Implementing the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics: Systemic Reform: A New Mantra for Professional Development

1996 ◽  
Vol 89 (7) ◽  
pp. 584-587
Author(s):  
Madeleine J. Long
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Educational Reform ◽  
Systemic Reform ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
Educational Progress ◽  
New Ideas

Like a huge pendulum that indiscriminately sweeps aside everything in its path, educational reform sometimes adopts new ideas and approaches without fully understanding their implications for teachers, for programs, and, most important, for students. Too often, educators jump on the bandwagon, forgetting the complexities of educational progress and engaging in either-or thought and decision making.

Professional Development: Teachers' Communication and Collaboration Keys to Student Achievement

1995 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
pp. 454-458
Author(s):  
Helene J. Sherman ◽  
Thomas Jaeger
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Student Achievement ◽  
Educational Reform ◽  
Mathematics Teaching ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
Professional Satisfaction ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
Instructional Changes

The curriculum and evaluation standards for School Mathematics (NCTM 1989) and the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (NCTM 1991) have served as both stimuli for, and responses to, numerous formal and informal programs, conferences, and conversations calling for educational reform and improvement in mathematics teaching. After all the plans are drawn and all the objectives are written, however, reform is most likely to occur and make a lasting difference when teachers are aware of the need for improvement, have a voice in planning it, and derive a real sense of professional satisfaction from implementing the instructional changes.

Do the Standards Go Far Enough? Power, Policy, and Practice in Mathematics Education

1992 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 412-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Apple
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Education ◽  
Educational Reform ◽  
Mathematical Knowledge ◽  
Mathematics Curriculum ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Conservative Movement ◽  
Evaluation Standards

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.

Implementing the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics: Learn from Your Students

1992 ◽  
Vol 85 (8) ◽  
pp. 656-659
Author(s):  
Margaret A. Farrell
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Classroom Instruction ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
Teaching Standards ◽  
Professional Development Of Teachers ◽  
Professional Teaching Standards ◽  
Professional Teaching ◽  
Individual Commitment

The next four articles in this department address issues related to four of the six standards in the section of the Professional Teaching Standards (NCTM 1991) titled “Standards for the Professional Development of Teachers of Mathematics.” The series will pay particular attention to the ways in which these standards affect the in-service teacher of mathematics, whose ongoing professional development depends. to a large extent, on individual commitment, reflection, and action. We hope that these articles will furnish a basis from which teachers can begin to examine and improve their own classroom instruction.

A History of Mathematical Dialogue in Textbooks and Classrooms

2001 ◽  
Vol 94 (3) ◽  
pp. 170-173
Author(s):  
Edith Prentice Mendez
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Educational Reform ◽  
Grade Level ◽  
Mathematical Discourse ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
Important Goal ◽  
Mathematical Communication ◽  
History Of ◽  
Principles And Standards

Mathematical communication is an important goal of recent educational reform. The NCTM's Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (2000), continuing an emphasis on mathematical discourse from the 1991 Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics, has a Communication Standard at each grade level. This article examines textbooks and classrooms from antiquity through the nineteenth century in search of historical precedents for mathematical communication in the form of dialogue between teacher and student. Although we have no way of knowing how prevalent this mode of teaching has been, interest in dialogue as a tool for helping students learn mathematics has been ongoing.

Implementing the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics: Focusing on Worthwhile Mathematical Tasks in Professional Development: Using a Task from the National Assessment of Educational Progress

1998 ◽  
Vol 91 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-161
Author(s):  
Glendon W. Blume ◽  
Judith S. Zawojewski ◽  
Edward A. Silver ◽  
Patricia Ann Kenney
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Mathematical Reasoning ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
Mathematical Tasks ◽  
Problem Solver ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
National Assessment ◽  
Mathematical Ideas ◽  
Solution Methods

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).

A Teacher's Tryangles

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 299-302
Author(s):  
Connie H. Yarema ◽  
Rhonda H. Adams ◽  
Rachel Cagle
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
Teaching Mathematics

Describes a teacher's mathematics exploration in a professional development setting to exemplify the ideas of the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics.

From the Editorial Panel: A World of Ideas at Your Fingertips

1996 ◽  
Vol 89 (6) ◽  
pp. 454-455
Author(s):  
Roberta K. Koss
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Extracurricular Activities ◽  
Mathematics Teacher ◽  
Professional Growth ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
Student Activities ◽  
Professional Journals ◽  
Reading Professional

A teacher's workday is filled with so many tasks—planning and presenting lessons, giving help to individual students, contacting parents, acting as advisors for extracurricular activities, serving on committees, assessing students' work—that adding another responsibility seems impossible. However, professional development is a necessary task that affects all aspects of a teacher's work. The Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (NCTM 1991) calls for teachers to take an active role in their own professional development and lists “reading and discussing ideas presented in professional publications“ (p. 16g) as an activity that will enhance professional growth. The necessity of reading professional journals can be a blessing in disguise because teachers can gain myriad ideas to help with their work. I shall share a few of the ways in which I plan to use the 1996–1997 Mathematics Teacher to help me plan my lessons, prepare student activities, and grow professionally.

Implementing the “Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics”: The Excitement of Learning with Our Students—an Escalator of Mathematical Knowledge

1993 ◽  
Vol 86 (4) ◽  
pp. 315-319
Author(s):  
Alan R. Hoffer
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Mathematical Knowledge ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
School Level ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
Professional Development Of Teachers

A teachers of mathematics, we represent mathematics in the schools. It is an honor to have the responsibility to represent the ancient discipline of mathematics. We are also learners, and it is likely that we know and understand only a small percent of the vast universe of mathematical knowledge. The same statement applies, of course, to professional mathematicians. Throughout our lives, certainly our teaching lives, we will continue to learn more mathematics. The authors of the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (NCTM 1991) use the section “Standards for the Professional Development of Teachers of Mathematics” to address the depth of our understanding of mathematics and the ways in which that understanding affects our teaching. I happened to learn more about mathematics because of a question that a student asked in class. This experience taught me that school-level mathematics has the potential for being a source of exploration and discovery for a professional mathematician. I found that there are many new things to learn and that it is exciting to learn along with my students.

Mathematical Tasks as a Framework for Reflection: From Research to Practice

1998 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 268-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Kay Stein ◽  
Margaret Schwan Smith
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Professional Growth ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
Primary Factor ◽  
Mathematical Tasks ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
Research To Practice ◽  
Classroom Experiences ◽  
Learning And Teaching

According to the professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (NCTM 1991), a primary factor in teachers' professional growth is the extent to which they “reflect on learning and teaching individually and with colleagues” (p. 168). Reflecting on their classroom experiences is a way to make teachers aware of how they teach (Hart et al. 1992) and how their students are thriving within the learning environment that has been provided. Although all teachers think informally about their classroom experiences, cultivating a habit of systematic and deliberate reflection may hold the key to improving one's teaching as well as to sustaining lifelong professional development.

Implementing The “Professional Standards For Teaching Mathematics”: What's All This Talk about “Discourse”?

1991 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 44-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Loewenberg Ball
Keyword(s):  
Professional Standards ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
Good Teaching ◽  
Teaching Standards ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
Professional Teaching Standards ◽  
Professional Teaching ◽  
Measuring Stick

Despite its title, the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (NCTM 1991) should not be read as a set of prescriptions about how to teach. The document will not deliver on such expectations, not because it fails but because no document can prescribe good teaching. No set of standards can be expected to stipulate what teachers should do. The potential of the Professional Teaching Standards rests instead in its use as a set of tools with which to construct productive conversations about teaching. It should be viewed as a resource with which to build teaching rather than as a measuring stick by which to judge teaching. With new ideas about things to pay attention to in our classrooms, to ask ourselves, to wonder about, we would have increased power to analyze and improve our teaching — alone and as members of a wider community of educators. In this article I explore possible outcomes of using the Professional Teaching Standards in such ways.

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