Five years in Elementary School
I taught fourth grade for five years. One of the great things about teaching in Elementary School was the parent support and help. Those first five years, I received so many great gifts! When school was out every day, parents were right at my door waiting. And when it came to help with homework, my parents were, for the most part, ready to help. Reading Logs, Spelling practice, Multiplication Tables, Long Division, and basic Fractions were within the realm of most of my parents.
The Move to Middle School
Move ahead a few years, a switch to Middle School, and the atmosphere was very different. I rarely saw most of my parents. For safety, our gates were locked, so parents could not be outside my door every day. And most importantly, many of them were baffled by the level of math the students were learning. If students were struggling with their homework, they often struggled alone, or got help from an older sibling. I wish I’d had the time to make tutorials to send home. But I was swamped with planning, grading, and preparing for each day.
Common attitudes about Math
The other issue I now faced was the negative attitude about the difficulty of math. It was the norm to hear a student, and even parents, comment, “I’m not good at math.” I knew when I heard a parent say this, it was likely to trickle down to the student. I had always loved math, so it was so discouraging. How could I fight these common attitudes? To be fair, math instruction and expectations had changed quite a bit since I was in school. I was often teaching concepts or methods I’d never seen before. So, I had to relearn many things myself, in order to teach my students.
Those first Videos
When schools closed down during the Covid Pandemic, I started making instructional videos for my students. I couldn’t always be online to answer questions, so I sent daily videos to help my math students. I’d love to say my students watched them, but in truth, I suspect most did not. I made them anyway.
I know there are many parents out there who would really like to have videos to explain their child’s math homework. And Homeschool parents, with a dedication to their child’s education, are some of the parents most in need. Now that I’m retired, and no longer in the classroom, and have an abundance of time, I would love to provide these videos for anyone who needs that extra help. My first video on “Addition of Integers” is complete and available at no charge.
If you would like this first in a series, just click on the link here: Integer Addition Video #1
Let me know what you need!
Kelly’s Kool Math Club