An Epiphany Of Epic Proportions

Yesterday, during a UW Math Lab, someone explained something to me that totally blew my mind. Prior to this, the concept of breaking up both numbers of a multiplication problem by place value was something I never understood.

I am positive that I have incorrectly answered such a problem every time I've faced it. That's 12+ years of not knowing how to do this. Being terrible at story problems. Sucking at math and hating it because of my ineptitude.

Then it all started to click into place. So, I asked my partner, Becca,"but how do you explain this to KIDS?" Because at this point I believed down to my very soul that I was witnessing magic and alchemy unfold before my very eyes.

And then she showed me. (Please refer to attached picture for tangible evidence)

Imagine a cataclysmic explosion, silent to the universe, save me.

I wanted to spontaneously curse. I wanted to jump up and 'whoop'. I wanted to high five someone. But, all I could do, sitting amongst my distinguished colleagues, was sit there silently, my mouth agape.

It was as if I was crouching in a dim room, Golem-like, hoarding what little light I had claim to. And suddenly, Becca walks into the room and flips a dust-caked switch, illuminating everything I once pushed aside. It was always there, that switch. I just couldn't access it. I gave up, and was given up on, time and time again.

In the moments between my question and her explanation I stopped hating the unknown, the thing I never understood, the subject that eluded me throughout my life: math.

And as I was sitting there, unable to express my epiphany, analyzing the triumphs and failures of my week, I thought to myself "Teaching math is no longer frighteningimposingimpossible. It has a certain elegance, a beauty to it. I can unlock those secrets, illuminate those minds, chase away those insecurities shrouded in shadow and gloom. I can flip that switch for my students."

My light is dimming regarding my ability to teach literacy, however. Not lost, but shaken. A big deal for an avid reader and writer with a literacy endorsement and a life-long grudge against math.

My literacy epiphany is next. I can feel it.