A Reminder: This Book is Free for This Week Only

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1. used to love NY says:

   June 3, 2015 at 8:27 am

   Got it – worth the read. I certainly found myself in full agreement on the math education portion as I was perusing the chapters.

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2. Jayne Hoffman says:

   June 3, 2015 at 8:38 am

   did you see this free book?

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3. Stiles says:

   June 3, 2015 at 10:41 am

   So how much weight should on place on this in contrast to the work of the National Academies in Adding it Up: Helping Children Learn Mathematics (2001), Eager to Learn: Educating our Preschoolers (2000), and Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood: Paths Toward Excellent and Equity (2009)?

   These three titles are available as free PDF downloads at the National Academics Press at http://www.nap.edu.

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   • Raymond johnson says:

     June 3, 2015 at 8:17 pm

     That’s a good question. When I looked up the author I found their site with information about learning styles, something that’s been quite soundly refuted in research. That alone suggests to me that I should probably be reading something else.

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4. howardat58 says:

   June 3, 2015 at 12:04 pm

   I read this book yesterday. Very well written, quite persuasive, and the ELA section is spot on. However, he goes over the top with the maths. Yes, the kindergarten section of the CCSSM is monumentally stupid, and I really likes the arguments against the repeated “having to explain your reasoning/working etcetera)”. He goes on and on about practice and fluency as required before “discovery”, or whatever it’s called now, but he never gives any examples. Fluency in what? I had to guess that he meant arithmetic and the “not so standard algorithms”. I am sure that in the wrong hands the “experiential, figure it out yourself” approach is a disaster, but so is any rigid, “do it this way” method.
   Anyway, it’s a good read.

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5. Susan Lee Schwartz says:

   June 3, 2015 at 1:21 pm

   cross posted at OEN http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/A-Reminder-This-Book–Wh-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Book-Excerpt_Book-Reviews_Common-Core_Core-Curricula-150603-649.html#comment547813

   with this comment.

   If you own a Kindle get it.

   Amazon review says:
   “By the time the book reaches its half-way point, it has already lived up to its subtitle, as Marselle meticulously documents how and why the Common Core’s authors and supporters had / have a fundamental non-understanding of how students of all ages think and learn. Of particular interest is the scholarly manner in which the author presents the alarming developmental inappropriateness of the Common Core in grades K-3. Play-based kindergarten, for example, has all but disappeared. Formal instruction, which used to start in grade one, has taken its place. This is despite the fact that well-grounded research continues to deliver a clarion call that providing a play-based education in the earliest years is not a soft option.

   “In Chapter 2, Marselle provides great detail about how the diversity of America’s schoolchildren is so vast, that no other country in history can compare, e.g., currently, nearly 14% of America’s residents were born outside the United States. Add to this mix, a 23% poverty rate among America’s school children – more than any other developed country except Romania – and things become clear. The root cause of the Achievement Gap is almost certainly the result of a lack of equity in education. Translation: poverty and all its nefarious by-products. Simply put, neither a “common core” of academic standards (even if they were attainable), nor the blaming of teachers will fix any of this.

   “Chapters 3 and 4 take readers on different journeys. Here, we begin to understand the Cognitively Unsound part of this book’s title. In short, from ground level, the Common Core is an upwardly spiraling staircase of abstract, intuitive, conceptual, and divergent thinking–a mode of cognition that only 27 to 30% of the general population can do with relative ease. Who knew? It’s all documented, of course.

   “Then, in Chapter 4, the author again demonstrates his research skills when he lays bare much of the deeply flawed pedagogy of the Common Core. For example, one of the trendiest of trends in contemporary education is “collaborative learning.” The problem, however, is that all available research strongly suggests that collaborative learning only works if everyone at the table is an expert to begin with. Otherwise, students end up exchanging ignorance and/or a disproportionate percentage of students end up doing the heavy lifting for the task at hand.

   “By the time the reader finishes Chapters 5 & 6 of this 785 page volume, Marselle has already taken us on many deep dives into exactly what is wrong with both Common Core math and ELA (English Language Arts) at all grade levels. And what a story it is. Laudably, not left out of the discussion are students with Special Needs, ELLs (English Language Learners), Gifted & Talented students”even students seeking the GED (General Equivalency Diploma). There is comprehensive coverage of all.

   Two years in the making, Perfectly Incorrect was written by a real teacher with decades of experience and who continues to teach real students on a daily basis. Within the tumult of education reform, books such as this are uncommon. First, the author pulled the discussion of the Common Core under one roof. Next, he added science. That is, science that directly addresses both the cognitive processes and mental health of students…and by extension, parents and teachers.”

   Submitted on Wednesday, Jun 3, 2015 at 12:20:15 PM

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6. 2old2teach says:

   June 3, 2015 at 6:51 pm

   If you own a Kindle, make sure it has sound capabilities so you can follow the video links.

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