Yes, you read that right.
School officials in Elwood, Néw York, canceled a kindergarten play scheduled for May 14-15 because it would take time away from getting the little tykes “college-and-career ready.”
Washington Post journalist Valerie Strauss called the school for confirmation. It sounded too crazy to be true.
But it is factual. The interim principal sent a letter to parents of children in kindergarten canceling the annual show. The letter said, in part, “The reason for eliminating the Kindergarten show is simple. We are responsible for preparing children for college and career with valuable lifelong skills and know that we can best do that by having them become strong readers, writers, coworkers and problem solvers.”
A member of the district staff vouched for the letter’s authenticity.
This is nuts. Blame Duncan. Blame Obama. They know nothing about child development. Their poll-tested policies hurt little children. Their policies have no basis in research. Children need time to play. They need time to socialize. Five-year-olds should be allowed a childhood.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
That’s it. My jaw is OFFICIALLY in my lap.
“they have retained a current relevance under various guises and proposals and, with the pretense of modernity, push children and young people to walk on the dictatorial path of ‘only one form of thought.”
Pope Francis
“To meet the demands of a changing world” , said the Interim Principal
http://nypost.com/2014/04/28/kindergarten-show-cancelled-so-kids-can-study-to-be-college-ready/
You left out “Blame Cuomo” too. After watching him, I am convinced he’d have found ways to ruin education without Obama and Duncan.
Working Families Party is under extreme political pressure to endorse Governor Bozo. Seriously. The internal pressure is coming from UNION heads who have been quid pro Cuomoized.
Working Families Party needs to get a clue and run a candidate. Cuomo has demonstrate one solid principle in his tenure: whatever it takes to get enough Wall Street money to back him so he can run for President. The children of our state and their teachers are not on his radar except as targets:
Here in CT, the purpose of education is stated quite eloquently in the Code of Professional Responsibilities for Educators. They state that this purpose is to enable students to become fully functioning citizens in our democratic society. There is no reference to “college and career ready”. Yet, this reformist rhetoric has become almost a mantra in our schools, ignoring the fact that it is a far, far more noble goal to enable our students to simply achieve their ambitions and dreams within our democracy. Not everyone has an aptitude to go to college; similarly, not every scholar has the aptitude to be a car mechanic or professional athlete. God save us from the corporate reformers!
And this code is no longer posted on the CT SDE website with Pryor in charge. Why would they take it down? When you search, it notes: no longer available.
Most schools changed their Mission Statements in 2010 around the same time they applied to RTTT. Check your school out. You will find most had a different Mission Statement in 2008 vs. what it is today.
Fixin to Test Rag. On schedule?
When I first saw this I thought it had to be something from “Saturday Night Live” or “Portlandia.”
But no, this isn’t sketch comedy–it’s a real-life nightmare….
Of course this level of wrong headedness is astounding. Unfortunately, it is also representative of the less headline grabbing wrong headedness going on daily in classrooms. I was in a classroom yesterday where guided reading instruction was suspended for test prep worksheets. Music, art, drama and all non-tested subjects are suffering at the hands of the test and punish reformsters from Cuomo to Klein to Bloomberg to Duncan to Obama.
We have officially reached the point of insanity. I would love to know the parents’ reactions to this.
And blame the administrators of Elwood, too, because they should know a little something about child development. This whole story is just disgusting.
What is really offensive is the idea that endless test prep leads to learning anything other than how to take the test.
We are also concerned for young parents who look to the school for support and guidance. That being said, most people have a reasonable amount of common sense and a pronouncement like this will make big trouble…..as it well should. Parents and teachers, make some noise!
When I first read this on FB a while back, I thought/prayed it could be a hoax. It takes a lot of prep time to get the little ones ready for a show. But then, it does not have to be “perfect”, if we don’t expect perfection. Also the show can take 15 minutes and be adorable and “worth it”.
When we have to corral the kids and get them to cooperate to put on a show, the whole process can be tiresome, I know. And maybe exhausted teachers and exhausted students, do not have the patience to gear up for something “fun”. I mean if you simply sit and listen and bubble all year, then interacting– as in preparing for a show– is much harder. Socialization ie learning how to get along and how to cooperate and how to be a part of something larger than yourself ie “our graduation show” is something that is developed in a child-appropriate program over time. That is all part of the learning process in Kindergarten. Kindergarten. Good teachers have done this for years and it need not be a huge production. If we take their childhood away, I worry what will become of our children when they are older. I used to joke that some day we would be expected to teach calculus in gr. 1.
If you don’t want to call it K graduation, give it a revised name, but let them have something meaningful to share with families at the end of the year. Maybe pair 2 classes and hold a couple of shows instead of one larger one. It can be done. Fear does harsh things and those VAM evaluation formulas leave some afraid of losing their livelihood. A convoluted mess. Sad.
“Fear does harsh things and those VAM evaluation formulas leave some afraid of losing their livelihood.”
If that’s so then the chickenshits shouldn’t be teaching.
As Uncle Ronnie’s wife used to say: “Just say NO!”
I disagree with your comment about those afraid of losing their job for speaking out “should not be teaching”. Who might fill those spots, I wonder? Have you noticed the lack of jobs? I do, however, agree that they need to speak out. Yet I would be more understanding and recognize that teachers are overwhelmed right now. But if they complain about the evaluation, many say, “oh they are afraid to be evaluated”. Thus the convoluted mess. I know for a fact that teachers in the last two years have had wide variation in their VAM scores. The make up of the classroom changed. Both teachers were originally considered master teachers and much sought after placements. One was labeled a failure the first year and just fine the second and vice versa for teacher 2. VAM needs to go.
Huh?
Teachers are notorious wusses because, for all of the talk about teachers having “unions,” they have utterly no power at all. They are at the total mercy of administrators, who actually have virtual ironclad job security and total power over their careers with no accountability for their actions. Principals can literally force them out of their careers, and districts will label them as “do not rehires” making it virtually impossible to resume careers. Teachers don’t have to do anything illegal or unethical to be forced out; it’s laughably easy for them to lose their jobs.
Mark,
I am curious to whom or to what your “huh?” comment refers. If it is something I wrote, I will attempt to clarify. Thank you.
Well, proud to say that in NC we are learning about New York with our kindergarten via a musical.
http://wlos.com/shared/community/features/learning/stories/wlos_spring-play-638.shtml
Any chance that principal is mocking the career and college ready mindset, taking it to new levels to make a point? (??)
The district’s website explains it all. Two goals presented to their Board of Ed: 1) All students on or above level for reading and math by the end of 3rd grade, and 2) All students “College and Career Ready” by the end of 11th grade.
It seems they’ve lost focus of their mission statement.
The president and the secretary are what they are, officials far removed from the classroom . The person I blame is the principal in charge of an elementary school who sends out such a nutty letter. I would assume when he was employed he had the requisite training and experience in child development to lead an elementary school??? Local school leaders have more freedom to lead than they admit. As professionals they have the the responsibility to LEAD not follow whatever comes out of state houses. I am tired of this “following orders” defense for obvious unprofessional conduct.
I agree. These administrators do have educational experience and should be looking after the children not an agenda. I am tried of belong told the teacher should speak out — where are our principals, support staff, administrators, and school board?
“I would assume when he was employed he had the requisite training and experience in child development to lead an elementary school???”
Sadly, this is no longer a valid assumption. Many admins have fewer than 4 years in the classroom. Some have had NO classroom experience due to special licenses and exceptions made by individual school boards. A fair number have never taught an academic or core course (such as English, Math, or Science) at any level.
I would offer that the majority of those who have any child development experience and/or training are those principals who started as elementary teachers and “moved up” the administrative ladder.
Sadly, I am not surprised. A couple of weeks ago a Houston Chronicle writer wrote about a meeting for preschool enrollment. Parents were told the program was not about activities such colors and shapes. My thought was what does the program do that does not include colors and shapes for 4 year olds? Books and paper tasks? College prep? At four! At this rate, we will soon drain all the fun and creativity out of education and our children will be robotic clones that simply preform tasks.
This is a bad choice that leaves parents disconnected from the school. The most successful schools are rich, welcoming environments that thrive because the parents are connected and involved in their children’s educations. Rather than attack the principal, attack the high-stakes testing culture coming from above that pressures building adminstrators into making choices like this. Public schools have been forced by monied interests and politiicians into becoming test factories.
I’m sorry, I don’t mean to blame the victims, but can someone tell me why the parents of these kindergartners are not in the streets rioting? I would be.
Agree.
If someone told me my 5 year old needed to prepare to be a good coworker (as if learning to put on a show doesn’t teach that, BTW), they would get a whole lot angry from me.
Ang, how would you feel if you lived in a district that spent $22,800 per student and were told that your five-year-old could go to kindergarten for only 2.5 hours every day because of budgetary constraints?
Well, first I would look at the technology budget over time… then I would look at administrative costs over time…then I would check out curriculum changes and costs,… and of course we should not forget assessment changes and costs. Not to mention that a district that is able to spend that much per student is still offering those “extras” like art and music that other less wealthy districts have dropped or decreased. Then I would look to see what the philosophy of the district is and if it had changed yet to reflect the burgeoning focus on early childhood. I’m guessing that a district spending that much has very few residents who can’t afford private preschool. It was a real stretch for us but the high rent community we live in has sent its wee ones to private programs for decades. It is rare to see a child older than two in the care of a parent on weekday mornings and it is not because they are all in daycare although an increasing number are. The lifestyle now often requires that both parents work in high salary professions. Busses deliver their children to after school care programs both at lunch time and after a full day. Then there is the nanny set…
What 2old said
Dienne & Ang: this reminds me of a disturbing conclusion that I came to about Michelle Rhee.
Her masking tape incident (where she made the lips of dozens of small children bleed) during her brief stint in a classroom is well known. But there was something about this whole incident that bothered me a lot more than her lack of regret over this egregious behavior.
Sometime last year it came to me. The principal who allegedly told her that she had taken her students from the 13th to the 90th percentile—she didn’t reprimand or suspend or fire her? The other teachers didn’t inundate administration with calls for her to be severely disciplined because (at the very least) it reflected badly on the entire teaching staff? The parents just gave her a pass?
All that bothered me. Really. Not Rheeally.
While some may think I am being unfair to the other teachers and the parents, understand what I am getting at: there was obviously a school culture that ignored, tolerated and perhaps even encouraged what would be completely unacceptable behavior in [here comes the part that self-styled “education reformers” fear and dread] those horrible “factories of failure” aka public schools.
Time to remember what a great American once wrote:
“Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them. ” [Frederick Douglass]
Thank you for your comments.
😎
Where is the parental uproar? This IS how we prepare the for the future–by teaching them how to interact, socialize and use their creativity! Put the play back on–don’t break their hearts! They don’t have to go to work at age five!!!
The sad thing is that theater, and the arts in general, CAN make one college and career ready! As an actor and teacher, I know that theater offers kids heightened skills including, reading, writing, problem solving, interpretation, social interaction, the ability to take direction, et al. These skills in turn help to build the college and career ready students who become the strong reading, writing, problem solving adults he says he wants!
Jumping the shark is an idiom created by Jon Hein that was used to describe the moment in the evolution of a television show when it begins a decline in quality, which is usually a particular scene, episode, or aspect of a show in which the writers use some type of “gimmick” in an attempt to keep viewers’ interest. The phrase is based on a scene from a fifth-season episode of the sit-com Happy Days when the character Fonzie jumps over a shark while on water-skis.
The usage of “jump the shark” has subsequently broadened beyond television, indicating the moment when a brand, design, or creative effort’s evolution declines.
COMMON CORE proponents have officially JUMPED the SHARK.
Sharna Olfman’s ALL WORK AND NO PLAY, Warns Us and Weeps For Us.
“A child possesses a self, which imbues her with the desire to give her life meaning, purpose, and a moral compass. She is motivated to learn by the desire to be grounded in her family, in her community, and the natural order, and yet at the same time to express herself and place her own personal stamp on the world.
Her thinking is infused with emotion, sensory and bodily kinesthetic experience, artistry, imagination, and soulfulness. It is through this uniquely human prism, in the service of uniquely human needs, that she processes information. Thus, it is a tragic irony that we idealize the disembodied, emotionless computer and try to teach our children to think according to its operating principles.
In these schools, real psychological growth ceases, and the educational system encourages a growing cynicism and despair.”
This is, of course, just one tiny example of a general condition. This principal clearly does not understand what he’s doing, what his job is, and we have far, far too many like this in positions of authority in U.S. education, from Assistant Principals right up to non-educator-in-chief–Secretary of the Department for the Privatization of Public Education, formerly the USDE–Arne “Dunkin” Dunkin.
So, for this principal, Education Lesson 1::
Children come into the world eager to learn. They are breathtakingly curious. And we have an opportunity either to build upon them–to nurture their joy in learning so that they will emerge intrinsically motivated, lifelong, independent learners, or we can kill that. Nurturing that intrinsic motivation to learn is our PRIME DIRECTIVE. Much follows from it. Kids differ. We meet them where they are, and we build on that. That’s the business we are in.
The terrible irony of education deform is that it creates an environment that leads to precisely the opposite effects that are intended. And the only reason we are taking this approach is that a lot of people in positions of power over our educational system do not understand what motivates and so do not understand what I have just called Lesson 1.
Extrinsic punishment and reward systems (e.g., standardized testing, stack ranking) are INHERENTLY DEMOTIVATING FOR COGNITIVE TASKS. There is enormous research on this. And, of course, an endless diet of test prep is guaranteed to kill motivation and love of learning.
A complete idiot who happens also to be a Harvard Professor of Education just published a book with the teacher-baiting title Teachers Versus the Public. The book should be called, of course, Teachers against Child Abuse in the Name of “Reform.” This bozo did some research and found that teachers are more opposed to the current “reforms” than are people in the general population.
And it never occurred to him that that might be because teachers actually know something about kids.
cx: And we have an opportunity either to build upon that–to nurture their joy in learning so that they will emerge intrinsically motivated, lifelong, independent learners–or we can kill that.
This generation of kids is in serious trouble. If they can’t have a Kindergarten show, what can they have? Will they have an art show? Field trips? Will they have a Drama Club or a High School Musical? Will they be allowed to have Spirit Weeks or Proms? Will these kids even know to expect or want these things?
Thank goodness there Is school choice so parents who run into lousy administrators and districts like this can change schools without having to move zip codes\boundaries.
At least the school acknowledges it is lousy and the front page of its website…
http://www.elwood.k12.ny.us/schools/harley_avenue_primary
“The mathematics program is based on the constructivist theory…”
Parents should be fleeing based on that statement alone.
Do you even have a clue what “constructivist theory” is? Hint: It is the exact OPPOSITE of what the privatizers are pushing.
I think she has a pretty good clue. Constructivist math can be overcome by parents who supplement and/or spend precious family time at their local jam-packed Kumon franchise. Everyone else? Good luck, you’re going to need it.
“Do you even have a clue what “constructivist theory” is”
I sure do, it is garbage spewed by NCTM. Thankfully I live in a state with many school choice options so I can select a school that avoids it.
“Hint: It is the exact OPPOSITE of what the privatizers are pushing”
Are you saying the privatizers are pushing mastery over unguided instruction? How do they make a profit on that?
If you want your child to actually understand what math is really all about, then go with constructivist theory. If you’d rather your kid just know enough math to run a cash register, constructivist theory is not for you.
“If you want your child to actually understand what math is really all about, then go with constructivist theory. If you’d rather your kid just know enough math to run a cash register, constructivist theory is not for you.”
Weird, it seems like the schools that do best in my state in math and science avoid constructivism and go with mastery and direct instruction. Could be a coincidence I suppose.
You do know that Common Core will\is leading to more constructivism. Is this a good thing to you?
What do you mean by “do best in math”? Are you talking about test scores? If so, well, of course. Standardized tests are designed to understand students’ mastery of “math” as a set of procedures. What extent kids understand the purpose and underlying reasoning for such procedures is irrelevant.
Or do you mean success in math at the college level and beyond? Typically students who major in math and science fields are those who understand math on a constructivist level. They tend to be people who understand and appreciate the beauty of math on a conceptual, meaningful level, whereas the procedures are secondary.
As far as the Common Core, making math more constructivist may have been a focus at one point by some of the developers of the CCSS, but with the connection of CCSS to standardized testing whatever constructivist focus there may have been went out the window. There may still be some intent in there somewhere, but you can’t really have constructivism and standardization. It is quite possible that the attempt to do so is one of the many reasons why the Common Core has become such a muddled mess (although I don’t purport to be an expert on CCSS).
Constructuivist math (or science) is a fully discredited and debuked pedagogy. Avoid it like the plague if you want students to learn accurately, effectively, and efficiently.
“What do you mean by “do best in math”? Are you talking about test scores? If so, well, of course. Standardized tests are designed to understand students’ mastery of “math” as a set of procedures. What extent kids understand the purpose and underlying reasoning for such procedures is irrelevant.”
Yes, tests like AMC 8, AMC 10, Mathcounts, National Science Bowl, AIME, US National Chemistry Olympiad, etc…
Pretty sure that a deep understanding of the material is required for these tests, but it seems like the schools with constructivist curriculums never even participate in these tests. Hmmmmm.
Got to close that word gap.
That word gap gets closed via engaging social interaction.
“Our educators believe that the traditional kindergarten performance requires multiple days away from classroom work for preparation and execution, and together with the lost instructional time this year due to poor weather, is not the best use of the limited time we have with our youngest learners.”
http://www.elwood.k12.ny.us/schools/harley_avenue_primary
From the change.org petition:
“Please understand that Harley Elementary is one of a handful of schools in Suffolk and Nassau County which does not offer full day kindergarten. Our children attend school each day for a total of two and a half hours. If the district’s goal is to begin to develop “college and career ready” 5 year olds, they should have had full day kindergarten classes.”
This district spends $22,800 per student. Its overall budget has grown an average of 5.59% annually between 2001 and 2014, taking it from $28 million to $57 million. Why in the world doesn’t it have full-day kindergarten, which would allow ample time for instruction as well as preparation and practice for the kindergarten performance?
Full day or half day makes no difference. Kindergartners shouldn’t be involved in “instruction” of the type that makes one “college and career ready”. If they go to full day instruction, it should be a full day of play and exploration.
It looks like some traditionally credentialed traditional district school teachers have a different opinion. Or perhaps it’s the beginning of the End Times. I’m not sure.
It’s all about the tracking of kids into a future of low-wage employment, never to have any opportunity to rise above poverty level, and to limit higher education. Force inappropriate curriculum on them so that they will fail, with only a tiny number of “precocious” kids allowed to ever further their education.
I fully expect a repeal of child labor laws by the time this reform garbage is done.
My child does a play every year and has done so since kindergarten. In kindergarten the play involved several dances as well as completely memorized songs and spoken lines. The children (some of whom were only pre-K) were incredibly proud to show off their work. The older ones with stronger memories helped the younger ones and all the students had the feeling of “we did it!” Of course, each and every parent was brought to tears seeing what their “babies” could do.
That was many years ago but as the plays keep getting more complex as the students get older it is easy to see how the foundation was laid at that early age. Any “educator” who believes that this kind of activity does not build skills for future academic and career success needs to seriously question who they are as a professional and as a human being. I suppose if you define “co-worker” as Walmart does then, sure, you don’t need to develop the kind of capacities that the class play develops. Being literate, obedient and on time is good enough. However, if you believe that “co-worker” means people working alongside each other….each contributing the best of their abilities in the pursuit of a common goal….then there is nothing better than collaborative art to achieve this goal.
Very well put, Emmy76. My experience exactly with doing plays and performances. Kids remember these and most gain a lot even if it is “not their thing” to perform. One of the biggest fears adults claim to have is public speaking. Being in front of a loving audience as “we” grow is helpful for those who are not eager to be “on stage”. Woe is us….and thankfully this appears to be just one school. But the pressure to meet standards, have kids tested and have teachers’ evaluations and job security measured by these tests creates stress and has a domino effect that we can’t even appreciate yet, but we can predict. Kids are not widgets produced in a factory model.
I copletely agree, Susan! I, too, like a few others here, was not surprised by this action. I watched for years, even on the high school level, as assemblies, performances, and other REAL “career-ready” activities were sadly pulled from our classrooms and schools, knowing that these types of activities were what gave our students what they REALLY needed for success in life. And, yes, Susan, you are also correct in your previous posting. Almost all of these decisions are coming from adminstrators, many of whom only have a very few years in the classroom or are former coaches who only value “ball”! Notice that pep rallies still go on for “the team”! Although those are valuable, too, inspiring creativity, enthusiasm, etc. I, too, am tired of the classroom teachers getting bashed for not speaking out and standing up. Where are those administrators when it comes to standing up for our children? Oh, many have received the tremendous “bonus” dollars “under the table” from the Deformers Slush Fund, funded by Gates, Waltons, Kochs, etc. I, too, fully expect a repeal of child labor laws. However, there will be no need to repeal laws. By that time, our former children and students won’t even be aware that they have laws to protect them anyway!
Children’s performances are also excellent outreach to the community, while giving the children opportunities to use their communication skills and problem-solving skills in the performance. Those are skills needed in college and career, no matter what career they eventually pursue.
A related type of thinking in this op-ed piece written by state administrators for Oregon’s Dept. of Education. It makes me think that policy like this is being created so far from the classroom that it’s missing a lot of “ground truthing,” it’s not consistent with field observations of pedagogy.
Kindergarten test results a ‘sobering snapshot’: Guest opinion
Well, here it is, the moment that I knew would come. First, it was the removal in some school districts of free play for young children. Free play, you know those activities that the little ones imagined and mimicked their way into in the kitchen area, behind the puppet stage, and in the block corner. Then, they were bombarded with worksheets, reams of worksheets. Next, story times, which did not so much serve as moments to revel in the sheer enjoyment of listening to a human voice and visualizing a landscape of wonder with the mind’s eye, but rather, as opportunities to “check for understanding.” Unfortunately, I could go on with many more examples of the removal of the types of kindergarten experiences that once I was able to routinely observe, and sometimes participate in, as a teacher, administrator, and consultant.
Now, this event…taking away one of the great pleasures and moments of communal learning and celebration that families, teachers, and, yes, communities look forward to at the end of that important first year of school, Kindergarten. And taking it away for what? To focus on making youngsters “college and career ready”? Frankly, I think one of the best ways to help children to prepare for later life, is to make sure they have healthy, sane, positive childhoods. I do not believe that much of what is being forced upon children, especially in the early grades of elementary school, is going to foster this goal.
As upsetting as this event is, it may be presenting us with a glimpse of what may come involving even younger children. I know there is a great deal of excitement about establishing universal Pre-Kindergarten classes, especially for poor and minority children. Pay attention. Consider what has and is happening in kindergartens across this nation. As the song goes: “Teach your (our) children well….”
Wise and well-spoken, Elle.
I sometimes fear that the push over the top for universal pre-K is the desire of the edupreneers to get their claws into the kids at an even younger age.
The direction in which kindergarten children are being pushed doesn’t bode well for the even littler ones.
The vandals of so-called education reform are trampling the children’s garden. Welcome to the kinderfabrik…
Four letters explain this phenomena: ALEC. If you still don’t know about ALEC (& I’m sure all/most of Diane’s readers do), reference some of Diane’s posts and, also, go to the Stand Up to ALEC website (sorry–you can look it up). This has been in the works for over 40 years. In agreement with Susan Nunes on this, & we must pushback everywhere & anywhere.
The best source of information about ALEC is a website called AlecExposed.com
New headline…
“ALEC nixes school play from 5 year olds”
That’s rich!
>…it would take time away from getting the little tykes “college-and-career ready.”
Oh, so clueless NYC school officials and Superintendent who serve as the mouthpiece for Cuomo, Duncan, and Obama think five-year old kids will sit out for the SAT/ACT within few years, if they force these preschoolers to take DOE-approved aspirin called “ARNEROID”!
Who is saying test-driven discipline will make children’s life better than is now?
Don’t be fooled. Elwood is a great district – our neighboring district. How clever! How else is the principal going to wake up the people and instigate an uproar. Freedom of speech is denied teachers even though in the past the courts defended teachers who spoke out in defense of their students. Presently, heads will roll if they publicly speak out against the Common Core and its aligned state tests.
All I get from our superintendent and the board: Common Core is here to stay like Commissioner John King declares. Either they are afraid, uninformed, or shouldn’t have the position they are holding. Throughout the state, Chancellor King scheduled meetings with the public. With each meeting he met with irate parents and concerned school personnel in an attempt to regain their rights of local control of education getting rid of the Common Core and its aligned testing. Throughout the numerous three-minutes-presentations Dr. King sat complacently while presenters moved the audience to their feet, cheered and clapped in approval. Dr. King would only end the evening with a smug reply that Common Core was here to stay.
We may be sacrificing a class of kindergarteners from a play but hopefully this sacrifice may help lift the yoke of Common Core off their shoulders of countless other learners.
After reading this today, I ended up covering a kindergarten class for part of a period because the teacher had to attend an IEP meeting. I decided to ask the kids what does it mean to be college and career ready. If I would have been observed by an administrator at that moment, I would have been rated ineffective for student engagement. Why? Because all I got was blank stares!!!
Then I read to them one of my favorite children’s books from my own childhood–
Ferdinand the Bull. There was enjoyment, laughter and excitement as the kids tried to predict what would happen after every page. No, I refused to ask about the story’s structure or have the students summarize pages 3 to 5 using appropriate transitional words. Common Core is garbage and when I retire in 41 days, I will leave my school building and give my own summary of Common Core–using two words made up of seven letters and an exclamation point.
Do those two words with a total of seven letters have a recognizable two letter acronym?
Did not see your reply until now. Of course, the answer is yes.
This great article by Lenore Skenazy was published today on the Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lenore-skenazy/college-prep-for-kindergareners_b_5248073.html?utm_hp_ref=parents&ir=Parents
Instruction can be counterproductive for little kids. She refers to a book by Peter Gray titled Free to Learn…
“Gray’s point: By ‘teaching’ children the traditional way — sitting them down and spoon-feeding them information — we are actually making them less curious, more passive and, finally, less educated, since all that gets into them is what the teacher tells them. Or at least a little bit of it. We are shutting down their natural inquisitiveness.”