- April 26, 2024
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Conference teaches the teachers in math.
School may be out for students but it was in for a couple of weeks in June for a group of 196 teachers from around the state gathered in Orlando. In a two-week session, they learned how to teach math according to the new Florida Standards that will take effect next year.
The conference was run by the state-funded Florida Center for Research in STEM, which is aligned with Florida State University.
Becky Pittard, of Ormond Beach, an elementary school teacher for 25 years, including stints at Pine Trails Elementary and Pathways Elementary, is one of the leaders of the conference.
Pittard was on the team that developed the Common Core standards a few years ago, which were later revised to become the Florida Standards, and she said the changes in teaching math are much needed.
She said the real difference next year in math education will be an emphasis on understanding and reasoning, and not just memorization.
“Math education has been too rote,” she said.
Pittard said there was a time in the nation’s history, in the 1930s and 1940s, when schools taught math with more understanding. After World War II, she said, the teaching involved a lot of memorization.
The Florida Standards take a new approach, which harks back to the past.
“It’s learning how to reason in math,” she said. “We need creative reasoning.”
She said the teachers at the conference are enthusiastic about helping students have more understanding.
“It’s enjoyable when a kid’s eyes light up, when they understand,” Pittard said. “I want to get the word out that the new standards are wanted and needed by students.”
The teachers are learning more about math at the conference. They are all taking the course, “Thinking Mathematics.”
“If we want teachers to teach math, they need to understand math,” Pittard said,
When Common Core standards were developed, Pittard said, they looked at teaching methods used in Japan, Finland and other countries that consistently have high student math scores and emphasize problem solving.
She said that for years, people complained that American students were behind the rest of the world, and now they are complaining about the changes in the standards.
“It doesn’t make sense,” she said.
The Florida Center for Research was created by the legislature to promote STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering and math. There have been previous workshops on science, technology and engineering, Pittard said.
Pittard said 14 facilitators helped the teachers better understand math content and standards, research different strategies for teaching and develop lesson plans and other resources that will be shared with other teachers on the state website, cpalms.org.
Pittard said there are misconceptions about Common Core. First, she said many people think it was “some kind of federal takeover.”
“It came from the National Governor’s Association Conference in 2008,” she said. The governors decided to make an effort to improve education and worked with the chief education officials in each state, she said,
There are 10 teachers from Volusia County at the workshop, Pittard said. Although it’s only a fraction of the number of state-wide teachers, she said the plan is that the teachers will go back and share their knowledge at their schools. Also, the lesson plans and strategies they develop will be on the website.
Pittard said the teachers at the conference responded to invitations that were sent out to the schools.
“These teachers are taking two weeks out of their life to learn to do better,” Pittard said. “It speaks to their passion.”
She believes the new standards are important and hopes they don’t become a political hot topic and “changed for political reasons.”
