Blog #1

I think what surprises me the most about teaching math in the "non-traditional" is not only having to create new ways to get the students to problem solve, but to also connect the teachings to standards. I had always thought that connecting the standards to what was to be taught in class would be easy, because the standards are to be measurable. But I was very wrong. It is clear that the South Dakota standards need to be revisited and revised. They are general, broad, and hard to know exactly what is supposed to be taught in class. In class we were able to compare the standards from 4 different locations, and they all pretty much said the same thing, except for the South Dakota standards. It was almost like you had to read between the lines to fully understand what you needed to teach. My group looked at the Common Core Standards and we found them to be clear, concise, and easy to understand. It was clear, after reading them, which standard we were meeting. If we, as teachers, are to meet all of these standards, then it is important for us to know exactly what we need to be teaching.