Confessions of an English Teacher Book 8

An Analysis of Common Core Standards

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About Confessions of an English Teacher Book 8

What are the Common Core Standards, and why haven’t they improved our students' language and math skills in America? My book answers these questions for parents and English teachers who suffer under the yoke (or should I say joke) of teaching the Common Core Standards. I analyze each standard to show how ridiculous some of them are and point out which ones benefit our children's education. I argue that a federal, top-down approach to education is not the solution to America's educational crisis. After 37 years of teaching English at six secondary schools and six community colleges, I have learned what needs to change in our approach to teaching English. I argue that the goal of teaching English should be exclusively to improve students' literacy, and whatever means the English teacher can use to affect that outcome is needed in our schools. I argue that states, not the federal government, should control educational standards. The only goal of student education should be to advance literacy, and we can measure that growth more easily than by subjecting students to standardized tests that do not measure linguistic growth. I hope readers of this book will better understand how the Common Core Standards have not successfully advanced our students' literacy or mathematical skills.

Published: 2026/09/10

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About Richard P. Sinay

Richard P. Sinay
Richard Sinay taught English and reading in high school and college in Orange County, California, for 35 years. He spends most of his time reading and writing. His most recent publication is Confessions of an English Teacher: An Analysis of Common Core. His first, Who We Met on the Way to Stanford: A Father's Memoir, tells how he and his son met famous golfers while pursuing a golf scholarship at Stanford. His second publication, How to Get a Golf Scholarship to Stanford: A Parent's Guide, is intended for parents who want to see their golfer play for Stanford. His third publication, Observations of America and My Ancestral Past: An Epistolary Autobiography, is a daily account of a twenty-five-thousand-mile trip around the country. His subsequent work, Crazy Little Children Are Jangling the Keys of the Kingdom: The Estrangement Epidemic in America, examines the phenomenon shattering families across America. Next, his Confessions of an English Teacher: A Memoir of My Teaching Years is his first book about teaching English in California high schools and community colleges. He followed that with Confessions of an English Teacher: How High School and Community Colleges Can Improve Instruction. Then he wrote Confessions of an English Teacher: How Textbooks Affect Literacy and What to Do About It, Confessions of an English Teacher: All About the Teaching of Writing in the High School, Confessions of an English Teacher: All About the Teaching of Reading in the High School, and Confessions of an English Teacher: The Problem and the Solution to Teaching Literature to Average Students. With the completion of Confessions of an English Teacher: The Problem and the Solution to Teaching Literature to Average Students, he has fourteen publications. He currently resides in Palm Desert, California, where he reads, writes, and enjoys life in the desert.

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