If COMMON CORE is terrible, what should a parent do? (computers, homeschooling)

[villageidiot1]

Originally Posted by Momma_bear

My kids don't generally read anything out loud in their high school English classes. They are assigned reading to do on their own and discuss the reading in class. I think the only things they read out loud is Shakespeare.

I have subbed at 8 different high schools in the past 5 years and it is very common for high school English classes to read book aloud during class. I was shocked to find this in even in 8th grade but it seems to be the norm today except for the highest level classes.

I once passed out a two page short story for a HS English class to read in class and answer questions. A student asked if we could read it aloud as a class. I asked why and the student said he doesn't remember anything if he reads silently. I questioned if they really wanted to read it aloud and other students agreed. I had them vote and the majority wanted to read it aloud. I think many teachers either read the book aloud, listen to an audio version, or watch the movie version when available, since many students will not read books for homework.

At the schools where I sub, they can afford books for all students so this is not the issue. They have either paperback or the hardcover (Everbind) versions of all the books they read. Many of the shorter books and short stories are also included in the English textbook. These are typically the Pearson or Holt, Rinehart, Winston textbooks. They are a problem to carry home since they are 1200-1300 pages long and very heavy.

[Ivorytickler]

Originally Posted by villageidiot1

I have subbed at 8 different high schools in the past 5 years and it is very common for high school English classes to read book aloud during class. I was shocked to find this in even in 8th grade but it seems to be the norm today except for the highest level classes.

I once passed out a two page short story for a HS English class to read in class and answer questions. A student asked if we could read it aloud as a class. I asked why and the student said he doesn't remember anything if he reads silently. I questioned if they really wanted to read it aloud and other students agreed. I had them vote and the majority wanted to read it aloud. I think many teachers either read the book aloud, listen to an audio version, or watch the movie version when available, since many students will not read books for homework.

At the schools where I sub, they can afford books for all students so this is not the issue. They have either paperback or the hardcover (Everbind) versions of all the books they read. Many of the shorter books and short stories are also included in the English textbook. These are typically the Pearson or Holt, Rinehart, Winston textbooks. They are a problem to carry home since they are 1200-1300 pages long and very heavy.

I am just finishing the reading diagnostics class required by the state of Michigan for all teachers converting their certificates for the first time and one of the strategies to help struggling readers is reading text books aloud in class. That is both having students read aloud and having the teacher read aloud while the students follow along and read silently. It helps a spectrum of struggling readers. Another strategy is having students read to each other.

With the push on improving reading ability at the high school level, I think you will see more and more books read aloud. Modeling reading has a strong impact on the struggling reader especially if the teacher models decoding skills when new words are introduced and uses strategies to activate schema.

[Ivorytickler]

Originally Posted by DewDropInn

This is the thinking of the people who wanted to ban "The Grapes of Wrath" when I was in high school because Rose of Sharon breast fed a dying man.

I've read the grapes of wrath and there is nothing that comes close to the rape scenes graphically described in the bluest eye. You are comparing apples and oranges here. The Grapes of Wrath is difficult to read at times but it does not cross the line into pornography nor are we compelled to be coconspirators with pedophiles as they rape children.

When I was in college, I was in an English class where I was asked to read rabbit run. Our first assignment was to write about something in our own lives similar to the book. I got to the part about him rubbing his penis on the bed post and I showed dh the book and told him what the assignment was. He told me to go to the store and buy a copy of Penthouse and copy one of the letters to the editor. I dropped the class and switched into the class that read the Grapes of Wrath. I could not participate in the first class because I could not bring myself to discuss my sex life in public or the sex lives of the characters in the book. When you cross lines like this you detract from teaching English. The focus becomes the pornography not the writing. I've never understood why authors do this. Can they not write to provoke thought without resorting to pornography?

[Momma_bear]

Originally Posted by Ivorytickler

I've read the grapes of wrath and there is nothing that comes close to the rape scenes graphically described in the bluest eye. You are comparing apples and oranges here. The Grapes of Wrath is difficult to read at times but it does not cross the line into pornography nor are we compelled to be coconspirators with pedophiles as they rape children.

The Bluest Eye is not pornographic.

[eok]

The students who may be borderline readers need a strong incentive to do well on quizzes, so quizzes can be used to motivate them to read. The teacher should assign some reading for homework every night, and have a quiz the next day on what was read. The only problem is how to motivate the students to want to do well on quizzes. And to be sure none are cheating by having their sister read it to them, there should be frequent in-class sessions of reading followed by a quiz. And those who can't read should be required to join a remedial reading class.

One advantage of assigning reading as homework, and enforcing it, is that when the students get involved in reading at home, their younger siblings will be motivated to read too, just to do what their older sibling is doing. No homework should ever involve writing, but just reading. Home is a place to relax, and reading is supposed to be relaxing. And it's just as educational as writing, if not more so. Writing can be done in class. They can read about math at home too, and do the math in school, and have quizzes on what was read about it.

[DewDropInn]

Originally Posted by Momma_bear

The Bluest Eye is not pornographic.

It is to the people who can't understand what a book is actually about. Which leads to books being banned. Here's just some of the books those people have attempted to ban:

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Contains the N word)
The Lord of the Flies (Piggy and that pole. S-e-x to the people who are convinced they know porn when they see it.)
A Light in the Attic
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
In Cold Blood (Violence. Plus Capote was g-a-y for pity's sake.)
Their Eyes Were Watching God
The Call of the Wild
Gone With The Wind (Uh, oh. More use of the N word.)
The Dictionary (You can't make this stuff up, folks. People have tried to ban dictionaries because they contain words about, you guessed it: S-e-x.)

Personally, I don't think we should be banning books because someone has read excerpts and they got the vapors.

[grilba]

Originally Posted by DauntlessDan

This is an example of common core approved reading for 11th graders.

(WARNING: Graphic) Common Core Approved Child Pornography » Politichicks.tv

The Bluest Eye is by Toni Morrison and is highly regarded. Just because it is approved does not mean it is mandatory reading, nor does it mean it is assigned reading. These sorts of books are usually reserved for advanced, mature high schoolers who can emotionally handle the content.

BTW in jr high (nowhere near as old as 11th grade) we read such gems such as Naked Lunch, so this is not necessarily a new thing.

[Ivorytickler]

Originally Posted by DewDropInn

It is to the people who can't understand what a book is actually about. Which leads to books being banned. Here's just some of the books those people have attempted to ban:

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Contains the N word)
The Lord of the Flies (Piggy and that pole. S-e-x to the people who are convinced they know porn when they see it.)
A Light in the Attic
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
In Cold Blood (Violence. Plus Capote was g-a-y for pity's sake.)
Their Eyes Were Watching God
The Call of the Wild
Gone With The Wind (Uh, oh. More use of the N word.)
The Dictionary (You can't make this stuff up, folks. People have tried to ban dictionaries because they contain words about, you guessed it: S-e-x.)

Personally, I don't think we should be banning books because someone has read excerpts and they got the vapors.

You don't have to know what a book is about to realize it contains pornographic passages. When start reading about young girls being raped through the eyes of the pedophile raping her it's kind of obvious.

[HappyTexan]

Originally Posted by grilba

The Bluest Eye is by Toni Morrison and is highly regarded. Just because it is approved does not mean it is mandatory reading,nor does it mean it is assigned reading. These sorts of books are usually reserved for advanced, mature high schoolers who can emotionally handle the content.

BTW in jr high (nowhere near as old as 11th grade) we read such gems such as Naked Lunch, so this is not necessarily a new thing.

But is is assigned reading in many high schools and not just AP classes.
That's why there's parent outrage that you read about.

[Momma_bear]

Originally Posted by Ivorytickler

You don't have to know what a book is about to realize it contains pornographic passages. When start reading about young girls being raped through the eyes of the pedophile raping her it's kind of obvious.

It's only obvious to you.