Implementing Singapore Math, though well worth the effort, is not without an abundance of obstacles. Teachers are unfamiliar with how to teach it, and interpreting the teacher’s manual can feel like trying to teach math in Mandarin! Engineering parents of fth- and sixth-graders don’t know how to help their child (who hasn’t learned algebra) to solve homework problems. Students don’t know what to make of Singapore Math when they are introduced to it, as math looks and feels different than it ever has before. How can these obstacles be overcome? Come learn practical ideas to work through the challenges of implementing Singapore Math, and be encouraged in the rewards you will reap if you persevere in this endeavor.
Cynthia Leakey
Ms. Cynthia Leakey earned her BS in Mathematics from Biola University and her teaching credential from California State University, Fresno. For 17 years, she honed her instructional abilities and enhanced her liberal arts education by homeschooling her four children from grades K–12. She has taught Singapore Math at The Cambridge School in San Diego in grades 3–6 over the past four years. She had the monumental task of learning Singapore Math lesson by lesson the rst year that she taught it, carefully deconstructing piece by piece the math mindset with which she had been educated, and resolutely learning to see math through the delightful clarity of the Singapore mindset. At Cambridge, she endeavors to cultivate in her pupils a sense of wonder and joy in the beauty and artistry of math itself, and further, in the glories of our wise God who created such a lovely and dependable structure for His world.
