by Larry Campbell | Feb 6, 2021 | Education |
Back in my pre-Missouri State days, I briefly wrote a community education column for the local Branson paper. I recently re-discovered one of those columns. It had two quote excerpts that I think will be fun to re-share. I hope you’ll find one of them uplifting and encouraging. And I highly suspect you’ll enjoy the other one way too much!
Vision for math classrooms
Back then, there had been a statewide education course that was offered to math teachers. The course had funding from McConnell-Douglas in St. Louis, and was hosted by UMKC and UMC. Because of my brief involvement as one of the guest instructors, I was able to see a copy of one of the end-of-class papers that had a comment from a former student. Here is a slightly edited quote from that paper:
“If you build IT, they will come. What is the IT we are building? IT is an environment: a mathematically stimulating environment where it is safe to ‘play’ with ideas and where the correct answer isn’t always the final goal; where powerful mathematical ideas are not taught in isolation nor saved for Friday dessert; where fun isn’t an indication that the mathematics has gone awry, and where the understanding of math and its power is our goal, not just an added plus.
“(This) mathematical environment values a balance of estimation, mental computations, paper-and-pencil algorithm, and mechanical computations, (and the teachers there) no longer merely dispense knowledge but facilitate discoveries by our students.”
An inspiring vision, I hope you’d agree. On the other hand, I suspect that may still seem pie-in-the-sky to some, and I can just hear the “that’s sure not how it was in MY math classrooms!” And, depending on your age, I further suspect you’d be right.
But, looking back on that quote now, I’m delighted to report that the vision is becoming a reality! Not as fast as we’d like (you can’t turn a battleship on a dime!), but it is happening. Enlightened teachers are making it happen and parents are slowly understanding and supporting it. It’s exciting.
Now, on a much lighter side, how about a laugh at the expense of mathematicians?
Can mathematicians speak English?
Back in that afore-mentioned previous life, a former (non-mathematician) colleague dropped by one day, bringing this with him, probably to needle me. He discovered it in an issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. (Details upon on request).
It seems that a Columbia University psychologist, Stanley Schachter, had decided that “historians and other professors in the humanities tend to use ‘uh’ and ‘um’ a lot more often in their lectures than do their colleagues in the science and social sciences” not because they’re inarticulate, but because that have a larger vocabulary from which to choose!
Now that’s a most interesting interpretation, it seemed to me, not to mention a tad self-serving. But I digress . . .
To test his idea, he and other colleagues counted the number of different words used in lectures and articles by professions in a variety of fields. Here’s the fun part:
“The distinction of having the most limited vocabulary goes to mathematicians. In fact, when it came to measuring words used in published material, mathematicians had to be eliminated from the study because they tended to write in formulae rather than English. ‘They appear not to use words as we know them,’ the authors observed.”
Not being a publishing research mathematician, perhaps I can dodge that barb. Either way, I’m not sure I have words to respond to that, so we’ll call it a day.
by Larry Campbell | Jan 23, 2021 | Education |
JFK
Many of us were alive in November 1963 when JFK was assassinated, and we will always remember where we were. Many of us were also in school. I was in debate class, and we sat in stunned silence listening to the news reports from Parkland Hospital until his death became official. I’m fuzzy on what happened next, except that for some reason I remember that the school had to decide whether or not to go forward with the Senior Play, that evening. (The final decision was yes.)
I’m not sure I know how that event was handled in the grades below those of us in high school, but I suspect it was not easy for elementary teachers. It’s hard to choose/filter your curriculum in moments when instant and tragic history bursts into the classroom uninvited.
9/11
Most of us were alive on 9/11, and few of us will forget that either. Those of us over 40 were out of school by then (this time, my wife and I were in Ireland, soon to be stranded in Scotland), but many were not. It was hard enough to process and deal with that event as an adult (I remember lines of well-wishers with flowers around the block at the US Embassy in Dublin), but imagine trying to explain it to classrooms of students, especially of younger ages. If you were in school then, do you remember how your teachers and schools handled it?
January 6
You know where this is going. A little over two weeks ago, on January 6 we experienced another tragic history-making event, and it will likely burn into our memories as the others did. But this event was drastically different than similar tragedies through the years. Not only was it an attack on our country and hallowed buildings (similar to 9/11), but it was – tragically – an attack from within our own borders. And it occurred amid a time of unprecedented division among us. And it certainly didn’t unite us. How do we make sense of it? How do we handle it? We may never answer that question.
So, starting on the very next morning, how in the world do/did our teachers help their students to begin to understand what happened?
How do we handle it?
How do we deal with such events in schools? And, in this case, how do we do it fairly, objectively, and minimizing the biases of either side of our deeply divided political aisles?
How would YOU do it? (Perhaps you had to do it with your own children that evening?) And, if a teacher, do it in an objective way? Without yielding to political views, and yet without glossing over the facts? And do it in age-appropriate way, with discussions, as needed, from kindergarten up through high school age students? How, indeed!
Perhaps, the only appropriate place to start is to follow two guidelines, in an age-appropriate manner: Keep it simple, and stick to the truth. As if either of those is easy in these divided times and with this unprecedented event!
How about this: A mob of angry citizens attacked and over-ran the very symbol of our democracy – the US Capitol – in a violent protest of an election they claim was flawed. That sentence will not please either political extreme, but it states facts, and it gives a teacher a place to start with whatever pedagogical discussions are appropriate for their students’ grades and knowledge levels.
Teaching is hard enough as it is, and unbearably difficult in these COVID-19 times. Thanks to the heroes who had to deal with January 6 in their classrooms. May they never have to do it again in our lifetimes.
by Larry Campbell | Jan 9, 2021 | Education |
It’s resolution-making time, of course. Why not consider adding the cause of education to your list of things to help improve this year? There is still time to include your Top 3 Educational Resolutions for this year! The good news is there are many opportunities, and this will be easy, because YOU are going to pick your own Top Three!!
Here are ten quick ways for you to help further education, either in general, or in your home (or both) in 2021. Some of these are about schools/classrooms/teachers, some about your own child(ren) and/or you, some are mixed. Some are concrete, some are rather more nebulous. Some of them are ‘easy’, some require time/effort. What suits you?
It turns out there are 120 different ways to pick a group of 3 from the list, so surely we can each find a good, comfortable set of educational resolutions for ourselves. Use them for the whole year, OR, if your resolutions tend to go the way of most, rotate in 3 new ones each month or quarter. Or mix and match them regularly. Or invent you own. Doesn’t matter. ALL of them will help, and in the aggregate, we can together make a significant difference!
Here are the suggestions. Add your own items, as well! Have fun making your choices!
In 2021, RESOLVE TO . . .
-
Give teachers more credit and overall appreciation. especially in a pandemic, but in all situations. Period. They deserve it. Especially now.- Express that appreciation. Thank a teacher or two, personally or by sending a card. Do this every so often.
- Take an interest (especially if your children are in school). Don’t skip parent/teacher conferences, ask your child(ren) how school’s going and continue to keep up with their work. As/when it becomes appropriate, volunteer in classes, be a chaperon, etc. Ask how you can help.
- If you’re not a DO-ing person in pandemic times, or even if you are . . .Send a check to a local school for a teacher’s (or teachers’) use or for general materials, or for pandemic supplies, etc. Be sure to check school rules and send it through the main office.
- Go to one or more board meetings. Perhaps you’re not interested in a thing they discuss that night, but you’ll definitely learn more about the school’s workings and you’ll gain a better appreciation of the work the board and its members are doing.
- Along those lines, have or develop a first impulse to vote FOR school-requested levies. This is NOT a blank check. Absolutely DO your due diligence. But, unless there’s a good reason otherwise, vote FOR.
- Look for ways to get your own child(ren) to think and learn. Play more ‘thinking games’ with the kids. Ask questions, read age-appropriate books that include things they can see, that they are interested in, and can learn from. (National Geographic Kids’ books and even magazines are GREAT for these things, among others.)
- Make sure your kids know how important you think education is and encourage their learning. If they ask a question you don’t know, look it up together (easy to do these days!)
- Similarly, show that you are still modeling learning (and eager to learn) yourself. Read a book, take an online course, etc.
- Develop a broader perspective on education. TRY not to get stuck in the past. Calculators are not bad, cursive writing may disappear, digital learning is here to stay, and ‘new’ things are on the horizon. We’ll survive, and so will our schools.
Thanks for making a difference with your educational resolutions in 2021! Happy New Year!
by Larry | Dec 10, 2020 | Education |
Back in early summer, we spent some time taking about mandatory school ages for starting school. The discussion arose from a legislator’s (mis-guided?) previous effort to lower the mandatory ‘start school by’ age from 7 to 5. We talked of several related issues then.
I had almost forgotten that once upon a time, some Missouri legislators wanted to tinker with the mandatory age on the other end of the spectrum! I’ve lost some names and exact quotes, but back in the mid-90s or so, two Missouri lawmakers proposed legislation which would raise the mandatory school attendance age from 16 to 18. The bill, among other things, was designed to reduce juvenile crime and hopefully give kids a better start in life, certainly a noble goal. At that time, then-Rep Craig Hosmer, D-Springfield said, “If you’re dropping out at 16, you’re going to be out on the street causing trouble. I think education is one thing that can help.”
It’s hard to argue with education possibly being able to help. But let’s look at that more closely. In the first place, I think that Rep Hosmer’s implication that dropping out at that age automatically creates ‘trouble on the streets’ was perhaps a little reckless. Sure, that happens, even to the point of being a stereotype, but there are lots of ‘dropouts’ – aren’t there? – who take jobs, join the military, and/or find some other productive directions in which to head.
Be that as it may, we need to look at the flip side of that coin, which can be even more detrimental. If a youth/adult of age 16 to 18 really doesn’t want to be in school then it is just as likely – isn’t it? – that he or she will be ‘causing trouble’ in school instead of (and perhaps as well as) on the streets. One of the opponents of the bill at the time, apparently said something like “you can force them to stay in school, but you can’t force them to learn.”
A thought here. And please read the whole sentence: As much energy as we spend worrying about dropping out (and I’m NOT saying that’s bad!), I’ve often wondered if it wouldn’t be wise to spend as much or more energy devising a way to make it easier to ‘drop back in’ to the appropriate place in the community educational system (GE programs, adult high schools, etc.) when a young adult sees the need, wants the opportunity, and has discovered the ever-important motivation?
“You can force them to stay in school, but you can’t force them to learn.” As I look back at that statement, it leaps out at me with much broader implications than it did back then, especially following our recent discussions about helping students find their niche, their own area of genius, and their own motivations to learn.
Make just a couple of minor changes to the statement above, and you have this: “You can mandate that they be in school, but you can’t guarantee their learning.” Unfortunately, this broader version is true up and down the K-12 spectrum.
I’ve said this before, but I think we sometimes unconsciously take it for granted that student learning is automatically at the heart of everything educational, but it is simply not a forgone conclusion. For SO many (still to be discussed?) reasons, authentic learning is not always easy to achieve (and almost never easy to evaluate). Remembering this fact can go a long way toward our ongoing goals of successfully maximizing effective learning for all students of all learning styles and different needs.
by Larry Campbell | Nov 26, 2020 | Education |
“if you judge a fish by its ability to climb trees, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.” We visited that quote earlier this Fall. We used it to discuss the extremely difficult problem of maximizing effective learning for all students of all learning styles and different needs.
There are so many subtle and overlapping issues here, that we’ll probably re-visit this more often. Today, I’d like to explore the idea of maximizing effective learning for a variety of learners from perhaps another perspective. It centers on a problem that is perhaps most prevalent in my own area of mathematics education.
How many times have we heard – indeed possibly said? – “I’m just not a math person”? It’s counterproductive to directly dispute that statement. There is just enough truth there to lend some credibility to the claim.
And yet. Over my years working with (among others) future elementary teachers with math mental blocks, I repeatedly – and often – observed that many of these students learned they could ‘do’ and understand basic math and were not only delighted by that, but suddenly anxious to enlighten future children. It seemed it was a matter of “making some sense” of what they thought were meaningless rules and rote procedures applied totally randomly.
This idea of making sense or making a meaningful connection to the material plays a sizeable role in authentic learning in any subject, but especially mathematics. I suspect this should be obvious, but then, we are all too aware that math hasn’t always been taught with that in mind. (That is changing! Promise.)
The delightful comic strip Foxtrot by Bill Amends illustrates this idea perfectly and humorously, in a bygone Sunday strip. As the scene opens, the daughter Paige is sitting at a desk, clearly frustrated, and her older brother Peter is in the room. Paige says, “AAAA! I can’t do these math problems! Why am I so stupid?”
She proceeds to read the problem: “If 2X + Y = 60 and X + 2Y = 75, solve for X and Y.” “How the heck do I figure that out?” (I’m thinking several readers may be sympathizing?!)
Peter wryly responds, “If two shirts and a sweater cost $60 and a shirt and two sweaters cost $75, what does each item cost?” Paige immediately responds “The shirts are $15 and the sweaters are $30. DUH!” Peter turns to leave the room, with this parting comment, “You aren’t stupid, Paige. Just weird.” Paige yells after him, “Come back! You still haven’t told me how to solve the problem!”
Beyond the humor here, there are obvious insights. It’s clear Paige understands (makes sense of – even if subconsciously ) the concept of variables mixing with changing conditions in an area she connects with. But she is so lost in the all-too-familiar fear of abstract X’s, Y’s and meaningless-to-her phrases like ‘systems of equations’, that she is frozen into inaction, unable to connect the broader concept to the tools that can help with tougher problems. It doesn’t necessarily mean Paige is ‘not a math person’. But it might mean that we (math teachers) didn’t succeed in making sense or providing connections for her.
This goal of making sense connections to math topics is just a microcosm of our broader original questions. It doesn’t help that our system is not equipped to fully facilitate those goals. Teachers have too many students, too little time, not enough resources.
Your friendly local teachers are battling these Sisyphean tasks every day (even more so now!) Why not ‘make sense’ more tangibly of your support for/to them?
by Larry Campbell | Nov 13, 2020 | Education |
There’s nothing like a good mnemonic to help remember an important fact, set of instructions, or other useful associations. How many of us can still recite the colors of the rainbow thanks to our classroom chum ROY G BIV?
So, it’s not unusual that ‘The Three R’s’ (Reading, [w]Riting, and ‘Rithmetic) mnemonic has been a handy shortcut summary of our school experiences for a century or two. We rarely think much about it. But as society becomes more complex – and certainly more technological – the phrase seems to be a narrower and narrower slice of the overall picture of our educational goals and experiences.
Should we think about a replacement? Relax – I’m not starting a crusade or endangering a sacred cow. I’m just wondering if we might ponder some different nouns to help remind us, with a fresh perspective, of things we value for our future citizens.
Let’s take a look at just three of these mnemonics I have seen. What do you think?
The Three R’s
Apparently, this phrase first appeared in print as a space-filler in “The Lady’s Magazine” for 1818. (Thanks, Google!) My guess is that most of us associate it with the rather-addicting Chorus from ‘School Days’, recordings of which go as far back as at least 1907.
The mnemonic is certainly still useful. It’s hard to imagine three more important ‘life skills’ than reading, writing (as in communicating), and a sound knowledge of when/how to use basic arithmetic and math skills. But stopping there seems more and more premature these days. (In math parlance, we might say the skills are ‘necessary, but not sufficient’.)
The Three A’s: Academics, Athletics, and the Arts
In the mid ‘90s, I encountered a music teacher at a conference for math teachers! He said he attended similar meetings in other professions to get fresh ideas he could use in his field! He suggested that the three R’s ought to be these three A’s instead.
For a great perspective on factors and influences that influence a future well-rounded adult’s life, I think I like this one best. And in today’s world of physically unfit individuals and arts-slashing in schools, that’s an important trio.
But it seems almost as (overly?) broad as the first one is (overly?) narrow. And maybe not completely applicable to ‘education’? (I can imagine being ‘educated’ while being unfit, but I can’t imagine being illiterate and being viewed as ‘educated’).
The Four C’s: Critical thinking, Creative thinking, Communicating, and Collaborating.
I ran into this one on a website called Thoughtful Learning (https://k12.thoughtfullearning.com/FAQ/what-are-learning-skills). There were also extensive further descriptions of each trait.
I really like these four too! Wouldn’t it be wonderful for all our students to develop these skills as they head out into the ‘real world’? Indeed, I’ve advocated and written about creative/critical thinking here before. So, I’m not sure why I hesitate. But, to me, these almost (not quite) feel more narrowly oriented toward business. In some ways, I’d even say the collection is almost as narrow as the three R’s, but in a much more sophisticated way. Does that make sense?
In passing, by the way, after these past few months/years, I’d be tempted to add a Fifth C: Civics/Civility/Citizenship. Take your choice.
So, what do you think? Do you have a favorite or a new one of your own? As always, these thoughts underscore the difficulty in trying to summarize the enormously complex process of education. Ideally, of course, we could have a combination of all these things! What about the mnemonic ‘CAR-CRAC-CAR’ to incorporate them all? All we need is a catchy tune.
