All students embark on different routes!

All of our students are going to be something. That 7 year old girl is going to be a Nurse in twenty years, and that other 7 year old girl is going to be UPS driver. They are both students, and both have a common goal to pursue a career in something they enjoy. But how do they get there? Us!
Like an airplane, these two unknown girls are heading in different directions. Our job as educators is to ensure an excellent education for future learners, where it leads them to could be two very different destinations.
Both of them are in college now, and like flying on an airplane, they both had to pay to go on their route. The Nursing student is attending a 4 year school to become and RN. The future UPS driver will have to go through some extensive costly training, learning an entire map of streets and directions on how to get places.
We can do our best to guide them, but they are taking their own routes. It makes life fun and interesting.

The future is on our students!




My very favorite quote by Walt Disney.

Three things I learned in this course are, but are not, limited to...
1. A diverse classroom will be upon us! We need to instruct our students with foreign cultures, America is not the only country in the world!
2. That story about the substitute teacher who put that student in the upper level reading class who became famous in Manhattan I will forever remember! That girl proves that everybody should reach for their DREAM!
3. The common core is actually very useful. It keeps America on the same page as far as education goes. Our level of intelligence thus is competitive with other countries!

Social Justice and the Common Core

What is Social Justice?

"Promoting a just society by challenging injustice and valuing diversity." It exists when "all people share a common humanity and therefore have a right to equitable treatment, support for their human rights, and a fair allocation of community resources."
 http://gjs.appstate.edu/social-justice-and-human-rights/what-social-justice

What is the Common Core?
" The Common Core is a set of high-quality academic standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy (ELA). These learning goals outline what a student should know and be able to do at the end of each grade. The standards were created to ensure that all students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career, and life, regardless of where they live."
 http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/

Both Social Justice and Common Core go hand in hand. The Common Core is developed so that across the nation, our educational opportunities are that of other countries. It is important to all schools across America have the same playing field, the same information being taught and set standards for learning. This is a great development for us. Without Common Core, how do we know how the 6th grade Mathematics course is doing in Fort Myers, Florida? We know because of Common Core. We're teaching the same things. The only downside to this core curriculum is "what about the students with disabilities". If a student is having a hard time adding 2 plus 2, how will they multiply 2 times 2. The aim is that they will be able to keep up with the Common Core.

http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/development-process/

The above website is one I researched and is the site of the Developmental process for the Common Core. There is, in addition, a 3 minute video to watch about the Development of the idea and is a good watch!

In addition, money got this Common Core going, and Bill Gates was the leader of the pack. Going forward, it became the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Statistics showed that as a nation, we were falling behind foreign competitors. They were out to change that and level the playing field, so that our education can compete with other countries. All of this money created guidelines for education.

Pearson received the "whopper" of contracts for testing the common core. The following is an excerpt from the context:
"“The PARCC team has been working together to develop high-quality assessments that will provide educators, students, and their families with important information about how our students are doing in school,”
I believe this idea of testing the common core is extremely valuable to our country, when referring to the question "Is it working for our students?". These tests for the common core monitor our students efficiency levels in English Language Arts and Mathematics. Without the standardized tests, the government would be unable to make adjustments to the common core. Of course with all of the money spent to develop this, they want to make sure the standards are being met.

Finally, while I like the idea of Common Core, and everybody learning the same things, I wish instructors would have room to teach life skills to their students. Of course with Common Core, the way in which it is delivered is unique, but some teachers like to teach different things. One of the teachers I observed (6th grade) discussed with me a block of the day where they can teach any subject the want to. In his case, he is teaching Japanese History.



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