I’ve found that I love demonstrating those long algebra
problems on the board for the students when I substitute for math classes. You know the problems. They go all the way across the page. Whether combining like terms, “please
excusing my dear Aunt Sally,” or solving for x, I could do them all day
long. Upper elementary school to high
school. It’s the only part of algebra
I’ve retained from college.
I feel so
competent when I know more than [or at least the same as] the students. Being visual myself, I find the best way to
instruct in math class is showing each step to the students and answering any
questions they might have. Because I
know the processes, I can pull the problem apart. And I remember the rules.
I recall
taking a basic skills algebra class in college to prepare myself for college
level math. I had found it interesting
that my younger fellow students all had an “Aunt Sally.”
“It’s such
an old-fashioned name,” I told the professor when I approached her with my own
question.
The
professor smiled. “No, Victoria,” she
said. “It’s a metonym, a way to remember
the algebra steps. Parentheses,
exponents, multiplication/division, addition/subtraction: Please excuse my dear
Aunt Sally.”
“Interesting.” I blushed.
I had merely remembered the steps.
When my son finally entered upper elementary school, he learned
P.E.M.D.A.S. Same processes.
Solving for
x builds on the simplifying process to answer the equation. The thing to remember when solving equations
is to do the same mathematical processes to each side of the equal sign. The object is to get the variable on one side
and a number, the answer, on the other side of the equal sign. To separate a variable from numbers, you
perform the opposite mathematical process; i.e., subtraction when it is
addition, division when it is multiplication.
Sorry. I do like teaching something I know. Of course, I probably wouldn’t give up my
grammar geek status for algebra. But it
is a fun process, once you get the hang of it.
