I am grateful when my teenagers listen to my political soapbox ideologies, then do their own research or thinking on matters, and recognize when their personal freedoms are being threatened. Thankfully, my 15-year-old son has a knack for placing reliable application against precarious observation when red flags appear in his surroundings.
Sitting around the dinner table the other night, he shared with me how his history teacher reviewed some interesting points of the Holocaust. In class that day, the students watched some footage of German children being herded to "school" like cattle. It is here that my son would normally drift into daydream mode, but something struck his attention. Each child in the video clip was either stamped with a number across his belly or was tagged with a jewish star, and ALL the children suffered harsh consequences for non-compliance of rules. As he sat in class, his eyes browsing through rows of peers, the light bulb flicked on. One word came to his mind: LANYARDS!
Each student in the district is required to wear a lanyard, attached to a picture ID, around his neck all day, every day, during school hours and at affiliated functions. Non-compliant children are punished with any combination of detention, suspension, or (ultimately) expulsion.
I smiled at his brilliant connection, then responded with three simple words, "Common Core, baby!"
Coincidentally, the ID lanyard requirement for students in this area was enacted simultaneously with the institution of Common Core...Hmmm.
Saturday, June 7, 2014
Monday, March 24, 2014
I Wish My Children Observed Me Then
Viewing re-plays of the recent Olympic figure skating competition transports me back to long hours I spent practicing at the Iceland rink as a teenager. Then, I had an unbundled amount of energy,
endless stamina, and an undying determination to succeed. My coach referred to me as a “natural” when I
so gracefully skated. Since then, my
older years have sucked most of that energy and diminished the majority of skills I
once possessed—mainly because the competitive level achievements ironically
deteriorated my skeletal structures over time. Even though I
can still feel the required movements when I review them in my mind, my physical
body can no longer properly execute them.
My children have watched me gather speed along the ice on a few
occasions (like in the photo displayed here), witnessing strength in spins and my favorite (flip) jump—which I
still do off the ice, constantly.
But,
oh! How I wish my children could have been by my side, to observe me back then…because I wonder how
it would change their perception of me now.
Thursday, January 30, 2014
The Common Core Shift: Which Direction?
High school sophomores should NOT be given in-class assignments to read, then annotate, articles that depict explicit pornographic trends and sexual behaviors in the Japanese culture. Initially, it defies my approval for exposure to corrupt subject matter during school hours, but it inexorably illustrates a failed attempt to instill proper literary structure necessary for successful critical thinking.
Welcome to the Common Core State Standards Initiative, where "maximizing the Common Core involves a change in creativity, critical thinking, and a fundamental shift in relationships."
Did you catch that? A change! I'm all about improvement. But, my concern here is: in which direction?
According to novemberlearning.com "The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are not intended to be new names for old ways of doing business. They are a call to take the next step." Huh? That's not vague [insert sarcasm]. The old ways of reading, writing, and 'rithmatic, which have been established for centuries, are being dumped near the bottom of the stoop while we take the next step. Where? Upward...to fizzled potential? Or, perhaps, downward...to a dismal and oppressed generation?
Study with real-world involvement text does not apply literary devices critical for improving logic and reasoning.
See the irony there? Probably not, if you're a Common Core recipient. So, let me break it down a bit. Critical thinking is the new standard focus in ALL subjects, yet (ironically) it is quickly being twisted, corrupted, and extracted from the curriculum. For example, if my son gets the wrong answer on a math equation, he can now receive full credit for the assignment...so long as he can "reason" his way to the incorrect answer. Or, take the picture attached to this installment. Comical, at first. Yet, in Common Core curriculum, this mistake is acceptable...since you can "reason" that the person painting the word used all the correct letters; it does not matter that the letters are in the wrong order. Is the light bulb turning on yet? Probably not, if you're a Common Core recipient. Let me just sound out this one: children are being taught to rationalize (as opposed to critically think), with no respect to right or wrong.
A begging discussion regarding the chaos of raising a generation with no viable mathematical or writing skills is nipping at my heels, but will be reserved for a different blog. The point for today is that valuable--key word, there--critical thinking skills require learning, gaining an understanding of, then applying an array of literary elements (such as plot, theme, dialogue) and techniques (like imagery, simile, allegory). These devices are generally found in literature--AKA creative writing--not informative text given across all academic disciplines.
Critical thinking is discerning judgment based on standards. It is the intellectual tool which improves quality of thinking, and in its simplest manifest is "the art of taking charge of your own mind" (criticalthinking.org).
Common Core pursues the critical thinking platform while (again, ironically) diminishing and stealing the crucial reasoning (not rationalizing) processes of a child's mind. When each individual child is leveled to the same playing field as all other children via reading only informational, real-world statistics, there is nowhere else for each child's imagination to soar: no plot in which to plunge; no analogies to create; no escape from the facts. Classic literature is vital to understanding the possibilities of the future.
The Common Core shift poses numerous questions with no solid answers. It literally removes the critical from 'critical thinking' skills...leaving each child destitute in mind.
Welcome to the Common Core State Standards Initiative, where "maximizing the Common Core involves a change in creativity, critical thinking, and a fundamental shift in relationships."
Did you catch that? A change! I'm all about improvement. But, my concern here is: in which direction?
According to novemberlearning.com "The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are not intended to be new names for old ways of doing business. They are a call to take the next step." Huh? That's not vague [insert sarcasm]. The old ways of reading, writing, and 'rithmatic, which have been established for centuries, are being dumped near the bottom of the stoop while we take the next step. Where? Upward...to fizzled potential? Or, perhaps, downward...to a dismal and oppressed generation?
Study with real-world involvement text does not apply literary devices critical for improving logic and reasoning.
See the irony there? Probably not, if you're a Common Core recipient. So, let me break it down a bit. Critical thinking is the new standard focus in ALL subjects, yet (ironically) it is quickly being twisted, corrupted, and extracted from the curriculum. For example, if my son gets the wrong answer on a math equation, he can now receive full credit for the assignment...so long as he can "reason" his way to the incorrect answer. Or, take the picture attached to this installment. Comical, at first. Yet, in Common Core curriculum, this mistake is acceptable...since you can "reason" that the person painting the word used all the correct letters; it does not matter that the letters are in the wrong order. Is the light bulb turning on yet? Probably not, if you're a Common Core recipient. Let me just sound out this one: children are being taught to rationalize (as opposed to critically think), with no respect to right or wrong.A begging discussion regarding the chaos of raising a generation with no viable mathematical or writing skills is nipping at my heels, but will be reserved for a different blog. The point for today is that valuable--key word, there--critical thinking skills require learning, gaining an understanding of, then applying an array of literary elements (such as plot, theme, dialogue) and techniques (like imagery, simile, allegory). These devices are generally found in literature--AKA creative writing--not informative text given across all academic disciplines.
Critical thinking is discerning judgment based on standards. It is the intellectual tool which improves quality of thinking, and in its simplest manifest is "the art of taking charge of your own mind" (criticalthinking.org).
Common Core pursues the critical thinking platform while (again, ironically) diminishing and stealing the crucial reasoning (not rationalizing) processes of a child's mind. When each individual child is leveled to the same playing field as all other children via reading only informational, real-world statistics, there is nowhere else for each child's imagination to soar: no plot in which to plunge; no analogies to create; no escape from the facts. Classic literature is vital to understanding the possibilities of the future.
The Common Core shift poses numerous questions with no solid answers. It literally removes the critical from 'critical thinking' skills...leaving each child destitute in mind.