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CAT Tracks for September 3, 2013
MORE COMMON CORE |
How about a mixed review this time:
Hey...
I can go for that!
If the Common Core "focuses" and allows teachers to spend more time on fewer topics, that is a good thing. Racing through thick textbooks always led to "drive-by teaching".
But...
If this "more time" is spent in the following manner...
"Take ten?"
Pose a new problem, provide no instruction, and let the students do their "group grope" thing?
A waste of educational time...
...at a time when the education "reformers" want to lengthen the school day and the school year because "there's just not enough time in the day."
The "catch"...
...is the phrase "mathematically proficient students". The "data" tell us that today's "average" students are not "mathematically proficient".
Hell, today's students most likely don't even know their "times tables". Do we really think that these students are going to "explore" new mathematical concepts using their previous knowledge and be eager to "discover" the solution/solutions to problems they've never seen before, never received instruction on before? Oh, yeah, the "nerds" might try, might even succeed...but the average "I don't like math" kid of the average "I didn't do well in math when I was in school" parent ain't gonna do sh*t for ten minutes except create a disturbance.
Don't believe it?
Think I am exaggerating?
I'll show you!
Let's drop in on a local math class and watch a teacher use this approach.
The teacher puts the following problem on the blackboard, greenboard, whiteboard, smartboard, whatever:
Following "best teaching practices" under Common Core, our teacher will then wander from group to group observing their efforts to apply their previous knowledge and critical thinking skills to arrive at a solution. (Hey, maybe the teacher can even sip her coffee while doing so!)
While we give the class time to brainstorm and interact, why don't you read the article that prompted today's missive...
From the New York Times
With Common Core, Fewer Topics Covered More Rigorously
Back already!
That wasn't really ten minutes...
...but that's probably okay because the students have put their pencils (and their heads) down and are waiting for us to critique their creative efforts.
Should I mention?
We are three students short as we continue our class. The teacher had to send two students out for groping that was supposed to be reserved for the sex education unit in Health class. Another student (who possibly aspires to be a comedian when he grows up) cut a fart (to great laughter) and announced that "I gotta go take a dump." When our teacher kindly asked him to please get back on task, he stood up, screamed "I gotta (effing) pee too", and walked out.
Anyway...
I think we are ready to take a look at the answer that was arrived at after ten minutes of due diligence!
Can I get a drum roll please...
"Historically, in American education, we have done every concept in the world a mile wide and an inch deep..."
Taking heed of the Common Core’s instruction that "mathematically proficient students start by explaining to themselves the meaning of a problem and looking for entry points to its solution," Ms. Baldi began to give a new problem "cold turkey," without introduction or explanation, and let groups of students try to figure it out.
