Power of community

“Teachers unions shouldn’t be surprised the implementation was botched,” said Lindsey Burke, the Will Skillman Fellow in Education at The Heritage Foundation. “This is what happens with one-size-fits-all bureaucratic initiatives.”

No truer words have not been spoken up front.  We gone though open classrooms, whole language, Reading First, to many to list over the past 40 years.  They may have been some advantages to the approach but it wouldn't matter- it would fail and so will the Common Core Standards.  Why?  Because the system will not change HOW education is delivered to learners.  

At NGGE, we look at the HOW!

Insanity = Continuing to use a teach to test system

We have a teach to test educational system that is killing the curiosity and motivation to seek out answers.  Children are born curious and motivated to learn about and interact with their environment.   It doesn't shut down when they reach the age of 5 or 6.  Our school system turns it off.   And did they have to take a test to see if they had mastered drumming on pots, cruising the furniture, drinking from a cup?

We will get what we ask for if we don't make some changes now.  Failure is getting to be to costly.

What lessons could look like

A Belated Happy Valentine's Day

Early, VERY early yesterday morning I received a Valentine email from the children I work with in Nairobi, Kenya.  What I see first is all the smiling faces, eyes filled with anticipation for what we might do next...eager, motivated learners.  There are 30 children packed into a room that is not much bigger then a typical US living room.  It is hot.  They have limited supplies and only one computer.  The walls of the "classrooms" are falling apart.  We would never allow our children to try to learn under such conditions. Soon they'll have other lessons to teach us.

You would never see that here!

Can you imagine teaching in a classroom like this?  What skills must you have to keep such a group motivate and loving learning.  What type of educational background would be important to work in this environment?  What training and preparation do you suggest?

Put yourself up in the front of that room.  Tell us what you would do.

Cartoon of the Day

Ever since PL94-142 was passed back in the '70's children have been left behind.  I spent 8 years teaching medically fragile, multiple handicapped children ages 6-14.  They were accountable to the state standards but could have a portfolio rather then take the tests.  We were writing objectives such as : Albert will be able to show recognition of the state by glance at the picture 3 our of 5 times.  We ended up spending most of their time "in school" testing their objectives rather then allowing them the pleasures of explore the sites, sounds, textures, motion around them.  They had so little time.

Those that don't get left behind get run over for being ahead of the bus.

Cartoon for the Day

Recently I was reviewing a lesson plan to see if it was worth developing.  The lesson was teaching number families.  The teacher wrote that she get the children to see the relationship between addition and subtraction.  (I'm also thinking multiplication and division!)

Cartoon for the Day

Why write a book when a picture can say the same thing?

Cartoon of the Day

Being a very visual person, I decided to see what public opinions were being shared regarding our current flailing education system and the adoption of the Common Core Standards.  I had had enough of the TV and radio reports.  Most of it I don't agree with anyway.
So I have decided that I am going to let a cartoon do the speaking for me.  A few times a week I will post a cartoon along with a comment.  I hope you will respond with you thoughts as well.

Cartoon for today:

Is our educational system supporting independent thinking and creativity or creating robots to do their bidding?