Common core standards reform in US
How is that happening? Impossible is what I say. That example math problem on here is more than enough proof. How can these questions be answered when they are unanswerable? Most likely what is happening is the teacher feels bad and is passing those they deem fit to pass. Or some questions are more competent than others and the teacher is grading on a curve. I would bet it more on the teacher feeling bad.
Common Core standards are"evil" only in that they require the same level of performance from everybody, instead of progressively passing students along to the next grade until they "graduate" just to get rid of them.
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The mere fact that science may not yet adequately explain an object, event, or experience does not mean the immediate explanation should automatically default to a conspiratorial, extraterrestrial, paranormal, or supernatural cause.
Update 1/4/15
Still not looking good in Algebra II this year. 5 months in, the grade is a record low, 65.83% for me now. Never before in my 12 years of public education have I ever had a math grade this low before. Right now, learning about dividing polynomials and factoring. The lesson was too tough for me. My teacher likes to bore us out during lessons, practically like speaking to a teleprompter. Then after he explains the example on the board, he says "now you try this next one on your own." Problem is after 1 min, he asks for hands raised to see how many are done. The last few school days of 2014 were like this, I was halfway through the problem and stuck, when the teacher had at least 14 hands raised. The partner (who still has an A) just doesn't want to help me at all, even though he's so nice to get me a role in the last Pep rally we had last month.
Then I'd get an answer and it would be WAY off from the 24 NTs in the room. Say a polynomial problem's answer was P(-3) = 4. I'd have P(-3) = 12, or P(-3) = 16, and no one in the room would raise a hand at all. It disgusts me how this can go on like this. "Special Ed" Study Skills is little help, the teacher I think always has a bad day, because she groans about having to help "17 other kids in the room!" Yes, our special ed class has 17 kids, last year there was maybe 8 or 9. When she helps me (due to privacy, not disclosing names) she does the problem on her own first, so there's up to 10 minutes of boredness waiting for an answer or help. Then she describes me the answer and how I should do it next time.
Again, at least 90% of the people I talk to always bug me about "come on, stay after school for Homework Center!" Pfft. One on one with an NT who doesn't understand me. And then, it ends at 4:30 and the school district has NO ACTIVITY BUS SERVICE! When I lived in Seattle there was always activity buses for the extended tutorials at the junior high school. I would be dropped off about 2-3 blocks away from my house. Not sure why this one in Yakima doesn't.
More problems to understand is that the local library system in Yakima doesn't have homework tutors, so I can't go there for HW help. KCLS (King County) back in Seattle had homework tutors every afternoon, but since the library was too far from my old place, I didn't go. I don't recall Sno-Isle (Snohomish County) having any HW programs either. Teens came in after school, but they would quietly (and sometimes louder than normal) have conversations with friends and hog the computers for games.
No one at our apartment is in my class, or even in the same grade (11th). I'm the lone Junior at our apartment complex in a sea of middle school brats and preschoolers, as well as older adults.
I have found tutoring programs in the Yakima valley that provide help to high schoolers (one on one), however our school district is NOT listed for tutoring at this time! What?! The only other tutoring program I see is a "learning center" which the classroom looks like it's for little kids. Beanbags and little books and such, tiny chairs etc.
My family never did Algebra II so they are no help to me either.
I have done some online research on problems I am stuck on and I get one or two problems here and there, but can't get help for the 9 or 10 that I can't figure out.
Finals are in 2 1/2 weeks and I'm dreading it. My grades may go down even further, and I do study here and there...much more often before big exams.
I did talk to our hit-and-miss counselor. She will be putting me in financial algebra 2nd semester - that will help!
Juniors should be REQUIRED to learn Financial Math. The curriculum should be easier and better to understand. Juniors don't have to be an engineer or a small business owner to learn financial math. Algebra II should be the elective.
At first my teacher was thinking about putting me in Honors Algebra II so I could get help from everyone. It would have been a trainwreck. People might have been picking on me for my bad grades on tests when all of them had As/Bs. Plus, honors has more HW, more stuff to do, more review assignments, etc.
And one more thing: I suppose my teacher picks favorites when he grades. He KNOWS I have HFA, he KNOWS I struggle with math, he KNOWS I have "help" in special ed class. But I suppose he likes the much more smarter kids better - there's at least 3 regulars who get Bs and As.
This Common Core math standard crap has put me at my boiling point! ![]()
If you have an Internet connection I highly highly recommend you take the initiative to learn the class the way it should be learned. Find videos on YouTube or even iTunes U. There's a very good website called KhanAcademy that helps as it explains everything and there's a lot of whys. Just ignore those NTs, because I guarantee that come a years time, they'll have no idea how to do what they're learning now. Grades mean nothing.
If finding a computer with Internet is a problem, the library should be good. If people won't get off, you could always cause a stink by pulling plugs and cutting power and stuff. Just know how to put everything back together when you're done. Plugs are fairly self explanatory though.
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"Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 175 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 37 of 200
You are very likely neurodiverse (Aspie)
I've been using some online resources...like Purple Math, and a couple others here and there. Not many videos but should try those before the finals (next week!)
And btw, received another failed test this week... 33.3% on 1st half of polynomials. I'm terrible with long division but almost everything else is an X or 1/2 as well. If this is the trend that it has been for 5 months, then god help me on the final.
And also, some of the kids/teachers have gotten mad at me for making "excuses" about not attending the HW Center (full of NTs). Today trying to get help from an NT who helps me here and there, he got confused at what I was asking. Pretty much every question (and almost every answer, to that point) I open out of my mouth in math class is confusing to the rest of the NTs... Hard to do HW center when transportation back home is hit and miss! No school bus transportation (why? Our school district could do that and get an extra route for a driver and more $$$ in wages), I don't drive yet either. My mother is likely not going to deal with to and back from the high school at 4:30 a few times a week.
Financial Math is the route I'm going next semester and I KNOW it will be eons better than Alg-2. I kiss Alg-2 goodbye for good on 1/26.
