Setauket Teacher to King: 'Your Approach Has Taken the Joy Out of Teaching'

A Setauket Elementary School teacher brought the crowd of Tuesday evening's Common Core forum to its feet with an impassioned plea to the state's top education official.

While many emotional speeches were given, it may have been Eric Gustafson's that drew the biggest response from the audience. Watch as Gustafson, a teacher of 18 years, addresses New York State Education Commissioner John B. King Jr., imploring him to slow down the implementation of the Common Core.

Here are a few exerpts from Gustafson's speech that nearly brought the house down. 

"I run my classroom like a team. When work gets too hard you look for guidance, but right now I  am part of a team that is not working together. You the elected and appointed are not helping with a common core system that was implemented much too fast."

Gustafson goes on to say that "testing is not learning."

He concludes his time by asking for officials to slow down and fix mistakes. His final words to King: "You no longer stand with the students or the teachers of this state. You stand with the governor, and you are failing, not us."