Sixth Grade Math Blues

Last summer as I sat through each agonizing workshop each presenter delivered the same
message, the new math TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) are coming with the
biggest changes occurring in sixth grade. Each presenter demonstrated what they thought were
great strategies that could be used. None that were really new to me and many I have been using
for years. I remember sitting in each one thinking can it really be that different. My question was
answered only a short time later when I was called by my department head to come to my
campus to pick up my Teachers Editions to the new textbook.
When I drove onto my campus I quickly took notice that every math teacher was there. I
jumped out my car and went into the library. Opening the library door I heard the complaints and
the moans and groans from everyone there. I picked up my books, thumbed through the pages
and quickly realized why. Absolute value, additive and multiplicative representations, financial
literacywhat the what???! I didnt learn absolute value until high school, didnt have a
checking and savings account until I became an adult, and the state expects me to teach this to
my sixth graders and get them to understand. You have got to be kidding me! We all sat there in a
bit of disbelief. My principal tried to provide us with a bit of encouragement and told us he didnt
have any doubt that we would do our jobs and at the end of the day our students would make us
all proud.
I returned home that afternoon and sat on the floor in my living room flipping through the
pages of each book in almost a state of panic. All I could think about was the frustration I knew

most of my students would experience. Many of my students become frustrated in working

multiple step problems and now the state is asking that they communicate answers with written
responses as well. How on earth would I get them to understand such mathematical concepts
knowing most of them had not achieved mastery or automaticity of fundamental arithmetic and
many are still struggling writers? Did the state not know at their age most of them did not have
the application of skill and abstract thinking at a pace and at the level they are requiring?
Needless to say, the few weeks of summer I had left were dedicated to attempt to formulate some
kind of plan to help my students achieve some success.
I had only three weeks to go through an entire text book and familiarize myself with new
concepts I had never taught. I also spent time studying the old fifth grade TEKS to determine
what my students should already know when they enter my classroom. Countless hours were
spent with my Dinah Zike foldable workbooks deciding upon different foldables I would have
my students to make for vocabulary usage and drawing Venn diagrams to compare and contrast
different math concepts. You Tube also became my friend as I watched many videos in learning
different ways to teach probability and statistics and literary finances.
School began before I was ready. I knew I had my work cut out for me. My districts
Director of Curriculum provided me with the Scope and Sequence to follow this year and to my
dismay I had to begin with teaching percents, fractions, and decimals and to top it off my
students had to be able to justify their reasoning. Frustration soon kicked in, parents started
calling, and the emails started flowing. To all I gave the same response, just stick with me and
things will get better. It was hard for parents to understand why their babies were being
challenged with such difficult concepts. Many just wanted to be able to help their child and

didnt know how. I knew I had to do something to try to ease everyones frustrations. My
students were not the only ones who were frustrated. It was school wide.
I couldnt afford to let them give up. We were only in the first six weeks of school. It was
stressed to us at the start of the year there was no money to pay anyone for after school tutorials
but I didnt care. After all I didnt become a teacher for the money. I became a teacher to make a
difference in the lives of my students. I spoke to my principal about my intentions and he told me
it was my call. I offered afterschool tutorials to my students on Tuesday afternoons for an hour.
My door was not only open to my students but to their parents as well. My one day of after
school tutorials quickly became two. I could see the confidence starting to build in my students
who faithfully attended and my parents were grateful for the opportunity in learning how to
assist their child at home. However, those who didnt attend still struggled in the classroom. To
assist with this problem I quickly turned to peer tutoring. I was able to pair students who
attended tutorials with those who did not. It made me feel proud to now see my students starting
to smile and not hear as many complaints or see tears on the cheeks of those who were truly
frustrated. Yes! They were all finally learning and gaining some success.
The first semester was a trying one, but as time went on my students progressed more and
more. My campus now has in place a Compass Learning Lab. The lab is open for not only sixth
grade but also for seventh and eighth. With the STAAR assessment in the next couple of months,
we still have a long way to go. Im just praying my students master enough of the material to do
well on the Math STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) exam.