"To help students access the math curriculum, schools purchase programs and textbooks. EveryDay Math, MathConnects, MathScapes, Singapore Math, Glencoe, Prentice Hall, etc. But, none of these programs or textbooks are meant to replace the teacher and none of them are meant to define a school’s curriculum. They are, instead, resources that schools and teachers can use to help facilitate students’ learning. So when my friend asked what I thought of EveryDay Math and whether her concern for her daughter’s readiness for middle school math was valid I replied,If your daughter is not ready for middle school math, it’s not the fault of the program, its the fault of the teacher. And, oh by the way, its not really the fault of the teacher because we are slowly eroding their professionalism.We educate in a time when we allow test scores to dictate student placement, lesson planning and at times, judge teacher effectiveness. Instead of engaging teachers in meaningful learning experiences to empower their professionalism, we buy canned programs and turn them into technicians, moving from one lesson to another and correcting worksheet after worksheet. We are stripping our teachers of that which they should be most trained to do, assess the readiness and needs of their students so that they can determine the best way to engage them in learning that allows them to access the curriculum in personally relevant and meaningful ways. We are instead telling them to be on a certain lesson and to read from a certain script on a certain day. We have driven professionalism from our teachers, we have trained them to teach programs and not students." (http://www.transleadership.net/?p=703)
I don't know Tony Baldasaro, but I couldn't agree more. It's time to free the students...and the teachers!
