 |
CAT Tracks for December 23, 2015
COMMON CORE MATH INSTRUCTION |
I publish the following "Spotlight" from Education Week as a "Public Service".
In no way is this posting an endorsement of Common Core mathematics.
True to my dinosaur heritage, I am a "traditionalist" in math instruction...down to my continuing belief that students should memorize (a four-letter word in late 20th Century and current 21st Century mathematics education theory) the times tables, apply given (not discovered) formulas to sets of practice problems, and get the right answer to a problem (rather than receiving maximum credit for long-and-involved, overly-complicated processes to a wrong answer.) Oh, don't get me wrong, I was one of those math teachers who insisted on "showing your work" (showing the steps in arriving at the correct answer and taking off if a student did not.) This was mostly an exercise in "proving the negative", that one did not "borrow" one's answer from one's neighbor.
In point of fact, I did not read any of the articles contained in this post. Sitting through the "Examples of Excellence" demonstration of Common Core math by Cairo Elementary students at the last BOE meeting was enough of a reminder of my distaste of the Common Core approach (and the "New Math" methods that predated it.)
This post is for current practitioners who have no choice in the matter...
CAT Tracks Editor's Note:
A disclaimer...
My compliments to the Cairo Elementary students for their demonstration. My compliments to their teacher for successfully imparting these mandated methods. (My gratitude that my retirement eliminated my need to do the same. I just don't know if I could have conformed, jumped through the hoops, taught an approach to math that I find totally joy-busting.)
My worst experience in math education came when I allowed myself to be recruited by Shawnee Community College to teach a course to students on "how to teach" elementary math.
Talk about the blind leading the blind. Instead of "teaching" that 2 + 2 = 4, I was required to teach WHY 2 + 2 = 4. As far as I was concerned, the result was a simple "number fact", not an opportunity to do some long-and-involved song and dance that supposedly was going to help students "understand" mathematics, to "win over" students who hated math.
Hell, I loved math, was good at math, did math problems "for fun" (and as previously admitted) even believed in "showing steps", both as a student and as a teacher. But, what I witnessed at the December Regular Meeting of the Cairo Board of Education might well have killed my interest in math at an early age. As far as recruiting a new generation of "math lovers", well, I don't think so.
Students who already know how to do math will be able to learn the more complicated math, whether they like it or not. As for those not mathematically inclined, I would wager that it will cause even more confusion and dislike...
...a dislike that will be echoed by their parents, whose previous efforts to support the mathematics education of their children consisted of: "Well, I couldn't do math when I was in school either."
Whew, don't know from whence that came...
...here on the eve of Christmas Eve.
Ho Ho Hum???!!!
A reader of CAT Tracks recently complimented me on my "continuing passion" for education, as evidenced by my "commentaries" (catty or otherwise) in these pages of "the rag". I cannot in good conscience accept such praise.
In fact, as I read articles about education these days - especially the Common Bore - I find myself not really giving a damn. I mean, it's out of my hands now...I don't even have to pretend for the powers that be that I give a cat's butt about it.
Rather than fueled by "passion", I would say that my catty commentaries are the result of the praise of the "new methods" (that are actually older than dirt) stirring memories, lighting the corners of my mind...
...sparking a fire of rage that just takes over my fingers and spills pent up frustration onto the pages of CAT Tracks.
Oh well, I suppose anger is a sign of passion!
There's still life in the old CAT yet...
...up during the wee hours, howling at the moon, until such time when I finally lay me down to "sleep" rather than taking catnaps.
On a lighter note...
...the highlight of my yesterday (other than a pre-Christmas eating festivity with some of my fellow retired colleagues) was watching a JibJab eCard "video" on Facebook of one of my former superintendents (Ed Armstrong) and his wife (Lynn, former "Emerson" teacher) doing an animated rendition of Feliz Navidad.
Those were the days, my friends...
...when I was truly passionate.
Some people still ask me:
"Don't you miss it?"
I am (almost) always able to "play nice" in my response...
...substituting "Not for a minute!" for my more earthy mental version.
But, when I see a reminder of the past (even a reminder of times that did not seem so pleasant at the time), I must say with all sincerity...
...those were indeed the good old days.
I wouldn't have missed them for the world...
