When I began this site not so very long ago, my idea was to offer online and printable resources for learners. That is, both teachers and students who wish to take charge of their own learning. The main reason for offering resources to various types of learners is to aid in the pursuit of knowledge and truth which has always been to me, the true and ethical reason for schooling.

Every school or district, whether public or private, offers a different slant on education, different emphases, and different forms of assessment and accountability. This lack of unity often results in some students being better prepared for college, some ready to change the world through compassionate actions and some so weary of school culture that they drop out. Simultaneously, there are “standards” that hope to gain equality in knowledge, process and skills for all children equally but quickly tire out a quality teacher who loses her or his creative abilities as well as losing the time and freedom to teach ones own passions. It seems that teachers, policy makers, testing organizations, tutors and educational organizations all have differing opinions on how children should be taught.

I feel passionately that students should become acquainted with their own history and learn new material in a way that makes sense to them based on what they know about the world. When I say student, I also mean teachers because so many of us go into teaching because we want to keep learning. In order for students to learn new material, their bodies and brains must be developmentally capable of doing so. In a constructivist learning environment, teachers prime their students for the new material, helping them be aware of their current knowledge that most relates to the new material. With brains primed, students are mentally prepared for the new learning. During this learning time, teachers must observe only and not teach! Observe how each student is thinking and how they attack a problem. Make a note of what might come next. Giving hints is okay if students are stuck. You can read more about this method which I attribute to John A. Van De Walle in Elementary and Middle School Mathematics: Teaching Developmentally. After the main lesson is time for thoughtful reflection and discussion with the classroom community.

So, why mathematics? I remember faintly, enjoying math as a young child. I could count and add, subtract, estimate, round, measure. There were easy rules to follow. From about 5th grade on up through high school and even college, I despaired. I lost confidence. Math got complicated because the rules were complicated. The procedures were difficult to follow. For the life of me, I could not “get” percentages or fractions. Memorizing the quadratic equation became the bane of my existence. I remember asking my math teachers in high school and in college specific questions about why and how the math works like it does. I was a question asker. However, when you are told to just memorize equations or the rest of the class sighs whenever you have a question, you “learn” to stop asking them. So, eventually, that’s what I did. I strove for B’s and C’s in my math classes. I gave up on math. I complained about it every chance I got, reinforcing my belief that math was too hard for me.

When I became a teacher in Juneau, Alaska, I was suddenly in charge of a multi-age class of 22 children (ages 7-9) and all their learning. Well, when a teacher loves a subject, kids know it. When a teacher doesn’t like a subject, kids know it, so I wanted to do my best to learn it and be excited by it. I soon discovered that the majority of children in my classroom were already math haters by the time they entered my class. Given the amount of questions, concerns and confessions that came from the children’s families in regards to math, it became clear to me that many parents pass on this distaste, distrust or anxiety of math to their children without even realizing it! I have spoken to teachers in both Alaska and Oregon who have less confidence in teaching mathematics than in any other subject. As a result, mathematics programs are mandated by most schools and the result is that teachers learn how to teach that particular mathematics program (and some are very good programs!) and supplement the mathematics curriculum with things they learned in school that are antiquated to put it mildly.

Now, there’s a difference between ignorance, which can be defined as lack of education, and apathy which can be described as an uncaring attitude. What I see out there, is a great deal of both ignorance and apathy of mathematics, including its history, computation, problem-solving skills and conceptual understanding. If, together, we could change that ignorance to learned, perhaps we could also change that apathy to love and if not love, then at least caring.

I am on a journey to do three things:
1. Discover how to teach constructivist mathematics
2. Analyze educational policy in mathematics today; and
3. Share the information I discover with you.

My goal, beginning today, January 26, 2010, is to post 2 blogs every week day for at least 6 weeks. One blog will be about the books I read or ideas I have about teaching constructivist mathematics. The other blog will generally be a response or review of an article or web content that discusses mathematics in America today. I will try to post pictures and links when possible. Please feel free to comment on any of these blog postings. Also, if you are a mathematics educator and would like to submit a blog entry that relates to your mathematical journey or mathematics in the U.S. education system, please find my email under “Contact.” I would love to include blog posts from guest bloggers to include many different viewpoints. Please also include a short bio. Thanks!

-Tia-