World's Okayest Math Teacher?

As a teacher and math fanatic, if there is one thing I love it’s witty math themed t-shirts and I have a closet full of them!  Recently while scrolling through my Facebook feed an ad came up that had a few that caught my eye including one that really triggered me that said “World’s Okayest Math Teacher.”  I initially cringed thinking What the Heck?! Who would want to wear that?! Then I thought, Gosh there must be enough teachers out there buying this shirt for this large and recognizable business to be selling and advertising it!  The truth is, I can definitely relate to why and years ago as I was navigating my way through trying to learn and teach sixth grade math as a first-year teacher, I would’ve proudly worn this shirt.  However today after years of research and practice I’m trying to help teachers scroll past this shirt and instead wear one that says “Math Hero.” 

Teachers, I want you to know that if you can relate to that “World’s Okayest Math Teacher” shirt, you are not alone and you can be a GREAT math teacher.  We all want to be, but it doesn’t happen instantly once they place that college diploma in your hand or the minute you finish setting up your first classroom and your students walk through the door on that first day. 

If you are a teacher, you know all too well (and parents listen up), that while in college earning your degree, they don’t teach you the 5th or 6th or any grade level math, they teach you how to write the lesson plan for it. Then you start your first teaching job, and you are busy trying to figure out how to set up and manage your classroom, make a schedule, what in the world you are supposed to have ready for back-to-school night, attend meetings, draft newsletters, review IEPs for your students with special needs, and plan what and how to teach several subjects in one day.  Then one day you find yourself standing in front of your class during math teaching elapsed time or adding fractions with unlike denominators and realize you have no idea what you are doing because you learned how to perform these skills years ago yourself and probably have forgotten them or are rusty at best.

Here’s the good news, at Ignite Learning Company, we have been working hard to develop tools and resources to guide you in transforming from being an “okay math teacher” to a GREAT math teacher with our new Math Hero Membership for Teachers.  

With years of teaching experience and research, we took a deep dive into examining the math curriculum for grade levels 3rd through 6th to identify the math skills that are not only the most important for students to master, but also the ones that students struggle with the most.

With a Math Hero membership you will get:

• Tutorial Videos (that you and your students can learn from)
• Worksheets and other printable resources for each skill ready to be delivered to your inbox and used in your classroom each week giving you more time to be the best teacher you can be.  
• In addition, each skill comes with a comprehensive guide that explains:
• Why each skill is important
• How students tend to struggle with it
• Tips and tricks you can teach your students when solving problems so that they can become more proficient in math
• These guides also include detailed step by step example problems making them an excellent resource to send home to parents so that they can also help their child with math homework, (because parents need help too!)
   

Ready to make the transformation from being an “okay” math teacher to a Math Hero?  Whether this is your first year teaching or if you have been teaching for a while but still feel like teaching math is not your strong suit, Math Hero can help elevate you to the next level.

Psst!: Parents we haven’t forgotten about you!  Check out our Math Hero Membership for Parents to learn how you can be your child’s Math Hero and help navigate them on their math journey this school year to master skills and get good grades!