tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162327562072418813.post4339655455985419678..comments2013-11-16T12:33:35.126-08:00Comments on Teaching Technically: Winging It, Or Notteachingtechnicallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625498797260324204noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162327562072418813.post-6580812605991666222009-01-08T13:11:00.000-08:002009-01-08T13:11:00.000-08:00I appreciate everything you say because as a fello...I appreciate everything you say because as a fellow teacher, I am constantly planning and preparing. I can't tell you how often friends and family (non-teachers) wonder why I do so much work and why don't I just wing it. I honestly believe that only a fellow teacher could understand how much prep time goes into a good lesson.<BR/><BR/>However, as a high school math teacher, I have to disagree with you about the ease of winging math over other subjects. I feel the need to stand up for myself and other math teachers. I don't think that winging it or not has anything to do with what subject you teach. Instead, I think it has everything to do with what type of teacher you are. In reading your post, it sounds as though math teachers are being singled out for winging it. I appreciate the "stella math teachers" that you mentioned but that sounds like a math teacher that doesn't wing it is a rare thing. In my experience, I have come across teachers that wing it, or not, in every subject area.<BR/><BR/>You stated in your post, "Yeah, I could explain the concepts well enough, just winging it, but that wouldn't be much of a lesson", and you are completely right about that--and that goes for math too. Because of my math knowledge, I could try to wing it but just like you said, it wouldn't be much of a lesson.<BR/><BR/>Math text books for drill are not enough anymore and math teachers need to incorporate other things into their lessons besides the "old school" lecture and drill. We are expected to have hands on activities, technology integration, projects, etc. in our lessons as well which take a lot of prep time and cannot be winged.<BR/><BR/>Drill and practice may be enough for basic math skills such as +,-,x,/, but once you get past that, it is much more about the understanding then just doing. It is not about just learning rote procedures. Math is about learning problem solving, analyzing, reasoning and logic. These skills cannot be taught by merely drill and practice where students uncounsiously repeat steps you give them while never understanding why or what they are doing. Therefore, with all due respect to a fellow teacher, I have to disagree about the whole math part of this post, otherwise you are dead on.<BR/><BR/>I think that all "good" teachers need a huge amount of prep time regardless of the subject area and all "good" teachers do what you explained about yourself and your own classes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162327562072418813.post-89325635154940780022009-01-02T22:29:00.000-08:002009-01-02T22:29:00.000-08:00(I found your blog through teacherlingo.com)I agre...(I found your blog through teacherlingo.com)<BR/>I agree that the basic requirements of teaching different classes are pretty different, especially depending on the type of curriculum you're running for the subject. I've noticed that a lot of math teachers in my school can get away with lecture / guided practice / independent work using textbooks and problem sets. I teach science and there's really no such thing with our curriculum - I have to plan research projects, labs, find materials, etc etc. And since everyone teaches science a bit differently (especially depending on your group of students), it's very hard to just reuse other peoples' stuff. That said, I think that a great math teacher will go far beyond just textbook drills and can easily spend as much time as teachers in other subjects - it's just my observation though.Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07582545240178136930noreply@blogger.com