COUNTING ON HER FINGERS

 4166

Although, I had procured my Bachelor's Degree in Education, and, subsequently, my State of Florida Teacher's Certificate, at the time I graduated I "went where the money was" and applied for a part-time position at UPS; which, ultimately, led to a fulltime job as a delivery driver. When I retired from UPS, and began my new career as a pastoral counselor, I also served as a substitute teacher in the central Florida county where I currently reside.

One of my most memorable experiences as a substitute teacher occurred in an ESE classroom at the public school closest to my home, Westwood Middle School; just a couple miles away.

During the course of the decade and a half that I was a "sub," I served in all of three ESE classrooms, for a total of perhaps five or six days, as we picked our own slots from among the classes which came up on a daily basis, and ESE wasn't my idea of fun. (Apparently, there weren't all that many openings available on the days I selected ESE slots).

Be that as it may, on this particular day, I was scheduled to serve as a teacher's aide; (though still being paid the whopping $49 which substitute teachers were paid at the time).

I reported to Mrs. Turner's class bright and early, and she gave me a few instructions about what her class would be doing that day, as well as some guidance about the most "special" of her special needs students.

Mrs. Turner taught 7th grade English, Math and History, and her 25 or 30 students were with her all day, five days a week. Third period rolled around, and I, no doubt, thought, "just three more hours, and I can go home!!!"

In spite of the demands of teaching an ESE class, the teacher "went out of her way" to give me plenty of guidance about what she wanted me to do, and how to do it. Halfway through that period, Mrs. Turner looked at me, and said,

"Mr. McDonald, Penny has been having a little trouble with her addition skills. Would you mind helping her?"

Well, as you might imagine, I thought,

"Surely you jest. She's in 7th grade and doesn't know how to add?"

(Of course, I didn't say this out loud).

With that, I got up and walked my straight chair over to the young lady which Mrs. Turner had pointed out to me.

"Hi Penny. It's nice to meet you. What seems to be the problem?"

Now, the 12 or 13 year old pointed down at her pre-printed math form. Looking down at it, I noticed twelve or fifteen math problems, each consisting of two digit numbers. The first problem was,  

34 + 24 = ____

Given the simplicity of these problems, and Penny's failure to grasp simple addition, I pondered how best to enlighten her. 

And then it came to me...

I excused myself, and walked up to the teacher.

"Mrs. Turner, I don't do anything even slightly questionable without running it by a teacher in advance. Would you mind if I..."

The teacher was lecturing the class on the Theory of Relativity at the time (not), but was pretty busy computing six week's grades. She looked up at me, and nodded.

I walked back to Penny's desk, sat down in my chair, and said,

"Take out a piece of paper."

(and)

"Write down the first problem with the first number on top of the second number, instead of the way it is on the form."

(and)

"Okay. Give me both your hands."

I placed each of Penny's small hands sideways across one of my large outstretched palms, and continued speaking.

"Notice in the right column, there are two 4's. I'm going to touch your fingertips, and you count out loud."

I tapped all four fingers, and thumb of her left hand, and three fingers on her right hand. As I touched each finger, Penny counted.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight."

As she said the word, "eight," the girl seemed to experience "an ah ha moment." I could see in her eyes.

"Okay. Write down an "8" under the two 4's."

Let's do it again. I touched the four fingers and thumb of my student's left hand. Again, Penny counted out loud.

Now, the young lady suddenly seemed genuinely excited about the equation before her.

"Oh, I see. And so, I write down a '5' under this row!"

(and)

"34 and 24 make 58!"

I smiled and almost shouted, 

"YES! You got it!"

Penny seemed pretty satisfied with herself.

"Oh, thank you, Mr. McDonald. You helped me so much."

I admit it. I went away feeling pretty satisfied with myself also.

by Bill McDonald, PhD