5 Fun Ways to Use Common Core Math Curriculum
No Fan of Textbooks
Ways to Make Common Core Math Useful
Common Core is frustrating for students, parents, and teachers. It will soon be frustrating for college professors in science and engineering, as their incoming freshmen are unprepared to handle the first year calculus, chemistry, and physics required of STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Math) professionals-in-training.
With tongue firmly in cheek, I offer ways overworked K-12 math teachers can use the required Common Core materials without harming their students:
1. Bonfire/Career Day: Invite local firefighters to supervise a bonfire. Invite local scientists and engineers to talk with students about STEM careers while everyone toasts marshmallows and hot dogs for lunch. Common Core-aligned textbooks provide the fuel for this educational activity that is sure to get students excited about careers in technology!
2. Physics Activity: Drop a Common Core math book from the roof of the tallest building on campus to demonstrate gravity.
3. Chemistry Activity: Immerse books in various acids and caustic chemicals and record which chemical consumes the book most quickly.
4. Physical Education: Use books to create an obstacle course. Students can jump over Common Core hurdles, crawl through tunnels of crummy math texts, and slalom around tall stacks.
5. Political Science: Have students write essays speculating about why anyone would want kids to be unable to solve math problems quickly and efficiently.
In all seriousness, as a librarian and a STEM-educated woman married to a STEM professor, I have finally found books I would be willing to burn when it comes to Common Core "math" "standards."
Speak Out Against Common Core
Educate Yourself about the Common Core Threat
- A Mom Stands Up Against Common Core:
One Common Core math question she asked the board takes 108 steps to answer--unless you do it the old-fashioned, one-step way. - Teacher's letter: My profession no longer exists
Increasingly teachers are speaking out against school reforms that they believe are demeaning their profession, and some are simply quitting because they have had enough. - Why Parents Object to Common Core Standards - Eagle Forum
Reasons to object to the implementation of Common Core (CC) standards are numerous. Critics object to the manner in which they were created, adopted and funded, and say they are unconstitutional and illegal. - Michael Deshotels: Why I Oppose the Common Core Standards | Diane Ravitch's blog
Advocates of Common Core have promoted the myth that only the agitated and uninformed extremists oppose the standards. But this is not true. Michael Deshotels is a respected veteran educator in Louisiana who explains here why he opposes Common Core.
Math Instruction That Works--Seriously!
- Ray's Arithmetic Series
- Saxon Math (at least until they are brought into Common Core compliance--ugh!)
- VideoText Interactive Math, currently used by the classical school one of my daughters attends and by my Ph.D. engineer husband in homeschooling another daughter
