How Common Core is wrecking kindergartner -- with SPECIFIC examples

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Different K teacher (long retired).
To the question about managing a K class. I’ll admit that 30 kids with one aide is not easy or ideal. However, there are lots of things a teacher can do. It’s been a while since I taught. Here are a few ways you learn:
1. You observe how the kids behave and react when they are in the large group (storytime, sharing, etc.) You would be surprised how much teachers learn in this atmosphere. I would keep notes.
2. There are many diagnostic tests available that are not machine graded “bubble tests” . Teachers even create their own. Believe it or not, these are tools that teachers have used for years and years—long before Common Core or NCLB.
3. You interact with kids on an individual basis every day in some way. And you watch, watch, watch. You also listen, listen, listen.
4. You may have the aide read a story or supervise centers while you work with kids one on one or in small groups.
5. You can learn a lot about the child’s social skills by paying attention at recess.
6. I used to keep notes on each child—especially when I would see something that concerned me. This is in addition to samples of work and tests, etc.
7. A teacher can learn a lot about a child by having them draw and tell a story.
8. The one thing good about being a K teacher is that it doesn’t take long to “grade” work. But, you do learn a lot from looking at what the child does-or does not-produce.

Only problem here is that in a lot of K classes, there are no teacher aides, so it's just all on the teacher. And I don't see any teachers out during recess. I think times have changed in this regard.

[Anonymous]

I agree that it is theoretically possible to do a controlled study

It is quite possible. Nothing theoretic about it and it should have been done.

[Anonymous]

Only problem here is that in a lot of K classes, there are no teacher aides,

with 30 kids? That's a shame. Common core is just going to make it tougher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Different K teacher (long retired).
To the question about managing a K class. I’ll admit that 30 kids with one aide is not easy or ideal. However, there are lots of things a teacher can do. It’s been a while since I taught. Here are a few ways you learn:
1. You observe how the kids behave and react when they are in the large group (storytime, sharing, etc.) You would be surprised how much teachers learn in this atmosphere. I would keep notes.
2. There are many diagnostic tests available that are not machine graded “bubble tests” . Teachers even create their own. Believe it or not, these are tools that teachers have used for years and years—long before Common Core or NCLB.
3. You interact with kids on an individual basis every day in some way. And you watch, watch, watch. You also listen, listen, listen.
4. You may have the aide read a story or supervise centers while you work with kids one on one or in small groups.
5. You can learn a lot about the child’s social skills by paying attention at recess.
6. I used to keep notes on each child—especially when I would see something that concerned me. This is in addition to samples of work and tests, etc.
7. A teacher can learn a lot about a child by having them draw and tell a story.
8. The one thing good about being a K teacher is that it doesn’t take long to “grade” work. But, you do learn a lot from looking at what the child does-or does not-produce.

I'm a college student majoring in early childhood education/teacher education. I want to be a kindergarten teacher when I graduate. Everything this pp listed is what they are teaching us right now. It's about assessments. As a teacher, you write the lesson plans based on whatever the learning outcomes are supposed to be, and you assess the students as they demonstrate the skills that they learned from your lesson plans. It could be during group work, (large or small), or you demonstrate a task and ask them to complete it, but mostly at this young age, it's performance based assessments, and this is truly the best way to measure progress.

Let's say that the kindergarten class has 30 kids. Well, it's most likely in a district that has more resources (not a title one, or high farms school). Chances are that this school has plenty of parent volunteers in the class to allow the teacher time to focus on each individual student as needed, and chances are that many of the students are coming in with an academic advantage over those who are in the title one/ high farms rate schools.

Let's say that the kindergarten class has a high percentage of farms students (title one). In this case the class size will be smaller. Maybe 20 or less. In addition, there will be money for extra instructional aides. They may or may not have parent volunteers, but they will have aides. The teacher will still need to write lesson plans and assess the students, and the teacher will still have help.

The point is, assessments are a better measure of learning than tests. Ask yourself, would you rather demonstrate your knowledge and skills by answering a multiple choice test, or by showing how you know what you know. It's no different with students of any grade level. If I'm uncertain, heck yes I'll take the multiple choice test, but if I'm confident in my abilities (as a college student), I'll write the essay or report, or do the lab practical to prove that I know what I'm doing.

[Anonymous]

I'm a college student majoring in early childhood education/teacher education. I want to be a kindergarten teacher when I graduate. Everything this pp listed is what they are teaching us right now. It's about assessments. As a teacher, you write the lesson plans based on whatever the learning outcomes are supposed to be, and you assess the students as they demonstrate the skills that they learned from your lesson plans. It could be during group work, (large or small), or you demonstrate a task and ask them to complete it, but mostly at this young age, it's performance based assessments, and this is truly the best way to measure progress.

Let's say that the kindergarten class has 30 kids. Well, it's most likely in a district that has more resources (not a title one, or high farms school). Chances are that this school has plenty of parent volunteers in the class to allow the teacher time to focus on each individual student as needed, and chances are that many of the students are coming in with an academic advantage over those who are in the title one/ high farms rate schools.

Let's say that the kindergarten class has a high percentage of farms students (title one). In this case the class size will be smaller. Maybe 20 or less. In addition, there will be money for extra instructional aides. They may or may not have parent volunteers, but they will have aides. The teacher will still need to write lesson plans and assess the students, and the teacher will still have help.

The point is, assessments are a better measure of learning than tests. Ask yourself, would you rather demonstrate your knowledge and skills by answering a multiple choice test, or by showing how you know what you know. It's no different with students of any grade level. If I'm uncertain, heck yes I'll take the multiple choice test, but if I'm confident in my abilities (as a college student), I'll write the essay or report, or do the lab practical to prove that I know what I'm doing.


I work at a Title One school and our K classes at least 24 kids each. Don't believe everything you hear/read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

So what solution do you propose? "Get rid of the Common Core" is not a solution. At best it would get us back to the problems of 2009. If you don't want the Common Core standards, what do you want instead?

What do you mean by the problems of 2009?

Standards are not going to solve the problem.

What is the problem?

What will solve the problem?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I agree that it is theoretically possible to do a controlled study

It is quite possible. Nothing theoretic about it and it should have been done.

But it wasn't done. And I'm pretty sure that it wasn't done for any other set of standards, either. So, now what? Do you want to do the study now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Only problem here is that in a lot of K classes, there are no teacher aides,

with 30 kids? That's a shame. Common core is just going to make it tougher.

How are the Common Core standards going to make teaching kindergarten harder? Keeping in mind that, at least in Maryland, the Common Core standards are replacing standards that had very similar expectations of kindergarteners. Do you want to get rid of the Common Core standards and go back to Maryland's previous standards? Here are the reading and math standards for kindergarteners :

http://mdk12.org/assessments/vsc/reading/bygrade/gradeK.html
http://mdk12.org/assessments/vsc/mathematics/bygrade/gradeK.html

There are also kindergarten standards for science, social studies, health, fine arts, and PE (among other things), which of course the Common Core does not have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

What do you want to have happen in 2015?


Forget Common Core.
Stop NCLB testing.
Let teachers teach according to what the child needs to learn. Start where the kid is.



Hahaha! How are you going to know where the kid is, if you don't TEST them?

Moronic.

Teacher here. If you think that one test---any one test---is going to tell you where to start with a child, you are deluding yourself. The only real way to know "where a kid is"---if you can completely "know"--- is to give the child tasks and observe how the child attacks those tasks and what the outcomes are. This takes time and a skilled/experienced teacher. The "knowing" is about so much more than a test result. Every child approaches a work situation differently and that is key to understanding how to teach the child. No test can give you that kind of information---especially not a multiple choice test. If you want to have an appropriate education for each child, start with teachers who spend time getting to know how each child learns. This is what teachers really want to do and it produces a rewarding learning environment for both the teacher and the student.

You're talking subjective knowledge of the student vs. objective as though they are mutually exclusive, when they aren't, and in fact they are more powerful when done in a complementary fashion. Of course, no one test will tell you everything, but it can certainly tell you the basic things, like is a kid able to add two single-digit numbers correctly, is a kid able to pick a verb out of a simple sentence. It's a baseline assessment that is very quick and easy to do, without having to take a couple of weeks to get to know each student on a more subjective level. Nobody ever said that one should be at the expense of the other.

[Anonymous]

I bet dollars to donuts that if we get a Republican President in next election, CC will stay in place, and all of the swirl around it will just die down and fade away - just like Ebola. Guarantee.

[Anonymous]

I bet dollars to donuts that if we get a Republican President in next election, CC will stay in place, and all of the swirl around it will just die down and fade away - just like Ebola. Guarantee.

Wrong. I no longer teach and I love George Bush. However, I knew from the get go that NCLB would be a mess because of the evaluation of schools based on testing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Different K teacher (long retired).
To the question about managing a K class. I’ll admit that 30 kids with one aide is not easy or ideal. However, there are lots of things a teacher can do. It’s been a while since I taught. Here are a few ways you learn:
1. You observe how the kids behave and react when they are in the large group (storytime, sharing, etc.) You would be surprised how much teachers learn in this atmosphere. I would keep notes.
2. There are many diagnostic tests available that are not machine graded “bubble tests” . Teachers even create their own. Believe it or not, these are tools that teachers have used for years and years—long before Common Core or NCLB.
3. You interact with kids on an individual basis every day in some way. And you watch, watch, watch. You also listen, listen, listen.
4. You may have the aide read a story or supervise centers while you work with kids one on one or in small groups.
5. You can learn a lot about the child’s social skills by paying attention at recess.
6. I used to keep notes on each child—especially when I would see something that concerned me. This is in addition to samples of work and tests, etc.
7. A teacher can learn a lot about a child by having them draw and tell a story.
8. The one thing good about being a K teacher is that it doesn’t take long to “grade” work. But, you do learn a lot from looking at what the child does-or does not-produce.

I'm a college student majoring in early childhood education/teacher education. I want to be a kindergarten teacher when I graduate. Everything this pp listed is what they are teaching us right now. It's about assessments. As a teacher, you write the lesson plans based on whatever the learning outcomes are supposed to be, and you assess the students as they demonstrate the skills that they learned from your lesson plans. It could be during group work, (large or small), or you demonstrate a task and ask them to complete it, but mostly at this young age, it's performance based assessments, and this is truly the best way to measure progress.

Let's say that the kindergarten class has 30 kids. Well, it's most likely in a district that has more resources (not a title one, or high farms school). Chances are that this school has plenty of parent volunteers in the class to allow the teacher time to focus on each individual student as needed, and chances are that many of the students are coming in with an academic advantage over those who are in the title one/ high farms rate schools.

Let's say that the kindergarten class has a high percentage of farms students (title one). In this case the class size will be smaller. Maybe 20 or less. In addition, there will be money for extra instructional aides. They may or may not have parent volunteers, but they will have aides. The teacher will still need to write lesson plans and assess the students, and the teacher will still have help.

The point is, assessments are a better measure of learning than tests. Ask yourself, would you rather demonstrate your knowledge and skills by answering a multiple choice test, or by showing how you know what you know. It's no different with students of any grade level. If I'm uncertain, heck yes I'll take the multiple choice test, but if I'm confident in my abilities (as a college student), I'll write the essay or report, or do the lab practical to prove that I know what I'm doing.

There are K classes where the teachers don't allow parents to volunteer as aides. My Dc's K class for one. There are 26 kids. The only thing the teacher wanted the parent volunteers to do was to prepare materials, like cut/glue/staple teaching materials. This is pretty common actually. I've volunteered at my DC's K class, and even when the teacher is meeting with a small group, the teacher gets interrupted every few minutes because the teacher still needs to keep one eye on the rest of the class and what they are supposed to or not supposed to be doing. Personally, I find it hard to assess or concentrate on anything if I'm interrupted every few minutes, as this K teacher was, and I'm guessing a lot of other K teachers are.

Regardless of whether the kids are from an advantaged background, you are still trying to assess each child, and when you have a large class with no aide, it just seems this type of assessment for each child would be inadequate because you are not able to really concentrate on each child for a good amount of time. This is why in our school, the kids are pulled out for reading assessments because it's too difficult for the teacher to do this alone with such a large class size. Also, I recall someone mentioning that it took the K teacher about 3 months or so (can't remember exactly, but it was in months, not weeks) to assess every kid's reading level from the start of the school year. That's one quarter gone before each child gets on the level he/she should be on.

[Anonymous]

Regardless of whether the kids are from an advantaged background, you are still trying to assess each child, and when you have a large class with no aide, it just seems this type of assessment for each child would be inadequate because you are not able to really concentrate on each child for a good amount of time. This is why in our school, the kids are pulled out for reading assessments because it's too difficult for the teacher to do this alone with such a large class size. Also, I recall someone mentioning that it took the K teacher about 3 months or so (can't remember exactly, but it was in months, not weeks) to assess every kid's reading level from the start of the school year. That's one quarter gone before each child gets on the level he/she should be on.

They must be requiring very detailed assessments. That is ridiculous. I assessed kids in far less than that. In three months, the children should have made a lot of progress that would render the assessments quite dated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I bet dollars to donuts that if we get a Republican President in next election, CC will stay in place, and all of the swirl around it will just die down and fade away - just like Ebola. Guarantee.

Wrong. I no longer teach and I love George Bush. However, I knew from the get go that NCLB would be a mess because of the evaluation of schools based on testing.

But as you say, NCLB is not the Common Core.

[Anonymous]

But as you say, NCLB is not the Common Core.

Common core makes NCLB much, much worse.