Happy Saturday, Group!
This morning, while my oldest (home from college for the weekend) was cooking her soon-to-be-patented breakfast casserole, I took a few minutes to read EdWeek's commentary article on the need for algebra in the math sequence. If you haven't read it yet, check it out. The author, Mr. Myres, argues that we're placing too much emphasis on a subject which doesn't come into play jn a majority of students' lives. He then goes on to briefly speak on not promoting into certain maths until readiness is achieved.You can read my response in the commentary section for that article, but, on more thought, I decided to say a few words here.
First and formost, we must not fall into the age old trap of prejudgement and determinism that has prevailed in the past. While it is true that there are many aspects of daily life in which algebra plays little part, a broader look at what algebra is, rather than what we present it as, shows it's relevance clearly. Historically, algebra was designed as a method of streamlining calculation methods into a more compact and efficient format. The very structure of the equation describes what process are to be done and in which order in a symbolic shorthand that could be understood by anyone with just a little training. Translating problems, or real world/work situations, into this shorthand can benefit the student in the study of foreign languages or even enhance the understanding of our own. Can anyone really doubt that the way we write and speak is a coded shorthand for our thought processes? This concept can be expanded even further at will, from understanding historical trends to the obvious applications to science and technology.
This brings me to the next, related, point: modern economy and business. How many years have we been bemoaning the loss of good jobs to overseas contractors? There is an economic side to this constant loss as businesses would prefer to increase profits by getting a task done as cheaply as possible. But I believe the trend started when it was observed that there was too little quality in too small a quantity for some of these jobs to be done here. One of the comments posted to Mr. Myres' article was that we need to stop focusing on what the college community wants. Why? Where does this individual think the needed training comes from if not college level work? Our solution to this seemingly self perpetuating mess is to make some small, but significant changes in how we teach and our overall approach to promotions.
Mr. Myres makes a short, but appropo argument for readiness. I would expand on that. No student should be promoted until the skills of a particular curriculum set have been mastered-and this is old hat, to be sure. My expansion is from Dr. William Glasser (a brilliant writer and philosopher whose work should be required reading for all education majors), and from Dr. Elliot Eisner who recommends that quality should be placed far ahead of regimented division of subject matter. Keep the course titles, but drop the academic level labels, and advance students only as they are ready to advance. Implement strong peer tutoring programs (for general ed. credit), and teach not isolated factoids and method bits, but a continuous skill building process. This should be done not only for maths, but also sciences and language arts. There need not be anything threatening at all about learning. Challenges, of course, but these can be used as learning opportunities rather than brick walls. The key is us, the teachers. Are we going to continue to do things the way they've always been done, or are we going to be innovators within our classrooms. Are we going to actually teach, or just parrot what the state book says to say on a certain day? It's not only possible, but highly probable, that if we make education a journey rather than a destination, those mandated test scores will increase, student confidence will rise with it, and we'll have the competency that we crave.
As always, I invite your opinions, ideas, and other responses.
Have a fantastic fall weekend-time to get some cider doughnuts and dark roast coffee!
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