Week 6 Begins (along with the MEAP)

Ah, where to begin.

Last week ended with a bit of a bang.  Our cooperating teacher was absent from school, so we had a substitute teacher.  What this ultimately meant is that we got to take over the class for the day.  I took seventh grade, which means I only got one class.  Since it was also a half day, the whole of the class was spent doing their Friday remote quiz.  I thought the day went mostly well.  The only niggle was the fact that students tried to leave when class ended, not when I dismissed them.  The following went down:

Students start to stand and gather their things
[Me] Hey, everyone, we know that nobody leaves class until dismissed by the teacher.
Students are still standing, one tried to leave.
[Me] Have a seat.
[Me] ...
[Me] Have a seat.
[Me] ...
[Me] Have a seat.
[Student] I'm sitting down.
[Me] Is that your seat?
[Student] No, but I'm sitting.
[Me] I said "Have a seat," and I think you know which seat I meant.
[Student] *groan*
Student moves to proper seat
[Me] Have a nice weekend...

A bit of a power struggle?  Maybe, but I never raised my voice.

Looking ahead, this week should be another eventful one.  MEAP testing is starting Tuesday, and there are rumors that we will be watching over a PE class.  That sounds like a nice use of my time!  My unit still looms on the horizon, but still no word on when I am taking over the class.  Regardless, though, I have an observation time set up for a week from tomorrow.  Hopefully we do something useful that day.

As an aside to all of this teaching stuff (sorta) my Math and Physics Certification tests are on Saturday.  I'm a bit nervous about the Physics one, and I think some studying exists in my future.  Math, I think I'll be alright with.

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Lastly, this is a repost from a Discussion Board response for a class.  The topic is the first chapter of The Teaching Gap.  Normally I wouldn't do this, but I had some interesting thoughts that all [small number] of my readers might be interested in:

Now, the major points of the text followed along the lines of: The United States consistently under-performs in the area of mathematics on the global scale, the problem with math education lies on the teaching of math (not necessarily the teachers, but at least the process), and we seem to lack any sort of plan designed to systematically improve the state of math education (Circa 1999, of course).

One of the attributing factors here is the method in which teachers are left to their own devices, on an island of isolation.  This actually got me thinking about how much different my teaching experience will be when I have my own classroom, compared to what I experience now (read: with two professional teachers and a second student assistant).  It's actually quite daunting.  Left alone on this island, teachers are given very little opportunity to observe and reflect on their own teaching habits and methods.  There is nobody checking in on the teacher's teaching (aside from a few arbitrary observations per year), so any professional development and growth becomes the responsibility of the teacher [alone].  We haven't gotten into it yet, but I'm am fully expecting to read about collaborative efforts among content area teachers in other countries, particularly Japan.  Sure, there are likely to be departmental meetings from time to time, but nothing on the scale that really alters the way that we teach things.

Anyways, we were supposed to focus on assessment, so I should probably get around to doing that...

The big role that assessment plays with regard to this whole dilemma, the teaching gap, is that the purpose of assessment is to assess student learning.  If students are learning, this should show up in assessment (both formative and otherwise), and teaching should be modified accordingly.  If this is not happening (which is likely the case) one of two things is happening: either the results of the assessment are not being used in any productive manner, or, even worse, our assessment methods are not functioning as their intended purpose.  This would mean that assessments are not properly assessing student learning.

This was hinted at briefly in the text when it was mentioned that teaching in the United States tends to focus on processes of computation, rather than mathematical learning.  Thus, students are only "learning" to memorize formulas and when they should be used.  Instead, students should be actively solving problems.  Not problems as in "problem number four," but problems as in a questions needing an answer.  Students get so caught up in the processes of doing computation that they fail to remember, or even realize, conceptually what it is that they are doing.  This is very disheartening.  The panda is thusly sad:

Ultimately, what this chapter did was sort of shake me up a little; both in terms of pointing out the elephant in the room, and actually frightening me a bit with the task that has been placed on mathematics teachers of the future.  That's me!  Halp!

Well, that's enough of a rant from me.  My biggest concern with all of this is that the system cannot be fixed at one level by one teacher.  It must be something that is addressed at every stage of a students' education.  I can try my damndest and do everything possible, but if the damage is already done, what good would it do?

:)  <--- the smiley face is to lighten the mood.