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[quote=Anonymous][quote]Oh? How would the Common Core standards have made the problems of the Teach for America guy in the Washington Post magazine worse, exactly?[/quote]

New, inexperienced teachers tend to follow what is handed to them by the administration (because they have no experience yet that can lead them to make decisions that are based on the reality in front of them).  Also they want to do what they are told (as most employees want to do).  I know this because I was once a new teacher who experienced problems and asked for help (only to find that the "help" made things vastly worse because teaching is not something that can be scripted and every classroom is different).  So, if this man had CC standards and believed that all the children were in a certain place and he should teach to those standards (which many of the children were not ready for), he would create a very frustrating environment in the room.  He may also teach to the standards because he was being told that there would be a test and that he would be held accountable based on the results of that test.  These things would not only cause the students to be frustrated and misbehave, but would cause anxiety for him.  Instead of being told to get to know the students and help them learn at their various levels, he would be told to "follow the standards".  At some point, the tension in the room becomes untenable and there is a constant "fight" between the teacher and the students.  He did ask to be moved from his first classroom and they did move him, but then he would have had to have gotten to know a whole new group and teach to new standards.  That was when the incident occurred (in the second classroom).  Everyone in teaching knows that the second classroom is going to be a whole lot more challenging than the first one you had (because nobody moves out of an easy classroom).   He obviously did not understand how the system works.

Now, a seasoned teacher would read the standards and realize (based on experience) that many of the standards would have to be lowered for the group or there would have to be  stepping stones to getting to the standards.  The seasoned teacher may see that students are not even close to the standards and that he/she has to back up.  The seasoned teacher would know how to back up and how to bite off pieces of the curriculum that were the right size and difficulty for the students.  That teacher would also have a lot of tricks in the bag (games, songs, manipulatives, etc.)  That teacher would also realize that the standards may not be met that year for some students and that it would be okay.  They would not stress.  The seasoned teacher would know that the immediate concern (before any learning can even occur) is to manage the classroom.  This is a big effort all by itself and if the room is not managed correctly at the beginning of the year, there is little hope for anything to occur later.  The TFA teacher was not remotely ready to do the job.  The standards just added a layer of anxiety.  The TFA teacher needed to spend time learning how to manage the room, but the whole emphasis on the standards and test scores created anxiety.

Do you understand this?  Have you ever tried to teach 30 second graders?

The people teaching these kids are the heroes of our society . . . they have lots of people telling them how to teach and what to teach and they have to really be on it.  [/quote]

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