One of the Best Explanations of First Grade Common Core Math. And it’s Not From a ‘Misinformed’ Right Wing Nutjob. | Missouri Education Watchdog:
One of the Best Explanations of First Grade Common Core Math. And it’s Not From a ‘Misinformed’ Right Wing Nutjob.
Crazy Crawfish, a blogger from Louisiana who was previously employed by the Louisiana Department of Education, wrote an article on Common Core aligned curriculum in November 2013. He explains the history of the adoption and implementation of the Initiative and its lack of transparency to the public.
He frames the argument that this is not a ‘right/left’ issue and presents a viewpoint of what Common Core looks like in the classroom by systematically explaining how a first grade math problem is expected to be answered via the Common Core standards methodology. It’s a bit long but if you want to read an outstanding experience to ‘first grade math hell’, read his article on this homework assignment. Ask yourself if anything is different in September 2014.
While John White and Chas Roemer claim CCSS give teacher more flexibility to design their own “curriculum” (which is really just the specific lesson plans, not a curriculum at all) this flexibility and freedom is an illusion. We are all free to fly to the moon, but that doesn’t mean we can do it. If it was easy to design a daily curriculum then textbook companies that were poised to make enormous profits on this endeavor would have already produced them, but in most, if not all schools, no new text books supporting Common Core have been issued. Louisiana implemented Common Core before we even had textbooks and have to rely on license free worksheets like the ones produced by EngageNY to teach our children. But my first grade child in East Baton Rouge parish is not learning anything from these worksheets. I am telling her what to fill in, after brainstorming with Facebook friends and family (some of whom are elementary teachers and mathematicians) to try and figure out what the hell I’m supposed to do. I and my daughter’s grandmothers have no idea what this “math” is, how to help my daughter, or what it’s supposed to be teaching her except to listen to us tell her what to fill in a box. There are many children that don’t have as many committed adults at home. How do you think they are faring?
This first sheet is a little blurry, so I apologize. (My completed version of it is clearer.)
The first worksheet question states “Draw the 5-group card to show a double. Write the number sentence to match the cards.” Despite the fact that I still have no idea what a 5-group card is, I count a set of three boxes that equals six total boxes, not 5, I also have no idea why a “double” is significant and do not recall ever needing to write a “number sentence.” This first problem was missing instructions which my daughter’s teacher thoughtfully provided and the third problem appears to have been incorrect and needed to be corrected by the teacher. I wonder how many kids tried working this worksheet out with incorrect examples?
To see the worksheets and read about this tortuous process, read more
here. And be sure to read the reader comments who claim the only reason for the problems encountered by the writer were the teacher’s fault for not sending information home on how to solve them. Crazy Crawfish replies:
I pulled this as a random example but there are plenty more where this came from. Does it make sense to teach this way if parents are not aware of this terminology or how to help, even in first grade? Does this strike you as particularly rigorous, as CCSS supprters claim? How is this a “deeper understanding” off math. And what is a double fact that helped me solve a double +1. . . anyone?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
