Why are people so upset about Common Core?

[Anonymous]

Here are 1st grade writing standards. 1st grade, when many children are just learning to read ...and yet they are supposed to write "opinion pieces."


Text Types and Purposes:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.1
Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some sense of closure.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.2
Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.3
Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here are 1st grade writing standards. 1st grade, when many children are just learning to read ...and yet they are supposed to write "opinion pieces."


Text Types and Purposes:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.1
Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some sense of closure.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.2
Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.3
Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure.

Sample first grade "opinion piece"

I like ise crem. Ise crem is swete. Ise crem is cold. Ise crem tasts good. I want two eet ise crem evry day!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find it interesting that teachers excuse other teachers for sending home error ridden worksheets.

My daughter's teacher creates her own material on a daily basis as a way of enlivening the curriculum and in addition to the suggested materials purchased by the country. SOme come from online sources, but she makes a lot herself. (That's the "freedom to be creative" piece people are so worried will be lost with national standards.) If there are a few typos I am not going to get my panties in a wad.

If a published curriculum were riddled with errors, I would expect that material not to be used, and I would find fault with a school district that allowed it to be purchased and used. I would not find fault with a teacher for sending home work from a required text.

The few examples we have seen here from New York State (math curriculum questions that are confusing) I would find unacceptable if they were assigned on a daily basis by an individual teacher. If they are part of an official curriculum adopted by a school district, I would be contacting that school district and holding it accountable for adopting this textbook as there are better ones out there.

If I created a manual for software and that software's manual was being tested and contained errors to the point where it confused the testers, I would be held responsible - and rightfully so. If a teacher sends home a worksheet with errors that frustrates a child and upsets the peace of the household, you darn well should 'get your panties in a wad'.

Unreal - no personal responsibility demonstrated at all.

And if teachers are creating worksheets or homework assignments with errors, then they bear personal responsibility.

But the worksheets that have gone viral weren't teacher created or selected, or at least they weren't created or selected by the teacher who sent them home. The responsibility for poorly designed worksheets lies with the people who wrote them, and the people who adopted them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
By stating that you wouldn't get your panties in a wad over a few typos, I feel you are not demonstrating the concept of personal responsibility. Those "few typos" can melt down a child who is trying hard to understand the assignment, which then sets the tone for homework. Add to this, the frustration of parents trying to understand what the hell is wanted from the kid on the worksheet, and you get one pissed parent. And the teacher then has the nerve to feel 'slighted' when the parents get upset.

All because the teacher could not be bothered to check the work she was sending home.

So if I create a great big noisy fuss when a teacher sends home a worksheet that has a few typos, that will teach my child to be personally responsible?

I don't know what to say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here are 1st grade writing standards. 1st grade, when many children are just learning to read ...and yet they are supposed to write "opinion pieces."

Text Types and Purposes:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.1
Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some sense of closure.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.2
Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.3
Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.1: I read Frog and Toad. I liked it. It was funny. I want to read more Frog and Toad.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.2: I have a cat. She has feet. She has fur. I like my cat.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.3: Today I ate lunch. Then I played tag with Aidan. I had fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It's hardly just NY, although it is particularly bad there. I'm in the Midwest, and Common Core is dreadful there as well.

Which Common Core State standard seems to be giving kids in "the Midwest" trouble?

Link to the standards here:

http://www.corestandards.org/read-the-standards/

Are your Midwestern kids having trouble with math standards or language arts standards?

I read online that Midwestern kids are having a hard time learning their times tables. That standard is here, and a lot of kids in the midwest come from the kind of homes where this kind of memorization is hard for them. They are upset and anxious because they have to learn all their times table facts, fluently by the end of third grade, and it is really giving the kids and parents headaches.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.OA.C.7
Fluently multiply and divide within 100, using strategies such as the relationship between multiplication and division (e.g., knowing that 8 × 5 = 40, one knows 40 ÷ 5 = 8) or properties of operations. By the end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers.

Prior to Common Core, Midwestern kids were expected to use calculators to multiply. That was a lot easier.

I hear Glenn Beck is all over this situation. Free the Midwest from unreasonable Common Core multiplication fact mastery!

Is this a joke? Since when are third graders allowed to use calculators for simple multiplication?

[Anonymous]

(Not the PP, but yes, I'm pretty sure it was a joke.)

[Anonymous]

I'm pretty sure that it was a joke too, but the fact is that in many states, CC has more standards related to traditional academic skills such as math fact fluency, the use of standard algorithms, and phonics, than the standards it replaced.

I thought it was weird 20 years ago when somehow whether or not you supported structured explicit phonics was somehow connected to your political ideology. That since I support abortion and gay marriage it was logical that I'd be on the whole language bandwagon. I think it's equally weird now that the conservative right is attacking a set of standards that include math facts and consonant digraphs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm pretty sure that it was a joke too, but the fact is that in many states, CC has more standards related to traditional academic skills such as math fact fluency, the use of standard algorithms, and phonics, than the standards it replaced.

I thought it was weird 20 years ago when somehow whether or not you supported structured explicit phonics was somehow connected to your political ideology. That since I support abortion and gay marriage it was logical that I'd be on the whole language bandwagon. I think it's equally weird now that the conservative right is attacking a set of standards that include math facts and consonant digraphs.

No kidding. For some reason, using phonics-only to teach reading used to be an ideological tenet -- maybe because California (home of fruits, nuts, and Governor Moonbeam) went for whole language? And now it's an ideological tenet that using phonics-only to teach reading is bad, because President Obama supports the Common Core standards. (Although the Common Core standards actually don't call for phonics-only.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here are 1st grade writing standards. 1st grade, when many children are just learning to read ...and yet they are supposed to write "opinion pieces."


Text Types and Purposes:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.1
Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some sense of closure.

I liked the book Frog and Toad because it was funny. Frog was funny when he slept all day. That's why I like the book Frog and Toad.

[Anonymous]

LOL to the PP who also wrote about Frog and Toad. I didn't see your response!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
By stating that you wouldn't get your panties in a wad over a few typos, I feel you are not demonstrating the concept of personal responsibility. Those "few typos" can melt down a child who is trying hard to understand the assignment, which then sets the tone for homework. Add to this, the frustration of parents trying to understand what the hell is wanted from the kid on the worksheet, and you get one pissed parent. And the teacher then has the nerve to feel 'slighted' when the parents get upset.

All because the teacher could not be bothered to check the work she was sending home.

Hmmm, well if you are the type of parent who gets hysterical over things like typos, and can't deal with errors, you are probably also not raising resilient kids.

Of course, frequent errors, or poor pedagogy, should be addressed; and homework should be a review of concepts learned, not left to the parents to explain to the child. But if a few minor mistakes are leading your child to melt down in frustration, your child probably has some learning issues going on that should be checked out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:(Because as it has been well established, "Common Core" is a list of standards. So if "Common Core" is dreadful, then it must be a standard that is dreadful.

So look up the standards, and tell us which one or ones are particularly dreadful, for Midwestern children.

It is clear this is a drum teachers beat. BYW? Beck covers this type of mentality.

Standards need implementation. If the implementation is poor, the kids don't learn the standards. So the standards the become moot, whether they are 'poor' or not.

But since public school teachers have not held a job outside of government, I do understand this might be a hard concept to understand for y'all.

If implementation is poor -- address the implementation. No need to change the standards. Talk to the states and the school districts who are purchasing or creating poor curriculum and worksheets and tell them "This is a bad textbook. Buy something different!"

Contact your state department of education and say "Don't add on all these extra hard standards in social studies and Science that are stressing out our kids. Stick to just the Common Core standards, and a few easy achievable standards in Science and Social Studies, like we used to have, not all these hard ones from Core Knowledge. They are too hard for our kids."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here are 1st grade writing standards. 1st grade, when many children are just learning to read ...and yet they are supposed to write "opinion pieces."


Text Types and Purposes:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.1
Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some sense of closure.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.2
Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.3
Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure.

I think the big words (like informative, explanatory, narrative, and recount, sequenced...." are scary to you.

I'll explain in "first grade" speak for you:

informative/explanatory mean -- tell what you learned
narrative/recount mean "tell what happened in a story"
Sequence/temporal mean "say what happened first, next and last"

They are just big eduspeak words we folks in education use. Once you learn the jargon, it doesn't sound so scary!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find it interesting that teachers excuse other teachers for sending home error ridden worksheets.

My daughter's teacher creates her own material on a daily basis as a way of enlivening the curriculum and in addition to the suggested materials purchased by the country. SOme come from online sources, but she makes a lot herself. (That's the "freedom to be creative" piece people are so worried will be lost with national standards.) If there are a few typos I am not going to get my panties in a wad.

If a published curriculum were riddled with errors, I would expect that material not to be used, and I would find fault with a school district that allowed it to be purchased and used. I would not find fault with a teacher for sending home work from a required text.

The few examples we have seen here from New York State (math curriculum questions that are confusing) I would find unacceptable if they were assigned on a daily basis by an individual teacher. If they are part of an official curriculum adopted by a school district, I would be contacting that school district and holding it accountable for adopting this textbook as there are better ones out there.

If I created a manual for software and that software's manual was being tested and contained errors to the point where it confused the testers, I would be held responsible - and rightfully so. If a teacher sends home a worksheet with errors that frustrates a child and upsets the peace of the household, you darn well should 'get your panties in a wad'.

Unreal - no personal responsibility demonstrated at all.

You don't see the difference between a software manual being prepared for publication (presumably within a timeframe of a month or more) and a teacher creating worksheets every day for her class to take home at night???

No, I do not. Matter of fact, I see the teacher's job as easier - pick or create a worksheet, look it over to be sure there are no errors that might confuse the child - left out arrows, typos, unclear instructions, etc., copy it, then hand it out.

If a teacher does not have the time to make sure a worksheet is correct, they need a new job.