Category Archives: Common Core

Opting Out

Posted on May 22, 2015 by JRM

The New York Times is on a mission to ensure the “opt-out movement” gets as much press as needed. My opinion is probably a little uninformed and half-baked, but that’s never stopped me before. The debate about testing and standards and … Continue reading →

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Does Not Exist in the Abstract

Posted on March 26, 2014 by JRM

The Common Core is a potential step forward for history curriculum nationwide. It actually has history standards, but makes little reference to historical thinking (e.g., sourcing, contextualization, corroboration). For the Common Core to seriously address historical thinking (and, ultimately, critical thinking), we need to … Continue reading →

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One of my many failures as a teacher of U.S. history (or shall we say “areas for development“) is around civics. My curriculum is filled with opportunities for teaching civics, but I rarely track student mastery of these concepts and … Continue reading →

Posted on February 16, 2014 by JRM | Leave a comment