Early Math Counts

I think it is important to talk about the “standards”….

Now, don’t get me wrong,  I believe we spend far too much time talking about and worrying about the standards rather than focusing on teaching and learning.  However, if we work in a system that requires teachers to know and understand several sets of standards, then that is what we must do.  Ideally, I would like us to see “standards” as  a set of guidelines that help us know what is important for children to know and be able to do. I don’t think we should think of the standards as the gospel….

So what standards am I writing about?  There’s the NAEYC Standards.  There’s the National Council of Teacher’s of Mathematics Standards.  There’s the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards.  There’s the Early Learning Standards….You get the picture. I could go on and on.

Over the next few weeks we are going to look into some of these standards, especially how they apply to early math learning.  I would love to know which standards you are currently following, which ones you would like to learn more about and whether or not you think this is all a lot of baloney.