[Xmca-l] Re: Fwd: NYTimes.com: Why Do Americans Stink at Math?

[Larry Purss]

Michael,

The article explored multiple themes. The common core math curriculum was
one theme.
However, the article was also exploring developing the *craft* of teaching
through *shared practices* where teachers are secure enough to engage in
dialogue concerning the way they approach teaching. The focus on
*showing to say*  actually demonstrating their *craft* and others engaging
in the micro observations which could assist in the person developing their
*craft*.
It was the theme of creating institutional structures and the type of
social material practices where teachers invite other teachers to observe
their *lessons*.
A central point was that in North America the teachers spend 1000 to 1100
hours a year giving *lessons*  while in many other countries it is 700
hours.
I'm wondering how teaching would develop if those other 300 hours were used
in *developing the craft* in institutions where this shared practice was
vital and honoured.

The common core as pre-scribed targets is another theme which I agree works
against schools as places instituting situations which cultivate [old
fashioned term for culture] the teaching craft through the method of
*showing to say*

Yow do we disentangle these two opposing themes expressed in this article?
As I read the article I was struck by how different the day to day
practices of schooling are *cultivated* [bildung] within different cultural
con-texts.
Larry


On Mon, Jul 28, 2014 at 5:27 AM, Glassman, Michael <glassman.13@osu.edu>
wrote:

> A couple of things about this article,
>
> "The same pattern played out in the 1960s, when schools gripped by a
> post-Sputnik inferiority complex unveiled an ambitious “new math,” only to
> find, a few years later, that nothing actually changed."
>
> Uhmmm... object oriented programming, the development of the personal
> computer, hypertext protocol transfer protocol, hypertext mark up language,
> the Palo Alto Research Center.  We had an entire information revolution
> that is in many ways driven by individuals who learned math under this
> system.  Is that the reason? Who knows, but probably a better choice than
> most.  New Math and other revolutions in teaching math and other things
> don't work for a number of reasons.   One is that learning math is linked
> to a number of other issues including your chaotic home life and (lack of
> nutrition).  One of the reasons these new approaches to Mathematics don't
> work is because we immediately want to test whether it works.  But if you
> are teaching so students do better on tests you are doing stuff that is
> antithetical to the types of approaches to teaching what are being
> discussed (at least I would argue).  We should not forget that Common Core
> is directly tied to testing, again and again.  They are implementing
> testing before even developing curriculum for Godsakes!!!  So basically you
> are sowing the failure to Common Core right into its beginnings.
>
> The danger with the Common Core, which I see in this article, is that it
> treats education, including mathematics education, as a machine rather than
> a transactional field.  In spit of what people say about getting students
> to really understand math the goal is to get students to do better on the
> Standards test.  It is narrow and mechanistic.
>
> Michael
> ________________________________________
> From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu [xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu]
> on behalf of Larry Purss [lpscholar2@gmail.com]
> Sent: Monday, July 28, 2014 3:55 AM
> To: Mike Cole; eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Fwd: NYTimes.com: Why Do Americans Stink at Math?
>
> Mike, Andy,
>
> Yes, a great article.
>   The insights that were generated by a person from Japan observing the
> degree of *private* individual classroom teaching [with the
> resulting isolation of teachers in America] in contrast to Japanese
> teachers engaging in ongoing *lesson* dialogues.
> The centrality of ongoing *lesson talk* as what is needed to sustain change
> contrasts with the common practices of teachers in American schools left to
> figure out best practice alone.
>
> How do we shift our practices in schools to encourage ongoing dialogical
> *lesson talk* among teachers?
> Larry
>
>
> On Sun, Jul 27, 2014 at 9:44 PM, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > This story about the resistance to common core standards may be of
> interest
> > to several members of xmca.
> > Note that Sylvia Scribner appears in the story (!).
> > mike
> >
> >
> >
> >      Why Do Americans Stink at Math?
> > <
> >
> http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=InCMR7g4BCKC2wiZPkcVUiNNeXtotqX2&user_id=bd31502e6eb851a9261827fdfbbcdf6d&email_type=eta&task_id=1406497165885382&regi_id=0
> > >
> > By
> > ELIZABETH GREEN
> >
> > The Common Core should finally improve math education. The problem is
> that
> > no one has taught the teachers how to teach it.
> >     Or, copy and paste this URL into your browser:
> http://nyti.ms/1lu6ijA
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