Sound off
Four teacher-Friendly postulates for thriving in a sea of change
By steven Leinwand Connecticut Department of Education Hartford, Connecticut
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in mathematics teacher 87 (september 1994):392-93.
Many of us chose mathematics teaching be cause it was always so neat and clean. We felt an affinity toward teaching and learning mathematics because it was orderly and logical almost always, we arrived at only one numerical answer by using one right procedure that could be easily graded either right or wrong. We knew that with our beloved mathematics ,we suffered none of the gray areas that plague the disciplines of language arts and social studies. And we knew that we would be rewarded for teaching mathematics the way we ourselves were taught. But, ho, how things have changed
A word on the editorial approach to reprinted articles : Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Additions to the text for purposes of clarification appear in square bracket. No effort has been made to reproduce the layouts or designs of the original articles, although the subheads are those that first appeared with the text. The use of words and phrases now considered outmoded, even slightly jarring to modern sensibilities, has likewise been maintained in an effort to give the reader a better feel for the era in which the articles were written.
Let’s face it: the NCTM’s standards documents have made our professional lives much more challenging.