Have we become to test centered that we have lost our true path in education? I remember the days when teaching was fun. I could be very creative with my lessons and was even encouraged to be creative. Back in the early 90's when NCTM first came out with their standards (the beginning of the end I think), I was working in Gwinnett and GCPS recognized that their textbooks did not reflect the new standards. Teachers were invited to get creative and write units that reflected the NCTM standards for mathematics. I created true relevant units to teach students math. Today, more than twenty years later, I even have a student from those days working nearby and he told me the minute he saw me about his money management portfolio that he still had at home. He remembered other activities that we had done as well. That was real math!
Today we are so busy teaching students material so that they can pass a test and show the world that we, the teachers, are doing a good job that we have lost our way. I ran across several posts recently about not requiring algebra and/or algebra 2 for everybody. I am not saying that we should throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater, but I do believe we need to rethink HOW and WHAT we are teaching students about math.
I believe that students deserve the best math program that a school can offer and I do not believe that every student needs to take calculus. I believe that we need to talk open and honestly with students about what they want to do and provide them with the curriculum that will help them achieve their goals. We are asking schools to graduate students who have completed a variety of CTAE pathways, but these students do not have the math skills to be successful in these pathways. My CTAE teachers are always asking me how to teach math to their students so that they can do basic calculations within their pathway.
At McClarin, we refrain from teaching financial math or math for business and industry because students won't receive credit for a fourth year of math with these two classes. The DoE approved a yearlong statistics course last year, but we can't offer it because Fulton County does not offer on-level statistics as it competes with AP Statistics. Again, not every student needs AP level courses! It is a vicious cycle that we cannot afford to keep repeating! Let's go back to teaching relevant and necessary math, not required math!
I was in a meeting yesterday about innovative practices we can put into place for our incoming 9th graders, and we had a similar conversation. Another high school in our district is pairing a financial literacy class with algebra 1, so standards from both courses are taught simultaneously and the kids walk away with 2 credits. I haven't seen it done live in person, but the concept is certainly fascinating. It speaks to exactly what you said....making math relevant. Algebra is more about thinking and reasoning to me, than finding x or a square root. It's about can you use logic to solve this problem. Those skills are lacking. But, then again, so are financial skills. Definitely a sad cycle, as you said.
ReplyDeleteFrom an elementary standpoint, I honestly don't know what has happened to math. Three teachers at my school, including myself, have spent a fortune sending their children to Mathnasium tutoring to find the deficits in their children's math knowledge. I sent both of my boys in middle and high school and there were definitely gaps. Our students don't know their facts. They count on their fingers through the fifth grade! I do think it has alot to do with the scores. The scores from one day out of 180. I see so many students daily who can't do math in their head....even with 10s and 1s. I remember NCTM and used it to help my instruction when I taught 3rd grade. It's disheartening and I agree that we need to rethink how we are teaching math from the beginning of a student's education to the very end.
ReplyDeleteTim-I'm not a content expert, so I was a bit surprised by your post. I assumed that schools had shifted to more real world examples. As a "tech person", I have observed many innovative math teachers who do incorporate real world data that they can access easily because of technology. They can pull data sets about house/car prices or anything else they want quite easily. I have been meaning to have a deep conversation with a "math expert" about the math common core, and maybe you've inspired me to do that.
ReplyDeleteDr Sauers,
ReplyDeleteYes, some teachers and schools have moved into a tech supported environment with cool applications for math, but that is not the norm. Survey the big high schools in metro Atlanta and you will see more of old school math than new school! It breaks my heart. For me at McClarin, I am trying to find ways for the Algebra II teacher to teach applications, but many of the applications linked to her content are from even higher levels of math. Many of our students would benefit from more practical applications of math like financial literacy, statistics, geometry, and applications of algebra. There are pieces of these in our programs, but only pieces.
Thanks for your post, Tim. It's a huge question we should all be asking ourselves as educators in a system that has become test-obsessed, which can cause us to lose sight of the bigger picture.
ReplyDeleteAt my school we've been playing with the radical idea of shifting from a content-based program to a skills-based program. By that I mean instead of attempting to fill kids' heads full of math stuff, and reading stuff, and writing stuff, and grammar stuff.... the list goes on... we've asked ourselves, what are the skills a person needs to be a great reader? A great writer? A great math-thinker? A great scientist? A great citizen? To me, it comes down to their ability to think critically, question, analyze, etc.
We're thinking about picking just 10 common core "power standards" for each subject, and devoting the majority of our time and energy to thinking skills. I recognize that this is one of the benefits of being a tiny private school. What we lack in resources and funding we make up for in programming freedom. I want to become more involved in political lobbying to make this option a reality for the public school system as well-- what can we do to get the decision-makers to understand the reality of students' school experiences?
Every new set of standards that get issued (QCC? GPS? CCS?) claim to help students become "21st century learners" or "college and career ready" or "prepared to think deeply," but until the standards-makers become willing to truly privilege thinking skills over content knowledge by literally reducing the content requirements, educators hands will remain tied.