Bush started Obama finished, a national curriculum

[woodsmoke]

I was blown away the last two days to see reported that three primary and secondary schools in the area are going to either close the scholl on friday or monday, or shorten the day by one hour .............

One school, SAYS that it is to "cut cost", but........curiously........the teachers will still be at the school for "continuing education"..........WHAT? A fully certified teacher needs .........6 HOURS of "continuing education" EVERY WEEK?

One school says...........that the day will be for "continuing education" for the teachers..........couched in very politically correct educationese of course.......

The other........the hour that the students are gone will be spent.......on "continuing education".

Please notice this quote from a RANDOMLY SELECTED article:

Although districts consider moving to a four-day school week for many reasons,

such as to provide time for professional development

or to meet family needs for medical appointments (WHAT TEACHERS NEED AN EXTRA DAY EACH NEED FOR "family needs" or.......medical!? WHAT? woodsmoke)

, the impetus is often to reduce costs with minimal impacts to instruction.

http://educationnorthwest.org/resour...ay-school-week

Ok.........I mentioned, in "the office" the reports about local schools and.........ONE of the secretaries.........said............

"Yeah and I'll tell you the REAL reason why"........now this is a college secretary who LOVES.......education.........

"(name of school wherein her child is enrolled) is spending all day.........every day..........on common core............ education has gone out the window.......and the teachers don't know how to teach it......... remember that video that you had (name of other secretary) watch last semester.........well...........we are getting it jammed down our kids throats now, it started this semester........nothing but common core, the closed day is for the teachers to learn how to teach it..".

Here is the said video:

NOTICE:

a) the very SUPERIOR attitude of the "trainer"........

b) the use of the term "trivial math fact".......referring to a student memorizing addition tables........ like 2 + 2 = 4 no more memorizing THAT trivial math fact...instead......

they are memorizing OTHER declared in a very officious sniffy tone......"not trivial" math facts .......like "ten is our friend"......

c) notice ALSO that there is arbitray decompositon of 6 into 5 and 1, the students often say ......well.........why not 3+3 or 4+2?

And are they ARE TOLD .........that they have to MEMORIZE this "not trivial math fact"..... to break the number so that there is a "5" in it because......"ten is our friend"........and the student says........well what about 8+2 to get 10........and is told that that is a "trivial math fact"....

WATCH and LEARN...........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2QGiGqz-xs


Ok I was involved with THE localized to the state, oringinal, "standardized test" that was sold by CTB McGraw Hill nationwide..........

notice............the education, book publisher, "complex".....

The original exam was a perfectly straightforward exam and actually WORKED..............

the problem was...that........the students were able to learn for this year and then apply the next year so that......guess what.....the scores went up and everybody was happy and this correlated.........as in the math term CORRELATED..........with SAT and ACT and other optional national exams.....

BUT..............THAT..............did not create ever increasing sales for the book companies and ever increasing numbers of bureaucrats........

the REPUBLICANS/conservatives........looooovvvveee increasing book company profits...........and the DEMOCRATS/liberal........love increasing the number of bureaucrats.........

I could not understand why it is that .....the ..NEWLY MINTED Republican congress is not taking on common core........

I WAS WONDERING WHY.......? After all, I'm a simiple guy...

And now I know........

Bush started us down the path to a dumbed down "No child left behind"......which was bad enough.......at least there was some small thought of localized control......

Obama has not doubled down.........he has 10x down on it.......... rembember......."ten is our friend".........

THAT........is why the Republicans are not going to say a single solitary word about "junior college"..........they won't "pass money for it"......they will stelthily pass "tax breaks" and whatever.......

..........."education"...........will be moved up to the community college and maybe the first two years of a four year college(but don't count on that latter...........the typical college geek professor......

LOVES THE SUBJECT AND IT CAME EASY.....that is why she or he is a........college prof...........".....

She or he lives in a cloistered world of abstraction..........

They may know their subject but....they are not "people people".........and can't TEACH...........

LOL BUT GUESS WHAT!!!!! the local intranets at the colleges get mulitple e-mails a day about..........."get a phD in this or get "extended parallel training" in that......"

EVEN THE COLLEGE PROFS are going to........"have to go back to school".......I'm LUVIN that twist ........

AND THE COLLEGES ARE LOVING THIS.....they get to make big bucks of EVERYBODY being in school all the time...just lovin', ...if the Republicans ever get the work week week back to 40 hours I'll have another class! just lovin it!

Otherwise not so much diving with disable people for the old woodsmoker as before.

I am SO mad at Bush......and even madder at Obama...........and so mad at Democrats...........and now even MORE mad at Republicans........

WELCOME to the brave new world of..........

Whichever political party can be "in control"......"long enough".....to get a PERMANENT under educated class under their sway for long enough to consolidate power........

And what will be hilarious.....is if....the liberals who just LOVE the idea of the government dictating things........

WHAT A TURN AROUND FROM THE SIXTIES HIPPIES ! ! ! :0 :0 ............lol..........it really is hilarious.......

what will be hilarious.......is........if the Republicans somehow slither their way into a permanent majority.............

I am SO.........glad that I am OUT of high school "eddikatun".

woodGRRRRRRRsmoke

[vsreeser]

Local control of schools worked well for so many years. Made it hard to indoctrinate kids so the elites want national control. The states have control granted in the constitution but are held ransom by money from the feds. Many states are now requiring high school grads to take the citizenship test. Probably a good thing. So many of the younger (under 40) people know so little about the constitution and how the government works. If you don't know how something works, you can't even start to fix it

[SteveRiley]

WATCH and LEARN...........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2QGiGqz-xs

So that's pretty much how I've always done addition in my head -- and very fast, I might add. Explaining it might take 90 seconds, but doing it is nearly instantaneous. Many people do this.

If you're going to lob criticism, make it defensible. Your desire to see conspiracies everywhere and to constantly play the victim is tiresome.

[kubicle]

So that's pretty much how I've always done addition in my head -- and very fast, I might add. Explaining it might take 90 seconds, but doing it is nearly instantaneous. Many people do this.

Yup

From the Video: "When you and I were in school we used to just memorize that 9 + 6 = 15" ?!? Seriously?
I can't stop laughing (and crying) and wondering were she went to school. No wonder (some) people find math hard.

[whatthefunk]

I really wish you would write better. I read this mess twice and still cant figure out what your point is. Youre no better than the post modern artists you complain about.

[GreyGeek]

When I began my first year teaching high school science and math in a K-12 school I was asked to be the acting principal because I had the highest degree and the most credit hours. In that position I was able to visit all the classrooms and observe & evaluate the teachers and the process. First grade students who didn't do well on their math were put into a second track (remedial) in the second grade. Special Education teachers were paid more than regular teachers to teach the "special Ed" students. Their special methods? Re-teach first grade math using first grade materials. The students neither caught on nor caught up. I came to the conclusion that except for a very small percentage of them the problem was that they didn't KNOW the math facts, I.E. The 12X12 tables of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. In 1978 I used my new Apple II+ computer to write a program that drilled them on those facts. Everyone ran the program every day and they enjoyed doing it. After a couple months they had memorized those tables and could recall any fact instantly, with confidence. Confidence was the important point. My observation was that the problem the kids were having was that because they didn't know for sure that 7x8=56, for example, when ever they were asked to solve a problem they couldn't understand it. Even the teachers didn't understand that the problem wasn't that they were dumb, they just didn't know their math facts.
The teachers wasted their time teaching what was a dumbed down version of math theory, which the kids didn't understand because it didn't teach them math facts.

After a couple months on the computer program they were confident. By the end of the semester they were creating amortization tables on 30 year house loans, breaking down each payment into interest and principal, something the college prep math students couldn't do.

Using the method in the video complicates the problem of 7x8. Ten is our friend would have the kid trying to break 7 into 5 and 2 or 8 into 5 and 3, neither of which will work. So, instead, the student is asked to revert to sums. It is true that multiplication is merely repeated addition and having the student do 8+8=16+8=24+8=32+8=40+8=48+8=56 but notice that the student still has to either memorize the addition tables or break down 48+8 into a Ten is your friend problem, and ditto for the previous sums.

Sooner or later, and it is usually later if at all, the student must acquire an instant recall of the math facts. That many have failed was evident from the number of clerks who couldn't make proper change unless the cash register told them.

The current delimma in education explains why our students "feel" they ranked high in international science, reading and math competition but when the rankings are posted American students can't even break into the top twenty.

[GreyGeek]

My interest in Common Core was created when my grandson, in the third grade. We often pick him up at school and baby sit him when his folks get hung up at work. He brings his home work. Being an old math teacher he asked me to check his home work. That's when I first encountered common core. Simply writing the answer to 8+7, for example, he had to write out eight circles and 7 circles, grouped in tens and then COUNT the circles! "Don't you know what 8+7 is immediately without drawing circles?", I asked. "Of course, Grandpa, but if we don't do it this way it's counted wrong." "What if you miscount the circles and put down the wrong answer?", I replied. "It doesn't matter what the answer is, its how you do it." I really didn't need to "check" his home work. Here, using dots instead of circles, is an example of his homework.

[Qqmike]

I got a theory about this teaching-&-schools business, and it could ruffle some feathers. It's a simple theory: (1) Many teachers are not fully competent in their specialty teaching areas (a polite way of putting it); (2) Many have no clue how to teach. And being forced through that silly 1-year teaching program in the School of Education is just more words, more bullskit.

Go to any graduate school. The hot dogs work right through, snag the Master's, many continue to the doctorate. Watch what happens to many of those who end up becoming public school teachers. Consult points (1) and (2) above. Many have no damn clue about their major, they rate a C or D versus their peers, many can't even make the Master's, many who do barely do so and promptly quit to teach school. Yeah this is an elitist's view, a view stemming from the belief that if you go for the Master's (and beyond), that you are a master of your discipline. You don't basically flunk yourself out and go teach our children. My field for these observations was math, at three universities: NIU Dekalb, IU-Bloomington, and a small private engineering college (Rose-Hulman Inst of Tech/Indiana); as well as ISU-Terre Haute IN.

I'll never be convinced to the contrary. You'll notice that I did not say that every school teacher is a flunky or incompetent--I said many are, many are not competitive with their peers in an academic setting (Test it: if their field is, say, math, try to talk to them about math; even over drinks they have no clue and not much to say--you'll run circles around them). And that is all I'll post on this cheerful subject.

[GreyGeek]

Interesting theory. I haven't taught in public schools since 1980 but my experience revealed the following:
the half-life of a teacher is about one year. About half of all rookie teachers quit after the first year. Half of those remaining quit the following year, and so on for the next three or four years.
I've also noticed that the college education curriculum cannot teach a person how to teach. They either instinctively know or they don't. This coordinates with the fact good teachers have great personalities, and get along well with their students. They rarely have discipline problems. Poor teachers usually have poor, even anti-social personalities and commonly provoke their own discipline problems.
Good teachers learn from and build on their experience. Poor teachers have one year of experience over and over regardless of how long they teach. They either use the same set of lesson plans over and over or they don't use them at all, and wing it.
Good teachers are grossly underpaid and poor teachers are grossly overpaid.
And, symptomatic of our schools, coaches are hired because they have a teaching certificate and are fired because they can't win games. Most are as poor at coaching as they are at teaching and, unfortunately, they end up teaching science and math because the pool of qualified teachers in those disciplines is very shallow.

[Qqmike]

Interesting and well-put.

the college education curriculum cannot teach a person how to teach. They either instinctively know or they don't.

Exactly. Ditto for their depth of knowledge of the subject they are teaching. It is not just a matter of passing exams, but really "getting it" at a profound, fundamental level; it's a qualitative thing one can observe in people who know their discipline(s) well. They develop a trained instinct after awhile, really having a handle on the why's and where-for's of the subject matter. I've observed that many of the "Master's level dropouts" that go on to teach public schools don't have this edge, this depth of knowledge, the insights into their discipline(s)--you really see this in math and science. Trivial example, they solve a quadratic equation strictly by rote, with no clue why, where it came from, and least of no clue how to derive the equation themselves--no sense for it, no intuition, no real understanding. So, they move on the teach our kids to solve quadratics!

[GreyGeek]

The same can be said for almost any skill. There are people who have tried to "learn" Linux for years with only marginal success. Although the graphical desktop and the mouse interface has been a boon to many what lies beneath is still a black box to them. If something breaks or they end up in an unfamiliar situation their sole solution is to reboot and hope that the situation will fix itself. Most of the time, even with Windows, it does.

However, there are people who, within the space of 2 to 4 years, become very skilled in using Linux and its foundational tools. This forum is blesses to have several of these people in residence.

In their respective skill set (art, music, sculpture, writing, programming, medicine, law, etc.) they are an order of magnitude or more above the crowd. They deserve the adjective "gifted". Unlike savants, and some geniuses, they also socially well adjusted, and usually have great personalities. Some abuse their gift by just exploiting what they have, while others invest in their gift and enlarge it.

Many have more more than one gift because they are very talented at what ever they choose to do.

[anika200]

I believe this thread is totally off rails at this point. Use at own risk.

[Qqmike]

I believe this thread is totally off rails at this point. Use at own risk.

What! If it is "off rails," that's for Woody to decide; and I don't think Woody would ever declare a thread "off rails."

The same can be said for almost any skill ...

A distinction: Usually, if you are interested in a subject, and wish to master it, then you will. Desire translates into achievement. Applies to academic disciplines, trades, hobbies, computers, cooking, whatever.

The case of the teacher is different. IMO, a teacher should love his/her field, excel in it, understand it, and know how to teach it. My high school algebra teacher was a welder who taught gym and algebra when he wasn't, well, welding. And he didn't it well, algebra, that is. I had to learn algebra in other ways, which I was motivated to do. He had a very superficial understandiung of algebra, even a student could sense it.

Most of us here could master and excel at anything we put our minds to and really * wanted * to master.

[jlittle]

I believe this thread is totally off rails at this point. Use at own risk.

That's why the sub-forum is called Community Cafe - Social/Casual Talk; that warning always applies.

If you think the first post was on rails, seek help.

[jlittle]

the college education curriculum cannot teach a person how to teach. They either instinctively know or they don't.

Exactly. Ditto for their depth of knowledge of the subject they are teaching. It is not just a matter of passing exams, but really "getting it" at a profound, fundamental level; it's a qualitative thing one can observe in people who know their discipline(s) well...

While I agree with what you say broadly, some basic maths and physics teaching is better done by those who don't grasp it intuitively; I imagine it's very hard for someone who understands it easily to understand how the students who don't are thinking. I had basic maths down at primary school ("grade school" in American?) but was and am lousy at explaining it to others, despite lots of trying.

One of my daughters is an engineering student and was doing first year undergraduate mechanics last year. She came to me for help with a statics problem, I said calculate this, that and the other and here's the answer; over 35 years since I'd done any mechanics, it was plain as day, and I was lousy at helping her.