Re: Mastery approach, etc.

To: msouth@shodor.org (Michael J South)
Subject: Re: Mastery approach, etc.
From: mikegold@umich.edu (michael goldenberg)
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 1996 18:31:50 -0500

At 4:30 PM 3/18/96, Michael J South wrote:
>And if you think _this_ is bad,
>wait until you see my upcoming half-baked (meaning that it will be
>half-baked when you see it) "How I would change mathematics education if
>the school systems were foolish enough to listen to me" post.  If you're
>just looking for something to flame, wait until that comes out, because it
>will be an even easier target than this.
>

Hey, Mike,

I can't wait ;^)

On the Saxon business, I wonder if kids react because his books have lots
of review? Then again, so do others (though perhaps not as much and not as
incremental as Saxon) and that doesn't prevent kids from "learning for the
test." Maybe most non-Saxon teachers don't use the review problems that
much, though from my unsystematic observations, there's a lot of reviewing
in many mathematics classrooms.

In any case, I can relate only too well to most of the personal learning
history in your post and wish like hell I had a broad-based approach to
schooling that would put the emphasis on learning and growth over grades
and beating the system.

-mike

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|Michael Paul Goldenberg
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