I don’t understand my teacher!
To understand them, you need to know the 70:30 ratio of teaching math.
Hey math students,
Have you ever thought, “I don’t understand my teacher”? If yes, what’s the reason you tell yourself that you don’t understand?
Here’s the thing, I’ve been told that statement thousands of times by my students, so as a learning strategist, it’s a problem that I have to help my students solve. Here’s what I do.
I’ll ask my students a question, a why question, as I need to get into their brain to understand the thinking that leads to this ‘don’t understand teacher’ conclusion. Below are their most common answers, and they fall into three categories: blaming the teacher (a to c), themselves (d or e) or math (f).
a) They’re going too quickly
b) They’re skipping steps
c) They’re not a good teacher
d) I didn’t do last night’s homework (so didn’t understand this lesson)
e) I don’t get math
f) Lesson was too tough.
Yes, a) to f), are all valid reasons and very real for each student, and I’m sure as a student reading this, you could tell me another one or two that you’ve thought of. But there is one compelling reason that encompasses all, a) to f), that’s never spoken about, students aren’t told, and I’d say it is the primary reason students do not understand their teacher. What is it?
Fasten your seat belts, as the reason will surprise you: When your teacher teaches, they start with past math you’ve seen and then build on that to get into the new math. So, past math and new math are taught woven together! This all means
that you won’t understand the new math taught due to not understanding past math that you’ve been taught, and that’s why you don’t understand. What, who, why? Yup, that’s right.
You’re not understanding your teacher as you’ve forgotten past math!
Let me say it with numbers: When your teacher teaches a math lesson, about seventy percent (70%) of what they teach you is math you’ve already seen before, that’s the past math. The 70%!
Please read that again - it’s saying 70% of what your teacher teaches you in any math class you were taught already (i.e. yesterday, last week, last month, last year). This is a vital to understand as it means:
Your teacher will expect you to remember that 70% past math when they’re teaching the new math and
That means only 30% of what they teach will be new math (aka math you haven’t seen before).
Think of it as a proportion, past math : new math = 70 : 30!
And if you think about that, it makes sense as math builds on itself, so past math taught/learnt helps you understand new math. And that is true for any skill you’re learning – course at school, course at university, sports, playing musical instruments, hobbies - what’s been learnt in the past needs to be remembered for the future.
When your teacher teaches a lesson, they assume, no, they expect you to remember the past math. Think of it this way: in English class, your teacher does not go back and remind you what a verb is, the meaning of a period, or how to construct a sentence; no, they will assume you remember all of that. The same holds for anything you’re learning - sports, music, hobbies, and yes math too.
The past math helps you to understand the new math.
REVIEW
If you’re struggling to understand your teacher, it could be due to many reasons (e.g. a to g below), but in my experience g) is the probable cause:
a) They’re going too quickly
b) They’re skipping steps
c) They’re not a good teacher
d) I didn’t do last night’s homework (so didn’t understand this lesson)
e) I don’t get math
f) Lesson was too tough.
g) You didn’t remember past math.
Yes, your teacher may be doing, a) to c), or part of what you’re experiencing in a) to c) is due to not remembering most of that 70% of past math. And not doing last night’s homework, d) will lead to you remembering less. The e) “I don’t get math” reason will diminish as you start using learning strategies. And f) the lesson was too tough, means a higher percentage than 30% of what was taught was new math. But g) is the reason you’re not understanding your teacher.
The past is the foundation needed for the future.
And here’s something you may not realize: your classmates that find the math lesson quicker and easier to understand, well, they just remember most or all of that 70% of past math. Makes sense as they only have to focus on the new math, the 30%. That’s why it seems they can get it quicker than you - they have to learn less than you.
Edison
Learning strategist to math students
Strategies that help when you don’t understand your teacher.
P.S. How to remember more of that 70% past math? Understand your homework better, as it’s the quickest way to understand your teacher tomorrow. In a future post, I’ll give strategies to get better at that 70%.
P.P.S. Not understanding your teacher can get a quick response from you or a parent of, “Ask teacher for help.” But this post gives clues on why asking for help doesn’t always help.