Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach

·Always stick up for a student. If I think another teacher is underestimating a student’s

ability, honesty, or potential, I try to talk with the teacher. I find I can change someone’s

ideas about a specific student, but I confess that challenging negative attitudes about

teaching is a battle I do not wish to start.

·Learn as much as possible. In math, it is important to cover different types of problems.

That means preparing in advance. Be willing to admit if you do not know something. You

can always tell students that you will have an answer tomorrow and you can assign them

to discover an answer as well.

***

JOIN THE CONVERSATION—KATE’S ADVICE

Questions to Consider:

1. Kate believes that “although the lives of the two groups of students outside of school
   may be different, in the classroom the issues they face as math students, especially
   problems related to motivation and anxiety, are largely the same.” Do you agree or
   disagree? Explain.


2. Because she is such a strong math student, Kate finds that her greatest difficult is
   “reteaching myself topics as if I were learning them for the first time—which is what my
   students are doing.” Is this a potential problem in your subject area? Explain.


3. Kate advises: “Learn as much as possible....Bewilling to admit if you do not know
   something. You can always tell students that you will have an answer tomorrow and
   you can assign them to discover an answer as well.” Do you agree or disagree? Ex-
   plain.
   4.Knowing Kate from this essay, if you were a parent, would you want her to teach your
   children? Why?

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

On the history and purpose of schools:

Bowles, S., & Gintis, H. (1976).Schooling in capitalist America: Educational reform and the contradictions of economic life.
New York: Basic Books.
Callahan, R. (1962).Education and the cult of efficiency. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Covello, L., with D’Agostino, G. (1958).The Heart is the Teacher. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Dickens, C. (1973).Hard times. New York: Penguin. (Original work published 1854)
Katznelson, I., & Weir, M. (1985).Schooling for all. New York: Basic Books.
Perkinson, H. (1991).The imperfect panacea: American faith in education, 1865–1990. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Spring, J. (2002).American education(10th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

On classroom organization:

Atwell, N. (1987).In the middle: Writing, reading, and learning with adolescents. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Bigelow, B., Christensen, L., Karp, S., Miner, B., & Peterson, B. (Eds.). (1994).Rethinking our classrooms: Teaching for eq-
uity and social justice. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools.
Bigelow, B., Harvey, B., Karp, S., & Miller, L. (Eds.). (2001).Rethinking our classrooms, volume 2. Milwaukee, WI: Re-
thinking Schools.

148 CHAPTER 5