So, here’s a story I never thought I would be able to tell…
When I was at school, I struggled greatly with maths. It was not my subject. I was great at English, I loved science, but I was never very good at maths, and my maths teacher was constantly flabbergasted that I was in top set for English and top set for science and struggled with maths. I will never forget how she sat next to me, for several lunchtimes in a row before my GCSEs and explained to me the intricacies and the ins and outs of algebra in a way that I understood. And because she took that time with me, I passed my GCSE first time. After that, I was inspired.
What happened?
I spent years as a photographer and, having left photography, became a teacher; bearing in mind the wonderful lesson that she taught me: that everybody could learn as long as they were listened to and supported.
And then?
Fast forward many years down the line. I completed my Specialist Teacher Assessor course, and I identify dyslexia and those who struggle with literacy. But I still wasn’t convinced about maths. Recently, I started a Dyscalculia Assessor course: learning how to be a Specialist Teacher for maths and understanding maths difficulties. And I recently passed my Level 3 qualification. Had present me spoken to past me and said, “One day you’re going to learn how to understand maths difficulties.” I’d have thought that she was mad! But here I am, having successfully completed part of the programme to become a specialist assessor for dyscalculia.
What else did I learn?
Namely, that we don’t always teach our students the way that they need to learn, especially when it comes to maths. We spend a great deal of time just telling people that actually we’re not very good at maths and being quite proud of the fact that maths isn’t a strong point. But why is that? And it got me thinking about how we perceive maths in this country. And the fact that, there’s this great pride, almost, in being bad at maths. When actually, if we simply teach the way that the brain learns, it wouldn’t be so bad.
What next?
So, how do we support our learners with maths? Using the brain and using what we know from research. This means thinking ahead and thinking backwards. We know that the brain likes to have multi-sensory input, that is, it likes to see stuff, it likes to hear stuff, smell stuff, touch stuff, and feel stuff. And when we play to those strengths, we become multi-sensory learners. And by teaching maths in ways that start off with something that’s physical and tangible and touchable, and then developing into something that’s a little bit more abstract, means that we start developing those connections and giving everybody the opportunity to become multi-sensory learners. But also, complex 3D thinkers. And I keep wondering: if we apply the lessons that we’ve learned from teaching literacy to teaching maths, how much easier would it be for our learners to learn maths?
Then what happened?
When I’ve spoken to maths teachers at training sessions, they always say they don’t understand why our learners don’t get maths. So, I always pose them a question. And the question is, well, how do you teach this bit here? And by this bit here, I mean showing connections. Just how do you show that one is 1 or ten is 10? And asking them what that little decimal point means. What it does, what it shows. And the number of maths teachers who look at me as though I’m mad. And then spend the next 5 minutes wondering why they can’t answer the question. And when I tell them, it’s a place value marker, it shows your students how big or how small the number is in relation to other numbers, and you can use it as an anchoring point. They look at me as though this is some kind of new revelation. And we must remember that yes, we may be experts, but we are teaching non-experts. So we need to take them through. Starting with something they can see and touch and feel and developing from there. And if we do that and we apply that to maths and literacy and art and history and every other subject, we can, perhaps start making everybody see the value in learning in different ways.
So, what’s next on the journey?
Well, I’m carrying on with the level 5 to look at how we get those practices embedded in the classroom, working with learners that struggle with maths, finding out what it is that really, really would help them. And for the most part, I’ve learned that when they have the opportunity to interact and build with items and see how everything fits together, they do make better connections overall. This is something I want to take forward, and it means that hopefully, once I qualify, I’ll be able to figure out why maths is so tricky and then think of ways and find ways that support them based on how the brain learns to be numerate.
With that in mind, it’s time to get back to work.
You can also listen to this as a podcast episode