I'm here to clarify some things that the media (and a herd of angry activists) do NOT want you to know. I'm also hoping to shed light on something that could possibly be the biggest blessing that the educational world has been given for a LONG time.
1. Common Core will TAKE TIME
Like every change, there is an adjustment period. When a child starts school at a new school, do you automatically assume that everything will work out flawlessly for them from hour one? NO. Transition period is inevitable, no matter what change is taking place. Common Core is a total change from what the nation is used to. Many teachers headed home on the retirement train as soon as CC was brought into play because they feared the change, because it's huge. (It really is.)
You can't change the way we learn over night. I really do have empathy for 4th-12th graders who have learned in a different way, and then have to change their way of thinking. It's difficult to go from 2+2=4 to "Johnny has 4 apples all together. Some are green and some are red. What are some possible combinations of red and green apples could Johnny have?" It's completely up for interpretation, and GUESS WHAT there's always more than one way to get the "right" answer.
Some of the methodology seems different and confusing for NOW, but after it's been grandfathered in, it will be great. Some people don't want to offer it the time to become streamlined and effective, they just want to kill it before it's instigated and given a fair trail run.
2. It's about the PROCESS not the PRODUCT
The common core standards are VERY open for a teacher's interpretation of what they mean. As teachers we are given the right to teach how we want to teach, as long as we use these given state guidelines and curriculum. That's the beauty of it.
Common Core isn't about memorization. (Which, when I was in school, it was about how much I could remember for "the test". Common core encourages students to think more deeply, to make connections to other things, and to develop higher level thinking skills. It helps our students to become better problem solvers, communicators, and develops self-confidence, because it provides them opportunities to investigate rather than do a million drills of "remember this" and "remember that". It's finding a deep love and understanding of multiplication, rather than just remembering the facts that go with them. It's using multiple strategies for multiplication rather than just ADDING numbers. Did you know that there's at LEAST 20 different ways to do multiplication? Yep. One method is even done using JUST your 10 fingers. In all honesty, the Chinese way of doing it is REALLY intriguing. Watch the strategy here, it's pretty awesome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n97nmGGlBf4
It's no longer about WHAT you can remember to throw up on a test, it's about HOW you're going to approach a given problem in real life.
3. About the TEST it's about RESULTS
One of the most misunderstood parts of CC is that it's LESS pressure for teachers to teach for "the test". Will these first years be rough? Yes. "The Test", or SBAC testing, will be daunting until our students are prepared for it. (Which, as I stated above, will take years.) The Common Core standards are based off of "scaffolding", which is the idea that students learn based off what they already know.
The hope is that this national test will reflect areas of strengths and weakness across the board. What is going right in education? What may one area of the country be lacking, that another is excelling at? How can we remediate this?
As a teacher, teaching is all about assessment (yes, assessment means TESTING). I assess myself daily to make sure that I'm using reflection as a tool to make me a better, more effective, teacher. I informally rate myself on "How did this lesson go?" "How could it have been enhanced?" "Where there any areas I could've addressed better?" "What can I do next time?" "How did the students respond?" "Did they deeply understand the material?" I then use these results to drive how I instruct. Assessment is a tool. It is used to show growth and progress. Without assessments, school would be useless because we would have no way to improve. Assessment means the opportunity to improve.
4. It's About Streamlining Education from State to State
Yes, it's true. People actually think that the president is using common core to start a Hitler Youth inspired fascist campaign. Little do people know that Obama's policies are more communist than fascist. (Just saying.) Anyways, if you want to watch the conspiracy, go ahead and watch this little diddy: http://www.redflagnews.com/headlines/shock-report-obama-forming-hitler-youth-under-common-core
One of the goals of CC is to have a streamlined education system that carries over from state to state. This is in the hopes that if a child moves from Honolulu to Idaho Falls, ID that they will have been studying the same (or similar) things. Having this common goal (there's a pun!) allows teachers from ALL OVER THE COUNTRY to collaborate and communicate ideas for different units, plans, and activities. This benefits ALL children because their teacher is getting to pick the brains of other wonderful teachers.
Homogenizing the standards for reading, writing, and math helps maintain the integrity of state standards in science and social studies. You can incorporate these state standards in with the CC standards and have a beautiful thing :)
5. Old Fashioned vs New Age
When I was in school I was taught one way to subtract. I was taught to count backwards and "take numbers away" from other numbers. Learning styles are diverse. We cannot address every student the same. Taking away may not WORK for a student, which means they will be left in the dust because they don't understand something… so what do we do as teachers when this happens? Well, the old way meant we would RE-TEACH the taking away method and drill and kill until they finally understood. Guys, that isn't appropriate. The new-age teacher would recognize that the student struggles with counting backwards and would provide the student with the opportunity to use a number line and use the "counting up" method of subtraction.
Learning is NOT one size fits all. What makes sense for one student, may sound like some strange language to another.
Common Core lets us explore this idea. It lets teachers investigate how each child learns, and how to best reach them. Common Core allows us to provide a variety of methods and strategies to allow our students be successful. It makes education less "right" and "wrong", and less "black" and "white". The gray area is worth celebrating! Common Core allows me teach my students multiple methods to find the "right" answer. Even if they get the "incorrect" answer, I applaud their efforts along the way. I praise their thought process. I praise investigation and exploration. It allows children a chance to THINK. It allows them to form opinions, express thoughts, start discussions, ask questions, discover new ideas, see past the obvious, and try new things.
Yes, the old fashioned way of learning worked for some people, and that is great. The "old fashioned" way of learning is comfortable. It's like a pair of Toms that you don't want to get rid of because they were really excellent shoes, even though they have massive holes in them. (I'm so guilty of that. I hate throwing out shoes.) My education growing up was a wonderful one that I have always cherished, but we also have to take into consideration the changing times and the changing pressures in the world pertaining to college preparation and career opportunities for the next generation.
The bottom line:
The media is misconstrued. It's full of fallacies to meet personal agendas. If I believed what the media told me all the time I would be living a miserable life. I hope this article was meaningful in helping to ease fears about new standards. It's intimidating. I know it is. But, just because it's a big change, doesn't mean it's not a great change. Is Common Core perfect? No. There will need to be tweaks as we go. It will take time. It will take effort, but it will be worth the try either way. Major changes are always scary, and it's good to be skeptical, but it's also good to take the time to research past the headlines.
“Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.”
― Frank Zappa
“Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.
Also… I love this.
