Some of us teachers depend too much on quick fixes we buy on Teachers Pay Teachers.
There I said it.
Don’t get me wrong. I once dropped $75 (more than the cost of a properly vetted text book) on a History Unit on TPT. I’ve also gone on to TPT five minutes before a lesson, bought a quick fix, thereby restoring equilibrium to my day. I’ve also written materials for a TPT seller. I’m not not being sanctimonious.
I’m just saying, there is a danger of of neglecting essential professional learning that happens when we spend the time carefully develop our own lessons and prepare for teaching. One way we do this is from reading good resources that delve into the content and pedagogy that we deliver. One such resource is the series Teaching Student Centered Mathematics: Developmentally Appropriate Instruction by John A. Van de Walle and others.
I can’t tell you how much knowledge and skills development I’ve gained from having this book by my desk. Here’s an example. I learned about Van Hiele’s level of geometric thought from volume III of the series. This knowledge helps me tailor my lessons to match students developmental levels, and it helps me move them smoothly from one level to another. What that might look like in practice, is that I can move a learner from thinking about individual shapes to classes of shapes after ascertaining that they are ready for the leap. I recently taught a lesson on the properties of quadrilaterals and this stuff came in very handy.
My understanding saves a mountain of frustration on my part and on the students’ part. It also enables me to communicate effectively with my colleagues and with parents. This is not something I could “pick up” accidentally. I would never understand this by pulling together worksheets on the topic. I needed to be exposed to it through some kind of PD such as a workshop or, in this case by reading it in a book written by experts.
What’s inside
The book explains concepts, discusses strategies for teaching concepts, it supplies tasks and activities proven to bring the concepts home along with sample responses that students might give, it promotes reflection on teacher practice.
To use this book, you would need to read the section at hand, gather materials (such as manipulatives) and make copies of blackline masters.
If you’re not familiar with the series of books, you might be surprised to find they’re already in your school. If not, it shouldn’t be too hard to convince your administrator to get them.
