Chula Vista Educators president Manuel Yvellez is wrong about Common Core, and how to teach sixth-grade math

Manuel Yvellez, President of Chula Vista Educators (CVE)

See all posts regarding Common Core.

CVE president Manuel Yvellez won office last August by promising to protect teachers from the District's implementation of Common Core standards. He said he'd insist on extra pay for teachers since they would have to design their own curriculum for Common Core.

But how does he propose to show that any given teacher actually designed an effective curriculum?

Here's an obvious way to figure out which teachers designed a good curriculum for Common Core: look at the test scores of their students. Would you agree to that, Mr. Yvellez? Unfortunately, the teachers union (CTA) has been reluctant to approve effective evaluations of teachers, with or without test scores.

WHY IS TEACHING MATH SO DIFFICULT FOR SO MANY TEACHERS?

I've been thinking about Mr. Yvellez' complaints about the strict timelines for sixth grade Common Core math lessons. This led me to ask myself why teaching math is so difficult for so many teachers.

Of course, there are many reasons, including the fact that most teachers were poorly taught when they themselves were students.

But another reason is that teachers simply don't want to be bothered. They have their way of doing things, and anyone who does things differently should get out of their school or, better yet, out of their district. I have noticed a couple of what I call "lazy teacher syndromes" among teachers at CVESD:

Lazy teacher syndrome #1: I can't be bothered with kids who are behind

At Castle Park Elementary, I was on the math committee with the Teacher of the Year. She stated, without embarrassment, "I don't have time to teach the kids who are behind." Many teachers can't be bothered to figure out how teach more than one level at a time. These teachers certainly shouldn't be paid by the district to develop curriculum.

Lazy teacher syndrome #2: It's not cool to know math

At other schools I taught at, teachers frequently boasted about how they couldn't do their own offspring's elementary math homework. They felt no shame, no embarrassment. They didn't sit down and study their kids' math books. It was apparently considered cool to be a college graduate and math teacher who couldn't do elementary math.

Another teacher at CVESD announced at lunch that there was a problem in the third-grade math book that she couldn't do, her students couldn't do, and none of the parents could do. "It can't be done," she stated. I offered to help her, and after school she showed me a word problem. As soon as I explained to her that the problem involved a number sequence, and that she just had to figure out what number came next, she immediately knew the answer.

This teacher wasn't lazy. And she appreciated the help I gave her.

But other teachers resented my thinking that I could solve a third-grade math problem. It is simply not considered cool among many CVESD teachers to be able to do elementary math. Being clueless is the way to popularity.




MUST MATH BE TAUGHT IN THE EXACT SEQUENCE CONTAINED IN MR. YVELLEZ' TEXTBOOK?

Mr. Yvellez complains in his campaign speech (see video below) that Common Core sixth-grade math topics such as fractions and decimals are taught in a different sequence than in his text books.

The Common Core timelines will work just fine if teachers teach basic number concepts in depth, WHILE TEACHING KIDS SIMPLY TO VARY THE WAY THE NUMBERS ARE WRITTEN, AS SEEN HERE:

There is no need to do advanced fractions before starting decimals and percentages and ratios. In fact, each concept can easily be combined, and should be combined, with the other concepts.


The sixth grade math Common Core standards that Mr. Yvellez rants about in his video (see below) specifically instruct the teacher to use VISUAL AIDS.

JUST DRAW A PICTURE! USE THE WHITEBOARD! THAT'S WHAT IT'S FOR!

AND THEN, HAVE THE KIDS DRAW A PICTURE!

MATH CAN BE BOILED DOWN TO ONE SIMPLE GOAL: finding different names for a number.

2 plus 2 is one name for a specific number. 4 is another name for that number. If you draw a picture, you see that 2 is half of 4.

The relationship between any two quantities can be expressed as a fraction, decimal, percentage or ratio.

And teachers should constantly use number lines, all kinds of number lines, showing fractions, decimals, whole numbers, etc.

TEACHERS SHOULD CONSTANTLY REVIEW BASIC CONCEPTS

ALL students can benefit from review of basic concepts. After the teacher has presented the basic concept, the advanced students can be challenged with more complicated problems on one side of the whiteboard, while proceeding with more basic ideas for the kids who are at or below grade level.

It can be done. I know, because I did it for years.

It's simple. You just divide the whiteboard in half, and let kids decide which problems they want to do, the easy ones or the hard ones. I liked to put my low-achievers in the front of the room, and the high achievers in the back. I went from side to side of the whiteboard, teaching one type of problem while the other group worked on its own.

I also had a clipboard with every child's name on it. I'd instruct the kids to cover their answers as soon as they were done. I'd come around and they'd show me, and I'd mark down if they had it right.

Then I'd go to the front and give the right answer. (Kids need feedback right away, right at the teachable moment.) I'd tell them to give themselves a star if they had it right, and to change the answer and then give themselves a star if they had it wrong. I wanted right answers, not wrong answers, on their papers.

My kids did terrific on standardized tests.

And we had fun. We all loved math.

Here's the 9 minute 16 second campaign video of Mr. Yvellez from YouTube. In it, Mr. Yvellez talks about how Common Core math standards might hurt students:



No teacher should teach in a way that harms students, and then blame Common Core. There is simply no excuse for such behavior.

And what about the District's responsibility?

The school district insists that teachers carefully evaluate their students' abilities, but the district doesn't even bother to find out if the teachers can do elementary math. Why not give teachers a math test? Then the teachers who do well can give some classes to the teachers who do poorly. But for heaven's sake, CVESD, don't do what you usually do: bring in some consultant and give him huge amounts of tax revenue to do what your teachers can do.

Note: Mr. Yvellez' CVE election victory was probably also helped by his PERB complaint about election irregularities. Here is a partial decision from the PERB board that includes a mention of this and other CVE problems, including the bizarre mid-term exit of former CVE President Peg Myers.

ORIGINAL POST:

Are some school districts misusing Common Core, rejecting the idea that concepts should be taught in depth?

I've been thinking about this issue, and I believe that Common Core is NOT being misused. Teachers can and should teach basic concepts in depth. They just can't go on and on for months teaching the details of a single basic concept. They have to create a broad understanding in their students of multiple basic concepts.

Common Core timelines can work is to teach basic concepts in depth by teaching the relationships between a variety of numerical conventions, such as fractions, decimals, percentages and ratios at a simple level for kids who are behind, while at the same time giving advanced students more difficult problems. It can be done. I know, because I did it for years. ALL students can benefit from review of basic concepts. Then the advanced students can be challenged by presenting more complicated problems on one side of the whiteboard, while proceeding with more basic ideas for the kids who are at or below grade level.

Comment on "Teachers can be bullied, too"
by Margaret Berry
Teaching Tolerance
3 November 2013

No one ever said teaching would be easy, but I never dreamed that with more than 27 years under my belt I would be treated like an outsider.

When I first read Common Core Standards I thought they would free me to teach my students what they needed when they needed it. I thought that with careful scaffolding and time, they would make progress. Little did I know that my school district would make Common Core more restrictive than a basal reading program. Who knew that someone with years and experience would be told, "not to worry, that mastery isn't necessary.... they will catch up next year or the next".

Peg Myers is out as president of CVE; new president is Jennefer Porch

Jennefer Porch

Jennefer Porch is the new president of Chula Vista Educators, but the CVE office tells me that a "meeting has not yet been held to determine the other officers." It may sound odd that the officers were not determined by the recent election, but Chula Vista Educators seems to have developed a habit of having winners of elections resign after winning.

Peg Myers was one of the chief engineers of the calamitous events at Castle Park Elementary. Peg Myers was also one of the Castle Park Five. Peg was deposed regarding those events. Here is Peg's deposition.

Jennefer Porch is from Juarez Lincoln Elementary in CVESD. I have left a message with the CVE office asking Ms. Porch to call me, but it's possible she won't call. CVE has been extremely secretive for the past decade.

A challenge to Chula Vista Educators president Peg Myers: let's have a public debate

Dear Ms. Myers:
I am writing to challenge you to a public debate about what happened at Castle Park Elementary and how you used the destruction of the school as a springboard to power in CTA/NEA. For ten years, you've been making statements about me that you refused to make under oath. How about you make your allegations in public?
Maura Larkins

Who cares about kids at CVESD?

Chula Vista Elementary School District cut the number of days that teachers were paid to prepare for the current school year. The union, Chula Vista Educators (part of CTA), told teachers not to do any preparation other than what they were paid for. Teachers who obeyed were stressed and disoriented for quite a while at the beginning of the year, and considerably less effective than they normally would have been. Some union leaders just don't use their heads, and neither do the teachers who follow like sheep. I think the union should have accepted that teachers would need to prepare on their own time, then, if it felt it had to take some action, it should have planned a sick-out later in the year. Instead, a great deal of harm was caused for no apparent gain. CVE proved that some teachers are willing to damage the education of children, and it also proved that the school board is willing to harm the education of children. I have long said that there are big problems in Chula Vista, but even I was disappointed at this turn of events.

Who destroyed Castle Park Elementary? It was a cooperative effort by the district and the teachers union

I was shocked and disappointed to learn that the school I attended as a child and worked at as an adult has gone down hill so rapidly since I left it in 2001.

Castle Park Elementary has the lowest API score in Chula Vista Elementary School District. This wasn't always the case.

When I was there, scores were well above the bottom despite the low socio-economic level of the neighborhood. Then current Chula Vista Educators president Peg Myers began clawing her way up the ladder to power with the help of a group of teachers that had been sowing discord before Peg arrived. Peg got lots of help from Jim Groth, who is now a statewide CTA director, and Beverly Tucker, the head legal counsel of California Teachers Association.

Castle Park Elementary Chula Vista Elementary 754

A small group of teachers chewed up and spit out a long string of principals and good teachers. The goal was power for their group, not education for children. The district supported Robin Donlan, Karen Snyder, Peg Snyder and their associates until it realized in 2004 that the teachers were out of control. Then the district ended up hiring lawyers to defend itself against the teachers that it had spent $100,000s of tax dollars defending. Shame on Larry Cunningham and Pamela Smith for knowingly defending teachers who had committed crimes.

I notice that the enrollment at Castle Park Elementary has gone down to 312. It appears that everyone who is able to do so finds another school to go to.

The school had 11 principals in 11 years before the current principal was asked to try to make some sense out of the wreckage. I suggest a Truth and Reconciliation Committee for the school--and the district. Problems need to be fixed, not hidden, as Lowell Billings has done.


Were teachers "blindly-led"?

Here's a quote from an AOL News article about the Tonya Craft case:
"It's divided the community between those who are intelligent and can think for themselves and those who are blindly led," local resident Harmony Lefler told AOL News. "It's horrible to say that, but it is the truth."



THE PROBLEM IS CALLED "BRIGHT-FLIGHT," AND THE ANGRY TEACHERS AT CASTLE PARK ELEMENTARY ACCELERATED IT

'Bright flight' fight
Castle Park Middle School students get help from teachers to stay there
By Chris Moran
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
March 3, 2007

Smart kids grow up in Chula Vista's Castle Park area, attend the neighborhood elementary schools and then leave for other parts of town for seventh grade.

This academic diaspora is so persistent and troubling that Sweetwater Union High School District educators have given it a name: “bright flight.”

A federal law intended to help low-scoring schools such as Castle Park Middle School appears to have accelerated the brain drain. The No Child Left Behind Act gives parents the option to send their children to higher-scoring schools when their neighborhood school doesn't make the grade.

This school year, the families of 168 students used No Child Left Behind to leave Castle Park Middle School. That coincides with a plunge in the number of students in the school's advanced academic program. There are about one-third fewer seventh-graders in the school's fledgling International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme than there were last year...

Chula Vista Educators board of directors becomes an ever smaller club; Jennefer Porch is now Secretary

Jennefer Porch, a teacher at Juarez Lincoln Elementary, was already on the board of directors of Chula Vista Educators when Barbara Dunwoodie mysteriously (perhaps on principle?) resigned her position as Secretary of the corrupt organization. Instead of allowing new blood into the secretive group, Jennefer Porch added the position of Secretary of CVE to her portfolio. Porch joined the board as representative to the State Council in 2008.

Jim Groth, who sits on the statewide CTA board of directors, and Peg Myers, his loyal sidekick, seem to be consolidating their power.

The position of director for CVE Area C seems to remain open ten months after the CVE elections. What's the matter, Jim and Peg? Why is democracy not working at Chula Vista Educators anymore? There was a time when CVE elections resulted in a full slate of officials.

Jim Groth and Peg Myers antics continue at Chula Vista Educators; bizarre election results announced more than 3 months late

Now I understand why Peg Myers and Jim Groth didn't want to release the Chula Vista Educators election results in June. What kind of election is it when you end up with two empty positions before you even announce the results?

See all posts about Peg Myers.

President 09-11
State Council 09-12
Peggie Myers
Full-Release


Vice President 09-11
Tim Kriss
Salt Creek Elementary


Treasurer 09-11
Kathleen Fernandez
Rosebank


Secretary 09-11
OPEN POSITION

[Barbara Dunwoodie ran unopposed for this position. What's up with the open position? Dunwoodie is still teaching at Hilltop Elementary with Robin Donlan.]

Area Director A 08-10
Maureen McNair
Veterans

Area Director B 08-10
Norma Pacheco Davis
Los Altos


Area Director C 08-10
OPEN POSITION

[The above position was held by Tim Kriss, who is now vice-president. When I heard a rumor that a close friend and Salt Creek Elementary colleague of Tim Kriss was going to replace him, I wrote to Peg Myers asking if this were true. Instead of answering me, Peg apparently got her pals up in Burlingame to demand that Google censor my blog. Why is this such a touchy subject?]


Area Director D 08-10
Jayme Rodgers
Liberty


Area Director E 08-10
Jenna Ritchey
Juarez-Lincoln


Bargaining Chair
Susan Skala
Vista Square
State Council 08-11


Jennefer Porch
Juarez-Lincoln
State Council 07-10


Jim Groth
CTA Board

Richard Hanks and Monica Sorenson hired as principals at CVESD

Monica Sorenson

UPDATE JAN. 2014:

Monica Sorenson has suddenly left her job as principal of Chula Vista Hills Elementary to go to Del Mar. Charlie Padilla also left his job as principal of Tiffany Elementary in the middle of the 2010-2011 school year.

Charlie Padilla

ORIGINAL POST:

Two of the three new principals at Chula Vista Elementary School District are political players. They have both shown loyalty to the longtime board majority.

You might be surprised that one of them, Monica Sorenson, is described as a "union leader," but that doesn't really mean much unless you think that CVESD school officials and CVE union leaders don't play footsie behind closed doors.

Richard Hanks is the former husband of former CVESD superintendent Libia Gil.


Chula Vista district has new principals
By Chris Moran,
San Diego Union-Tribune Staff Writer
June 18, 2009

Three new principals have recently been
appointed to run campuses in the Chula
Vista Elementary School District.

Richard Hanks, who had been
principal at Palmer Way Elementary
School in National City, will lead
Hedenkamp Elementary in eastern
Chula Vista.

Monica Sorenson, who had been a
teachers union leader in the district,
will serve as principal of Chula Vista Hills
Elementary.

Del Merlan, an educator from Central
California, has been appointed principal
of Casillas Elementary. Five associate
principals also were promoted to
principal.

The school year begins July 27.

Who blanked my San Diego Education Report Blog?

Peg Myers is facing an election in May as President of Chula Vista Educators.







I woke up this morning and found all the posts missing from my San Diego Education Report Blog.

Who could have done it?

My prime suspect is the last person who visited my most recent post. This person visited at 12:21 a.m. Interestingly, this person was using the same computer as the anonymous person who posted this comment just a few days ago:

Anonymous said...

Thank goodness for the perseverance of the attorneys in Shinoff's firm...some day this crazy nonsensical web site will come down!

The post on my blog that apparently triggered the erasure of my blog was about the deposition of Chula Vista Educators president Peg Myers.

A witness told me that Peg Myers used the word "crazy" to refer to me. Putting all the information together, I am suspecting Peg Myers, who is facing an election in May if she is to continue as President of Chula Vista Educators. It's perfectly understandable that Myers wouldn't want her deposition to be exposed during a campaign.

I also know that California Teachers Association protects sitting presidents of CTA locals, and that CTA information has previously disappeared from my website.

This is the information I have about the anonymous visitor:

IP Address
72.220.30.144
Cox Communications
United States
California
Chula Vista
Time of Visit Mar 1 2009 12:21:31 am
Visit Length 10 minutes 6 seconds
Page Views 2
Out Click SAN DIEGO EDUCATION REPORT WEBSITE
Time Zone UTC-8:00

Chula Vista Educators is no longer missing in action

Chula Vista Educators has long been oddly silent on the Internet. But that has changed. CVE has unveiled a new website at chulavistaeducators.com.

Apparently, secrecy is a thing of the past for CVE president Peg Myers and her loyal supporters Jim Groth, longtime accomplice Joyce Abrams, the perennially faithful Monica Sorenson, and the rest.

They have published the results of the last election, revealing exactly how many people voted, and who got the votes. NO, JUST KIDDING ABOUT THIS LAST BIT.

But seriously, I will continue to post news on this blog and on this website.

Two codes at Chula Vista's Castle Park Elementary: one for students, another for teachers

Students at Castle Park Elementary in Chula Vista, California are expected to obey the following code:

Castle Park Code Of Chivalry

A Castle Park Knight Will:
Behave in a peaceful and caring manner.
Demonstrate honesty in all Situations.
Respect the rights and property of others.
Take responsibility for his or her actions.

For teachers, the expectations are different. Pamela Smith, Bertha Lopez and the rest of the school board, as well as the teacher "leaders" at Chula Vista Educators/CTA, have cost taxpayers $100,000s in legal fees in their efforts to foster the following code of ethics:

A Castle Park teacher will:

1. Work to get rid of at least one student and one adult each year, preferably Spanish-speaking.
2. Follow instructions of district lawyers to hide the truth.
3. Climb over others to elevate his/her position in the school and the teachers union.
4. Defend himself/herself indignantly if caught violating the law, and insist that it's someone else's fault.

Why is CVE trying to hide the identities of its president and VP?

I knew that Chula Vista Educators had just last week finished counting the votes after its second election in one year to choose a vice president.

I called them up this morning. A cheery woman's voice greeted me, "CVE!"

"I was wondering, who is the new vice-president of CVE?"

Without missing a beat, the woman said, "Peg Myers."

"I thought she was the president," I said.

Also without missing a beat, the woman said, "Yes, she is."

Clearly, this woman had a well-prepared script.

"Then who is the vice-president?" I asked.

"Monica Sorenson."

I thanked her, and began to wonder why CVE is trying to pretend that Jim Groth is still president (he was reelected president in 2007, a few months ago), and that Peggie Myers is still his vice president (she was elected vice president a few months ago). Jim Groth resigned after a couple of months to take a seat on the California Teachers Association board of directors.

I must assume that Peggie Myers told the receptionist to try to hide the truth. Peggie Myers is a forceful advocate for hiding the truth. When she was CVE representative for Castle Park Elementary, she made it clear that teachers had to report to her any contact they had with me. She worked hard to make sure that the truth was kept under wraps about crimes committed at the school. But she didn't succeed despite tremendous effort.

Now Myers seems to think that by continuing to cover up facts that can not be covered up, she will avoid having to deal with the fallout from her past actions. She and Jim Groth and Monica Sorenson would be wiser to quit pretending, and simply apologize and repair the harm they've done.

Monica Sorenson, by the way, was a lawyer (though currently inactive), so perhaps she's had a lot of practice at hiding information. It would appear that this is what the teachers of Chula Vista want.

And we wonder why young people grow up today without moral compasses.