Julie

Home

Chat

Blogs

Collection

Directory

Home : 2002 : February : 24

Julie
By Elaine

Julie,

My situation with Trailblazers is unique. Our district has given us the freedom to meet our learning objectives in whatever way we choose. I learned about Trailblazers because of a math workshop I attended one
summer. Our principal allowed 3 of us (out of 10 4th grade teachers) to purchase Trailblazers as a resource to teaching math in our classes. We did not get student textbooks, which was okay with us because we had already gone out on a limb and purchased (with our own $$$$$) some units of Terc Investigations to use. Investigations had no textbooks for students at all at the time. I am

not sure what they offer now, but I do know that not having a textbook for students was a real downer for some teachers.

It is definitely different for students coming into a Trailblazers classroom after having worked with "traditional" teachers. Trailblazers addresses some of those problems and offers some advice. I loop with my 4th and 5th graders, so they come to me from varied math experiences, get Trailblazer math for 2 years in a row, and the go on to traditional math classes in middle school. I do everything I can to make sure they are ready for that transition.

About the spiraling issue, I am not so sure that spiraling is a method employed by Trailblazers. Trailblazers, Investigations, and Everyday Math are standards based curricula that are committed to building a strong conceptual base for all math students. I think it is the best way for kids to learn math. Here is my only problem. Building a strong conceptual base takes time, and sometimes standardized testing robs us of the time we need to develop concepts. Time constraits often force us to cram in "stuff" before the test.

We looked at the TIMMS study in our summer Math Academy. A comparison in the way we teach math with the way the Japanese teach math showed that we try to cover a ton of objectives, going only a fraction of an inch deep on any one of them. Japanese teachers spend lots of time on far fewer concepts but take their students to a much deeper level -- building strong conceptual.

I'd say the most important thing for your faculty is to have lots of staff development opportunities if the change from traditional math is made. One of the posts I read about a teacher hating Trailblazers was very revealing. She said she had been doing her own thing because she hated Trailblazers so much. What she needed was some knowledgeable person who could encourage her over the rough spots, help her see the benefits of using the new methods, and support her in the changes. It is not easy to change, and without support it may be impossible. Good luck in whatever choice you and your colleagues make.

Elaine