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As educators scramble to devise programs and strategies to address NCLB legislation, the world of math education within many of our schools seems to be getting less than its fair share of instructional time. These are serious times for educators. AYP or Annual Yearly Progress is an expectation of schools that will be driven hard by central office personnel, building administrators, teachers and parents.

 

We know that reading can be taught in all content areas and usually is. At the middle level it’s relatively easy to in-service teachers with the hope that all teachers will become reading teachers. After all, every teacher can read and can easily share their love of reading with students. It’s pretty simple for teachers to routinely check for comprehension, slide a few content related spelling words into a lesson and have students participate in oral reading within the classroom. These are proven strategies that allow students to increase their reading fluency and comprehension while expanding their vocabulary. 

 

Rather than teach a subject only as a specific subject, educators teach a subject with a reading spin placed on it. This is easily done in almost all classes offered within middle school curricula without missing an instructional beat. The result has been and will continue to be one that results in improved reading scores as measured by either local, state or national assessments. Technology Education, Family and Consumer Science, art, physical education and music teachers have hopped on the “reading in the content area” bandwagon over the years. It’s easy to do and it makes sense!

 

Reading has been and will continue to be addressed at the middle level. Not because of NCLB, but because the acquisition and development of reading skills has been a major thrust of middle level education. It’s a natural progression from the students’ elementary experiences where reading and language arts were closely linked and often delivered by the same teacher.

 

As middle level educators we have hammered away at developing our students’ reading skills. Most of us have done an outstanding job helping our students become better readers. Others of us need to sharpen our skills a bit more. Regardless of our level of skill, we all need to become the best teachers of reading that we can be. There is no room for mediocrity.

While we may feel confident in the work we are doing in reading, we need to ask ourselves “where’s the math?” Just as the little woman who peered over the counter at the fast food place asked about the meat, that was lost in the bun and

condiments, we need to ask, “where’s the math” on the middle level educational sandwich.

 

For a start, we know it’s there. We know that math has usually been delivered as a stand-alone subject by the math teacher. We also know there has been little cross over from what is taught in the math class to that which is taught in the other content or related area classes. We know that we can improve reading scores by endorsing the notion that all teachers can be reading teachers. Can math scores improve by promoting the concept that all teachers can be math teachers?

 

The answer to the question is yes. All teachers can be math teachers. However, the metamorphosis from classroom or related area teachers to math teachers cannot take place without a well-designed and implemented teacher-training program that is delivered by a math expert.  Most schools that have embraced the idea that all teachers are reading teachers can replicate the in-service process with little difficulty.

 

Implementing the staff development model is a simple task. Staff development initiatives need not be cumbersome. They should be modeled after the best teaching practices that teachers use in their classrooms. If these strategies work for students they should work for members of a school’s professional staff. Identifying the teacher, team leader or department head who will deliver the content of a “math-across-the-curriculum” in-service program may also be accomplished with ease. Members of a school’s professional staff know who utilizes outstanding instructional procedures, has an excellent grasp of the curriculum, and has the ability to relate well to colleagues. Once identified, this person needs to be willing to assume the role of teacher trainer or in-service or staff development facilitator.

 

The more challenging piece of the staff development process is deciding how to put math into the curricula in such a manner that allows math concepts and operations to leech out into the other content areas.  Middle level educators are familiar with interdisciplinary units that allow the natural crossover or linkage from one content area to another with each supporting the central curricular strand of the unit of study. Unfortunately math all too often just doesn’t fit into the model and math is delivered by the math teacher – in isolation.

 

A starting off point to bridge the math-reading or reading-math connection would be to conduct an analysis of the math program to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses. Included in the assessment should be a very careful look at the