A guide for elementary school teachers

A high school math teacher’s wish list

What has occurred in recent years, as many more students complete high school and pursue tertiary education, is an increase in parental desire for their children to do Mathematics at a higher level. They see mathematics as a key to entry into tertiary education and insist that their children have the opportunity to pursue the subject at the highest possible level, even going against school advice on the matter.

Thus, high school math teachers must teach almost all students throughout their high school years, regardless of their innate ability in the subject.

This trend will not go away and secondary school teachers need the help of elementary school teachers to prepare their students to enter the rigors of high school mathematics.

This article is written based on my experience as a high school Mathematics teacher and Director of Mathematics who often had to advise parents on what was best for their students in the subject. Much of what I write here was presented to primary school teachers in a workshop on the subject.

Most, if not all of the points I make in this article will be familiar to experienced elementary school teachers, so it is geared more towards those new to the profession.

Mathematics is a thematic discipline where the student must develop their understanding of Mathematics. Learning rules and procedures can take the student only so far. It won’t help in the modern world of real life Math problems in unknown contexts.

To help prepare students for high school mathematics, upper elementary school teachers should try to develop the following in their students.

1. A work ethic and one that is self-motivating. Often, Mathematics students will have to work alone and without help.
2. A task ethic. The speed with which curriculum requirements are taught in high school is dictated by outside authorities. This means that the teacher must cover a mandatory subject in a specific time. For the student, this means that homework is an essential part of the learning process if he is to keep up with the teaching.
3. A study ethic. It is important that students learn that homework does not equal study.
4. The belief that all students can do some Mathematics.
5. An understanding that mathematics is an essential part of everyday life and that we all successfully do mathematical things every day, often automatically.
6. A belief in students that asking questions in Mathematics is ‘cool’.
7. A belief in students that Mathematics is unisexual, not just for boys.

Below is a list of what I call essential preparation that is not directly Mathematics but will greatly help students in their study of Mathematics as well as other subjects.

Students should be taught:

• study skills
• How to be powerful listeners
• how to do questions
• control procedures
• Estimate as control device
• Various problem solving techniques.
• An effective stakeout procedure
• That the answer alone is not enough. Students must explain in written mathematical form how they arrived at their answer.
• That there is often more than one way to solve a problem
• An understanding of the order convention
• Technical review

Communicating mathematically is a skill that needs to be taught. It involves students being taught the following:

1. The correct use of mathematical terms, including their spelling;
2. Correct use of all mathematical symbols;
3. Logical restatement;
4. Justification of each step when necessary;
5. Logic reasoning;
6. The use of sharp and clear figures, accurate and appropriate diagrams;
7. To work vertically down the page to facilitate checking and removing errors in the copy;
8. Translation from one form of expression to another, for example, numerical/verbal data to diagrams/tables/graphs/equations, and
9. Correct and appropriate use of units, for example, in area, volume, etc.

Lastly, you can give your students a taste of high school classes by doing the following. (You can call these suggestions an Action Plan.)

• Set up your classroom with desks in rows and teach a series of “Chalk and Talk” lessons.
• Insist that students work alone while doing math exercises in a quiet environment.
• Use textbook exercises.
• Run some formal, timed tests in a formal classroom setting.
• Do regular problem solving exercises. Some in unfamiliar contexts so they get used to the idea that problem solving is an everyday event, not just one that comes up in assessment.

As I mentioned in the title of this article, this is a high school math teacher’s wish list. Anything you can do as an elementary teacher to help develop this wish list will be greatly appreciated by the math teachers, but more importantly, it will help students enter the rigors of high school math with more confidence.