Friday, January 24, 2003

This is kickass. We all need to shake it up a bit from time to time... Propaganda posters take a new turn. I love the Uncle Sam rolling up his sleeve to tangle with Ashcroft. I really want one of those. 3:36:20 PM  comment []

Math So the past two days, we've had a few different keynote speakers, including Kathy Cox, the superintendent of Georgia Schools, Marc Tucker, our president, and this morning, we had Bill Schmidt, a professor at Michigan State, who runs the TIMSS study. Dr. Schmidt's talk this morning was one of the most effective that I've seen in a long, long time. His argument, and it was presented very very strongly, is that tracked mathematics curriculums are inequitable in the long run, because it provides a capricious shotgun approach to mathematics. What we need is a defined standard for our classes: Algebra in Grade 8. Fractions in Grade 4. Geometry in Grade 9, Calculus by graduation and we need to take them as Do or Die standards. This is what the rest of the world is doing. We're allowing teachers to decide what get taught. That's fascist, not democratic. We need to set national standards for what gets taught instead of leaving our children in the hands of capricious tracks decided by counselors who aren't in the classrooms with the kids. We can't afford to hold back the masses while the few excel. Let's give the chances to the many, while deepening the knowledge of the exceptional. It's frequently been said that the American curriculum is a mile wide but an inch deep. It needs to be more focused. We need to trim our texts from being full of little sidebars, full of random crap, to something coherent that handles texts as wholes, not pieces. Okay, brain isn't at full strength due to sleep dep, but I'll be saying more in the next few days, and of course welcome your experiences and comments to the following questions: When did you take algebra? What level of mathematics did you reach by the end of high school? How many tracks of math were available at your school? 11:09:56 AM  comment []

For those scoring at home... For those scoring at home, I have been at work since 7:30am. It is currently quarter to two in the morning. It will be amazing if I leave before 4am. That makes for a 21.5 hour workday. I have to be on the floor at 6:30a to set projectors tomorrow. Will someone please end my suffering? 1:42:23 AM  comment []

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Last update: 6/28/03; 9:48:24 PM .

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