An article in U.S. News and World Report written by Robert Pondiscio, a journalist turned fifth grade teacher for a while (how he became a teacher is unclear), is entitled, “No Time to Lose” and “Early Reading Isn’t a Threat to Kindergarten, Nor is Common Core.” Pondiscio is now a senior advisor to a charter […]
New Kindergarten Testing: Sorry, It’s Not Really Play
Early childhood officials at the U.S. Department of Education, some who should know better, have apparently concluded (as described in this Ed Week article), that they were making little kids do things too over-the-top to be early childhood ready—like giving four-year-olds basic sight word spelling tests and getting them to count to 20 in their […]
Platooning—Another Weird Education Word and Common Core Strategy for Elementary School
Since I already have a list of weird education words here’s a new one to add. How many of you have heard of “platooning”—which, in reference to education, means moving elementary students, subject-to-subject, teacher-to-teacher, to meet the new Common Core State Standards? Instead, of one primary teacher, students move around—subject to subject. This idea has […]
Setting Children Up to Hate Reading
Any educator or parent who understands the beauty of reading and the importance of helping a child learn to do it right was appalled to read two recent articles about the subject. Both should make all of us concerned that children are being set up to hate reading. They are being pushed to read earlier […]
Bill Gates and Kindy Coding
The Memphis Commercial Appeal recently had an article about a private school incorporating iPad computing coding for kindergarteners. At first I was appalled. Kindergarteners? Coding? Why, they should be learning to tie their shoes! Then, after sputtering a few cuss words (nothing too bad) to myself, especially when I saw Bill Gates name and the […]