They said there would be no math

IN THE CLASSROOM: Ken takes an occasional look inside our schools.

The unofficial motto of every good journalism school is "They said there would be no math."

Which is why word people like me are still a little uncomfortable with algebraic equations and such. Thus I was twitching in my seat earlier this week in the back of an Algebra I class at Stall High School in North Charleston.

Turns out, all I needed was a teacher like Jenell Riley to inspire my inner mathematician.

"I believe every student can learn, and somehow I have to find a way to reach them," Riley said of her ninth-grade class. "With some of the students, you can just give them the equations. Others, you have to work with them step by step. Every kid learns differently."

That is clear on this September morning when 14 students clamor into the classroom, take their places and begin solving problems.

Everybody seemed to get it, of course, except the big kid in the back of the room.

'Mingle Music'

Truth is, I like numbers, but my brain doesn't.

I actually appreciate the purity of mathematics, the exactness, the beauty and the symmetry of numbers. I just never knew it involved reggae music.

But that's what you hear in Riley's class. She plays what she calls "Mingle Music" to get the kids engaged in problem solving with each other. They're allowed to mingle with partners and figure out the equations on their own.

And it works. After Riley passed out the calculators and divided the students into pairs, they noodled the problems and came up with the answers.

As an observer, it's easy to tell which students were getting it and which ones were struggling. But the payoff is seeing the smiles on their faces when the light of understanding is illuminated.

"Sometimes a friend explaining it is better than me explaining it," Riley said.

Real-world learning

The real issue about algebra, you see, is the X factor.

If you can figure out the value of X in any given equation, then you probably have one of those brains that loves math.

But that's not all they learn in the ninth grade. Riley spends time teaching the students how to calculate the percentage of change, in real terms.

In one example, she used the rise in HIV cases in South Carolina to illustrate the increase in cases of the disease in our communities. To the students, it was a pop quiz with a message.

"It's about applying proportional reasoning," said Riley, a native of Ridgeland and military wife who attended Clemson and graduated from New Mexico State University. "Finding a way to make a connection. We use other real-world stuff like teenage pregnancy. Whatever we can do to get them working and engaged in learning."

And if the math thing doesn't work out, well, there's always journalism school.

Reach Ken Burger at kburger@postandcourier.com or 937-5598. To read prvious columns, click here..