Summary Post

Well, I must say that my early impression that there was a deficiency of quality educational blogs was erroneous. In fact, there are a ton of excellent blogs out there which are surprisingly well-maintained and substantially professional. As a teacher, I would never have the time to make a commitment to some of the blogs I found, which included...

www.coreknowledge.com/blog
www.kitchentablemath.blogspot.com
www.mathnotations.blogspot.com
www.nyceducator.blogspot.com

This is only the tip of the iceberg. Mathnotations is a great place to find specific activities for the math class. It's a toss of the dice whether or not it will be age-appropriate, as it does span all the secondary levels (7-12), but what it offers is quite substantive. I found a fun enrichment activity on prime numbers, and I will be checking the site periodically for more items I can incorporate into my class.

Kitchen Table Math was my blog of choice. My interests were mosty of the "teacher issues" variety, and this blog was a great outlet for all my frustrations as a math teacher who takes exception with current trends is mathematics instruction, especially the upswell of support for constructivist programs. I truly believe that basic skills must be mastered at the lower levels, and constructivist programs overtly claim (in their manuals, no less) that mastery is not their object, dismissing it as outdated rote learning. I am very skeptical of advents in progressive education, despite the fact that I am a fire-breathing progressive when it comes to politics. Constructivist mathematics and whole-language literacy must find their way into the garbage before America falls even further behind in education.

The Core Knowledge Blog was also interesting. It is a forum for advocates (and critics, I suppose) of a content-rich national curriculum in the United States. This is something I also support, and you can find my opinions on this matter in several of my previous blog posts.

All in all, my expectations were exceeded in this blog exercise. I found many interesting blogs, and I'm pretty sure any teacher can find an appropriate forum that is consistent with their interests. It just might take some time. I searched for several hours before setting on some blogs that piqued my interest. But all in all, it was a very positive experience.