MATH SKILLS

       Okay, I found out that the world doesn't get excited about grammar skills even if I do.  As my former vice principal and colleague said about teaching grammar again, "It ain't gonna happen." Okay  , we're finished with grammar. 

      I also taught math at the middle school level. I liked teaching math and had students do all kinds of drill to learn skills. Now I realize that drill in math is no longer acceptable. However, there must be certain skills that should be taught.

     Pat from Weaver of Grass thinks that learning timetables to twelve should be mandatory. 

     I often wonder about many of the skills and concepts I taught and if they've been of any value. Have they ever been used? I think I know the answer to that question. They probably haven't been used. 

    Just for fun I'll ask the Micro Manager if she can divide fractions. She gives me an odd look and then tries to see if she can do it. She doesn't know how to divide fractions and she had the top marks in her high school class. 

    So my next question to the Micro Manager will be, how do you find the area of a circle. With a lot of work she can find the area of a circle and then I change it to the volume of a sphere.

    How about factoring polynomials? Do you remember those things? Probably not. 

    Remember what logarithms are and how to use them?

    Yes, we learned quite a few things about triangles. Scalene triangle? Is that still in your memory bank.  

    I sometimes sit back and reflect about the things I taught. What value were they? Why did curriculum developers put these things in the curriculum? 

     I taught these skills as I thought they were valuable for kids to improve their skills in reasoning and logic. 

    We will never know as math was taught for it's concepts rather than reasoning and logic. 

EVERY TEACHER SHOULD...

      As a long ago retired teacher, I have had time to contemplate a few things about education. I won't say I have answers but I think these suggestions would help teachers in their practice. 

    Now starting with a title like this people may get ideas that would go on forever. If I gave this to a grade eight class ...well, all hell would break loose! It would be fun though.

    However, for today I will ignore other suggestions and present my own.

    I think every teacher should have to take and teach some art, drama, music, shop, home ec., special ed and phys. ed. Now there would be challenges but I'm not looking for expertise in these fields. Teachers would not be assigned these classes permanently but given enough time to learn something. Teachers would need some special training in the areas and would team teach with someone who has majored in the field. I want teachers to see the special skills used in these areas and to put them in their own teaching strategies. My music ability is completely lacking but I do remember taking music in teachers' college and teaching music in my first year. It was ugly but I did it. 

    I have taught with and observed teachers in all these  areas. I saw things these teachers had that would benefit every teacher.

    Teachers in these areas have to be master planners and organizers. They think in a different way because kids are working individually or in groups. Those kids have to be on task. Routines have to be set up so that everybody knows where to go and what their responsibility is. In shop the kids have to know safety and rotate from one area to another so that at the end of the term they have completed all units. 

    Art, drama and music call for some creativity. All teachers need creativity to motivate kids. Coaching calls for strategy and planning where each player should be and what their responsibility is. The whole team works as a unit. I love watching coaches. They have a system. Every teacher should have a system.

   Special ed was part of my department. I went to learning disability workshops. I was amazed at the strategies those teachers used. I certainly thought about how some kids could benefit from special ed. strategies.

    My all time favorite was to go to professional development for primary teachers. I did have some gr. ones in my first year teaching. I loved teaching the little guys. That's where you get down to the nitty gritty of teaching. Many strategies have to be used.

    So if I had it to do all over again I would try to gain more strategies from these teaching areas.

    Now what do you think all teachers should...?