That is not making a value judgment about that child, but stating that there are expectations for Kindergarten, and that the child had not met them.

Please note that the vast majority (some say as many as 80%) of learning disabled children ARE able to meet many of not most of these standards by the end of kindergarten, with specialized instruction and extra help perhaps needed to get there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Note that this is a thread about Special Education and Common Core. Many, many kids with disabilities cannot do this. So they are "failures" starting in Kindergarten.

But what do you want to be done about this? Should there be only standards that everybody can meet? Should there be no standards?

Common Core supporters keep running back to this lame argument. Here's how an actual business would do it:

-Identify a need (students allegedly slipping behind other countries.)

-Create a prototype curriculum, vetted by experts.

-Test it in the field to make sure it ACTUALLY WORKS. Fix all the kinks in it.

-Roll it out.

-React to feedback, tweaking and perfecting the plan.

Common Core has little of that. It was slapdashed together, and it was copyrighted so no one could change it, just add up to 20 percent to it. Tests were added to the process to make sure everyone was learning (or in this case, not learning) the exact same thing. These tests will start quickly to function as a straitjacket as teachers' jobs and students' very futures are tied to them.

All this, with zero proof Common Core holds together as a curriculum and will actually advance our children.

None of what you posted would solve your stated problem which is that not all kids can meet the standards. The only solution to that problem is to not have any grade level standards.

[Anonymous]

NOT SCARY AT ALL IT TURNS OUT!!!

The procedure you described for testing the standard is time consuming. For a teacher with a lot of kids--and many standards to reach--this may be unrealistic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Common Core supporters keep running back to this lame argument. Here's how an actual business would do it:

-Identify a need (students allegedly slipping behind other countries.)

-Create a prototype curriculum, vetted by experts.

-Test it in the field to make sure it ACTUALLY WORKS. Fix all the kinks in it.

-Roll it out.

-React to feedback, tweaking and perfecting the plan.

Common Core has little of that. It was slapdashed together, and it was copyrighted so no one could change it, just add up to 20 percent to it. Tests were added to the process to make sure everyone was learning (or in this case, not learning) the exact same thing. These tests will start quickly to function as a straitjacket as teachers' jobs and students' very futures are tied to them.

All this, with zero proof Common Core holds together as a curriculum and will actually advance our children.

How do you test it out? What would be the benchmark? How long do you give it? Who would you test it on? Would you include SN kids in this pool?

You will never find a curriculum where SN and "regular" kids would be *both* challenged and able to meet the benchmark. What you are looking for is individualized attention, for each kid to be able to learn at his/her own pace. That's not possible in a large public school setting.

Bottom line, from what I am reading on these posts, is that SN kids should have their own curriculum or standards and benchmark.