Teaching Mathematics to 6th grade students preparing for the Riga State Gymnasium No.1 entrance exam in May 2015
Due to the high number of 6th grade applicants hoping to continue their academic pursuits at Riga State Gymnasium No.1, which is primarily known for its specialization in Mathematics, each spring my school holds an entrance exam in Mathematics. For students to familiarize themselves with the exam structure and, for some, to improve their Mathematics knowledge, the school also provides weekly 1.5 hour classes starting already around October. Usually two groups of up to 38 people are taught by our Mathematics teacher Ms Ševčenko, but this week she gave us - 12th grade IB students - the opportunity to substitute her and teach sixty 12-year-old children Mathematics. Since I have considered offering private lessons to my neighbour who is struggling with 8th grade Mathematics and lack of experience is the main reason for my reluctance, I did not let this chance slip by, and spent the Saturday morning teaching Mathematics together with three of my classmates.
Prior to Saturday, our responsibilities involved acquainting ourselves with the exercises that the students were going to do during the class and carefully regarding some rather specific advice from our teacher. Besides going through the tasks, for example, we had to make sure the children leave their signature as an indication of their presence, and we had to be prepared to hand out exercise sheets from previous lessons in case such a need arose. Although our teacher also warned us about possible misbehaviour, I - having had a look at the exercises before the classes - at least felt confident that the Mathematics were rudimentary enough for me to be eligible to teach other people.
Yet, perhaps because I had tried to morally prepare for the worst, the activity, to my surprise, turned out quite pleasant and exciting. Contrary to the expectations shaped by Ms Ševčenko, the students were amazingly calm, quiet and mostly even shy. They rarely conversed with one another, almost always were willing to come to the board, and appeared not to doubt our qualification to teach them. To me, however, the activity was still a great challenge, especially as several concepts that the children lacked the understanding of had to be effectively explained, and I had little clue about their existing knowledge. In other words, whilst I was aware of comparatively complex operations, such as exponents, being introduced only in 7th or 8th grade, I was certainly not ready to elaborate on division of two fractions. To me, this kind of mathematical operation seemed too widely used and obvious to suspect that some students may have trouble comprehending it, wherefore I sometimes got the impression that, despite the agreeable nods of the class, numerous ideas remained unclear.
In retrospect, I think, this was one of the most enjoyable and successful activities I have engaged in, both because the children were so dedicated to Mathematics and because I had truly intelligent colleagues. While, in other instances, I am usually met with at least some uncooperative, lazy or disorganized teammates, which inevitably results in somebody being idle, this time distribution of responsibilities was at its highest without even having to discuss the matter. In fact, I believe that, to some students, this class was especially valuable, for they had a team of 'teachers' who could simultaneously lead the lesson and pay individual attention to those needing it most.
Overall, this experience considerably broadened my perspective by allowing me to realize some of the hardships of the teacher's profession as well as the need for written tests. Clearly, teaching one student cannot be compared with teaching a whole class, as it seemed that the inability to assess the level of the students' individual knowledge increases directly with their number. Nevertheless, even though I am still unsure whether I can explain Mathematics in an understandable way and, hence, whether I should agree to teaching my neighbour, I am fully satisfied with the outcome of this activity.
In addition to the role of teacher, I also tried being a paparazzo.
the first group
the second group
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