Homework reading and blog response: Battleground Schools (for Wed. Oct. 2)

  

1. 

 Here is a short piece I wrote for a book called Battleground Schools on conflicts within mathematics education in the US (and which affected Canada) in the past century. Please read this and blog about three 'stops' that you had when learning about the fraught history of mathematics education and curriculum in North America! 

Your blog post is due next Wednesday Oct 2 at 9 AM.

A great book that we will work with in class: PDF of Thinking Mathematically

   

Here is a link to the online PDF of Thinking Mathematically -- a classic and wonderful book in mathematics education, with many very interesting problems (and while extensions are provided, solutions arent!) 

I suggest that you also get yourself a hard copy of this book as one of the starting volumes for your classroom library.

Write-up for you math art projects (individual write-up on your own blog)

 

 Hi everyone! After your group has presented your math art project (Assignment #1), each person should
follow up with a blog post that reflects on the project:

• one paragraph plus photos of your project that describes what you did as a group. (This part can be the same for all the people in your group.)

• one paragraph on what the experience of this project was like for you -- where it was challenging, satisfying, frustrating, intriguing, etc.

• one paragraph on your thoughts about what you take away from this project as a teacher. What could you (and couldn't you) use with your own classes? Any ideas for parallel projects bringing together math with other subject areas like the arts, history, science, etc. that you might consider developing and trying out in your own class?

These posts will be part of your mark for Assignment #1, and are due by Wed Oct 2 at 9 AM.

Here is the schedule for our math art presentations

Note that next week (Sept 23 & 25), we will meet in our indoor classroom, Scarfe Room 1211. Here is the schedule:

Homework read-and-respond: Lockhart’s Lament

 

Here is a link to an influential essay on mathematics teaching and learning by mathematician (and interesting nonconformist) Paul Lockhart:

https://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~pawelst/rzut_oka/Zajecia_dla_MISH_2011-12/Lektury_files/LockhartsLament.pdf

(And if you're interested in hearing what Paul Lockhart sounds like, here's a link to a 3 minute film where he talks about mathematical proof.)

Please read this article, Lockhart's Lament, and find at least one thing you agree with and one thing you disagree with -- and why. Also, please mention a point of contact and/or a point of contrast with Skemp's article. Your blog post is due Wed Sept 25.

The NCTM Standards, Common Core Curriculum and draft Catalyzing Change in High School Math (for our Sept 11 or 16 class)

 

 The US-based National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) has had an enormous effect on mathematics curricula worldwide -- including BC! Understanding the NCTM is essential for understanding our own curriculum.

Here is the link to the new NCTM Common Core executive summary, a link to the Common Core State Standards (something like our IRPs) with correlations to Canadian curricula, and a link to the executive summary of the NCTM Principles and Standards from 2000. We will look at this today to get a sense of one of the biggest influences on our curricular reforms and understand where it is coming from. We may also look at the new draft NCTM Catalyzing Change in High School Mathematics document.


Note that there are also standards for teachers, related to a neo-liberal climate of measurement, accountability and teacher testing in the US.

The general NCTM website is accessible at NCTM.org. It is well worth getting acquainted with the great lesson plans, puzzles, interactive activities and other resources included on this page too.

We will look at:

the 6 Standards,
the 5 Process Standards,
the 5 Content Standards,
the 8 Mathematics Teaching Practices recommended, and
the 16 Principles to Actions recommended for teachers (6), administrators (5) and policy-makers (5).

BC's 2019 "new curriculum" from the Ministry of Education

 Here is a link to the 'new' BC Curriculum, which was  fully implemented from K-12 in BC in 2019 https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/>

schools. This curriculum is based on competencies, described here.

We will start by looking at the new curriculum orientation guide and tools for educators that are used in the revisioned curriculum documents.

And of course, we will look at the structure, content and assessment guidelines of the BC Mathematics Curriculum.