Hi once again, Charles,
(Well you keep writing so I have to keep replying )
CB>From my readings and the limited experience I've had with the program in
  >our district (as local union president I've represented teachers being
  >pushed into a whole language program they were not ready to accept), it
  >appears to me that YOURS is the unusual experience.  But then again, my
  >exposure is limited.
Well, Dan's experiences are more mine too but I only teach in one area
of Metro and Metro though big is not the whole of Ontario which is not
the whole of Canada, etc. So I guess everyone's exposure is limited. :)
  > As I came through the college system in the 60's, I learned all of the
  >newest "modern math" techniques invented.  Alphabet soup, we called it
When I came to Canada and had my children five years later they were
teaching "the new math" and I certainly saw the differences in how I was
taught. Now I have been here for 30 years and cannot remember what the
"old math" was like.  So tell me what were some of the new "modern math"
techniques?
  >skills and make math fun.  I have referred to it as the "whole math"
  >approach in an article I once wrote for our local union newsletter.
How about posting it here - I would be interested in reading it.
I'm trying to remember which grade level you teach....grade six? Or am I
thinking of someone else here?
CB>At any rate, we produced a generation of kids who had a great "feel" for
  >math, but they couldn't add 2 and 2.  Districts got so paranoid that we
  >abandoned that nonsense completely in the late 1970's as another wave of
  >"back to basics" hit the school community across the nation.  We even
  >gave up on some of the good stuff to come out of the 60's version of the
  >new math (NCTM is re-hatching the thing all over again - and again, from
  >what I've seen, it is "feel good math" without any firm foundation in
  >research).
Well, I received my Teaching qualifications in '92 so don't know what
you are talking about here. Care to enlighten me a little?
I sent a message out the other week saying I had just completed the
"Math Their Way" course but like the many other messages I have posted
recently I think it disappeared into the Fido Black Hole. :( I think I
shall post another message so won't go into it here...look for it - it
will be very brief. (I promise) 
CB>We're never going to learn until we accept the fact that educating kids
  >IS a science and we ought do only those things that work, as verified by
  >sound, repeatable research.
I'm not sure that I agree with you here. Elaborate a little, please.
CB>At least that's how I see it all.
We are all entitled to our opinions. :)
                Thanks for putting up with me....
                                Ruth
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 þ QMPro 1.53 þ Philosopy: the profound grasp of the obvious.
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