Elementary Math

  Yesterday, I was speaking to the 6th grade teacher.  He is good at math and spends 1.5 hours everyday working on math with his students.  He wants them prepared for high school. 

Unfortunately, he stated that the 5th grade teachers from last year did not do a good job with the students.  Too many of them arrived not even knowing how to do fractions.

As you know, I work in a one school district with grades pre-k to 12th grade all in one building with three wings and a gym.  Unfortunately, we often have years where teachers are there one year before moving on. 

Last year was one of those where almost everyone in the elementary school turned in their resignation.  We often get new teachers who are just out of training and are scared of math.  If something is not in the math book, they won't do it.  Many do not know how to supplement their teaching with activities to liven things up.

The thing about textbooks, is they are only as good as the teacher.  If the teacher does not have a full understanding of math, they will stick to the book and refuse to venture out into helping students learn more than the process for completing problems.

 It wasn't until I began looking into the why do we do things this way that I discovered the reason we change fractions in a division problem into a multiplication problem. I've learned cool ways to show primes in pictorial form. I've even learned to explain why anything to the zero power is one.  If I hadn't taken time to research how these topics and more, I would be still teaching processes without including the background to provide understanding of the concepts.

I wouldn't even know how important it is to have students include written explanations for each step.  I've just started doing it and my students already hate it but it forces them to really think about what they are doing.

I wish more elementary teachers showed an interest in learning the why's in math rather than just teaching according to the textbook and using only supplemental materials.  The only suggestion I have on this topic is to provide short weekly classes on one topic to provide the background needed to fill out their understanding.

If you have any ideas let me know.  I would love to hear from people.  Have a good day.