Common Core

typeset · March 2014

Am I the only one weighing how this is gonna impact my kid? Thoughts?

malcivar · March 2014

I'll freely admit that I haven't been good about reading up on the Common Core and what exactly it entails but on one of the recent school tours I went on now that we're working through transitioning Chris to Kindergarten, the school administrator did go through a quick talk about Common Core and how it's adapted to our kids with some quick examples about geometry and math and such. So it looks like, as with all things, it's adapted - heavily, to 'check off' all the requirements boxes.

hopanka · March 2014

We are in 3rd grade and currently struggling with it. For the first time ever, my sons report card reads only partially proficient, meaning failing, in math. Since kindy. I dont like common core and i dont like the confusing methods of explaining math. Not a fan.

Assembly_Reqd · March 2014

not looking forward to it. at all.

ToastieSimons · March 2014

common core only affects public schools, correct?

Justinlove · March 2014

There is such a misconception about common core. Teaching methods (such as in math) are NOT DICTATED by common core. Common core is simply a set of standards. I teach kindergarten and I am fine with the K standards. K Math is soooo much better. My students have developed such a stronger understanding of number sense and their problem solving abilities are so much better than with previous standards. I hear people complaining on TB about how their k student is doing xyz and blaming common core. Almost all of the time, it is a teaching method issue and not a common core issue. I know many people are unhappy (and maybe justifiably so), but more people need to examine the actual language of the standards to discover if it a cc issue or a presentation issue.

LauraChicago · March 2014

Justinlove said:
There is such a misconception about common core. Teaching methods (such as in math) are NOT DICTATED by common core. Common core is simply a set of standards. I teach kindergarten and I am fine with the K standards. K Math is soooo much better. My students have developed such a stronger understanding of number sense and their problem solving abilities are so much better than with previous standards. I hear people complaining on TB about how their k student is doing xyz and blaming common core. Almost all of the time, it is a teaching method issue and not a common core issue. I know many people are unhappy (and maybe justifiably so), but more people need to examine the actual language of the standards to discover if it a cc issue or a presentation issue.

All of this. Common core is just a list of standards. I've had to read tons on common core and it is very clear that the teaching methods are left out of it. I've heard a lot about the crazy math and I cannot find anything about who is requiring this method and why.

I'm not all that impressed with the standards (they are fine but won't really change much IMO) but they aren't supposed to have anything to do with the actual curriculum.

LauraChicago · March 2014

YellowLillies I so badly want to know more about this! Do you know who exactly developed the common core curriculum the school is using? That sounds just like the nightmares I've heard about.

In Illinois CC is nothing like that. At all. We replaced the Illinois learning standards with the common core standards and went back to business as usually (with a few slight changes to hit a few different standards that weren't there before). Also, non core teacher have been working to infuse the cc standards into their classes to help the kids apply the skills they are learning.

Isn't NY looking to completing pull out of common core next year?

Stupid government makes something so simply so dang complicated.

CaptainSerious · March 2014

This is awful for M. M can calculate math, but he can't explain why it works, because he doesn't understand mathematical concepts. He has a language-based learning disability, and math is a language. He can calculate with relative accuracy, but if you ask him another way to find the answer or to explain why it works, he has no idea.

"Thinking math" is now a part of almost all his homework exercises, where he's supposed to put into words how to solve a problem and why, or has to explain different ways to come up with the same answer (or a reasonable estimate). Thankfully, his teacher understands that this isn't currently possible for him, but she is still exposing him to the questions in hopes that familiarity will make it easier for him in time.

CaptainSerious · March 2014

Yeah, I get how it makes kids think about what they are doing and what it means, and think it is probably a great way to teach NT kids. Unfortunately for M, it highlights his difficulties and makes a subject he might otherwise score okay in increasingly difficult.

It's good to hear it may get easier for him in time.

CaptainSerious · March 2014

And he's right, in real world circumstances. But isn't that what word problems are for? If you can find the key words and come up with the right answer in a word problem, than you should be at least partially suited for the math you'll encounter in everyday life. Beyond that, I just don't see why a struggling child should have to be able to explain it in words or know alternate ways to solve the same problem.

It just kills me that it makes him struggle more at something in which he be could otherwise possibly do okay.

macchiatto · March 2014

From what I know about it so far, I'm anxious about it. I'm concerned reading about how it's not developmentally appropriate, especially in the lower grades, and not research-based in terms of how children learn and a natural progression. I'm far from an expert on it and probably need to read more from both sides because I think most of what I've read so far (including from a friend who's an elementary teacher and passionately opposed to it) is against it.

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