• Math Specialist: 
    Wendy Bacon
     
    Students who struggle in math class sometimes need more time to learn a particular skill or concept.  They need to hear and see the instruction more than once, and they need extra guidance when practicing the skills or applying the knowledge.  To assist students in these areas, we can and do take several approaches:  

    1)      We pre-teach.  The purpose of this type of instruction is to give struggling students a bit of a head start with the content.  When they are presented with a similar lesson in class later that week, these students have a sense of familiarity and can begin making connections sooner rather than later.  It can boost a child’s confidence and allow them to feel some success in class. 
    2)      We re-teach or review.  When necessary, we present the same information a second time in a smaller setting, sometimes using different models or examples, allowing students that second exposure to the content. 
    3)     We practice.  Research suggests that they average student needs to do something 28 times before it is learned.  Some students need more practice, others less.  In addition to repeated exposure to a skill, some students need that little extra guidance, a reminder about checking signs, a hint about a particular rule or step that gets forgotten, or even that little bit of reassurance that their work is indeed correct.
    4)     We review before tests and quizzes.
    5)      We reinforce basic skills.  Let’s face it a good foundation in basic skills will make all of that abstract math much easier to do. 

    Typically we are able to keep the groups small, so that I can provide as much individual attention as possible. 

    I promise to work hard every day to help your children succeed.