My son started Kindergarten
this past September and my daughter entered the second grade. I thought my son
would love kindergarten since he loved the Universal Pre K program, but I was
wrong, he hates school. I asked my
son why he hates school and he said “It’s not fun and all we do is work and it’s too hard.” Knowing my
daughter had a wonderful experience in Kindergarten 2 years prior I thought
kindergarten being too much work and too hard must be just an excuse. I thought
maybe he was having trouble making friends so I asked the teacher and she said
“no everybody loves Mikey.” Then the Pearson worksheets and graded math tests
started appearing in my son’s folder. Then I realized my son was right, there is
too much work and most of the content was way too hard for a kindergartner. My son’s kindergarten
experience has not fostered a love of learning it has fostered a hatred for
school.
* My son's Kindergarten teacher is a great teacher but her hands are tied and she's stuck teaching to the CCSS (Common Core State Standards).
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| My son's kindergarten experience. |
* My son's Kindergarten teacher is a great teacher but her hands are tied and she's stuck teaching to the CCSS (Common Core State Standards).
A rigorous developmentally
inappropriate Kindergarten curriculum left me with lots of questions and for
months I struggled to find the answers to:
WHY the New York State
Education Department would choose to adopt and implement the CCSS not knowing if they would benefit student learning?
WHY a teachers union would bail
on their own members by not fighting against a teachers’ evaluation system that
determines if a teacher is effective or ineffective based on student test
scores?
Why the state would want to
develop polices and enforce mandates that hurt our schools, our children and
our community?
I discovered Education “Reform”
policies has very little to do with educating children but have everything to
do with increasing revenue for corporations and political campaigns.
I've had enough of asking WHY.
It’s time to ask HOW!
How can I better advocate for children, teachers and public education? HOW can I help stop public education from joining the dinosaurs in extinction?
This makes me sad. My son is starting kindergarten in FL this year and I so hope this is NOT his experience, as he LOVES to learn and is very bright.
ReplyDeleteI would see if they are implementing this curriculum. If they are, I would delay sending my kid to school for a year to give his brain more time to develop and be ready for these expectations. They are completely inappropriate and do not coincide with any current understanding of child development. You are your child's best advocate, fight for what you think is best for your child.
DeleteThis is precisely why, I will be homeschooling my daughter this upcoming school year as she begins kindergarten. I am a certified teacher who has decided NOT to teach and participate in the academic torturing of students.
ReplyDelete