TUCSON, Ariz. – The Common Core machine is now using its secret cadre of Stepford teachers, from theTeacher of the Year Program, to fan out across the country in an attempt to counter the growing voices of opposition to the Common Core.
The Teacher of the Year Program describes itself as nonpartisan and was created in 1952 to highlight exemplary teachers in the profession of teaching at both the state and national levels. Each year one teacher is chosen to represent all teachers, and the profession of teaching, to the general public through appearances and advocacy. It’s a bit like the Miss America pageant for teachers without the talent component.
You may have already seen these glassy-eyed teachers on television commercials robotically professing their eternal love of the Common Core, using the same old tried-and-true, yet tired-and-through scripts smattered with the talking points “more rigorous,” “critical thinking,” and “college and career ready.”
You may have also seen their commentaries published in the local paper with the title, Teacher of the Year,emblazoned after their name to add just that extra bit of gravitas necessary to help you conclude that their opinion is worth its weight in gold and is far superior to the average everyday teacher, schlepping away in their classrooms day in and day out.
You may have even seen them advocating for the Common Core before school boards or state legislatures, using their professionally honed speech-giving/advocacy skills, just before key votes on legislation designed to slay the Common Core beast.
But the Teachers of the Year have a dirty little Common Core secret. They are not exactly the non-partisan, objective teachers advocating for their profession to the public at large that they profess to be.
The Teacher of the Year program is actually a project of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), which authored the Common Core Standards and holds their copyright. The Common Core chooses theTeacher of the Year. In the interest of full disclosure shouldn’t these Teachers of the Yeardisclose that they were spawned from the Common Core each time they star in pro-Common Core commercials, write pro-Common Core op-eds, and lobby legislatures across the country in support of the Common Core? They never do.
The Common Core group, Achieve, is using the Teachers of the Year Program to sell Common Core to the rest of us nonbelievers and cite examples of the teachers’ support on their website. “Many current and formerTeachers of the Year support the Common Core State Standards and are stepping forward to highlight that support,” they proclaim. They also use the Teachers of the Year to support their erroneous claims that a majority of teachers support the Common Core.
Current National Teacher of the Year, Jeff Charbonneau of Washington, is on paid sabbatical from his teaching obligations at the high school where he worked so that he may travel the country as a spokes-bot for the Common Core.
Erin Sponaugle, West Virginia Teacher of the Year, fills the Mountain State’s papers with commentaries warning, “fear is driving much of the opposition to the Common Core.”
Yeah, Erin, we are fearful. We’re fearful of an intrusive, one-size-fits-all, homogenized education delivery system and the detrimental impact it will have on our children’s minds and our country’s exceptionalism.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is using part of the $1.3 million it received from Common Core advocate Bill Gates to propagandize on behalf of the Common Core by creating a national, pro-Common Core commercial starring Iowa Teacher of the Year, Sarah Brown Wessling.
I used to be so against the Common Core machine’s takeover of our state and parent sovereignty over our children’s education, but if the Teachers of the Yearare in support of the Common Core, and they represent the best of the best of teachers in education, shouldn’t we all bow before their proclamations of support? Yep, throw up just hit the back of my throat too.
I always assumed that the chosen Teacher of the Yearwas the best teacher in a state, identified by parents, students, and coworkers. Then, I believed, the whole community of educators, parents, and students voted this identified teacher as “above the rest” and worthy of a tiara of distinction, complete with a bouquet of roses, a sash, and tears running down their cheeks as they accepted the title “Teacher of the Year” – air kiss, pageant wave. That was until I got an email at school inviting me to “apply” to become a Teacher of the Year, here in Arizona.
Teachers must apply to become Teachers of the Year after either nominating themselves or having someone else do the honors. Teachers of the Year applicants must then complete an extensive written application, write multiple essays, and jump through political hoops in front of interview committees in order to be considered for their shiny titles and thousands of dollars in cash and prizes, just like the governors did, in 2010, when they sold out their states’ control over education in exchange for cash and prizes when adopting the Common Core. So perhaps this is why the Common Core chose the Teachers of the Year to shill for and lobby on behalf of the Cult of Common Core. They are a perfect fit.
Each of the fifty states has appointed groups to choose their state-level Teacher of the Year. Each state then sends their Teacher of the Year to Washington, D.C., to meet the President of the United States and to compete for the National Teacher of the Year title.
After another round of applications, writing multiple additional essays, and doing yet another political fan dance in front of a National Selection Committee stacked with fifteen Common Core acolyte groups, including the National Education Association (NEA), which have received a combined $21 million to push the Common Core’s implementation and success, a new Cult of Common Core propagandist is crowned.
The Teachers of the Year are supposed to be non-partisan because they supposedly advocate for all teachers and the entire teaching profession, both within their states and nationally. Many everyday teachers do not support the Common Core, yet the Teachers of the Year never offer a voice to those who oppose the Common Core machine. In fact on the Arizona Teacher of the Year (AEF) Facebook page there were multiple postings congratulating “Teachers of the Years, both past and present” for their role in defeating a bill which would have ended the Common Core here in Arizona. How non-partisan of them.
Most teachers around the country are humbly and quietly living “teachers of the year” every day in their classrooms. They don’t have the time or the egos to chase a shiny title or prizes.
Do you think that the Teacher of the Year organization and the Common Core group that controls it would choose a teacher who would advocate against the Common Core around their state and country? That’s Common Core’s dirty little secret no longer.
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