As teachers we always find ourselves hurdling over new obstacle and it seems like every few years we get better at our teaching style with the new curriculum and then it is changed again. I understand that we need to refine and adjust what our students need to learn for the ever changing jobs in our world but we are forgetting that we are still teaching children, not college mathematician. We still need to work on the math basics before we can get into the complicated. They are not at that level yet to think that deep and complex with topics they do not understand.So instead of making it more complex why are we not challenging them with what they need to know. And once they understand what they need to know, then we can challenge them with the higher level math. Algebra and Statistics is not for everyone, so why do we push it to our elementary students, again I get exposing them to higher math at their level, but they need the basic.
Students know when we don't like the math, they can sense it when we are uncomfortable with what we need to teach. I have been known to throw my teachers edition across the classroom, because i get frustrated what they are asking me to teach my students who are still struggling with the basics. I do recall when I was in school that they furthest i went into complex math was multiplying and dividing with greater numbers. Maybe we did do some simple algebra but that was the length of the complexity of my 5th grade math experience.
I just hope that when these new standards that we are using don't constantly get change. Again, we need to get back to the basics, in order for our students to be successful not to be frustrated with math.
Oscar...I have sometimes stopped mid lesson and told the students I don't get why it is being done a certain way, and if they understand, they can do it, but I am going to teach what I understand. Occasionally a day or so later I get it,and reteach it. The complexity of approaches can be daunting, added to the complexity of abstract material.
ReplyDeleteOscar... I have to agree that the math that I remember in elementary is nowhere near as rigorous as the stuff that we are teaching today. What do I think of it? I think that its great that we are expecting more from our students but at the same time I feel that we can be in danger of burning out our students. One way to avoid this problem is to remember that children enjoy learning and exploring math through methods other than lecturing. This can be done through creative lessons that include manipulatives and art activities. I try my best to make sure that the lessons that I teach include some of these components. Many times that means that I am straying from the curriculum that our school has adopted.
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