1. Information from Van de Walle (2004Jamar Pickreign, Ph.D. 2005 Teaching via Problem-Solving How can I teach all the basic skills I have to teach? Why is it okay for students to "tell" or "explain" but not for me? Where can I find the time to cover everything? Is there any place for drill and practice? What do I do when a task bombs?

2. Information from Van de Walle (2004Jamar Pickreign, Ph.D. 2005 How can I teach all the basic skills I have to teach? Drill-oriented approaches have consistently produced poor results (Battista, 1999, Kamii & Dominick, 1998 and O'rin, 1999) NAEP and TIMSS both suggest that drill is an inadequate answer In standardize tests that measure basic skills, no significant differences exist between students in constructivist programs and students in traditional programs (Campbell, 1995; carpenter, Franke, Jacobs,Fenema, & Empson, 1998; Hiebert & Wearne, 1996; Silver & Stein, 1996) Traditional skills can be taught in a problem solving context

3. Information from Van de Walle (2004Jamar Pickreign, Ph.D. 2005 Why is it okay for students to "tell" or "explain" but not for me? Move away from teacher as "sole source of mathematical authority Instills a sense of ownership and pride that they can make sense of the mathematics

4. Information from Van de Walle (2004Jamar Pickreign, Ph.D. 2005 Where can I find the time to cover everything? Math is more connected than lists of state standards would suggest Begin with the goal of teaching to the Big Ideas Most skills will be addressed within the development of these big ideas Time spent developing relational understanding results, over time, in less time re-teaching

5. Information from Van de Walle (2004Jamar Pickreign, Ph.D. 2005 Is there any place for drill and practice? Yes! Drill, however, is not conceptual development Do drill only when  the desired concept has been meaningfully developed  flexible and useful procedures have been developed  speed and accuracy are needed "When you accept that drill does not produce understanding, you find there are really not many topics aside from basic fact mastery that should ever require drill" (van de walle, 2004, p. 54)

6. Information from Van de Walle (2004Jamar Pickreign, Ph.D. 2005 What do I do when a task bombs? Don't give in to the temptation to "tell" Set it aside and ask yourself "why did it bomb?" Listen actively to form an informed opinion on the task