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Teaching Math in the 21st Century Mr Barry Garelick Books

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Teaching Math in the 21st Century Mr Barry Garelick Books

I am a parent of two elementary-school aged children in California who have just completed their first year of Common Core math. This past year their math classes have been an utter disaster, which is actually how I first became aware of Barry Garelick's writing. Garelick has written multiple articles that helped me understand the issues that my children are facing better. In this book, Garelick keeps on exposing what is going on because of Common Core and reform math, through the eyes of someone who can see through the sham of reform math.

Through vignettes, Garelick describes his experience in teaching and what the district he was working in was going through in the Common Core transition. His district has a lot in common with my children's school district: No textbooks. Teachers facilitating while students are collaborating. My children's school district is also keeping more kids out of Algebra so many kids will take Algebra in 9th grade now, not 8th. All of this is happening in my children's school too. These changes aren't being well-publicized in my children's district, so Garelick's insider view is worth reading to get good insight into what my children's school district could possibly be thinking.


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Teaching Math in the 21st Century Mr Barry Garelick Books Reviews

I resonate with the views of Mr. Garelick. Thank you for sharing and allowing us to have a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes.
Schools can be a bit of a black box, and it can be hard for parents to see just how much things have changed since our days in school. Garelick offers an important look inside the 21st century math classroom through his accounts of his work as a long-term substitute math teacher.

Garelick writes knowledgeably about teaching 21st century math with an appealing mix of seriousness and humor, as well as obvious affection for his students. My only complaint is being left feeling vaguely disheartened about the likely near future of math education in Iowa, if Garelick’s experiences are any guide.
Barry Garelick provides an important and, unfortunately, rare perspective on US mathematics instruction. Yes, he slogged through graduate school in education and passed his licensure examinations. But, he did so at the end of his first career, a career in a technical (i.e., STEM) field in which mathematics was a part of his everyday work. (Incidentally, he has written entertainingly about his graduate school experience in earlier publications.) So, unlike many math education professors in our graduate schools of education, he really does know how and why math is used in real life. With his experience-enriched perspective, many of the incessant innovations spilling from US education schools into our neighborhood public school classrooms can seem rather silly but, like all teachers, he must put up with them somehow. He explains how he does it in this lively, pleasant, heartfelt, and easy-to-read journal of his first two years in front of the chalkboard.
Barry Garelick (Teaching Math in the 21st Century), who embarked on a second career as a secondary math teacher in California, disagrees with the way math is taught in our schools. Mediocre math achievement comes from bad policies and bad teaching starting in early elementary school. Garelick writes, “I believe strongly in how math should be taught and even more strongly in how math should not be taught" (p. 21). He points out that practice is the key to learning math well. He writes, "I believe practice is essential in mathematics; it results in automaticity which ultimately allows students to take on increasingly complex tasks” (p. 27). He disputes the value of block scheduling, group work and collaboration, inquiry/discovery activities, teachers as facilitators, far-fetched/nonstandard word problems, and much more.

Garelick observes that the “education establishment mischaracterizes traditionally taught math as being devoid of thinking and solving problems.” For multiple decades, traditionally taught math has been attacked by reformers, calling it obsolete and old school and branding it as poor teaching. Garelick, who has a degree in mathematics, says the reformers are dead wrong! He explains that the traditional teaching of math is not poor teaching. Indeed, traditional instruction demands mathematical reasoning, memorization, and practice to automate essential factual and efficient procedural knowledge in long-term memory for instant use in problem solving. Furthermore, traditional instruction is supported by the fundamental ideas of cognitive science and works well when taught well.

Garelick also finds fault with the eight Standards for Mathematical Practices (SMPs), which are the core of Common Core. He says they are unrealistic and have been strongly criticized by several mathematicians. The SMPs describe “expertise,” but kids are novices, not experts or little mathematicians.

The reason some kids are below grade level by middle school is that they weren’t taught to "think" or "understand" in elementary school, which is the typical narrative among Common Core and 21st century reformers. But Garelick argues that kids are below grade level mainly because they weren’t required to master the basics. Mastering math requires memorization and practice.

At a meeting discussing a struggling algebra student, the team contended that under Common Core, which is "more about understanding," the student "wouldn't be burdened with memorization of procedures," such as the quadratic formula. But, this line of thinking baffles Garelick “How a student could be deemed to understand the quadratic formula without knowing it was puzzling” (p. 146). Indeed, how can a student understand mathematics that he or she does not know well (i.e., able to do and apply successfully)? The idea that understanding is all students need is misguided! Understanding does not produce mastery; practice does!

Apparently, under Common Core, being able to do and apply the mathematics and get the right answer are not that important. But, they are important, critically important! Those who say they know or understand the math, but can’t do it or apply it, don’t know the math at all. Nobel Prize physicist Richard Feynman wrote, “You do not know anything until you have practiced.” Math is hard to learn compared to other academic subjects because it is abstract, cumulative, and requires focus, effort, perseverance, and practice to learn well. Barry Garelick thinks there is no substitute for practice. Without a solid background in basics, higher math becomes a struggle. Practicing math should be a daily habit.

There is much more to his experiences teaching math as a semester-long substitute teacher at a California middle school. Parents will be astounded at what he was told about Common Core at teacher meetings.

Larry Trone, ThinkAlgebra.org
Send Comments To ThinkAlgebra@cox.net
I am a parent of two elementary-school aged children in California who have just completed their first year of Common Core math. This past year their math classes have been an utter disaster, which is actually how I first became aware of Barry Garelick's writing. Garelick has written multiple articles that helped me understand the issues that my children are facing better. In this book, Garelick keeps on exposing what is going on because of Common Core and reform math, through the eyes of someone who can see through the sham of reform math.

Through vignettes, Garelick describes his experience in teaching and what the district he was working in was going through in the Common Core transition. His district has a lot in common with my children's school district No textbooks. Teachers facilitating while students are collaborating. My children's school district is also keeping more kids out of Algebra so many kids will take Algebra in 9th grade now, not 8th. All of this is happening in my children's school too. These changes aren't being well-publicized in my children's district, so Garelick's insider view is worth reading to get good insight into what my children's school district could possibly be thinking.