George Couros is a principal passionate about education and connecting with staff and students. He believes connecting with students shows staff you care about what matters most to them. Two articles he referenced criticized common core standards. One discussed teachers protesting tests for English learners, feeling it unfair and counter to building students up. The other said common core eliminated things like art and music, overloading students with homework so they cannot play, diminishing childhood and making learning unfun. The author agrees, arguing standardized tests disadvantage English learners and excessive homework promotes sedentary lifestyles, discouraging learning by taking away childhood.

1. Michelle Martin
Twitter Assignment-#1
George Couros is a division principal that is very passionate about his job. He is a
consultant for innovative learning, technology and leadership. In one of his tweets he talks
about how to connect with your staff. He identifies that most teachers enter the profession
because they like kids, and he feels to connect with the staff they need to see that you love the
kids as much as they do. By connecting with the kids, you show the staff that you care about the
aspect of education that is most important to them, the students. His motto is by inspiring
children to follow their passion, they will in turn inspire us to follow our passion.
In several tweets George refers to the Common Core Standards. He referenced two
articles that stood out to me. The first one was about a group of teachers in New York that
protested these standards and the testing that goes with it. The students at the institution where
they work were mainly students that were learning English as their second language. The
teachers felt the testing was unfair to their students due to this fact. They refused to give the tests
and cited that it was their professional responsibility to build the students up and not tear them
down by giving them a test they were sure to do bad on. The other tweet was an article was
related to the focus of the common core standards and how they eliminated the things that allow
our kids to be kids. Because the goal is getting the students college ready, the curriculum
focuses on language and math and leaves out the things such as art and music. The children are
given so much homework that they cannot go outside and play and enjoy being a kid. Kids get
to the point where they dislike school because learning is no longer fun but goal driven. The
article gave an example that cut out the kindergarten program because the students needed to

2. focus on becoming college ready that the administration did not feel they could waste time on
music.
I agree with these two articles presented. Teachers do have a responsibility to promote
the well- being of their students. Students that are learning English as their second language
would struggle with standardized tests given in the English language. Why, as a teacher would
you want to make them feel stupid and put up another barrier to learning for these students? The
second article really rang true with me. Childhood obesity is a growing problem in the United
States and especially in the area I live in. By giving the children tons of homework and focusing
on college in the elementary years, we are promoting a sedentary lifestyle. Kids become
discouraged and do not like school, because we no longer make learning fun, and we do not give
them time to be kids. They need outlets to get rid of that excess energy, if we even want to gain
their attention much less teach them something.