A Teacher's Tryangles

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 299-302
Author(s):  
Connie H. Yarema ◽  
Rhonda H. Adams ◽  
Rachel Cagle

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

1992 ◽  
Vol 85 (8) ◽  
pp. 656-659
Author(s):  
Margaret A. Farrell

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.


1995 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
pp. 454-458
Author(s):  
Helene J. Sherman ◽  
Thomas Jaeger

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.


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).


1996 ◽  
Vol 89 (7) ◽  
pp. 584-587
Author(s):  
Madeleine J. Long

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.


1996 ◽  
Vol 89 (6) ◽  
pp. 454-455
Author(s):  
Roberta K. Koss

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.


1993 ◽  
Vol 86 (4) ◽  
pp. 315-319
Author(s):  
Alan R. Hoffer

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.


1998 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 268-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Kay Stein ◽  
Margaret Schwan Smith

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.


Author(s):  
Jonathan Tummons

The problematisation of the professional standards for teachers in the UK lifelong learning sector tends to focus on the discourses that the standards embody: discourses that are posited as being based on a restricted or technicist model of professionalism, that fail sufficiently to recognise the lived experiences of teachers within the sector both in terms of professional knowledge and competences, and professional development. This paper takes a different approach, drawing on a branch of material semiotics – actor-network theory – in order to shift the locus of problematisation away from what the standards might mean, to how the standards are physically assembled or instantiated. The paper concludes by suggesting that a first point of problematisation rests not in the discourses that the standards embody, but in the inherent fragilities of any material artefact that has the intention of carrying meaning across spatial, institutional or temporal boundaries.


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