Why are people so upset about Common Core?

[Anonymous]

Because you fear "frustrating" the poor, underprivileged children? That really bothers me. Personally, I expect that all my students, even the slow ones, will master the grade level math objectives. And so if something is hard for them to learn, I keep looking until I find a way to help them get the concept. And yes, absolutely, there is an easy way to teach missing addends.

So you know what DOESN'T work, though? If the only way you teach these poor, underprivileged children to add and subtract is through mastering a simple algorithm, because you believe that's all they can handle. If you only teach children to add by counting on, then they just know that 7 and 3 is 10 because 7... 8 ... 9... 10.

If you spend a lot of time, though, helping them learn their number bonds BY HEART, they know that 7 and 3 make ten, and 6 and 4 make ten, and 5 and 5 make ten... WITHOUT COUNTING. And then when it comes time to subtract, they don't need to say 10 and then count down.... or say 8 and count up 2... they just know, because of "properties of operations" that if 8 and 2 make 10, then for the equation: 10 - ____ = 2 ... the missing addend has to be 8.

If you spend a lot of time working with these skills at the start, to build up basic numeracy, it is not difficult at all to teach these concepts you seem to think are so complicated.

Have you ever taught first grade to very poor children? Children who sometimes don't come to school because they have no shoes?

[Anonymous]

The way I teach my kids "from the projects" to solve missing addend projects is detailed on this thread, at 20:09

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/364328.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Have you ever taught first grade to very poor children? Children who sometimes don't come to school because they have no shoes?

100% kids on free/reduced meals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

No, I'm sorry, you don't get any choices in our new totalitarian regime. You will take an engineering test in Chinese because that's what the regime has decided you must do. It doesn't matter that you don't want to be an engineer or have ever been taught Chinese. You must know the material anyway. There are no changes and no exceptions or exemptions.

You will sit in room for 10 to 20 hours and take an engineering test in Chinese. No excuses. Just work harder, read "closer." You will do this year after year, for at least 6 years.

?? You are really sounding unbalanced now.

[Anonymous]

FAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's not the answer. We need at least three sentences on each problem.

No, you don't. I'm sorry if a teacher told you your child does, because it sounds like your poor kid is being asked to write a lot and it is hard on him; but there is nothing in the common core that requires this type of explanation to be a certain number of sentences; and nothing on the PARCC exam either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

re you saying that you believe some 1st graders are simply too slow, unintelligent, unsophisticated, to be able to answer the question 7 + _____ = 10?

When you get first graders who do not understand one to one correspondence at the beginning of the year, it is an achievement to have them learn that 7+3=10. That should be the goal.

That would be my goal for them as well, but you need to be honest. Those children are NOT on grade level. They didn't start K on grade level. They started below grade level.

You don't change the standards expected by the end of 1st grade, just because the kids started out behind. BE HONEST. Kids who enter grade K with no one to one correspondence are behind wher ethey should be. They should qualify for all sorts of extra help and tutoring, as soon as possible, to help them meet the standard.

[Anonymous]

NP here, shaking my head over pages of discussion of 7 + __ = 10

Haven't any of you ever heard of using techniques like math manipulatives?

Holy crap, this is not rocket science, people. You are all acting like this stuff is bizarre and alien when it's actually all pretty common and logical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here, shaking my head over pages of discussion of 7 + __ = 10

Haven't any of you ever heard of using techniques like math manipulatives?

Holy crap, this is not rocket science, people. You are all acting like this stuff is bizarre and alien when it's actually all pretty common and logical.

You can use the manipulatives at first, but it needs to be automatic.

You shouldn't have to have kids counting on their fingers (or in their heads) to solve that problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No, I'm sorry, you don't get any choices in our new totalitarian regime. You will take an engineering test in Chinese because that's what the regime has decided you must do. It doesn't matter that you don't want to be an engineer or have ever been taught Chinese. You must know the material anyway. There are no changes and no exceptions or exemptions.

You will sit in room for 10 to 20 hours and take an engineering test in Chinese. No excuses. Just work harder, read "closer." You will do this year after year, for at least 6 years.

?? You are really sounding unbalanced now.

I do, huh? Well too f*cking bad.

This impossible scenario is exactly what learning disabled children are facing. They walk into a new school year, and find the 8th grade science book is now the 5th grade science book. But they are reading on a second grade level, so they have no idea what's going on. The school district says the book cannot be adapted for the child. Next, the child finds his math class is now group math, and even though he has the verbal skills of a 5-year-old, he is expected to work in a group and be fully conversational -- only one child in the group is allowed to ask the teacher anything -- and the four kids work on 5-page long word problems. No direct teacher instruction. No other curriculum options but "autism" math, where they are adding 0 + 3, even though your child is well into fractions, decimals, etc. But they've poured all their money and training into their new curriculum, and everybody must take it.

This snippet is one of hundreds and hundreds going on around the country because of Common Core, and is worshipping minions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No, I'm sorry, you don't get any choices in our new totalitarian regime. You will take an engineering test in Chinese because that's what the regime has decided you must do. It doesn't matter that you don't want to be an engineer or have ever been taught Chinese. You must know the material anyway. There are no changes and no exceptions or exemptions.

You will sit in room for 10 to 20 hours and take an engineering test in Chinese. No excuses. Just work harder, read "closer." You will do this year after year, for at least 6 years.

?? You are really sounding unbalanced now.

I do, huh? Well too f*cking bad.

This impossible scenario is exactly what learning disabled children are facing. They walk into a new school year, and find the 8th grade science book is now the 5th grade science book. But they are reading on a second grade level, so they have no idea what's going on. The school district says the book cannot be adapted for the child. Next, the child finds his math class is now group math, and even though he has the verbal skills of a 5-year-old, he is expected to work in a group and be fully conversational -- only one child in the group is allowed to ask the teacher anything -- and the four kids work on 5-page long word problems. No direct teacher instruction. No other curriculum options but "autism" math, where they are adding 0 + 3, even though your child is well into fractions, decimals, etc. But they've poured all their money and training into their new curriculum, and everybody must take it.

This snippet is one of hundreds and hundreds going on around the country because of Common Core, and is worshipping minions.

Your school sucks. But understand nothing in Common Core has required your school district to set things up they way they have chosen to do so.

If the school district has chosen a science text book written at an 8th grade reading level, for their 5th grade students, that seems like a bad choice to me.

If your 5th grade child is reading at a 2nd grade level, that is a HUGE problem, and won't be remediated in Science class. But you know that.

If your 5th grade child has the verbal skills of a 5 year old, but is expected to fully participate in a grade level math class, and only one child is allowed to speak (WTF??) to the teacher? Your child needs a better IEP, stat.

If you 5th grade child is expected to work in a group of 5 page long math word problems with no direct teacher instruction? Jeez. Your school sucks. This has nothing to do with Common Core.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No, I'm sorry, you don't get any choices in our new totalitarian regime. You will take an engineering test in Chinese because that's what the regime has decided you must do. It doesn't matter that you don't want to be an engineer or have ever been taught Chinese. You must know the material anyway. There are no changes and no exceptions or exemptions.

You will sit in room for 10 to 20 hours and take an engineering test in Chinese. No excuses. Just work harder, read "closer." You will do this year after year, for at least 6 years.

?? You are really sounding unbalanced now.

I do, huh? Well too f*cking bad.

This impossible scenario is exactly what learning disabled children are facing. They walk into a new school year, and find the 8th grade science book is now the 5th grade science book. But they are reading on a second grade level, so they have no idea what's going on. The school district says the book cannot be adapted for the child. Next, the child finds his math class is now group math, and even though he has the verbal skills of a 5-year-old, he is expected to work in a group and be fully conversational -- only one child in the group is allowed to ask the teacher anything -- and the four kids work on 5-page long word problems. No direct teacher instruction. No other curriculum options but "autism" math, where they are adding 0 + 3, even though your child is well into fractions, decimals, etc. But they've poured all their money and training into their new curriculum, and everybody must take it.

This snippet is one of hundreds and hundreds going on around the country because of Common Core, and is worshipping minions.

Your school sucks. But understand nothing in Common Core has required your school district to set things up they way they have chosen to do so.

If the school district has chosen a science text book written at an 8th grade reading level, for their 5th grade students, that seems like a bad choice to me.

If your 5th grade child is reading at a 2nd grade level, that is a HUGE problem, and won't be remediated in Science class. But you know that.

If your 5th grade child has the verbal skills of a 5 year old, but is expected to fully participate in a grade level math class, and only one child is allowed to speak (WTF??) to the teacher? Your child needs a better IEP, stat.

If you 5th grade child is expected to work in a group of 5 page long math word problems with no direct teacher instruction? Jeez. Your school sucks. This has nothing to do with Common Core.

No, this IS the Common Core. It's CPM math, and it's the only math curriculum that didn't have to be reworked for the Common Core. It's been a disaster in every school that's tried it. And it's TOTALLY Common Core.

http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/index.ssf/2013/11/in_hillsboro_new_math_curricul.html


Just because your school isn't doing it now, doesn't mean they won't be next year after almost your whole school fails the PARCC.

[Anonymous]

Common Core is a set of standards.

CPM is a curriculum that was designed years ago. Schools can implement it, and teachers can teach it, and they can say they are adopting it to meet Common Core standards.

CPM may help students reach the standards set by Common Core or it may not. But the standards themselves do not require your child's teacher to refuse to speak with children, or require your child's school to provide an 8th grade text book in 5th grade. Those are school decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

No, this IS the Common Core. It's CPM math, and it's the only math curriculum that didn't have to be reworked for the Common Core. It's been a disaster in every school that's tried it. And it's TOTALLY Common Core.

http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/index.ssf/2013/11/in_hillsboro_new_math_curricul.html

Just because your school isn't doing it now, doesn't mean they won't be next year after almost your whole school fails the PARCC.

So your actual complaint is that the College Preparatory Math curriculum is too vocabulary heavy. It sounds like the CPM curriculum has come under fire for years... sounds like EveryDay Math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Common Core is a set of standards.

CPM is a curriculum that was designed years ago. Schools can implement it, and teachers can teach it, and they can say they are adopting it to meet Common Core standards.

CPM may help students reach the standards set by Common Core or it may not. But the standards themselves do not require your child's teacher to refuse to speak with children, or require your child's school to provide an 8th grade text book in 5th grade. Those are school decisions.

Keep telling yourself that. You'll just have to find out the hard way.

[Anonymous]

Even before common core came out, people protested College Prep Math curriculum.


"In 2009, it did not even survive a full year in the Tigard-Tualatin School District. Even though teachers there approved of the curriculum, enough parents were up in arms that the school board reversed course."

If I were you I'd spend my time getting rid of this curriculum. My kids have a new curriculum that seems decent enough.