OMG, the faith of the world is in the hands of America's third graders

It has recently come to my attention that the weight of the whole world is hanging on our third grade students. It seems America grew lackadaisical with it's third graders. We let them spend years running, jumping, dreaming of home runs, touch downs, reading books for fun, and worst yet let them play outside at recess. Woe to childhood! Thus enters Wall Street's supermen and superwomen of Ed Reform. They have an army of super heroes know as Common Core Groupies. Now my super heroes are faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and can leap tall buildings in a single bound. These Groupies can't really do much, but cry wolf.  

These Common Core Groupies dream of a nation of proficient little third graders. It appears the very faith of the 21 first century depends on our public school third graders. These CC Groupies have some serious trouble with 8 year olds who just want to be 8.
Now remember these groupies have spent very little, or no time in third grade classrooms. It's not their fault they live very, very, very busy lives. They spend their days at ALEC happy hours, Ed Reform Think Tanks get together(s), and Pearson golf outings.
They love to discuss how third graders need to be ready for college. You have to feel for them. They are such timid little creatures. Their world is one of gloom and doom, where world markets collapse, and whole nations explode in chaos, because third graders in our public schools are not on task.
The good news it appears is 8 year-olds in private schools are born ready for college, so they don't have to worry about the Common Core. This is why no one is selling the Common Core to our nation's top private schools. You won't find it in their promo(s) to prospective students. They are above anything common. As for the other 99%, the Common Core is here to save our very common children.
God can you save our children from these groupies?
Jesse The Walking Man Turner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_Vf8cwTWRY If you like to listen to what the Walking Man listened to on his walk this morning, it was Barry Lane's More Than A Number. Sometimes when those Common Core Groupies start to get you down you just need a little Barry Lane,

Still marching with my SOS brothers and sisters

The news media cameras are all gone.
The crowds all gone home.
The press is gone searching for the next popular thing.
Sounds like they are already playing the minstrel role for war just days after our nation honored our prince of peace Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Be not mistaken America the dreamer's legacy has not been put to bed for another year.
Look around,
Listen to the people sing,
Open your ears and eyes,
The people are still marching.
Our nation's Fast Food workers are marching for a living wage.
Trayon Martin is at peace, but not the injustice that put him to rest.
In Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, and New York parents and teachers are still marching to stop the closing of their schools.
My United Opt Out brothers and sisters are still marching,
My BATs brothers and sisters are still marching,
My Defending Public Education K to 16 are still marching,
My SOS brothers and Sisters who marched boldly in DC, are considering heeding Rev Sharpton's call to take this fight for justice and jobs on the road.
SOS is planning to go the Selma Bloody Sunday Jubilee.
While these Ed Deformers wave their flags of power, money, and political clout, SOSers have not stopped marching for our public schools.
They have chosen the slogan of Public Education Is A Civil Right.
Dr. King sad:
Cowardice asks the question is it safe?
Expediency asks the question - is it politic?
Vanity asks the question - is it popular?
But conscience asks the question - is it right?
And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right."
Ring every bell, shout it on every mountain top, call it out on every corner, SOSers ask only one question, is it right, and they have never stopped marching for what is Right.
Heed my words, Secretary Status Quo Duncan, Michelle Rhee, Paul Vallas, and every other Ed Deformer all roads lead to Selma.
Going to Selma,
Jesse The Walking Man Turner

Public Education Is A civil Right, not a choice, not a lottery, and it is not for sale. For those interested in why Selma see the following link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cNnG8xfy20

If you are wondering what the Walking Man is listening to on his walk over the mountain today...it's the Roots version "Nobody gonna turn me around" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ6mhRZ8LjM 

See you in Selma people 

Have you heard about Crazy Common Core Groupies?

I saw this image at https://www.facebook.com/WomenHoldUpHalfTheSky with the caption A Girl with a book, and the following Oscar Wild quote "If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.” 

It got me to thinking about these Common Core Groupies running around shouting Rigor, Rigor, Rigor. They certainly have no sense of vocabulary, or what a dictionary is. Any quick check of the meaning of rigor comes up with something like this:" 

Rigor 
Noun
hardship, harshness, severity, adversity; ordeal, misery, trial; discomfort, inconvenience, 

1 a mine operated under conditions of rigor: strictness, severity, stringency, toughness, harshness, rigidity, inflexibility, intransigence.

2 intellectual rigor: meticulousness, thoroughness, carefulness, diligence, scrupulousness, exactness, exactitude, precision, accuracy, correctness, strictness.

3 (rigors) the rigors of the journey: hardship, harshness, severity, adversity; ordeal, misery, trial; discomfort, inconvenience, privation.

If they did they might understand why early childhood experts think they are plain nuts. Actually early childhood experts viewed them as being absolutely, completely, totally crazy, wacko nuts! 

Early childhood experts can't see any parent saying bring on the 

Hardship,

Harshness, 

Severity,

Adversity; 

Misery, and 

Discomfort for my child. 

I hope this problem with the rigor thing is starting to make a little sense now. It certainly is not a word we should be using with young children. 

Now back to reading a book you enjoy over and over again. It appears these CC Groupies don't have time for anything, but this close reading thing. They are fanatical over it in fact. This close reading doesn't take into account any emotional connections to books. It's all objective for them. For example: when I finished reading Isabel Allende's "House of spirits" I was in between flights at O'Hara International Airport. I found myself crying uncontrollably so like any "too proud to cry" male I hid my tears under my jacket. It appears that was all wrong with them. They can't get past any type of enjoyment in reading. Now I did say enjoyment, but reading "Hosue of Spirits" made me sad enough to cry. How does that become enjoyment, well really sad books have a way of releasing happy tearful tears. Sort of like the blues, and I'm a big blues man. Now these CC Groupies can't take crying of any kind. Can't you hear them shouting: It's all about the information, the standards, and the test stupid.  Pleasing them would mean I should have focused on the factual information, and not get lost in the narrative of love, lost, and pain. They'll all objective about books; it's all about the information. Understand these are CEO types, they dream of a McEducation for every child. Every burger is the same size, every one cooked at the same temperature, and they all get flipped at the same time. McEducation is for everyone, but their children. Well that's me getting off the subject again. I do that when I write. I also do it when I read sometimes as well. Getting lost in books is equivalent to finding your soul. They'll never get that one. My apologies the subject is reading a book you enjoy over and over again. 

I have been working with struggling readers, their parents, and their teachers for over 30 years now. I can't remember one skill, one strategy, one phoneme, vowel, or vocabulary lesson that sparked a love of reading. That is not to say these things didn't help, but compared to discovering the right book these are grains of sand.

Now yes, the right book is important, but it's like a pebble really. That is when compared to the climate created by the right teacher/parent/friend/ that invites the reader into the right book. The right climate is a mountain compare to the right book. It's the Holy Grail of joining the literacy club. On the journey to becoming a reader who enjoys reading the sand becomes the pebbles, the pebble become the mountain. It all goes together. Remember reading is a complex process. Anyone telling you differently is nuts.   

Remember those CC Groupies they do get all up tight with enjoying reading anything. Heck if you expect to enjoy reading then you might expect to enjoy your job one day. Every teacher, knows that Common Core Heaven explicitly forbids it's groupies from enjoying anything about any one's future career. Everything about the future scares them. They live in constant fear of the 21st century despite living in it. Future careers are all about being college ready and globally competitive. I can't imagine inspiring young people by saying, "stay focused, or you won't be globally competitive" in the future. The future for me as a young kid was about being the heavy weight champion of the world, the next Elvis, and or the next Steve McQueen. This globally competitiveness thing would not have inspired me. Now I am doubly sure it wouldn't inspire today's young people.  

A quick review we have grains of sand, pebbles, and the mountain. Right?

Well together they become the magic that sparks reading for enjoyment. The magic is the invitation to join the literacy club. Oh, oh, I mentioned the Literacy Club again, this means I have to mention Frank Smith who happens to be a real literacy expert. These CC Groupies hate literacy experts. Actually CC Groupies hate just about any education expert. They hate researchers as well. They adore their CEO friends, Billionaires friends, and Ed Deformer friends. Now these Ed Deformers friends utterly hate "The Literacy Club." it's a Frank Smith metaphor describing the social nature of literacy learning. You see the problem don't you? You realize the word socialism has the word social in it. To these CC Groupies reading is a fierce competition, child against child, friend against friend, even family member against family member. Reading in the 21st century for CC Groupies is a survival of the fittest 

Everyone agrees reading is a complex process, and no one has a simple answer, but I have never met a reader who loves reading who never fell in love with at least one book. Now these Common Core groupies they don't have time for these things, they only have rigorous demands on students and teachers. Their mantra said over and over again a hundred times every hour is "We need rigorous standards and rigorous tests will save us". Sounds kind of corny to me actually. 
As for me well  I would go for the right book, right climate, even if the book is about Zombies. I wouldn't even mention the word zombies around these people. That's another story about their obsessive love of non-fiction books. I'll cover that, some other day people.  
Let me end by saying imagine a world where learning isn't a race, 
You know like in Finland. 
Oh, they are ranked number one in literacy.
  Emmmm, they might have something there. 

Still walking,

Jesse The Walking Man

If you are wondering what I am listening to today on my walk over the mountain it's all Barry Lane. 

http://barrylane.bandcamp.com/track/jesse-turner-the-walkin-man