Teaching mathematics to children can sometimes be difficult particularly if you are teaching “over their head” and lose them – because once they are lost it is difficult to reel them back in! So some tips to keep it light and make it a good experience for all might be helpful.

Simple doesn’t have to mean 1, 2, 3 – it really means that it makes sense to the pupils because if it doesn’t make sense it will be difficult for them to grasp what you are trying to tell them. Even if they eventually do what you need them to do but don’t understand the concept and the “how” of what you are telling them, it will probably be lost the minute they have passed the test and you move on to something else. Practice helps tremendously – making them do fractions or decimals themselves and letting them practice will usually eventually make sense and they will learn to do it because they can illustrate it themselves if called upon to do so.

The goal of a teacher is often to complete a textbook by the end of a school year or a semester but if the student does not “get it” and you go on to the next chapter without them grasping the concept they will suffer their entire lives because they won’t be able to figure out a tip at a restaurant or make sense of budgeting or doing their taxes. So a teacher’s goal should be to ensure that your students understand fully what they need to know in the “real world” rather than what is found in a textbook.

You as the teacher are in charge so you can determine the order in which you teach and the tools you use to teach them – whether it is with graphics on a white board or other means. Visuals will always make more sense because you can see the why and how in front of you.