Just wanted to see what other people think about the way math is taught at the primary and junior level. There are excellent math teachers at these levels but there are also teachers with very little math experience or background. You will often hear teachers talking about not being comfortable teaching a certain math strand or even say they would rather not teach math.
It just seems crazy to me, that school boards don't move to a rotary based system where people with math qualifications are teaching math. It's no wonder that we have so many students who dislike math or are not comfortable with it. Having great math teachers who have a passion for math and want to teach the subject would make all the difference in the world.
When I took the BEd, Primary and Junior, I was extremely surprised to see that most of the students were lost when our professor, one of the authors of Math Makes Sense, would dig a bit on different strands. His frustration was evident as he was struggling to move on with this course. Probably all universities that provide BEd should have an entrance test for math in order to see whether future students at least know basic math in order to be accepted.
ReplyDeleteI believe schools should move toward a rotary based system, where qualified math teachers are teaching math. I remember an incident in my math class during my BEd program where the professor asked a student to come up and draw an angle in a pie graph. The student came up to the board and didn't know how to use the protractor. How is someone that doesn't know to draw an angle expected to turn around and teach math to elementary school kids? Students become intimidated with math because they don't have a strong foundation from learning it in elementary school. We have qualified french teachers teaching french. Why not have qualified math teachers teaching math?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you Kassandra; teachers need to be qualified to teach French, why not have qualified math teachers teach math. I volunteer in two math classrooms; a 5/6 split and 6/7 split. The 5/6 split math teacher come to that class specifically to teach math. She is comfortable with the material and confident in her math teaching skills. The students respond positively to her methods and some are even enthusiastic about learning math! I am comfortable teaching math (I currently provide direct instruction through in-school tutoring) and would like to be a 'math teacher'.
DeleteI agree with you Dale, I do think schools should move to a rotary based system for math. Math intimidates students so they need someone who is very knowledgeable and comfortable as their teacher. The more knowledgeable a teacher is with a subject, I believe, the more they are willing to "step out of the box" when teaching it. There are so many great resources available when teaching math and having a rotary-based system for math could allow for those beneficial resources to be more fully utilized.
ReplyDeleteMathematics is the base for everything. It’s like a vital organ that body absolutely needs to function. That is why it is so important to teach math properly. I am convinced that teacher plays a big role in student’s vision of any subject. Students can sense that teacher is not interested in a subject and subconsciously conclude that subject must be not interesting or important. I agree with you, Dale.
ReplyDeleteIf I for example had to teach woodworking class or something like that I would not be able to do any good. Yes, I can read and then deliver the info but can you call it teaching?
I think it's just as important (to be honest, it's more important) in elementary to have qualified math teachers. In secondary, a teacher has to be qualified to teach in a specific subject area, unless it's on a letter of permission and there are extenuating circumstances. Students learn the fundamentals in elementary, and they need a solid foundation to build on. If they have teachers who are not familiar with the content and how to deliver the material, it is more difficult for the students to understand the information. I agree with Anna- students (and teachers) can memorize information, but it doesn't mean that they understand it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the rotary system as well. As Kassandra stated, we have qualified French teachers so why not Math. To some people Math is like another language and unfortunately a lot of the people that think this are trying to teach this language to our students.
ReplyDeleteOnce I entered Grade 7 we had rotary courses in order to prepare us for high school, and of course to ensure we had a strong understanding of the subject material as it began getting more difficult at this level. Unfortunately these rotary classes included History, Geography, and Science, but no Math. I feel that at a Grade 7 and 8 level would be a great time to introduce rotary for Math and send the students to a qualified Math teacher for this portion of their day. The concepts covered in Grade 7 and 8 begin to be the backbone for high school courses as they introduce concepts such as angles and rearranging/solving equations. Due to the fact that these students are expected to recall these skills come high school, it should be important that they have a qualified instructor teaching them these skills. Many concepts are skipped, or taught incorrectly, because the teacher does not fully understand the material themselves.
Concepts covered in earlier grades, such as time, fractions, basic skills (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division), etc. are hopefully well understood by the average person, but once the concepts begin to expand on these skills and become increasingly more difficult I feel that the instructor of these skills should be qualified.
I think a rotary system with qualified math teachers in the intermediate grades (7 and 8) is an excellent addition to the school system and would improve the students understanding and abilities in their future math courses.