About, gives background on who I am, Edison, and why I felt compelled to write Math by Edison. This article, ‘More on Math by Edison’, allows me to go deeper.
Math and teenagers don't always mix well
Math and teenagers don't always mix well, but that's only because math gets a bad rap. If there is one point I want to drive home on Math by Edison, it is that 'it's not math that's difficult, it's everything else.' And that everything else has consumed me for a lifetime. I know what it feels like to be a struggling math student, and three decades of 1-on-1s with parents and their struggling students* have taught me it shouldn't be this hard. There's got to be another way is a mantra I had to subscribe to, and there is another way - it's the one 'right in front of our eyes to see.' It's just invisible until you're shown it.
*For the record, a struggling student is any student that feels they can do better but doesn't know how. So yeah, I've worked with many students failing (marks in the 20s, 30s and 40s) and just as many excelling (in the 80s and 90s), and a couple at 100% (though that's a story for another time).
Most interesting part of my job?
To figure out a way to solve whatever struggle is limiting the student’s progress and then inspire them to make a change (e.g. not motivated to motivated, not understanding to understanding) But here’s the thing, more often than not, it’s not math that’s the problem, it’s everything else. Yeah, bet you saw that coming – it’s all the non-math stuff to get that math that’s the stumbling block. And of course, in working with students it’s a prerequisite that I’m in tune with a parent's objective which tend to encompass three strands:
1) Understand why their child is struggling
2) What their child can do to get better and
3) Instill habits that will serve them now and in the future.
Many of these strategies I’ve coached and will write about are transferable to other courses and into non-academic endeavours – that’s my parents talking, not me. And back to 3) above, that ‘instill habits’, is where the learning strategies I show students and parents play a crucial role, as most have not been taught in schools.
I’ve had thousands of conversations with parents and seen just about every type of math student.
The across-the-board three – not motivated, not understanding or not doing homework.
Marks varying from a low of 5% all the way into the 90s.
First-year university students failing math (and some got 90s in high school – yeah, how can that be)
Grade 9 and 10s with marks in the 40s and 50s and hoping to do STEM at university (e.g. Engineering).
Grade 7s failing as not understanding the teacher is far too common.
To the grade 9 student who did all her homework, yet her mark was stuck in the 60s (that’s a guaranteed recipe for frustration).
Parents asking me to teach their children problem-solving skills and how to think.
Others asking if I can teach their child how to stop giving up so quickly.
It runs the gamut.
And working 1-on-1 with thousands of math students, gets you experience in almost every possible struggle.
I’ll admit that 80,000 hours seems over the top. Why so many?
Yeah, I know those 80k hours seem like workaholic-type hours - 10 to 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, 10 months a year for decades. I blame my passion for working with math and teenagers as it’s never felt like a job. And my hobby of thinking is at fault, too, as nothing like a teenager’s struggle to solve, to delve into deeper thinking holes. Oh, and being self-employed kinda puts a pressure on your shoulders to get results.
Welcome to math by Edison!
Let the learning begin!
Edison
Edison Hopkinson BSc Mech Eng, B.Ed., OCT
Math Learning Strategist
Strategies to use when the usual isn’t working!