For more than a year the hatred for Common Core has spewed forth with the venom of a rattlesnake. Early on in this widely fought debate I fought a battle for CC. Now I fear that I, too, have given in or up--which ever it is. As a curriculum leader in a public school for some years I was schooled in the principles which were to govern this beast known as Common Core. The rationale establishing the need for this kind of curriculum was always that our students are weak in problem solving and are not able to explain their thinking. I often had the feeling that our leaders were going away for workshops and training and bringing back these new theories and approaches, presenting them to us and expecting that we would be the change agents in our assigned schools. What they did not understand nor anticipate was that teachers were not sponging up these ideas as a better way to get the job done. As leaders, we got it! We presented this material but we were not always well received. Why? As their resource leaders we were collaborating and trying to convince them of the need for change. My time expired without accomplishing that task. Now I can sleep in each morning after a long career in the classrooms of the schools in this state.
Recently I happened upon a former colleague in the grocery store one evening. I, of course, inquired about how things were going. Since the administration had recently changed at her school she replied, " Well, I can handle all of the changes with the new administration but this Common Core stuff is about to kill us."
When I inquired as to how Common Core made teaching so difficult she indicated what they were being required to do much and have students prove their answers in so many ways. She said time flew by each day but there did not seem to be enough hours in a day to get it all done. She went on to explain that students had lots of difficulty with the problem solving required to do the work especially in Math.
Much has been written in the press about and mostly against Common Core and all it represents. The ideas presented by the far right are by and large poppycock. I do not believe mining the data produced by the testing coupled to Common Core is an evil plot to collect information to carry forth and use against citizens. This is one theory put forth vehemently by right wing thinkers.
I have been away from the classroom for four years now. I am certain there is much I do not know about the details of Common Core. On the one hand I am prone to believe that we as parents are not taking advantage of our time with our preschool children to do the kinds of activities which stretch their minds early in their development. But I am not so stupid as to think that all children are ready for these kinds of activities on the developmental spectrum in preschool years.
The old cliche' applies here, "Times have changed." Kindergarten is no longer the developmental play year that it once was. Due to the entry of political control into the realm of education we are now expected to teach what once was a first grade curriculum to preschoolers and kindergartners. Sorry folks but this is what got us to the much hated Common Core everyone is complaining about.
This is the gospel according to Hilda.....right or wrong, it is my opinion!
