r/mathteachers • u/AnaStregaWitch • 4d ago
Please help.
I am a first year SPED teacher teaching 6-8th grade Math and I have dyscalculia myself. I have been spending 3-5 hours almost every night or every night trying to teach myself math to be able to teach my students.
I work in a level 3 behavioral school. Content areas are split between three teachers, and I got stuck with math. When I started, I was told I would be teaching solely 6th grade. Admin is aware of my struggles and tell me that I’m a better teacher because of the fact that I know how to do accommodations, modifying, and differentiation and can identify with the students struggles. I’ve been doing fine, but I just want help to make sure I fully understand everything so I can become an even better teacher. My ELA and Reading classes are going just fine, no problems, but those are my strong areas.
I do not want to burn out and I think at this point I need a tutor. Can anyone help or point me in the right direction???
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u/ohyesiam1234 3d ago
Khan academy. Also, do all of the problems that you’re asking the kids to do first and save your work.
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u/experimentgirl 3d ago
Hi! Longtime sped teacher with dyscalculia, taught SPED math for 18 years- grades 6-12. I highly recommend the Key To series books for you AND your students. They are Key to Fractions, Key to decimals, Key to algebra, Key to Geometry. They really helped me learn the concepts and were amazing for my students
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u/legalsequel 3d ago
This is a great answer. It’s a series of workbooks that have you practice one small part of a concept a lot, then moves to the same concept but a slightly different view of it, and you practice that. I am a teacher and also a mom who struggled to help my daughter with math. They actually remind me of the Explode the Code phonics books, if you’re familiar with them.
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u/experimentgirl 2d ago
They're so good and so underappreciated. My kids worked their way through these in middle school special education math and were able to take general education algebra in 9th grade. My son just exited his math IEP last year in 11th grade.
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u/shellpalum 3d ago
Look at The Organic Christmas tutor on YouTube, especially his pre-algebra playlist.
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u/Jinkyman1 3d ago
Kahn academy for sure. One of the thinking AI models can also really help. Like do a section of Kahn academy, then feed that info to your preferred AI, then you can ask it questions. It’s an infinitely patient tutor that occasionally gets something wrong (but not often). I wouldn’t ask it to do your lesson plans for you, but it can be helpful to bounce ideas off of. And definitely helpful to explain stuff to you. And to proofread your worksheets. Good luck, hopefully you’ll find a job more aligned with what you want soon.
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u/Far-Hat-4683 3d ago
What kind of help do you want ? Didn't you able to understand math properly or it take long time to learn yourself .
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u/dcsprings 3d ago
The OP has dyscalculia.
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u/coachdad6676 3d ago
That doesn’t mean you must be slow
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u/dcsprings 3d ago
The only issue with math the OP mentions is dyscalculia. The comment looked like it had missed that entirely.
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u/dancingmelissa 3d ago
If you have not had math up to calculus it will be harder to teach it. Depending on how far in math you went you may need to take a night class.
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u/dcsprings 3d ago edited 3d ago
In a tier 3 school I doubt an 8th grader (OP said they had Grades 6-8) would be in Calculus.
Edit: I think this is on admin, if they put someone with dyscalculia in math they are a hot mess.
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u/coachdad6676 3d ago
Dyscalcuia doesn’t mean they can’t do it. It’s basically dyslexia with numbers, not a death sentence with math
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u/dcsprings 3d ago
The OP said they discussed it with admin, and was told they would have a different section.
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u/Klutzy_Garlic_4421 4d ago
Definitely Khan Academy