The Math Files
I took Algebra I in the 8th grade, the earliest it could be taken in the school system I grew up in. I went on to Geometry (9th), Algebra II (10th), and Advanced Algebra with Trigonometry (11th). In 11th grade, at age 16, I was inducted into Mu Alpha Theta -- a college level math honor society that requires you to be taking college level math and maintaining at least a B average. They do not induct students prior to the 11th grade, which is the year I was inducted. As a member of Mu Alpha Theta, I tutored math twice a week at the high school I attended.
Math Geeks aren't generally known for their fabulous social skills, and that made my social skills better than average for the group I was in. This meant that all the 'hard cases' that no one else wanted to deal with inevitably landed in my lap. One of the students I regularly tutored with a 10th grade girl who appeared to be mildly retarded but had somehow managed to get into an Algebra class. She worked harder for her C's and D's than I ever worked for my A's and B's. Her stick-to-it-iveness was something unfamiliar to me, since school generally came easily for me. And I felt that if I threw up my hands in frustration and gave up on her, she would be putting me to shame.
In short, tutoring this young woman was an enormous learning and growth experience for me, in terms of patience, not giving up, and finding new and different approaches to explaining how math worked. It got to the point where the first 3 approaches were No Sweat, I could come up with 5 or 6 with a little effort, and even was willing and able to bite my tongue, take a deep breathe and try for 7 to 12 different approaches, if necessary.
At the time, I had no idea how much of a gift she was giving me. Nearly 6 years later, the day after I turned 22, I had my first child. By the time he was in third grade, he no longer asked the teacher for help when math just didn't make sense. Instead, he dawdled long enough to appear to be working on it, then stuck it in his backpack and brought it home to mom. My oldest son is a brilliant child and has a natural affinity for science. But his ability in math is definitely lacking. He is extremely fortunate that his mom has such a strong math background and experience tutoring a retarded girl in Algebra. I ultimately came up with my own approach to math for his benefit. Lucky me, none of that particularly intimidated me.
Because of all that, I have written a fair amount about teaching math to twice exceptional kids. This page gathers all those articles together, in one place.
Locking Horns with my Child Over Math
If you are having one of those days, or have been generally frustrated with math, this is a humorous piece I wrote in the fall of 2002...while coming down off of a lot of medication. It might be a good place to Break The Ice, if you are in a Not So Politically Correct mood. Please, Pack Your Sense of Humor. No harm was intended, although I think some folks still have not forgiven me.
Literary Math equals Math Literacy
Some of my thinking behind my approach to how I teach math to my kids.
Literary Math Resource List
A list of math resources we have used. I was asked to forward that e-mail so many times that I finally saved it as a document. And now it is available here.
Fun Geometry
My response to a friend's request for resources and ideas.
Factoring, Plus Prime Factoring and Finding the Least Common Multiple
My original ideas on how to efficiently and easily factor. Some of these concepts are not any I have ever read. I "discovered" them on my own, as a math student in junior high and high school. I am not saying that these ideas are "unique", maybe they are taught somewhere. But they were not taught to me. Enjoy!
Michele's Made-up Math Grammar
This was originally written in response to a question on a gifted list I was on at the time. My friend Margaret asked if she could "publish" it to her website. I said "Sure" and, shortly thereafter, we began talking about creating a website just for me. So this was the start of my web-publishing adventures.
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The Math Files
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