I first heard of math wars my sophomore year of college. I thought I heard my professor wrong, I thought he meant star wars. But the longer I live I realize how deep the feelings run in this battle of education. And it isn't just math, it's all subjects. It's about direct teaching vs. discovery learning. Direct teaching is, well, direct. The teacher teaches, the students repeat. Discovery learning is, you guessed it, discovery. Students are guided by the teacher to the answer.

Today I read a great blog by a great teacher calling discovery learning, hippy teaching. One joked that it is playing "hotter, colder" with the students.  The 9 comments that I read put it down. I've heard it before. As you can probably tell, I'm a discovery teacher.

I was taught with direct teaching, I did well. I had excellent grades, especially in math. It wasn't until a 5 minute lesson in college with discovery learning that I figured out what pi was and how to use it without a formula in front of me. I could now come up with the formulas myself, I didn't need to remember them. A light turned on and I feel in love! I thought math wars was a joke, who would say that discovery is bad? I strongly felt the spirit tell me that this method of teaching was inspired.

Then came student teaching and reality set in within the first week. I was called an idiot for liking it, I was told my favorite professor and his kids were stupid and couldn't pass any test. I was told to get with the program or fail. I was in tears.

But I knew what I had felt in class and I could not deny that or leave it. So I "got with the program" by doing the minimum amount to not get yelled at any more.  And spent the rest of the time doing what I loved. My first day I taught pi to a class of juniors using a necklace and clock. Chatter erupted around the room. "I didn't know that." "Oh, I did." "Why didn't they say that before?" My extra credit was exciting, my lessons original, the reviews refreshing.I was loved by my teachers and most of my students (we won't talk about the time others called me fat and I cried). But I listened to my heart and excelled.

My point isn't that I'm an amazing teacher or that discovery learning is flipping awesome! No, my point is that there isn't one right way or one kind of student or teacher. We are all different and need a little bit of everything. I teach different, I'm young, I have no experience other than student teaching. I worry that I will be shut down because I'm different and young. I hope that we can recognize youth and change can be incredible. I hope I have a chance. I hope we can find the balance between wisdom from experience and new ideas. Someday I want to teach, please give me a month and let me show you what I can do. Meanwhile, I'm at home and have the same hope for other young teachers, don't shut them down, give them a chance. Their new ideas might be just what our educations system needs.