Common Core Standards

Prior to teaching in a public school, I had heard of Common Core Standards. Nothing I had heard was good. Nevertheless, I came in with an open mind. It seemed like they had been created in order to keep tabs on a few bad teachers while tying the hands of all the other good teachers. I was concerned that they would rob me of the ability to be creative with my students. When I saw the standards for first grade, I was concerned that they were not developmentally appropriate. After implementing them, I have found they are not so bad after all. One aha moment I had was about the so called "new math". Just yesterday in our staff meeting, we watched a video of a group of 5th graders do a math talk. The teacher asked them to compute 30 x 16 in their heads, and they did it. I suddenly felt that I had been robbed as a child. Why didn't I learn the number sense and strategies required to do this? I have become a big fan of "new math". I still think the standards are too hard for a lot of first graders, but I am finding new ways to help them get there. I am seeing the value of working with manipulatives. Today I worked with a group of kids who were having trouble subtracting. We used ten frames and counters. I was able to watch them make the connection, and it was a beautiful thing. I like having an over-arching goal for what to teach during the year. I wish we had a nice curriculum to get us there rather than having to piece together a lot of different things. But I'm getting the hang of it. Now if I could only get the parents to stop stressing out about grades...