Implementing the “Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics”: Becoming a Teacher of Mathematics: A Constructive, Interactive Process

1993 ◽  
Vol 86 (5) ◽  
pp. 400-403
Author(s):  
Constance Curley Feldt ◽  
Margaret A. Farrell

In this, the final article in this department for the 1992-1993 academic year, the author addresses the standard Developing as a Teacher of Mathematics (NCTM 1991, 160-66). Teacher conceptions and teacher reftections have been alluded to by each of the previous three authors. In this article, the author places the spotlight directly on teacher reftection and its relation to classroom practice. Teachers who are looking for ways to reexamine their own teaching will find practical suggestions and the theoretical and research rationale on which these ideas are based.

1998 ◽  
Vol 91 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-161
Author(s):  
Glendon W. Blume ◽  
Judith S. Zawojewski ◽  
Edward A. Silver ◽  
Patricia Ann Kenney

Worthwhile mathematical tasks engage the problem solver in sound and significant mathematics, elicit a variety of solution methods, and require mathematical reasoning. Such problems also prompt responses that are rich enough to reveal mathematical understandings. Just as good classroom practice engages students in worthwhile mathematical tasks, sound professional development does the same with teachers. Providing teachers with opportunities to engage in worthwhile mathematical tasks and to analyze the mathematical ideas underlying those tasks promotes the vision of the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (NCTM 1991).


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. ar42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelique Kritzinger ◽  
Juan-Claude Lemmens ◽  
Marietjie Potgieter

Higher education faces the challenge of high student attrition, which is especially disconcerting if associated with low participation rates, as is the case in South Africa. Recently, the use of learning analytics has increased, enabling institutions to make data-informed decisions to improve teaching, learning, and student success. Most of the literature thus far has focused on “at-risk” students. The aim of this paper is twofold: to use learning analytics to define a different group of students, termed the “murky middle” (MM), early enough in the academic year to provide scope for targeted interventions; and to describe the learning strategies of successful students to guide the design of interventions aimed at improving the prospects of success for all students, especially those of the MM. We found that it was possible to identify the MM using demographic data that are available at the start of the academic year. The students in the subgroup were cleanly defined by their grade 12 results for physical sciences. We were also able to describe the learning strategies that are associated with success in first-year biology. This information is useful for curricular design, classroom practice, and student advising and should be incorporated in professional development programs for lecturers and student advisors.


1992 ◽  
Vol 39 (7) ◽  
pp. 32-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn A. Maher ◽  
Amy M. Martino ◽  
Susan N. Friel

Teaching mathematics from the perspective of developing in students “mathematical power” (NCTM 1989) requires the building of a new vision for learning that focuses on thinking and reasoning. This endeavor draws on many complex and interrelated domains of knowledge. The reasons some teachers are more successful than others in facilitating thoughtful mathematical learning environments are varied and intricate. Perhaps a look at classroom sessions in which students are thoughtfully engaged in doing mathematics might lend further insight into what it means to pay attention to the thinking of students as they are engaged in doing mathematics and what it means to build on students thinking. (For a discussion of what is meant by doing mathematics, see Davis and Maher [1990] and Maher, Davis, and Alston [1991a].)


1993 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 286-289
Author(s):  
Jeanette H. Gann

The Editorial Panel welcomes readers' responses to this article or to any aspect of the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics for consideration for publication as an article or as a letter in “Readers' Dialogue.”


1992 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-42
Author(s):  
Lynn C. Hart ◽  
Karen Schultz ◽  
Deborah Najee-ullah ◽  
Linda Nash

I do not believe it b possible for teachers to change their teaching practices if those practices arc not made the object of thought and consideration.


1992 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 412-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Apple

Although NCTM's Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (1989) and Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (1991) are generating considerable interest, there has been little discussion of their ideological and social grounding and effects. By placing the Standards within the growing conservative movement in education, this paper raises a number of crucial issues about the documents, including the depth of the financial crisis in education and its economic and ideological genesis and results; the nature of inequality in schools; the role of mathematical knowledge in our economy in maintaining these inequalities; the possibilities and limitations of a mathematics curriculum that is more grounded in students' experiences; and the complicated realities of teachers' lives. Without a deeper understanding of these issues, the Standards will be used in ways that largely lend support only to the conservative agenda for educational reform.


1994 ◽  
Vol 41 (9) ◽  
pp. 550-552
Author(s):  
Jeane M. Joyner

The sixth standard in the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (NCTM 1991) focuses on analyzing and interconnecting teaching and learning. The standard calls for the analysis of teaching and learning to be ongoing by “[o]bserving, listening to, and gathering other information about students to assess what they are learning.” Teachers examine the “[e]ffects of the tasks, discourse, and learning environment on students' mathematical knowledge, skills, and dispositions.”


1994 ◽  
Vol 87 (8) ◽  
pp. 602-606
Author(s):  
Ruth McClintock

Viewing mathematics as communication is the second standard listed for all grade levels in the NCTM's Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (1989). This emphasis underscores the need for nurturing language skills that enable children to translate nonverbal awareness into words. One way to initiate discussion about mathematical concepts is to use physical models and manipulatives. Standard 4 of the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (NCTM 1991) addresses the need for tools to enhance discourse. The flexigon is a simple and inexpensive conversation piece that helps students make geometric discoveries and find language to share their ideas.


1992 ◽  
Vol 85 (9) ◽  
pp. 746-749
Author(s):  
Frances M. Thompson

NCTM's Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics suggests that “tasks that require students to reason and to communicate mathematically are more likely to promote their ability to solve problems and to make connections” with other mathematical ideas (1991, 24). Yet too frequently our classroom introductions to mathematics concepts and theorems demand little reasoning from students, leaving them unconvinced or with minimal understanding. Concrete, visual, or geometric models are seldom offered as aids, particularly when studying new numerical relations (Suydam 1984, 27; Bennett 1989, 130), even though many people depend heavily on visual stimuli for their learning, The challenge to the teacher is to select appropriate tasks and materials that will stimulate students to visualize and think about new mathematical concepts, thereby allowing them to develop their own understanding.


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