I have to agree with Lori's thoughts. My system uses Math Trailblazers, the third of the three "reform math curricula" funded by NSF. Knowing the spiral is very important, as with so many programs, there is too much to do in a year. If each teacher or grade level independently decides to skip a lesson or unit, there could be large gaps in children's knowledge, or missing essential knowledge for a future grade, which makes people think that the kids aren't learning with whatever program is being used.
We also have definitely found many teachers lacking in mathematical understanding which impacts both decisions about what to leave out and good teaching in the lessons they do. We originally thought that this was more of an issue for older teachers who had never been taught this way, but we are finding lack of understanding of younger teachers as well. That being said, I also believe that teachers should have freedom to make thoughtful, informed decisions about supplementing or changing some lessons. Margie > Our teachers are struggling to trust sprialed curriculum, insistent upon > immediate mastery and supplementing with drill, drill, drill. The results, > our kids aren't doing well and very few classrooms made it through more than > three investigations. How can we be sure if it truly MI that is failing our > kids, as many teachers who would like to go back to rote memorization and > worksheets in long supply, or is a comibnation of a failure to implement the > curriculum in combination with a lack of deep mathematical understandings as > a teacher? _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
