Why are people so upset about Common Core?

[Anonymous]

Critical thinking skills are developed--they are not taught. Kind of like self-esteem. You help the child develop it--you cannot give it to them.

[Anonymous]

Cont. Of course, you can teach strategies--but the child should use the strategies with which they are most comfortable. Same strategy doesn't work for all.

[Anonymous]

Example: Some kids do well at phonics and some don't. So, you teach phonics and you teach kids to read with other tools, as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Critical thinking skills are developed--they are not taught. Kind of like self-esteem. You help the child develop it--you cannot give it to them.

Are you trying to say that "teaching" is not "developing"? Please tell me that is not what you mean!

[Anonymous]

Are you trying to say that "teaching" is not "developing"? Please tell me that is not what you mean!

Teachers help kids "develop". You do not "teach" "developing".

[Anonymous]

Example: the purpose of teaching kids to read is to decipher “print” into comprehension. One effective way to “read” is to use phonics. I am a strong supporter of phonics. I taught first grade and spent a lot of time on phonics. For the record, I taught phonics when phonics wasn’t cool. From time to time, however, there are kids (more than you think), who really struggle with phonics. Did I teach it to them? Of course. However, I taught them other ways to learn to read which were more successful for some kids. I used lots of different strategies to teach reading. With CC, there a number of phonics standards which must be taught. So, today, would I keep pushing the phonics at the expense of other strategies which would be more effective? After all, as a teacher, I would be evaluated on this. The kids would be evaluated on this, too.
Common core takes creativity and common sense judgment away from teachers. Kids are not robots. They are not “one size fits all”. The teacher should take every child “where he is” and push/pull him as far as possible. You do not need common core to do this. In fact, it will act as a deterrent.

[Anonymous]

One more thing: phonics is used for word attack and spelling. If you depend on phonics for reading as you develop, you will read VERY slowly. We all read by sight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Example: the purpose of teaching kids to read is to decipher “print” into comprehension. One effective way to “read” is to use phonics. I am a strong supporter of phonics. I taught first grade and spent a lot of time on phonics. For the record, I taught phonics when phonics wasn’t cool. From time to time, however, there are kids (more than you think), who really struggle with phonics. Did I teach it to them? Of course. However, I taught them other ways to learn to read which were more successful for some kids. I used lots of different strategies to teach reading. With CC, there a number of phonics standards which must be taught. So, today, would I keep pushing the phonics at the expense of other strategies which would be more effective? After all, as a teacher, I would be evaluated on this. The kids would be evaluated on this, too.
Common core takes creativity and common sense judgment away from teachers. Kids are not robots. They are not “one size fits all”. The teacher should take every child “where he is” and push/pull him as far as possible. You do not need common core to do this. In fact, it will act as a deterrent.

Which Common Core standards require teachers to use phonics exclusively? Specific standards, please.

[Anonymous]

Which Common Core standards require teachers to use phonics exclusively? Specific standards, please.

There are a number of them. It doesn't say exclusively--but if teachers and students are to be judged on them, more time will be spent teaching the kids to answer the questions on the test than learning to read. That is what is happening these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Which Common Core standards require teachers to use phonics exclusively? Specific standards, please.

There are a number of them. It doesn't say exclusively--but if teachers and students are to be judged on them, more time will be spent teaching the kids to answer the questions on the test than learning to read. That is what is happening these days.

What number? Which standards?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Which Common Core standards require teachers to use phonics exclusively? Specific standards, please.

There are a number of them. It doesn't say exclusively--but if teachers and students are to be judged on them, more time will be spent teaching the kids to answer the questions on the test than learning to read. That is what is happening these days.

Wait I'm confused! So there a number of standards that don't require phonics exclusively?

[Anonymous]

http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RF/1/

Here you go. The old basal readers incorporated far more strategies into teaching reading than CC.

[Anonymous]

Wait I'm confused! So there a number of standards that don't require phonics exclusively?

My mistake. It relies almost exclusively on phonics. I just didn't think they were THAT stupid. Obviously, no primary teachers were on the committee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't recall being given lessons on taking the SAT in school though- to teachers do it now? I recall getting some books to take practice tests, brushed up on vocab and algebra, but never had a private tutor or anything like that. I think the uncertainty as to what the new SAT will look like is causing anxiety- if it really is going to be aligned with CC, then what about students who aren't in CC.

I never took an SAT class or a practice test. I didn't even attend high school in this country, and yet I did quite well on the test the first time I took it. Many of the SAT questions that I answered correctly included things I had learned in Algebra or Geometry class, or words from books I read in English class. So yes, I received lessons in how to do well on the SAT in the early '80s.

Some of the changes in the new SAT to bring it into alignment with Common Core will include:

The writing prompt will be text based. That is, students will be asked to read a text and write a response to that particular text, rather than responding to a more general prompt.

Rather than answering questions about vocabulary in isolation, students will be asked to respond to questions about how vocabulary is used in context.

Just like with 2.0 and Common Core, there are also changes in the new SAT that have nothing to do with Common Core.

How will students perform who didn't study Common Core? Well, some of it depends on whether these skills are also developed in their own schools. But a great deal also depends on students overall literacy level. For example, a student who reads well and widely will be able to handle working with vocabulary in context, just like kids who read well and widely did well with analogies even though they usually weren't directly taught in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RF/1/

Here you go. The old basal readers incorporated far more strategies into teaching reading than CC.

Which of these standards require teachers to use phonics exclusively?