Guest Post Provided by Cor
As
an elementary school teacher, the subject I found I struggled the most
to teach was almost always math. I can trace this difficulty back to a
couple of key reasons, most of which were not too hard to figure out.
The first, and most obvious, is that I have never been particularly fond
of math as a subject. Even as a student, my inclinations were always
towards English and History, and even the sciences that were not too
math-centric. I was always able to get by in math class, but by no
means can I say I ever really enjoyed it.
Another key reason is that
math is filled with short cuts and equations, which are great for
learning to finish your work quickly, but do nothing to explain the
basic math foundations and principles. It is easy to want to teach the
simple formula that will work every time, but really does not benefit
the student if you cannot help them to understand why that formula
works.
Teaching math to young children, like the first grade class
where I taught last year, was especially hard because, developmentally,
the children are only ready to learn very concrete concepts. They are
able to understand numbers when they can actually physically manipulate
them (e.g. put 2 marbles on your desk, now add 2 more marbles, how many
marbles do you have altogether on your desk?).
However, other important
first grade concepts such as time and money are not quite as easily
understood. Try explaining to a 6 year old that the number 3 on the
clock stands for 3 when the small hand points to it, but it means 15
when the minute hand points to it, or that the dime is 10 cents but the
nickel which is clearly bigger in size is only worth 5 cents.
Children
at any age, but especially so young, can vary greatly in their
developmental abilities. This means you can have one student who is
already telling time and making change, while another student is
struggling with basic counting, addition, and subtraction and, as a
teacher, you must find a way to teach lessons that will benefit them
both.
This is why math intervention programs
are so essential to making sure that all elementary age math students
are able to succeed. Providing additional practice on key skills for
students who are struggling gives them the chance to catch up before
they fall behind to the point of frustration. Every teacher knows that
trying to help a student who has given up because they feel like they
will never be able to catch up is one of the most challenging things you
can do.
Any chance to provide individualized instructions to both the struggling and the excelling students is truly an educational gift!
hello
Wendy is the blessed mom to a 10 year old son with Asperger's
Syndrome, a beautiful 9 year old daughter, & 6 children (miscarried) in
heaven. She's temporarily given up homeschooling to give her son the peer
modeling he was missing at home, essential for proper development in a child
with autism. Currently she works full-time with special needs children as a
para-educator. 
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