Teachers Learn New Math Methods

Article from the Montgomery Advertiser
Thursday, June 23, 2005

Caitlin Biegler took the ACT last fall and did well on the math section, but not as well as she wanted to.

But thanks to her pre-calculus teacher using a new approach to teaching, she believes she improved on the math section of the ACT this summer.

"I was able to look at the problems in a new way," said Biegler, a 16-year-old rising senior at Tallassee High School.

School officials and personnel in Elmore County are hoping for similar results from all of their students. Teachers from Elmore County and Tallassee city schools spent two weeks at Auburn University learning new strategies to teach math concepts in the TEAM-Math program.

Transforming East Alabama Mathematics (TEAM-Math) is a partnership among Auburn University's College of Education and College of Sciences and Mathematics, Tuskegee University, and 12 school districts in east Alabama. TEAM-Math instructors train teachers on how to utilize different strategies, such as hands-on activities and problem solving, to teach math concepts like addition, division, algebra and trigonometry functions.

Many teachers and administrators said they hope their TEAM work will produce better thinkers and student test scores. Susanne Goodin, principal of Coosada Elementary School, recommended all teachers go through the training.

Allison Britt, a first-grade teacher at Coosada Elementary, said she learned many new strategies.

"We learned a lot of hands-on strategies and how we should be planning as far as how to meet the standard curriculum."

She said the strategies to teach math standards such as multiplication, division and addition differed from when she was in school.

"We (learned) mental math thinking, where children learned to do a lot of thinking on their own instead of teaching them through it," she said. "We learned a lot of questioning techniques, 'How did you come to that? How did you solve that?'"

Those strategies pleased 8-year-old Samantha Humphries.

"I like it when we play with things and do math because it makes things easier for me," she said. "I liked math. I'm good at math, mostly pluses some minuses, but mostly pluses."

Brandon Perez, who will be in the fifth grade at Millbrook Middle/Junior High School in the fall, likes math and teachers who use hands-on activities to teach math concepts, such as his favorite math teacher Pam Mushara.

"She would let us do fractions with M&Ms," he said. "It helped me. We would get numbers out of packs and use M&Ms to count them."

Another fifth-grader, James Rainwater, said he liked math only a little bit, and that he preferred learning math through manipulating things with his hands. He approved of the training teachers received.

"I think it's a lot better if they figure out how to teach us better," said 10-year-old James.

Brandon agreed.

"That's a good idea because they'll get more experience on how to teach kids," he said.

Chase Laney, 9, said he looked forward to seeing the new teaching method at his school in the fall.

Biegler said she thought the new method of teaching "was a cool way to look at math."

"Before everyone taught from a book," she said. "(My pre-calculus teacher) applied different situations to the problem. It was more challenging. We had to figure concepts out for ourselves instead of it being told to us like it always had."

Despite the level of difficulty, Biegler said she preferred the TEAM-Math style of instruction to the traditional way.

"I think I learned more since I had to figure everything out for myself," she said. "It stuck with me. I understood the concepts more."

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Last updated Thursday, June 23, 2005 12:47 PM
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