NYC Teacher Unpacks Common Core vs. 50 Banned Words

When the DOE banned 50 words were they channeling George Carlin's - 7 dirty words you can't say? 

I was asked to post this from a teacher I know who I'm keeping anonymous because of being out front on criticizing the DOE on TDAs. (No need to give the DOE any ammo.) Here is a contrast between the banned words and some gruesome stuff in the common core which is being pushed by the ed deformers and the AFT/UFT like some drug. Really, when you think of drug pushers how much difference is there?

Common Core Excerpts: Appropriate or shocking?

by Anonymous

While the NYCDOE is busy banning words under the guise of "sensitivity," they are simultaneously expecting 8th graders to read about identifying the bodies of women who have been raped, murdered and disfigured.

Disconnect?  You decide.

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A recent piece on CBS news disclosed that the NYCDOE has requested 50 words not be included on standardized tests.  Banned words include:  birthday, divorce, Halloweeen, homelessness, homes with swimming pools, poverty, slavery and nuclear weapons.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/03/26/war-on-words-nyc-dept-of-education-wants-50-forbidden-words-removed-from-standardized-tests/

Meanwhile on the other end of the spectrum.....

NYC teachers have been instructed to "unpack the Common Core".  This year, ELA and math teachers are supposed to administer performance tasks to their students. 

If you download the 8th grade ELA "bundle" from the DOE website, you will see that teachers have been instructed to investigate forensics.   It reads in part, 

http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/05F0FE33-6EDA-4CBB-8610-E9ADF016F009/0/NYCDOEG8LiteracyForensicAnthropology_Final.pdf.    

      You are a forensic anthropologist. You are taking your dog for a walk, and he breaks free and sprints down the block. When you catch up with him, you find him digging in the dirt. Your dog pulls out what looks like a bone. Upon further investigation, you realize your dog has discovered the remains of a human body. As a forensic anthropologist, you must identify the body. What steps will you take and with whom will you consult?

       Write an informative/explanatory essay in which you explain the steps you will take and the people you will consult. In your text, be sure to:

• Explain at least three steps you will take (after calling the police to report the body) and write reasons for these steps. In other words, explain: why will you take these steps and why take them in this order?
• Explain who you will consult and write your reasons for consulting these people.

Use textual evidence from two of the four texts. The texts you should use are ones we've read previously. They include:

• "What is Forensic Anthropology?" by R.U. Steinberg
• "Dead Men Talking: Solving Crime Through Science" by David Kohn
• "Identifying the Victim" by Angela Libal
• "Giving Faces to the Lost" by Angel Libal

On p. 40 of this document which provides an example of what a student who scores a 4 should be writing, it says the following:

In the case of Mwivano, whose face had been cut off after being raped and murdered by her cousin, a forensic anthropologist and artist used her skull to reconstruct a model of her face (i.e., facial reconstruction).

The book "Giving Faces to the Lost," which is supposed to be read during this unit, contains a case study of two boys who found a bag containing "the decomposing remains" of a young woman who had "...been cut into pieces with the skin of the face removed."  Later it reads, "Since the skull contained crucial evidence - the marks of the knife the murderer had used to cut off the victim's face - a copy of the skull was made with computer scans and lasers."

http://ewittperformancetasks.wikispaces.com/file/view/Givingfaces.pdf

Appropriate or shocking?

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More on Common "Gore" as Pogue calls it in a comment from NYCDOENUTS:

Common Core -Read This; You May Laugh Or Cry 

Flabby to the ‘Core’

By Boston Herald Editorial Staff | Saturday, March 31, 2012 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Editorials