Too much, too fast, too soon?

[seastarmath]

Here in NC, we are getting ready to revamp the math curriculum. We are doing surveys to determine "essential standards" to get kids ready for life in this century. My problem is that the trend seems to be to cram objectives earlier and earlier so that there is no time for the kids to master the basics--REALLY master them. High school teachers tell me they would like the kids to come to high school knowing how to compute with rational numberbs, a solid grasp of the meaning of fractions, and of course, mastery of basic math facts. No mention is made of knowing permutations in statistics (which we currently introduce in grade six!) and other concepts we are suppose to introduce that in the past, kids did not learn until much later in the spectrum. I am finding the kids in my room who passed the eog were NOT able to pass the basic skills part, but the "fluff" of the test helped them to get a passing grade. (They do not know what the concepts ARE, just what they are NOT which is what helped them with the guessing.) I guess I am getting really frustrated because I am expected to get the kids introduced to middle school life and increased independence while craming over two hundred objectives to be mastered in a 180 day period--minus days for testing and testing practice, of course, as well as myriad of other interruptions in the public school day--and even more when you consider the kids have to go back to master skills you would have THOUGHT they learned earlier. (Seriously: I had to reteach how many quarts in a gallon and things like that!) Then at the end of the year, I am made to feel really bad that I did not pull off a miracle and see to it that that kids who was only here one third of the time or the kids who really don't care didn't make huge growth.
(How early can I start the countdown to retirement?)
My question is, do you think we are trying to teach too much, too fast, too soon?

[dsmms]

Yes! Yes we are trying to cram too much, too fast, too soon. I fear the backlash of all this pushing is going to be serious burnout for the students. We won't know until it is too late and then there will be a lot of back pedaling to correct the situation. We ask 6th graders to work from 8:30 to 3:30 with a 30 minute lunch break and then that isn't enough. They need to practice those skills they learned in class at home. I have had irate parents complain about the amount of homework their child has, and I don't blame them. The kids don't have time to be kids anymore! But as a teacher, I am required to teach all this and the only way it gets done is outside of the 50 minutes I get with them each day.

This is only my third year of teaching, but I am a parent myself and I have seen the overload in action with my own daughters. They go to school all day and come home to a couple hours of homework. They are motivated learners; I don't know what parents do with kids that struggle or are unmotivated. It is like fighting a never ending battle of work and trying to let them be kids. And now the the answer to this is to make it more rigorous...smart move. I am not sure how many more straws this camel can take before it crumples from the load.

[Clearly Canadian]

So true. The basics of math and language arts are so fundamental, and yet the time given to them seems to be dwindling. In LA the crunch hasn't been as bad as in math, but even so, there just is no time to teach spelling strategies, or true comprehension strategies. That is where the biggest lag is I find, is in comprehension. It frustrates me that I don't have time to help kids "get it" and they need it.

[Boxcar]

You are so correct. I feel the expectations and pressures to teach my threes addition, subtraction, fractions, and estimation. They are supposed to know how to write the ABCs and their names. Before graduating preschool, they should know how to read, write, and do simple math. It is crazy!

[teacher5]

:shootme:Seastar I feel your frustration because I live it constantly. Six years ago they decided to collapse two years into one year in fifth grade by putting in a sixth grade program. There is a schedule of lessons. You must follow the schedule in order to have exposed (not taught) the students to the possible topics that will appear on the state test the first week in March. Every so often you must leave the program and teach mechanically how to multiply a two digit number by a two or three digit factor on top, or how to reduce fractions, or how to divide the traditionally way. The district supplies drill and kill sheets to get over these obstacles in the program so you can move back to the program. But once again, you get about 1/2 a period to model it, have the students try it, and apply it! The first year I questioned what happens to the students who need another half a period or another day to get a comfortable degree of mastery? I was told don't worry about the one third to one half who don't have a solid foundation, the program spirals. They will see it again sometime this school year or next. Just stay on the schedule or close to it. But each year it is getting worse because that one third to one half are falling further behind, and the top third are accelerating and gaining a good degree of mastery. The gap is widening, and that middle group who needs a bit more time to get it, are just falling further and further behind. I am hoping with our new president that we may see reform in state testing. I am also hoping we see that true minimum standards are set at each grade level, and that if you can't meet those there is mandatory before school or after school or summer school programs to raise these students up to the minimum level before they can be promoted to the next grade. Even the kindergarten and first grade teachers in my building have been packets to accelerate and prepare students for state tests which begin in grade 3, soon to be given in second grade. I only hope I live long enough to see it turn around. Good luck in program selection and setting realistic expectations.