[Tanniker Smith]

One of the distinguishing traits in the newer Standards is a gimmick called spiraling. Children are moved quickly from topic to topic. Teachers introduce as much variety as possible. Just as a “thought experiment” I wondered, well, what would total simplicity look like?? I wrote a piece for hubpages called “Price’s Easy Arithmetic For First Graders.”

I had to use "spiraling" 8 ir 9 years ago, when teaching 7th and 8th graders. It was a mess. The topics moved about and if a kid was absent they couldn't find the work they missed because we weren't proceeding in a logical order.

My only successful class that year was the Honors class, which was taking 9th-year math over the 7th and 8th grades. I was told exactly which lesson plans to use and where to find them online. I modified them, of course, but they had a structure to the calendar of topics. (I taught elsewhere the following year.)

[IMR 4350]

That’s nothing. I invented SPIRALING.

In 1972 I stole the teachers manual.

We SPIRALED for two weeks.