Posted by:
Dean Fink
Posted on: May 15, 2001 at 10:21 PM
Message:
Congratulations -this sounds like an exciting project. I particularly applaud your willing ness to be reflective and offer advice based on what didn't work. What isn't clear to me is what is 'standards based teaching and learning' ? I'm not trying to be cute but it seems to me that one dilemma in most change efforts is that we never address what meanings people bring to a change. Change agents tend to assume that their meaning is 'the meaning'. People bring meaning based on past experience, gender, age, ethnicity, educational background. Time up front to come to grips with the meanings people bring to a change is crucial. I'd want to know why this approach is better than what I'm doing. Do people share your meanings?A second area of interest is the apparent paradox between your goals that prioritize learning and 'understanding' math and the measure used to prove success is an unaligned, decontextualized,
standardized test that tests 'right' answers not 'learning or understanding or student strategies or ideas. I love your intent but how do you deal with this paradox. If you have an answer I'm sure you could make a bundle by sharing it with colleagues. Thanks for sharing. Dean Fink
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