day one '08
Dan Meyer has a constantly challenging and interesting blog - and he strikes me as the kind of math teacher that I’d enjoy learning from. In one of his more recent posts, he made these comments: “When you remove some scaffolding from your routine, you determine quickly if it was a) essential or b) a low-cost substitution for the essential. I’m noticing this everywhere lately. slide animations (wipes, fly-ins, checkerboards, etc.) are a cheap sub for arresting visuals; classroom rules are a cheap sub for a classroom well-managed; jargon is a cheap sub for authority; profanity is a cheap sub for articulated emotion; sophisticated words are a cheap sub for sophisticated ideas; machismo is a cheap sub for masculinity; “i love you” is a cheap sub for a ride to the airport and a note in the bag; technology used is a cheap sub for technology used well; meaningless assessment is a cheap sub for meaningful assessment; years and units is a cheap sub for a teacher’s worth; supervision is a cheap sub for mentoring; group work is a cheap sub for collaboration These cheap substitutes can lead us to believe we’ve filled a difficult prescription and performed our due diligence when in fact we are nowhere close.” ...