I like Leinwand's premise about switching up what is taught currently and focusing on what students really need to know. However, I am concerned that there would be quite a backlash by the personnel in the central office of the school district whose job it is to make up the math curriculum for the town. I do agree with Leinwand that we focus on the memorization of formulas way too much and not nearly enough on the understanding of concepts. It is more important to know how to find the volume of a sphere and when you might need to use that information rather than memorizing the actual formula. In this day and age the formula could easily be found online in about 30 seconds! It is interesting that he writes about postponing mastery of certain skills a year to help all children reach the standards. Last year my daughter did not meet grade level expectations on subtracting 2 and 3 digit numbers because the test to check this knowledge was a timed test. She got so worked up about the time aspect that she wasn't able to concentrate on the questions themselves. This was not a clear indicator of what she can do, but what the town now says she knows. Her teacher was very frustrated with the system that gave her no options. With all the changes to the Common Core this year and the age basic concepts are taught being changed, I worry that some current elementary school children are going to miss out on entire concepts because they will not have enough time to learn and practice the skills.
Lyanne, Your worry in your last paragraph is the same worry that other teachers and parents are having. With the Common Core getting packed, and the expectations on teachers and students getting larger the actual understanding and amount of time spent teaching and practicing gets smaller.
I do not know what the answer is. Perhaps children need to have specific subject area teachers at the elementary level like they do at the middle school level. That way the math teacher could focus on the concepts and children would be getting an alotted amount of time each day for math, as well as the other subjects. A homeroom period could be devoted to special theme activities-who knows......I certainly do not, I just think we need to get back to the basics and get rid of a teaching environment that is assessment/test driven and more topic driven.
I think that there is such a big focus on cramming content down children's throats that they aren't taking their time to work on an individual skill for an extended time. In my life skills room we are focusing on telling time because my kids never got taught that skill because of the standards. Even at the high school I work at, general education students can't tell time. A lot of time we are forced to focus on challenging concepts at an early age, but we have teenagers who are unable to perform basic skills.
Thank goodness someone has published what teachers everywhere have been thinking! Some of the curriculum that we are asked to teach is either being forced upon children at too young of an age, or is not of the highest value to be taught. Leinwand brings up several concepts that are not as important to the real world as others, and that we shouldn't be focusing on and expecting students to learn and remember.
When I was in third grade I was learning concepts that we now sometimes teach in first grade! I can't believe how advanced these children today are. I wasn't in elementary school THAT long ago. It amazes me what they know, and actually understand in relation to when I was their age, however, it makes me think that they are missing out on certain things that children their age need to have. Instead of cramming so much into a curriculum for a year, and telling teachers that they need to teach it all, they need to highlight what is important first, and then allow the other information to be taught as a challenge, or after-thought to the important curriculum. Let the teachers breathe easy in that aspect, and it will also lessen the load of pressure on students when it comes to taking standardized tests, as there won't be so much they have to "memorize."
Tori - I completely agree! Teachers are overwhelmed and cramming important curriculum into the last days of the school year. We already talked about how important the measurement unit is but because it is not included in some of the standardized tests it always gets pushed to the end of the year and doesn't always get the proper coverage it needs. Allowing teachers a bit more flexibility would also help them tailor the learning to the many different skill levels of children in the classroom.
I agree that children are expected to know too much early on. It's overwhelming for the kids and for the teachers because they have to rush through each skill. It makes it easier to just teach the formula without giving the practice to really engrave the skill into a student's brain. Making the curriculum more realistic will give the students a better sense of purpose.
It is so true what Leinwand is saying about school's expectations and standards changing over the years. Children are expected to learn too much at each grade level and are unable to master concepts because there are so many concepts that have to be taught now. Students are getting drilled with topics and teachers do not have the time to revisit them or extend teaching times on topics in fear that they will not finish teaching everything that is required of them.
I agree that we need to reevaluate the standards and what students need to learn. I have seen many students get frustrated with having to do something they know isn't necessary, but instead a standard for math. I think students are more aware of the problems in education than many adults are aware of, and it does have an impact on learning. Using the real-life applications when teaching math does help provide a context, but there are some cases, such as multiplying decimals on paper, where you do not do that in the real world. I think it would be more effective to teach students how to use a calculator to solve problems, but usually that is a skill left for students to learn on their own.
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ReplyDeleteI like Leinwand's premise about switching up what is taught currently and focusing on what students really need to know. However, I am concerned that there would be quite a backlash by the personnel in the central office of the school district whose job it is to make up the math curriculum for the town. I do agree with Leinwand that we focus on the memorization of formulas way too much and not nearly enough on the understanding of concepts. It is more important to know how to find the volume of a sphere and when you might need to use that information rather than memorizing the actual formula. In this day and age the formula could easily be found online in about 30 seconds!
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that he writes about postponing mastery of certain skills a year to help all children reach the standards. Last year my daughter did not meet grade level expectations on subtracting 2 and 3 digit numbers because the test to check this knowledge was a timed test. She got so worked up about the time aspect that she wasn't able to concentrate on the questions themselves. This was not a clear indicator of what she can do, but what the town now says she knows. Her teacher was very frustrated with the system that gave her no options.
With all the changes to the Common Core this year and the age basic concepts are taught being changed, I worry that some current elementary school children are going to miss out on entire concepts because they will not have enough time to learn and practice the skills.
Lyanne, Your worry in your last paragraph is the same worry that other teachers and parents are having. With the Common Core getting packed, and the expectations on teachers and students getting larger the actual understanding and amount of time spent teaching and practicing gets smaller.
DeleteI do not know what the answer is. Perhaps children need to have specific subject area teachers at the elementary level like they do at the middle school level. That way the math teacher could focus on the concepts and children would be getting an alotted amount of time each day for math, as well as the other subjects. A homeroom period could be devoted to special theme activities-who knows......I certainly do not, I just think we need to get back to the basics and get rid of a teaching environment that is assessment/test driven and more topic driven.
DeleteI think that there is such a big focus on cramming content down children's throats that they aren't taking their time to work on an individual skill for an extended time. In my life skills room we are focusing on telling time because my kids never got taught that skill because of the standards. Even at the high school I work at, general education students can't tell time. A lot of time we are forced to focus on challenging concepts at an early age, but we have teenagers who are unable to perform basic skills.
DeleteThank goodness someone has published what teachers everywhere have been thinking! Some of the curriculum that we are asked to teach is either being forced upon children at too young of an age, or is not of the highest value to be taught. Leinwand brings up several concepts that are not as important to the real world as others, and that we shouldn't be focusing on and expecting students to learn and remember.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in third grade I was learning concepts that we now sometimes teach in first grade! I can't believe how advanced these children today are. I wasn't in elementary school THAT long ago. It amazes me what they know, and actually understand in relation to when I was their age, however, it makes me think that they are missing out on certain things that children their age need to have. Instead of cramming so much into a curriculum for a year, and telling teachers that they need to teach it all, they need to highlight what is important first, and then allow the other information to be taught as a challenge, or after-thought to the important curriculum. Let the teachers breathe easy in that aspect, and it will also lessen the load of pressure on students when it comes to taking standardized tests, as there won't be so much they have to "memorize."
Tori - I completely agree! Teachers are overwhelmed and cramming important curriculum into the last days of the school year. We already talked about how important the measurement unit is but because it is not included in some of the standardized tests it always gets pushed to the end of the year and doesn't always get the proper coverage it needs. Allowing teachers a bit more flexibility would also help them tailor the learning to the many different skill levels of children in the classroom.
DeleteI agree that children are expected to know too much early on. It's overwhelming for the kids and for the teachers because they have to rush through each skill. It makes it easier to just teach the formula without giving the practice to really engrave the skill into a student's brain. Making the curriculum more realistic will give the students a better sense of purpose.
DeleteIt is so true what Leinwand is saying about school's expectations and standards changing over the years. Children are expected to learn too much at each grade level and are unable to master concepts because there are so many concepts that have to be taught now. Students are getting drilled with topics and teachers do not have the time to revisit them or extend teaching times on topics in fear that they will not finish teaching everything that is required of them.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we need to reevaluate the standards and what students need to learn. I have seen many students get frustrated with having to do something they know isn't necessary, but instead a standard for math. I think students are more aware of the problems in education than many adults are aware of, and it does have an impact on learning. Using the real-life applications when teaching math does help provide a context, but there are some cases, such as multiplying decimals on paper, where you do not do that in the real world. I think it would be more effective to teach students how to use a calculator to solve problems, but usually that is a skill left for students to learn on their own.
ReplyDelete