Colorado Springs teacher goes public with reasons for resignation [Common Core]

gazette.com ^ | 4/10/14

[SoFloFreeper]

A poignant resignation letter that Colorado Springs teacher Pauline Hawkins wrote and posted on her blog Monday talks about her love of teaching and the pride she has in her students, colleagues, school and district....

At the heart of her distress are the new Common Core standards, low teacher pay in Colorado and endless testing and teaching to the test, which she and many others believe is making students fail rather than succeed.

[SoFloFreeper]

As the federal government has gotten MORE involved with local education, the performance of kids has gone down.

The solution, according to the statists? Increased federal intervention.

[Orangedog]

I’m very sorry she didn’t feel that her seasonal job with every government holiday and summers off didn’t pay enough. I wish her all the best in the private sector.

[T-Bird45]

I thought “low teacher pay” was only an issue here in OK where the recent drumbeat has been about the ranking of 49th in that category.

[napscoordinator]

One of President Bush’s biggest failures. That testing thing was dumb. Sure we did have Iowa Basics as a kid, but I dont’t believe the scores mattered except for personal knowledge of them and for families to see how their child did among other children of the same age. Today it is all about testing and getting federal funding.

[napscoordinator]

You hear it in Maryland all the time and I would bet we are in the top 10 states (at least).

[MarMema]

Ted Cruz wants it to be eliminated.

[DaveA37]

Dumbing down our kids education has only gotten us to where
we have millions of stupid kids destined to be welfare recipients without hope for a brighter future. Thus, exactly what the demodummies want, more people dependent on the gubmint to take care of them.

I believe it was Krushev (not sure of the spelling) that said the Russians didn't have to attack America, it will destroy itself from within and he we "dead on" with that statement.

[Slyfox]

I have a cousin who is a retired teacher who now tutors after school hours. She told me that before Common Core she had a reasonable number of kids coming to her for help. Now that Common Core is in Arkansas, she is having to turn students away because so many kids are needing her help.

What does that tell you?

[jsanders2001]

> Ted Cruz wants it to be eliminated.

Every teacher I know hates it and thinks it has bad intentions; its an Agenda 21 indoctrination tool. They teach collectivism not individuality is one of the complaints I’ve heard. Also thought pocesses that tend to put the students into situations where they have to make choices that don’t seem ethical or compromise integrity.

How do you tell a communist? Well, it’s someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It’s someone who understands Marx and Lenin.

- Ronald Reagan

[Slyfox]

I believe it was Krushev (not sure of the spelling) that said the Russians didn't have to attack America, it will destroy itself from within and he we "dead on" with that statement.

Here is the perp commie who has been instrumental in the destruction of education in America over the last 20-30 years:

[coloradan]

If you like your teacher, you can keep your teacher.

[tflabo]

Yeh Bush had a Teddy K. lovefest and together they significantly boosted Fed spending for public school edumacation.
Brilliant results ay?

[dragonblustar]

Teaching has dramatically changed in the twelve years that I’ve sent my kids to school, even at the preschool level.

Twelve years ago, when my first child went to preschool, she sang songs, colored, painted, learned her numbers and letters. Now my other children are going to preschool and they are always being tested, they have specialists to help them learn to play! Every couple of months I have meet with the preschool teachers to review my child’s performance and the paperwork involved is like signing a mortgage.

Another wonderful thing that has changed, for my oldest child, is that she had to learn about Islam and her teacher asked the students to recite that Shahada, which if you were to repeat it means that you have become a Muslim!! You can’t say the Lord’s prayer in school but you can recite the Islamic declaration of faith. I won’t even tell you the about the new math she has to learn because it gets me so upset.

I think that that teachers who don’t complain about what is going on in the schools must either be new or die hard leftists.

[nuconvert]

I don’t have school aged children, so I don’t understand this “common core” thing.
Aside from making teachers do more paperwork and forcing teachers to teach reading, writing & arithmetic, I don’t understand what is so terrible about it. I took aptitude tests every year 50 yrs ago and we were expected to have a certain knowledge by a certain grade or you went to summer school. And if you still weren’t able to do the work of that grade level, you didn’t go on to the next grade.
How is this bad for kids?

[T-Bird45]

MD is #8 on the list from 2013 data at the National Center for Education Statistics.

WashPo link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/12/15/how-much-teachers-get-paid-state-by-state/

[grobdriver]

low teacher pay in Colorado

I'd like to never, ever again hear a teacher whine about their "low pay".

You knew what the pay was when you signed your contact!
You're getting your chance to leave your mark on Amerika (indoctrinating our kids), so Shut Up Already!

[EinNYC]

With Commie Core, the teacher doesn't stand up and do any teaching. You hand out readings with some questions. The kids are in groups of 4 or so. They collectively (good Commie word!) work on their questions. One kid from each group may be called (depends on the lesson) on to present their group's findings to the other groups. They are basically teaching themselves from the readings. With most children reading at the 1 and 2 levels of 4 possible levels, it's anyone's guess what information they can extract from these readings. Oh, and mind you, there is a critical paper shortage chronically in schools, so xeroxing these readings will be difficult. Chalk and talk is strictly verboten! Must be child-centered lessons! They have no notes to take down, so they are not being trained to take notes for colleges courses. Many or most times, they are HANDED a sheet of pre-typed notes with a few blanks for them to fill in. There is little to no discussion of topics in the classroom, but lots of these "readings". The content of the readings can, as cited in other FR posts, be nibbling around the edges of Communism or at least nibbling away from the idea of democracy, such as "Which 2 rights of the Bill of Rights would you eliminate?"

Commie Core is the first step of a slippery slope of a national uniformity of thought-training. No more Kansas standards or Alabama standards as to what people in Kansas or Alabama think their kids should learn. No, it's "One ring shall rule them all" at the national level. The very diversity of approaches to problem-solving that made America great will be eliminated, as EVERYONE is learning the exact same thing taught the exact same way.

http://whatiscommoncore.wordpress.com/ http://www.stopcommoncoreny.com/ http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/04/09/why-three-teachers-are-taking-a-stand-against-common-core-we-need-to-remove-it/

and there are plenty more revealing articles.

[bigbob]

Absolutely right. Most people don’t realize there are only two CC standards at present: English and Math. So when you read “English” problems that urge students to determine which two of the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution are obsolete and should be replaced, remember this is just and example someone happened to randomly pick as part of the “English Language Arts” curriculum.

Nope, nothing to worry about here...just pay your taxes and move along.

[Chode]

no worries, Colorado is going to hire an illegal alien to take her job... and many more

[bigbob]

Since you either didn’t read the article or somehow missed the point and thought it was about pay, let me repeat what she said for you:

“I can no longer be a part of a system that continues to do the exact opposite of what I am supposed to do as a teacher - I am supposed to help them think for themselves, help them find solutions to problems, help them become productive members of society. Instead, the emphasis is on Common Core Standards and high stakes testing that is creating a teach to the test mentality for our teachers, and stress and anxiety for our students.”

Hope this helps.