Assistant Principal Peter Graves was happy. For one thing, it was Friday. For another thing, he had just left this month’s Assistant Principals Roundtable meeting, which was always a relief. He felt free. For another thing, the Vice-Assistant Deputy Superintendent of Assessment and Achievement had given all of them a very strong recommendation that he Read More >>
Going through the stages of grief in reverse order, my experience with the Common Core has lead me from ACCEPTANCE, to DEPRESSION, to BARGAINING, to ANGER. But where to go from anger? I have already inverted the stages of grief; now I’ll add to them. I will end, not just with DENIAL, but with AFFIRMATION. Read More >>
As I became aware of the Common Core Standards movement, it first seemed like a way to justify the very real learning that took place in my classroom. It promised to focus on the things we wanted students to do instead of scripted curricula, and most of the standards seemed to make sense to me. It gained Read More >>
I read the Common Core State [sic] Standards with ACCEPTANCE because of the relief they appeared to offer from standardization and standardized testing. Then I read the publishers criteria and found out about writing to text, not making personal connections, text complexity, and other concepts that contradicted the Common Core’s promise to not dictate how Read More >>
In my last post I outlined my initial stage of experience with the Common Core Standards: ACCEPTANCE. I outlined my reasons for thinking the Common Core offered possible relief for what ailed me: over-testing, standardization, and too many standards. The next step, moving through the stages of grief in reverse, is… DEPRESSION The first thing Read More >>
The following posts from 2013 is somewhat ironic now, since Florida is moving away from Common Core soon (or the Florida Standards, as they call them). But I think it’s worth re-posting these as a recounting of how I felt about the new standards at the time… I’m not sure exactly when it hit me, Read More >>
Dear Students, “Do your work!” You hear it all the time. Work! Work! Work! No wonder so many students hate school. It must be confusing for you students. In case you hadn’t noticed, adults have a lot of different views about work. Work can be see as a rotten way to spend your time– something Read More >>
Dear Students, I want you to be interested, not bored. I often think you want the same thing. But sometimes I think you like being bored. You seem to revel in it. Sometimes it seems everything bores you, and that you think it’s cool to be bored. But I want you to be interested. I Read More >>
To My Students, As I said in my first letter, I want you to understand about rules: why they matter, when they should be resisted, and that ultimately it’s not about rules – or shouldn’t be. I hinted that there was more I wanted for you. Just as the nature of rules is paradoxical, the Read More >>
Dear Students, I am your teacher – for a time. We will spend a year, maybe three if I loop with you, together. You may remember my class fondly for many years. You may remember my class as a torture chamber you need to recover from once you escape. You may forget you were ever Read More >>