President's Message - September 2010

The Teacher is the Key

DAVID ZIMMER

dzec.inc@gmail.com

A recent article in the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education provided a summary of the particular kinds of knowledge pre-service teachers need to teach math content in the middle grades. I think it applies to teaching math at any grade.

As teachers, we regularly make decisions about how or whether to use a resource or instructional strategy for a particular student or group of students. These decisions require a specific knowledge of mathematics for teaching beyond that which we normally are provided at a faculty of education. This Specialized Content Knowledge (SCK) is most often acquired after we begin our teaching careers. It gets developed through experience, professional learning, collegial dialogue and personal reflection.

OAME has always taken the position that the teacher is the key to providing meaningful and effective mathematics learning experiences for students. For that to happen, we believe that teachers need opportunities for personal and professional reflection on the effectiveness of the resources and strategies they are currently using. They need to be able to safely try out and engage in unfettered dialogue about new ideas and ways of thinking about teaching and learning mathematics.

We have been very fortunate in Ontario in mathematics education over the last few years. Many professional and learning resources (CLIPS, WINS, TIPS and TIPS 2.0, for example) have been developed under the GAINS umbrella with the collaboration of OAME and OMCA. Teachers can select materials from these banks of resources that they feel are most appropriate to the needs of their students.

Perhaps even more importantly, GAINS initiatives have given teachers opportunities to engage in intensive professional learning and dialogue at no cost to them or their boards. Math summer CAMPPP provides an intensive residential experience within which to form a network and extend participants' specialized content knowledge. The PLMLC programs challenge regional teams to collaboratively focus on specific math education issues in depth over time. Support for mathematics coaching activities has helped the province to establish a sustainable base for professional learning and the district level improvement of mathematics instruction. The OAME Leadership Conference will focus on Big Ideas this year and the 2011 OAME Annual Conference in Windsor will have many workshops and guest speakers to help you grow your own SCK.

I hope you have had a safe, restful and energizing summer break. I'm looking forward to enriching my personal SCK in the new academic year and invite you to take advantage of any of the opportunities that allow you to do the same.

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