Empowering Your Student's Math Journey: Expert Tips for a Confident Start to the New School Year
As the new school year kicks off, it's important to set the stage for a successful math journey. From using encouraging language to creating a supportive home environment, these simple strategies can help your student build confidence and stay on track in math. Dr. Saki Milton, founder of GEMS Camp and Queen City resident, prepared a few key tips that will help make a difference this year.
Watch your words.
Simple things like, "I never used that," or, "Or I wasn’t good at math either," projects your own personal feelings, beliefs, and fears onto your learner. Instead, use encouragement, and remember, "Everything is hard before it is easy." -- Goethe
Get comfortable with silence.
It is natural for a parent to get frustrated or think something is wrong with their child if they ask a question and there's nothing but silence. But, silence does not indicate that something is wrong. Think time gives needed space to put into words what is happening mentally. If you find yourself waiting more than a minute. Ask, “Do you understand the question?”
Avoid the pile-up.
When endless missing assignments pile up, a student of any age can feel overwhelmed and defeated. This is a huge confidence destroyer and creates major skill gaps that can be detrimental long-term to a student's math journey. Set a weekly day and time to check for missing work and hold your student accountable for checking as well.
Do math at home.
The problem with the way math has been historically taught is that it's not very practical. Doing math at home with your child or teen can help make sense of classroom learning.
Make it make sense.
For primary students, I love using money to teach multiple concepts to build mental math and estimation. Working fluently with fractions and decimals is critical in 2nd through 6th grade, so practice makes consistent.
Keep it real.
Middle school math is all about change...literally. This is also true for math as the major learning revolves around relationships between two quantities - how one value changes per one unit of change of the other value. Also, prepare your student for more complex word problems by turning life scenarios into learning opportunities - understanding speed limits, sales tax, and cell phone rates are great lessons!
Time for the talk.
High school math really depends upon a student's desired career pathway. So, my biggest piece of advice is to talk candidly with your teen about their future plans based on their interests, strengths, weaknesses, and maturity. This will determine what math courses they'll take, identify which resources they'll need, and relieve a lot of unnecessary pressure! Remember, you know them better than anybody!
About the author: Dr. Saki Milton
An experienced educator and international girls in STEM advocate, Saki brings more than 20 years of mathematics education experience to the broader STEM education community. Saki has 8.5 years of mathematics classroom teaching in diverse settings, including public, public charter, and international schools. She also has in-depth industry experience in key roles for top education companies such as SAVVAS Learning Company (formerly Pearson K12 Learning), Texas Instruments, and Kaplan.
Saki holds an MBA in Marketing from Southern Methodist University and a BA in Mathematics from The University of Texas at Austin. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in education, and her research interest is informal STEM learning communities for Black and Brown middle school girls. She is committed to creating a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce preparing girls of color for future STEM studies and careers. In 2021, Saki was named as a Women Who STEAM Hidden Figure honoree by the Dallas Links Chapter.
