{"id":3830,"date":"2014-03-16T12:33:35","date_gmt":"2014-03-16T18:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/?p=3830"},"modified":"2014-09-12T11:57:08","modified_gmt":"2014-09-12T17:57:08","slug":"alberta-education-shrugs-off-concerns-from-teachers-and-parents-that-theres-something-very-wrong-with-albertas-new-math-curriculum-edmonton-journal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2014\/03\/16\/alberta-education-shrugs-off-concerns-from-teachers-and-parents-that-theres-something-very-wrong-with-albertas-new-math-curriculum-edmonton-journal\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta Education shrugs off concerns from teachers and parents that there\u2019s something very wrong with Alberta\u2019s new math curriculum | Edmonton Journal"},"content":{"rendered":"Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

Alberta Education shrugs off concerns from teachers and parents that there\u2019s something very wrong with Alberta\u2019s new math curriculum | Edmonton Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So, big surprise!! Too much emphasis on “discovery” learning results in kids who don’t understand the fundamentals.<\/p>\n

Clearly, they are consulting with the WRONG people on education. Hint: consulting w\/ oil and tech companies is NOT the answer either.<\/span><\/p>\n

A big part of the problem comes from the Education faculties who teach the teachers, and often have an undeserved share of the voice in education reform. Too many people in Education only know about teaching education. Too few have experience actually teaching some THING – especially something that people tend to struggle with.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, folks at the U of Calgary are all over this, justifying what they’re doing and using all kinds of flowery phrases to say, well, nothing really. <\/a><\/p>\n

Phrases like “important work is moving forward”, “learn in active and engaged ways”, and this:<\/p>\n

The goal of education is to enable all students to achieve four transformative outcomes: to be engaged thinkers and ethical citizens with an entrepreneurial spirit; to strive for engagement and excellence in their own learning; to employ literacy and numeracy to construct and communicate meaning; and to discover, develop and apply competencies across subjects and discipline areas for learning, work and life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is simply a mission statement. Most mission statements are bullshit, and this one’s no exception. It may sound all Rainbows and Unicorns, but there’s really no way to implement any of this, and there’s absolutely no way to determine whether or not you’ve achieved any of it. It is so subjective that anything can be made to fit.<\/p>\n

I don’t think people should qualify as advisors of curricula for a subject until they’ve actually been teaching THAT subject for many, MANY years.<\/p>\n

I had ALL kinds of ideas about how CS *should* be taught when I first started teaching, but it wasn’t until I’d actually been teaching for over a decade that I started to have any real idea about what worked, and what didn’t, OR what was easy and what was hard. Some of my initial ideas were in fact good ones, but some were not.<\/p>\n

Oh, and just because you have experience does not automatically mean you will have wisdom.<\/p>\n