As of 7-1-07, I will be retiring from public education after 0.037 millennia. I intend to maintain this blog for now and in the future. I have enjoyed sharing classroom investigations and challenge problems, which I have personally developed. I want to personally thank all of my faithful readers and those who find this site by searching. Your comments and support make my efforts worthwhile.
If any educational institution, state education department, publisher, etc., is interested in using the kinds of instructional materials I have been publishing on this blog or using my services in a consultancy capacity, you may contact me at: dmarain@gmail.com.
I will shortly post this announcement as a link in a sidebar. Thank you.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Changes in the Wind...
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5 comments:
Wow. Congratulations. From what I can tell you'll still have a busy life! Enjoy.
thanks, e..
i was concerned that some might be offended by this post.Your support means a great deal to me. I certainly intend to continue sharing my experiences and ideas about ways to develop conceptual understanding of mathematics. The challenge for every math educator is to do this while maintaining a high skill and knowledge level. I believe this can be done by a blend of traditional exercises that students must practice (many without the calculator) while extending their thinking with more challenging problems. I know for a fact that, in other countries, the expectations for middle and secondary students is considerably higher. Students don't know they are doing more complex mathematics -- THEY JUST DO IT!
For example, we need to demand that our students know the basic trig values so that when they are confronted with cos(2x) = -0.5, with -pi/2 < x < pi/2, they will recall that 2x = 2pi/3 and x = pi/3. No calculator. These are the BASIC FACTS of the subject. As long as we fail to identify what must be learned well, we will continue to fail our children, particularly those who may wish to pursue math, science and technology.
Sorry to preach here, but I needed to get this out today!
i don't see why people would have been offended. as for preaching, i don't mind. i whole heartedly agree with you.
Congratulations, Dave.
I am sure the loss is that of future students.
Also, possibly due to your obvious enthusiasm and energy, I was under the impression that you were a lot younger.
Of course, I am sure the math will always be with you.
Cheers,
TC
thanks, tc--
i do plan on continuing to share my thoughts on instruction and content and depending on you and my most faithful readers to continue sharing insights as well...
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