Chapter 5 - PP Experiences and Reflections

First, kudos to Michelle for leading a terrific discussion on this chapter. I thoroughly enjoyed the class.

The more I read through this book and reflect on Boaler's research the more I become angered when I walk into the math classrooms I find myself in. Everywhere I turn students are disinterested, disruptive, unwilling to engage, and excude hopelessness. We are the Amber Hill's of the world and after realizing the implications of such an identity we still remain resistent ot change. I recall my first two years of "teaching" - if I can call it that - junior and senior high. Overwhelmed with the business of the job and feeling disillusioned most of the time I did notice some interesting facets of how a math class can work better. Throughout Boaler's discussion regarding "Time On Task" my mind goes back to those two years. I began to notice that class management - the behavior and flow of the class was so much better when the students saw more of the front of me and less of the back. Besides being able to span the classroom and spot those off focus, the students in general felt more engaged, more a part of the math learning that was taken place. Whether I taught from a projection unit or from my laptop through power points and graphs the class was quieter, questions of interest from the students were more frequent, and the sense of enjoying the math rose so much higher. Today, I realize even this method of teaching is not the ideal practice, it sure was a huge improvement from the times when I basically taught "chalk and talk".

As I move about from school to school this fall I see the excitement in student's when the smart board becomes a tool for learning in class. They want to use it, experiment with it, and have it a part of the routine in math class. I wonder if we as teacher's have the same enthuasism? A lot of us don't have the training, confidence, time - whatever reason (or excuse) we'll use to impliment many of the new technologies available for teaching and learning. We are working against the grain in so many aspects of the education system. We have to basically fight tooth and nail for resources, plead for PD to be able to adequately implement these new sources into the classroom. However, we must find a way to make sure this change happens. We need to collaborate and unit like teachers of Phoenix Park and develop pilot projects on a small scale at first to test the water, to fell the security if that's what's necessary to essentially catch up with a generation that is moving beyond the ways and means we remain stuck in. With respect to open-natured teacing methods at Phoenix Park, Boaler noted that "what for some students meant freedom and opportunity, for others meant insecurity and hard work." I think the same could be true for many of us teachers. For some, we can finally tear ourselves away from the textbooks and test-driven nature we've been mandated with. For others, such a teaching style would open up vunerabilities and insecurities - which can be rememdied and which can be changed.

We've been complaining about the textbooks in our high schools particularly since they were brough in during 2002. As the years went by more issues were brought to light about the inappropriateness and inadequacy of these for student learning. Not enough practice! Not enough examples! No answer keys! Those chants echoed in every corridor around the province by students, teachers, and parents alike. To remedy the situation, some of us locked up the textbooks and replaced them with plasters of worksheets, binders of teacher notes and workbooks that some parents, some students, and even some teachers began buying hand over fist - all in an attempt to "fix the math". However, the problems still remain. Scores have not increased. MPT success is dropping. Frustrations are growing. Pockets are emptying. And, the reputation of mathematics continues to crumble. Why aren't the voices calling on a new approach to teaching math being listened to? Are our parents misinformed on how their children are learning? Are we, as educators ignorant to the implications our teaching acts are having on many of our young people? Yes, it's definitely challenging and scary times in our math classrooms.