A teacher in Syracuse writes, in response to comments by another teacher:
Teaching has lost its joy and spontaneity. It has become “all work and no play, which makes Johnny a very dull boy.” (that goes for teachers too)!
At least one third of the teachers in my elementary school are now looking for work outside the profession. My kinder class is doing literacy curriculum with imaginative play completely phased out and only 20 minute recess daily. It is a stressful, rigid, boring environment that causes children and teachers to lose their spirit.
There is very little opportunity for social interaction between the children, since most of their CCSS worksheets are designed for independent work. There is no opportunity for relaxed conversation or spontaneity in our classroom, since our rigid schedule is demanding and inflexible. I don’t really have an opportunity to get to know my students on a personal level, since we are expected to maintain our detached business like atmosphere. We do have one art/music/pe class weekly, but when those go away it will be very depressing. The atmosphere of our school has become gelotophobic.
As a teacher, I feel restricted and controlled in everything I do. I have no freedom to use my own creativity in designing lesson plans, which causes me to think I could easily be replaced by a computer. Maybe that is the goal of CCSS and the reformers?
Your choice of the word “eerie” is true: ” It’s eerie to see CCSS stamped on all current material and resources. Education has been branded like cattle.”
That is a good description because the hostile corporate takeover is turning schools into systems of management like those used for livestock! It is all about “conditioning” children to “perform for tests”, like little workaholics who can follow commands, but cannot think for themselves or be creative. Work and boredom has become normal.
I think it is “eerie” to see children who have blank stares and work in silence most of the day without spontaneity, imagination, or play. I think the reason Pearson designed CCSS materials to be confusing and frustrating is part of the plan to dismantle public schools. The more parents recognize their children are having anxiety and depression, the more they will be inclined to put them into private or charter schools.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
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“. . . only 20 minute recess daily.”
Child abuse! Just calling a spade a spade. And child abuse it is.
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I taught K in FL with 15 min of recess every OTHER day, admin mandate. Crayons and colored pencils banned from second grade through 5th. I quit teaching so I could quit abusing kids. They deserve better.
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That is some sad sad stuff. No crayons?? Ay Ay Ay!
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If I may correct one sentence “I KNOW it is “eerieLY LIKE CHILD ABUSE” to see children who have blank stares and work in silence most of the day without spontaneity, imagination, or play.
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Please don’t allow your “obsession for correction” to detract others from this this teacher’s powerful message. Take a deep breath.
The symptoms that he/she is describing are the symptoms of depression, or emotional desensitization possibly from chronic stress, or chronic “traumatic” stress.
When using play therapy with a child, the symptoms that send up red flags are the loss of spontaneity and inability for imaginative play.
This teacher is very much in touch with his/er students emotional functioning and that is now rare and needs to be commended.
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As a high school math teacher in Cooperstown, I feel this teacher’s frustration. I don’t enjoy the teaching anymore. I don’t have time to fully explain material. I also feel that our comments are going unheard and that we are wasting our breath with the REgents board and the politicians.
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2014 13:01:55 +0000 To: nicholas_marcantonio@msn.com
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Why don’t all of the districts band together and take action? It seems obvious the politicians are all bought by the reformers. I think the changes can only occur when the parents and schools come together to stop it all. Teachers go to work everyday hoping for change that never comes because their legislature and the USDOE are all of the reformers train.
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I am renovating a room which contains the contents of 4 decades of classrooms, materials which I retained over the years. The letters from parents are the ones that tell the tale: “When the school year began, Brian did not wish to go to school, and now he does not want the year to end, said the parents of a second grade boy whose personal notes of love join his parent’s,. The letters from the parents and students of my last assignment, when I taught the entire 7th grade at a Manhattan middle school, say essentially the same thing, because I made my classroom a place where kids came to be taught and stayed to learn what I knew… and I began by motivating them to pay attention, not threatening them with failure if they made errors.
What astonishes me, is the the missing element in all the ‘core’ mandates. is MOTIVATION! You see, from my first methods course in college that explained what a ‘lesson plan ‘ looked like, to the last lesson plans I created, the very FIRST thing — after THE OBJECTIVE FOR THE LESSON WAS clearly STATED (I.E. Learner will be able: LWBA to spell; LWBA to compare and contrast…etc) was the MOTIVATION.
IN fact, when I was the cohort for the national standards research, the first 2 PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING (that were THE genuine standards rubric) were:
1-Clear Expectations and
2- REWARDS for achievement.
These standards for learning make it clear that children need to know WHAT IS IN IT FOR THEM if they sit there for 5 hours.
I was clear from day one, and the rewards were spectacular… do the work and have fun learning. Every lesson began with the ‘promo’… what’s in it for you if you pay attention… the hook. The material s that I chose were always engaging, and the rewards for learning were many.
I think my methods can be summed up by the words of one child, who walked into my classroom, took off his heavy book bag, plopped down in his seat and said, sighing in relief “The Schwartz is with us… let the fun begin.” and the hard work, because DOING WORK was the mantra, as was ‘WIDE-AWAKENESS’ (my humanities colleague’s term for our expectations). But it what motivated them was the intrinsic rewards for achievement, not stars or grades or test-scores, because if their work, their performance was good, then we ALL celebrated the achievement. It was a community of learners with a teacher the kids loved to be with.
MY students were excepted by the top high schools, and many went on to careers in writing. Graduating high school, my students honored me with the Who’s Who nominations. My students had the highest scores on citywide tests, and on the first ELA exam which 3/4 of the city failed, my ‘kids’ were 10th in the state… but i was in a rubber room, ripped from the practice I created by administrative allegations that went beyond slander, and for which no charges or hearing ever occurred.
Why would anyone wish to teach, and why would any child wish to learn if the system has been corrupted.
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That said, there are charters who use CCSS even though their state does not require it or test on it.
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Shows how little their administration knows! And how they shouldn’t, perhaps, be administrators.
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And was this part of the master plan? To make teaching so hurtful (I was going to say unrewarding, but that word is not strong enough) and distasteful, that all the veteran teachers would be chomping at the bit to leave. Then education would be left to the TFAs and Computer Programmers, a much cheaper proposition (but don’t expect your tax dollars to decrease, somebody’s palms are itching – and it’s not yours and mine).
And if this debacle worked, perhaps it might be worth it, but the whole process only rewards the top 30% and those are the students who would do well left on a deserted island with a bunch of books and no teachers. We are teaching to the elite and leaving the rest to drown in self chastisement for not being good enough. In this environment there will be no future Einsteins or Edisons.
The new policies are doing the opposite of what they propose and the alterior motives stink to high heaven (and beyond). For shame!!!
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Ellen,
Exactly.
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As Bill Gates might say, adapting Tina Turner, “What’s joy got to do with it?”
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What “Teacher” describes is only for what the leaders of the charterite/privatization movement mandate for OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN.
Strangely [?], that’s not what they ensure for THEIR OWN CHILDREN.
Enter Mr. Bill Gates, de facto head of the USDoE. He sends his own children to Lakeside School. And just what does Lakeside Middle School have to say for itself?
[start quote]
At Lakeside Middle School, one of our two primary goals is to provide an academic curriculum that is developmentally appropriate for intellectually capable young adolescents. To achieve this goal, we provide a curriculum that is relevant, challenging, interdisciplinary, and exploratory. We also know that students engage with an academic curriculum most successfully if it is delivered in a larger educational context that is respectful, supportive, inclusive, and safe. In other words, academic success in middle school depends on meeting students’ other developmental needs. Our second goal, then, is to meet the developmental needs of middle schoolers. To achieve either of these goals—academic success and healthy personal development—we must achieve them both.
[end quote]
Link: http://www.lakesideschool.org/podium/default.aspx?t=144978&rc=0
Alrighty then, howzabout that Middle School Art program? Got rigor?
[start quote]
Performing arts classes develop the artistic ability of Lakeside students through the study of music and drama. They support individual success, encourage creative problem solving, deepen self-understanding, and develop social skills through collaboration. Our experiential courses support students at all levels of artistic ability and teach them to become creative thinkers, doers, and communicators. Our performance courses are accessible and engaging for both beginners and seasoned performers. Our teachers themselves are active performers with a passion for teaching and inspiring young people. In our program, students take risks, make lasting friendships, and explore the world through performing arts.
Visual art classes focus on elements and principles of design: color, line, value, shape, pattern, and texture. Assignments build and maintain specific skills for both two- and three-dimensional projects. Work grows more sophisticated and challenging as the students mature. Teachers help students develop a critical vocabulary and demonstrate how to provide constructive critique of their peers’ projects. Different artists, styles, cultures, and techniques are discussed at all grade levels. Students have a sketchbook to use throughout the year for sketching and planning projects. Students also have the opportunity to work with supervision in the art rooms during free time and lunch periods.
[end quote]
What’s that? Where’s CCSS? Where’s that gritty determination to make the children “little test-taking machines” a la Success Academy?
Link for quote: https://dianeravitch.net/2014/03/02/secrets-of-test-success-at-success-academy/
Apparently when it comes to CC the English-to-English translation changes from “Common Core” to “Commoners Core.” There’s nary a word about cage busting test prep…
In other words, when it comes to providing the same sort of education for THEIR OWN CHILDREN that they are mandating for OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN, they have the steely resolve of Michelle Rhee:
“I reject that mind-set.” [In all honesty, I cannot promise to foreswear using that bit of Rheephormish again.]
Link for Rhee quote: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/michelle-rhee-opting-out-of-standardized-tests-wrong-answer/2014/04/04/37a6e6a8-b8f9-11e3-96ae-f2c36d2b1245_story.html
Double standards? A two-tiered education system? If only once they could let go of their Marxist principles:
“The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”
¿? Yes, the famous one. Groucho. There’s another?
😎
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It is truly elitist and disgusting.
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KrazyTA
“In other words, when it comes to providing the same sort of education for THEIR OWN CHILDREN that they are mandating for OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN, they have the steely resolve of Michelle Rhee:”
That sounds like the “do as I say but not as I do” philosophy. It is that same mixed message of “ambivalence” found in Narcissistic families that psychologists call “crazy making”.
People don’t choose to develop Narcissistic PD. It is usually a result of growing up in families (or school environments) with chronic traumatic stress from “domineering” parents or teachers, and the over emphasis on performance and appearance. The child’s personality is “hard wired” with the “authoritarian” and “judgmental” thought disorder that can become ‘self-punishing” throughout life….most often from the punitive Winner/Loser Environment of punishment/reward like the Common Core. Children’s personalities are “hard wired” with either the feelings of “never fully measuring up (Loser), or the Trophy Child of Entitlement (Winner)
What does this say about the “products” the Common Core Environment is creating.
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All I can say is a quote from an experienced German language teacher here at my [Indiana] public high school:
“My heart is broken.”
So simple, but so poignant…here is a lifetime professional, an excellent teacher, and one who participated in a school-to-school program with students from a city in Germany. Every other year, German students come here to Indiana to stay for several weeks. In the intervening year, students from our school spend some weeks in the summer in Germany. The joy of fruitful learning, activities, and (yes) fun has been crushed out of the teaching profession.
I used to drive myself to improve my lessons and materials every year. Years ago when I was still a young teacher in my 20s, I explained to my sister why I took such a long nap on my day off. I told her “there has never been a day when I wasn’t tired during the school year.”
The poorly-informed legislature in Indiana decided that my continued striving for excellence wasn’t enough. They had to burden me and all of my colleagues with so many unnecessary or redundant tasks including the following:
(1) RtI (Response to Intervention–extra help for students who fail or score poorly) which includes helping out students, then DOCUMENTING IT for administration or department heads. Every teacher already does this. Why is it necessary to document that I’m helping a student who got a D or an F on my chapter test? RtI also includes make-up tests, phone calls or e-mails to parents regarding academics, attendance, or behavior. My colleague next door told me that he spent more time on the RtI report than he does on the actual interventions he does for the students! What’s the point of this?
(2) Data collection
When a common exam is given, we are supposed to put the data into a shared document (teachers giving the same test, the department head, and administrators can see it). If they want this data, why don’t they have the technology to extract it out of my gradebook? Why am I providing them with data? This data has no earthly use for me or others–it’s simply for the all consuming thirst for data so that someone higher up can fill in a check mark on some form or other.
I could go on…but it is spring break, and I’m spending a day doing my taxes because I don’t have the time to do it during regular school days or weekends!!
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“Teacher” has done an excellent job of describing the status quo. If I ever get my much wished for grandbaby, I shudder to think of who will be in his or her classroom and what will be “taught.” I won’t live long enough to home school the child for 13 years.
This situation is heartbreaking.
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Pavlov had his dogs, Gates, King et.al have Common Core. Both are designed to have a controlled response to a stimulus.
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Here, kids: fetch.
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Just in the past two weeks I have heard from three of my colleagues telling me they “can’t do it anymore.” The first a veteran science teacher told me she hates all the micro-management and mismanagement. The second, a recently tenured teacher, told me she wants to move and do something else because she is not enjoying teaching. The third, a non-tenured teacher, told me she is actively looking for another job and hates coming to school.
We are an urban school that is considered failing. We have been under state monitoring for over 8 years. As the years have passed, teaching has become more scripted and the atmosphere is one of “gotcha.” Supervisors routinely check when you are working on lesson plans because they can see what you write and when via the computer program. Word walls, objectives on the board, walk-throughs, Teachscape, pacing charts, task rotations, once a week professional learning community meetings, we have it all. We also have on-line learning programs where the school purchases very expensive licenses because these programs provide data and the capability for supervisors to check in on the teacher.
What else has been lost? Students no longer read novels. They only read non-fiction articles. Students are routinely asked by walk through teams why they are doing something. When a state monitor asked a student why they were reading silently and the student didn’t know, there went our SSReading Program. No more sustained reading because it wasn’t direct instruction. Students aren’t even allowed to go to the school library. Social studies has been turned into another reading/writing class with very little social studies content taught. Field trips are severely limited. All the fun programs we used to do have been eliminated as well as all the experiences we provided. Data analysis is on-going. We have reams and reams of date but is it even helpful?
Teaching is now boring, tedious and a chore. Imagine how the students feel?
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The Buffalo Schools live with the same nonsense. We were told that if we followed the script, the children would be guaranteed success. Guess what – the scripts don’t work. And it’s worse now with CCSS. Now an already top heavy administration wastes it’s time going from school to school playing gotcha. Do you have to post your daily/weekly schedule outside your door? Heaven forbid they should walk in to find you teaching social studies rather than the listed ELA. I think that’s grounds for an instant suspension.
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Transitioning to Robots Day 180: Status on Conditioning
Children incarcerated and adapted to small space…………………….………….Check
Physically inactive for full 12 hr work day to include tutoring and homework……Check
Mind Controlled by Teacher…………………………………………………………..Check
Brain programmed for repetitive responses to command………………………..Check
Social and Emotional Development Repressed…………………………………….Check
Diminished Emotional Responsiveness to Humans…………………………….…..Check
Social Isolation Complete……………………………………………..……………….Check
Emotional Detachment from Peers Complete………………………………………..Check
Dissociation Controlled on Command………..………………………………………..Check
Bodily Functions adapted to Extended Schedule on Command…..……………..…Check
Long Term Goal of Lesson………Extended Space Travel……Twilight Zone
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Okay…enough already!! Solution: EVERYONE do what Dee Dee says at *:52 on April 8th–EVERY SINGLE PERSON–parents, teachers, administrators—OPT OUT!
Absolutely refuse to be a part of this loop-de-loop ride which has us going ’round in circles & our kids needlessly suffering. SHUT DOWN the testing conglomerate, which is the tumor that has grown and caused this national cancer. Start locally, & it WILL spread all over the U.S. Quite your whining & start your working–think Seattle & Chicago–ENTIRE schools of teachers refused to test children (& no disciplinary action was taken in Seattle; still waiting on the 2 Chicago schools, but the mighty CTU has their backs, so we shall see). Our children are dying–NO crayons or even colored pencils from Grades 2-5? 15 minutes of recess? INSANE CHILD ABUSE!
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