Why is Working Closely with Teachers so Important?

September 23, 2016

A few weeks ago we talked about our third approach to building learning trajectories (LTs). The title of that post, “Letting Math Teachers Steer,” was somewhat hotly debated within the group, as some of us really thought of the math teachers as “driving” rather than just “steering.” With all those feelings stirred up, we had more to say about why we work so closely with teachers.

We are all hearing the national calls to increase students’ access to computer science (CS) and computational thinking (CT). The tough parts are well documented¹,²: the need for machines, for professional development, and for finding space in an already crowded curriculum. Many teachers, undaunted by these challenges, are forging ahead to make it happen in their mathematics classrooms. Their work is evidence that they are up to the challenge of exploration – and inspires us to build LTs that can help guide them as they lead kids to and through new topics in computer science (CS) and computational thinking (CT).

The spirit of play is key to the exploration of new topics, and for elementary students, we particularly want to incorporate and hold onto it. On the other hand, we can acknowledge that playfulness alone is not enough as a child gets older. As a society and within our schools we also want discipline, rigor, and a sense of seriousness in the pursuit of any area we consider core. Elementary teachers are caught in the middle of many conflicting demands and have long experience in finding balance. For example, it is especially clear how seriously elementary teachers take their responsibility to teach children to read. Professional development and coaching in elementary reading abound. Because of testing, mathematics is also gaining in emphasis, evidenced by increasing resources being devoted to professional development and coaching in this area. Though we would love to see resources devoted to CS and CT in schools, therein is a snare we seek to avoid. The greatest danger in this effort is that CS and CT will become just another school subject to be standardized, tested, and used to rank and sort students.

We want to build literacy, but preserve the love of reading. We want numeracy, but not math phobia. As we at LTEC work with teachers, we remain preoccupied with finding middle-ground – avoiding unpleasant extremes. We find our teachers wonderfully willing to dive in, learn, lead, and reflect on their own CT teaching and learning experiences. They, like their students, are eager to find relationships and connections.

Working with practicing teachers helps us to see up close the constant balancing act teachers engage in as they attempt to find the freedom to explore with their students while still making sure they live up to the constant pressures around them. One of the positive outcomes to date is the support our teachers have felt to be able to explore more with their students. They feel a growing sense of becoming connected to and contributing to the larger world of educational research. Via collaboration, their own work has the potential to not only positively affect their own students but many others elsewhere. This excitement about wider impact is all too familiar to the curriculum developers on our team – many of whom spent years teaching mathematics in elementary and secondary schools. A teacher’s reward is the spark in the eyes of the tens of students in her classroom. A curriculum developer and researcher’s reward is imagining that same spark in the eyes of tens of thousands of students.

So we at LTEC will remain closely attuned to the work of practicing teachers – they are the boots on the ground we need to cover.

References