I agree with Rob Kimball's recent comment:
"Reform is more about how we teach than what we teach."
Having taught High School Mathematics for (gulp!) 30 years now, I too am
struggling with the reform movement.
However it does provides great dialogue and food for thought! I wonder
if we are not like a carpenter training an apprentice: we teach her how
to hammer the nail, how to cut the board, how to drill the hole, BUT
NEVER LET HER ACTUALLY BUILD ANYTHING!
I wonder if we are so engrossed with the curriculum and the effort to
cover "x" number of chapters (with an ever increasing number of
interuptions to our time on task), that we end up teaching a curriculum
that is a mile long, but only an inch deep!
It takes time to set up discovery exercises, to get students working
effectively in groups, to address writing in mathematics, to incorporate
calculators or computers into our lessons, and to solve and discuss
open-ended questions. All, often with outdated textbooks, requiring
much teacher supplementation.
Having said all that, I feel it IS worth the struggle. I am slooowly
getting better at engaging my students more and more. I know when I
take a course myself, I do not want to be lectured to exclusively, I
want to be engaged, I learn better that way.
I think a lot of what we do is great, but I think we need to be more
open-minded and try to adjust our teaching to incorporate some of these
new ideas. I am not teaching very differently than I did back in 1967
(gulp, again!), but I am slooowly moving in a new direction that I hope
will make me a better teacher.
How are YOU doing???? Any ideas or suggestions????
Ron Erikson
North Quincy High School (Massachusetts)
Mathematics Department
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