Math teachers: Bracing for the new normal

Math teachers find their subject easy to teach but difficult to learn. Generally, students consider math as the hardest subject. This is a universal truth. It’s the duty of teachers to cure ignorance, help them as they learn and never drag students into comparison, shame or failure so that they experience hardships in understanding the lessons or topics.

Teaching and learning math in the new normal is really tough and truly challenging. There will be uncertainties, anxieties and fears. Misconceptions may arise and hatred for the subject or the teacher may happen. Math teachers might fail in developing the students toward the twin goals of the K-12 Math – critical thinking and problem solving.

Listening to a math teacher over a radio is easy but it will be impossible for a learner to imagine a figure or to draw an illustration because he can’t see anything. Watching a math teacher over TV will be a lot easier, unless a learner fails to comprehend an instruction even with the aid of a figure or an illustration. Chalk and board is indeed an indispensable instructional material when teaching and learning math.

Even if a solution to a math problem is well-presented in a module, textbook or learning activity sheet, it will never be enough, will never be efficient and will never be effective. Math teachers just don’t teach true or false, 1 + 2 and x & y, they need to explain various processes systematically in order for learners to understand both concept and content. Those will be further strengthened by using math software like geogebra and math devices like graphing calculators.

The perennial notion that math is the hardest subject to learn should be erased. The foundation in teaching and learning math in the basic education level needs to be strong. Its applications in real life should be realistic and useful. Such should start from the math teachers themselves, even in the new normal, so students will start or continue to learn loving and to love learning the subject. – Rommel Hero Saladino, Head Teacher III, Math Dept., Cauayan City National High School, Isabela