I thought I knew how to teach math until I became a mom. Every strategy, every intervention, didn't help the screaming 6 year old that just wanted to escape to the next room to play with her dolls. She tried every tactic in her arsenal. She cried. She snuggled. She changed the subject. She simply wore me out. I spent years in the classroom; countless hours in classes and workshops, reading books and creating lessons. I had passion and expertise. I had two decades of experience working with children who struggle in math. Every measure proved that I was an exemplary educator. But none of that mattered as I sat next to our daughter at our kitchen table. Her father sitting nearby reminding her to " get back there and finish your work ," every time she tried to squirrel away undetected. There were tears. So many tears. She was failing. And I was failing her. When she was three, we sang songs. Her favorite was "One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Once I Caught A Fish Alive&q
An exemplary math teacher becomes a mom and learns that she knows very little about teaching math.