Note that one of your potential final exam questions asks you to comment on "new trends" in education. TSSFFAP is over 15 years old now, and some of its "new" trends aren't new anymore--and a lot of recent trends aren't even mentioned. In particular, there's nothing in TSSFFAP about the Common Core.After reading the TSSFFAP "Madness to their Methods" chapter, take a look at Diane Ravitch's blog and read through some of her posts on the Common Core. You might also find amusing the "Students Last" Ravitch mentions on her blog.
What connection do you see between the Common Core and some of the trends TSSFFAP talks about? Does it seem to you that the Common Core is a truly new trend, or does it simply take farther earlier trends like those mentioned in TSSFFAP?
Common core does seem to simply be a combination of old "new trends". I myself do not support it and think it is simply another attempt to change the curriculum to improve our abysmal education. We need to pay teachers better and place more importance on providing modern resources to educators. We need to move away from the teaching from the book method because the books simply don't address the key issues in education. Common core makes teaching/creating lesson plans more difficult for educators and it almost seems to ignore history and other "non core" courses. Forcing a history teacher to include common core language arts skills in every single lesson plan is going to detract from their field of study creating less focused, more nonsensical lesson plans. By nonsensical, I really do mean "filled with "BS" to make it seem like it is using common core." It is just political jibberjab and it is ultimately responsible for our poor education. (my opinions)
ReplyDeleteThe common core is new in the fact it is relied heavily with technology. It seems it has some traces of OBE and mastery learning which is good for some, but not the whole group. I am going to focus on the technology aspect of it. I think they need to slow the roll on demanding so much of technology. Yes, it's a good thing and provides what some teachers can't. But, realistically, their programs are not attainable by every school district because of their cost. Plus, the fact any program they buy, it is deemed "outdated" within a few short years. They need to go back to the basics, it worked back then? So much of today can be phrased as, "my iphone got a scratched on it, I better throw it away and get a new one." Yes, I understand that teaching and education is an ever changing process. The more we learn, the more we have to be pushed. That to grow and evolve, change is impediment. But, I don't think its changing in the right direction. It seems like the price tag is pushed first over quality. Quality of the programs needs to be restructured to advance the students. Not just how much money it can make for corporations. When you focus on money, you lose sight of the big picture and that's "our" future.
ReplyDeleteReading through Diane Ravitch's blog you can see she is not a fan of Common Core standards, and attacks it more for it's political implications than its actual educational benefit or lack there of. My first introduction to Common Core came with my Into to Special Education (SPED 100) class. I had never heard of it before this. In this class it was preached as a good thing to help prevent mislabeling of learning/developmental disabilities across varying school districts and states. From that standpoint it sounds great! Diane's perspective is: these “new” standards now analyze just math and English to decide college readiness. I totally agree that Common Core waters down some states higher standards, and ignores all subjects but math, science & English. Common Core is just another trend...but a successful one. We all seem to be stuck with it until the next great thing comes along. I've seen the difference in my daughter's 1st grade math homework compared to her Kindergarten homework, since Aberdeen Public Schools adopted Common Core over the summer. A lot more critical thinking instead of just rote memorization of addition/subtraction tables like I learned.
ReplyDeleteCommon core is a scare. One of Diane Ravitch's blog posts is all about a school that puts on a haunted house about the reforms of education. It seemed funny while I read it, but ultimately it is one of the scariest ideas created for education. Make some robots and we should be good right? As long as kids can explain the answer it must be right. I look at Common Core and think about the Hitler Youth. Teach them to be zombies at a young age and they will never pose a problem again. Maybe I am more skeptical than I should be, but after seeing some of the experts opinions on this matter and some of the meaningless skill sets it requires I am worried about sending my kid to public school. Furthermore, some of the required readings for the English section are sickening. As far as referring back to our class textbook it, as Robbie mentioned, is much like OBE and Mastery learning. However, I think it really fits into almost every one of them in some form or another. I haven't heard a positive yet so Scott's post gave me a little hope that perhaps students won't be coming into my classroom completely clueless how to write a paper or do basic math. But I fail to see actual results on a large scale. I will continue to maintain my skepticism and ultimately distaste towards Common Core probably until it is replaced with yet another possibly worse teaching program.
ReplyDeleteI think that common core is not going to be the last reform we will see in education and it will be reformed or replaced again. I do think it is a step in the right direction. From the time I have spent in a classroom during junior field some of the teachers were already trying to implement the Common Core into their lesson plans, As far as history goes I think that the idea of learning the big picture and not just the facts is important and how we want to teach history anyway. I also support that history is starting to have some kind of testing standards, i know it creates extra stress during testing time but it also gives you a goal for the year.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Baker. Common core seems to be a new trend but it will not be the last reform we see in education. It almost reminds me of a quote by a comedian when he said, "My wife is pregnant and I am reading all the latest books on parenting...Which I'm sure are all wrong we will learn years from now, but I'm trying it out." What I mean by that is that Common core is a new trend and we can see the effects it has on students. Yes, it may put more pressure on the students to test at a higher level than before but like Baker stated it helps with learning the bigger picture and not just all facts. I believe in my experiences at NSU our history classes not only look at facts but the big picture in general. I have been told more than once in a history class remembering dates is never a big deal just remember what happened and who it happened to so you can relate that to the larger subject at hand.
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