1. How many People do you hear say “I Can’t do English”

2. Yet, many of those same say “I Can’t do Math”

3. Not just students

4. But Teachers

5. Remarkably I hear English teachers Say “I’m an English Teacher, I don’t do math”

6. I never Say “I’m a math teacher, I don’t do English”

7. English is Hard, Math is Easy Math rule Exceptions None The rules for math always apply no matter the situation. English Rule Exceptions I before e, except after c ea makes e sound, or maybe not. Put ing at end of word, but sometimes double the consonant. Here is the most important English rule: Almost every rule is only about 90% valid!

8. READ Is this word RED Or is it REED

9. Why our Students struggle at Math The average American math student does not see a “REAL” math teacher until the 6th grade. Math lessons are process oriented Too many math concepts taught in short periods Teachers reinforce the Idea that math is somehow harder to understand than other subjects History of math is not taught Math as a universal language is ignored Students are not taught to “think” logically We hand them a calculator to do simple math School House Rock no longer plays between Saturday morning cartoons.

10. OK, Maybe the School House Rock one is stretching it a bit.

11. Make Math Easy not Hard This is how we Teach one digit by three digit Mulitplication. ₂ ₄ 436 We start right to x 8 to left and carry 3 4 8 8 This is how we should Teach

12. Place Value Place Value Place Value

13. We Group our numbers in Tens.WHY?

15. Normally we express numbers in base 10, because we were born with Ten fingers, but we could express numbers in any positive integer >1 Other Popular Bases are Binary (Base 2) Uses only 0 and 1 Octal (Base 8) Uses 0, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 Our money uses Base 10 and Base 5 groupings

16. Teaching Students about Place Value is the most important thing we can do. Dollars, Quarters, Nickels, dimes, and Pennies Some of these coins are grouped in tens, others in fives. Tell me which ones?

17. Converting Base Numbers 46 Base 10 converted to Base 5 is 141 Example 46 base 10 is 141 Base 5 is 4 tens = 40 1 twenty-five = 25 6 ones = 6 4 fives = 20 46 1 one = 1 46 Both numbers have the same value, but are written differently

18. Make Ten add the Rest Take 2 away from six to make the 8 ten, the add the 4 so it equals 10+4 or 14 Same can be done for 100. Make Hundred then add the rest

19. Finding humor in math can make it more interesting

20. “Mathematics is like checkers in being suitable for the young, not too difficult, amusing, and without peril to the state.” -- Plato