Chapter 24: A Story of Teacher Growth: From Telling to Facilitating

I began teaching middle grades mathematics in 2002. I taught in a school that specialized in using rich curricula to educate at-risk students. The school, although small, was a part of a large, urban school system. When I arrived I found on the shelves a traditional text that had been ordered by the previous teacher. I was given the choice of using that curriculum or ordering another. Although I was new to the middle grades, I was not new to teaching. I had taught for 10 years at other grade levels and I was very familiar with traditional texts. It had been my experience that I often had to supplement and add to those materials in order to broaden my students’ understanding of the mathematics concepts presented. I went into the new middle school position with the understanding that I could choose the curriculum I felt most comfortable teaching and MATHThematics (Billstein & Williamson, 1999a) was, and still is my choice. I realized that not all teachers have this same privilege, so I took my time in deciding on the right curriculum. I decided to use MATHThematics instead of the more traditional curriculum, because I felt it was a better match to both my teaching style and my students’ ways of learning.