common core state standards

Short Notes: On The Backs of Black and Brown Children

by Jose Vilson on April 7, 2013

The Second Amendment (Rebuild The Dream)

The Second Amendment (Rebuild The Dream)

A few notes:

Quotable:

“But solutionism, prefix or not, might encourage us to think that “the answers” (whatever those might be) lie in technology — and our hints to these so-called solutions, in tech and not in books. Ed-tech solutionism leads us think that “the answers” to education lie in ed-tech apps and in data gleaned from them and not in education history, theory, or practice. (Let alone in works of fiction like Things Fall Apart.) And just as importantly (particularly for me, as an education writer and critic), “ed-tech solutionism,” according to Morozov, forecloses our interrogating what “the problems” with education really are in the first place.”

- Audrey Watters, from her Hack Education Newsletter

 

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Short Notes: What Is The Political Future for Teachers?

by Jose Vilson on March 17, 2013

The Rock Says, "Do You Like Pi?"

The Rock Says, “Do You Like Pi?”

A few notes:

Quote of the Week:

Two things helped me break through. The first, being vouched for by someone in a position of power who had a relationship with someone else in a position of power. I met that person when costs of investment were low: I worked for David Carr at a rate of $100 dollars a week and ten cents a word for anything I published. The first summer I worked for him, I made $1,700. I did not consider myself underpaid. This was 1996. The New Republic had just told the world that black people had evolved to be stupid, and it seemed like every week they were saying something just as racist. I was at Howard University, surrounded by a community of brilliant black people, cut off from the Ivies. None of them had the contacts or the resources to reply. They just had to take it. I can’t tell you how much that angered me. I was made in that moment. And when I got my first break in writing, I didn’t think about being ripped off. I thought about whipping ass. I haven’t changed.

- Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic, on writing “for free”. Worth the full read.

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If Every Other Word Out Of Your Mouth Is “Common Core”, You’re The Problem

by Jose Vilson on January 15, 2013

Oh come on now! Really, Kentucky? REALLY?!

Oh come on now! Really, Kentucky? REALLY?!

Do me a favor and stop it. Just stop it, you.

Yes, you.

You’re ridiculous now. Every other word out of your mouth is “Common Core.” That’s enough out of you.

I’m all for people having a voice, a seat at the table, and entitlements to opinions and such, but you’re not going to sit there and use the words “Common Core” 58 times in a meeting and not have me either burst out laughing, walking out for a break every 20 minutes, or worse, throw you an eye roll.

I get it, too. The Common Core State Standards, by many accounts, is an internationally benchmarked set of standards developed by coalition consisting of governors, education professors, and other people interested in seeing the United States compete academically with the best and brightest from countries all over the world instead of the middling status we’ve had for decades. I get that it proffers a certain amount of authority and gravitas, in “If you think this is just another fad, but it’s not. It’s going to stay, we’re going to do this all the way, and there’s no turning back” sorta way.

Except, for the classroom teacher, none of that resonates.

For the classroom teacher, the act of planning lessons, teaching those lessons, observing and recording student behavior, grading papers, and reflecting on our practice stays consistent, no matter how often you drill the words “Common Core” into the zeitgeist.

For the classroom teacher, few of us actually know what it is. A few of us think it makes our work easier than our original individual-state standards do. Some others think it might be complete crap but that we’re just going to ride with it because we teach … for a living. Others still just want to see what the publishers do with the assessment, because the things they’ve done with the textbooks have thrown everyone for a loop including the CCSS creators themselves!

For the classroom teacher, the best bet, as has always been, is to focus on professional development in a meaningful way, with teachers actually having more natural discussions amongst each other about students and the assignments we give them without feeling like we need to listen to the Marzano-DuFour-Danielson crowd anymore.

I’m not here to delineate because who’s real and who’s not, either. I’m just saying that you look disingenuous when you see something that might look exciting / rigorous / difficult to you and say, “Oh look, Common Core.”

I get it, too. If you don’t use the word “Common Core” a lot, don’t speak for or against it, you risk irrelevance. Like, look at these people over here really engaging in “the work” (few people define it to start) and you’re not, so you’re not Common Core aligned and you belong over in this corner. Way over here. Like an imaginary dunce cap.

But if you’re willing to engage in the Common Core zealotry (on either side) that I’ve seen, maybe you ought to find another cause to feel this passionately about, like how kids learn.

Alas.

Jose, who’s finding moments of honesty more often than not …

source for image: http://bluegrasspolicy-blog.blogspot.com/2010/07/fordham-study-trashes-education.html

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