-Overall, the book was very insightful on how discourse in the classroom can be beneficial and to the struggles that teachers may experience if they have discourse in their classrooms
-For schools today (2010), I think this may have to be an afternoon, extracurricular activity because so much material needs to be covered during class time
-pg.102 "The separation of creativity, imagination, and wonder from the pursuit of science is artificial and disruptive to the development of children of any age." I agree that if you do not allow children to use their imagination and be creative, they will lose interest in any topic especially in their earlier years
-pg. 40 "Language is socially constructed, and new ideas emerge from the meeting and blending of voices." Having children discuss their thoughts allows for new ideas and thoughts to be explored and for children to learn from each other
-pg. 13 "We have been trained to teach a curriculum without fully exploring both the history of science and the nature of science discourse. Thus our practice as teachers reflects our own flawed education as students." As new teachers we can not hold our previous educational flaws against our students. We must adapt to new teaching styles, curricula, and techniques to provide our students w/the best education we can
-The early 90's is when these talks take place, I feel that schools are not the same as they were then. Teachers have a lot more on their plate such as standards, testing, demands from administration, etc. that these talks may not be able to take place in schools today
QUESTION: In an urban school setting in 2010, do you think these types of talks will be able to occur in any subject not just science? In which subject(s), why or why not?
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Hi Whitney, I love your question about could these talks talk place in any classroom. As a future math teacher I am trying to figure out a way that I can incorporate these talks into my future classroom of 7th through 12th graders. I feel that mathematics gives students a whole 'new language' that they don't understand before we teach it, so how can we ask them about the meaning of absolute value, or i, or logarithms, when they've never even heard of such terms. I am hoping this course will give me some new ideas of how I can accomplish such a task.
ReplyDeleteHi Whitney- I wholeheartedly agree regarding the beauty of the concept and real-world constraints in today's classroom. I have seen this live in action in a preschool classroom: the students shaped the curriculum based on their interests of choice, and became scientists/explorers scaffolded by their teachers. It was here at TC, Hollingworth Preschool. However, big point, there was no set curriculum or constraints from external evaluation. Another instance was during my math observations at a private high school where the approach was through problem-solving, ie every lesson began with a problem and the dialogue was carried by the students. More teacher involvement here, granted, and teh pace was fast. The student body was homogeneous as far as curiosity/achievement goes (it was a selective private school) there were no discipline issues , and as mentioned pacing was fast but they could handle it. Noteworthy that independent schools set their own curricula. I'm afraid in a public school setting one operates within much tighter parameters and across a wider spectrum of ability. I would always always start with posing a problem though it's the only way to teach math.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you whitney about the constraints on time! It's really hard to introduce "investigation and discovery" into our curriculum when we're so pressed for time. We have a curriculum, and it has to be taught, "or else!" It makes things like these discussions almost impossible to fit in. That is not to say however, that they're not useful, just not necessary, perhaps.
ReplyDeleteAddressing the final question on your post, I have a difficult time imagining having math talks in my high school math classes. From Galas book I would take the importance of sharing ideas and discussing everyones thinking on a concept. For example I think that it is very important to not skip over incorrect answers given by students. Instead use it as an opportunity for the class to more deeply understand the correct and incorrect methods for solving a problem or looking at a concept. In her book Galas gives examples of science talks at the elementary school level. In high school math classes I believe that the language and terms that students are using must be accurate and mathematical. Conversations can use informal language but then students must be able to define the terms they are using and correctly use them in context and when giving solutions.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the most difficult aspect of teaching is the challenge of teaching a variety of students with different backgrounds in mathematics and different learning styles. Teaching to different levels in the same class seems impossible at first until you become a seasoned teacher and can alter your teaching style immediately upon inspection to fit each individual student's needs appropriately. My current cooperating teacher is using a computer program that tracks each student's progress and generates worksheets for each student based on his or her level of understanding. Even though he has the benefit of that now, he used to generate these worksheets manually in the past when he did not have this software. A part of me wishes to have been his student teacher last year so that I could observe how he managed to keep track of 100 students' progress and continually give each and every one of them the individualized instruction that they needed to strive in school.
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