Switzer, JM. (March 2010). Bridging the math gap. Mathematics Teaching In Middle School. vol 15(7), 400-405.
Switzer gave an argument for the need to know the content and the processes in which elementary schools teach math, in order to better teach students in middle schools and high schools. Switzer wrote about how a teacher called him and asked about these algorithms they were teaching in elementary school that she had not seen before. This lead Switzer to learn about the types of instruction elementary school students received compared to middle school high school students in his district. Switzer wanted to show that it is important for middle school teachers to know what is being taught in elementary schools so that the student's math knowledge can be built upon. Switzer gave the example of the partial product algorithm to multiply integers. This method is an alternative to the usual method of multiplying integers but it allows connection to be made with distribution in multiplication and the placement value of integers. Switzer stated that teacher that know what was previously taught to their students are better able to help them make connection from past material to new material in mathematics and he encouraged teachers and school districts to better communicate their math teaching processes.
Switzer gave a great argument about why it is important for teachers to know what was previously taught to their students, but did not give enough examples. he gave the partial product algorithm and went into great lengths about how it can help students make important connection to deeper mathematical concepts, but this is the only example he gave. I agree with his conclusion that teachers need to learn what elementary schools are teaching, especially since children are learning math faster and at an earlier age now then they did 20 years ago. It would be easy for teachers to get a couple of manuals that give them the idea of what is being taught at lower levels in mathematics. I know that it really helps me when teachers can show me, based on what I have already learned, a new math concept. The only critique I have to the article is that it didn't have enough examples of different algorithms that were being taught in elementary schools.
I thought your article was great. I agree that when a teacher can explain to me a new concept in terms of what I've already learned it's several times easier to understand. And regardless of the lack of examples it seemed to me that the point can be well taken and teachers should expand upon previous teaching rather than entirely new methods.
ReplyDeleteYou're description of the article was great, I was really interested by it and am curious to read the article myself now. It was unbiased and clear; and you're interpretation I thought was equally as good. So great job in all aspects.
I definitely agree with the article and your analysis that it is very important to have teachers understand what is going on prior to their instruction in the classroom. I thought you sticked nicely to a topic sentence. I had a difficult time understanding the beginning with the discussion of the teacher talking to Switzer. In my opinion you did a great job but I was left at the beginning wondering what Switzer teaches and why the other teacher talked to him. All in all, a job well done.
ReplyDeleteBibliography feedback: You need a period and a space between J and M; remove "March"; italicize title of the journal and the volume number; remove "vol"
ReplyDeleteI thought that the summary paragraph was very strong. You had a nice topic sentence that described the main idea. You supported the topic sentence throughout the rest of the paragraph. I appreciated the level of detail that you included in the paragraph, because it gave me a good sense of what the article was about and what I might learn from reading it.
The second paragraph was more difficult for me to follow. I felt that the logical flow of the paragraph was somewhat confusing. I think that it would have been clearer to me if you tackled each issue only once in the paragraph.
Lastly, I think that your blog entry would have benefitted greatly from a close proofreading. There are many errors throughout the article that detract from the message.
I enjoyed reading your blog because your summary was clear and concise. Your thoughts focused well on the thesis. I would have enjoyed a more thorough explanation of the example you gave because I feel slightly clueless. There were also a few errors that could have been fixed by rereading your post before posting it. Otherwise, you gave a good summary.
ReplyDeleteHey Michael, sweet job on your post. You did a fantastic job summarizing what the author's main points are and keeping your own ideas out of it until the second paragraph. It was structured, and professional-sounding. You provided explicitly specific examples, as was required. you might want to throw in a few commas, that's all. Nice job!
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