Math teachers, math specialists and what makes a good math teacher

As many groups do, the ASCD SmartBrief for this week listed some of the top stories of 2008. One story, published in April, asked "what makes an effective math teacher?"

The answer is - we don't really know. But, at least in the early grades teaching skills need to be coupled with strong math foundations.

One of the interesting points made in the article was about the growing use of math specialists at the early grades. The observation that younger students may benefit from the nurturing provided by having one teacher for all subject areas does not necessarily diminish the value of having content specific teachers in certain subjects. Surely the benefits of greater competency in delivering the subject matter is as important as the nurturing of the generalist teacher. And is there an assumption that a specialist cannot be nurturing? Besides young children are somewhat familiar with other teachers... art, music, PE are usually specialists.

TO PONDER
Based on the reading and work I have done this year it seems clear to me that despite some overlap, there are significant differences in strategies needed to convey math concepts to younger as well as to struggling students. Just what they are is not easy to define.