Unmasking the Rappin’ Mathematician: Your Math Education Questions Answered by a Real Life Math Superhero.

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It’s a scary world out there! Seriously, between a pandemic, earthquakes, a tornado, and a threat of economic collapse - it’s enough for anyone’s anxiety to skyrocket. And we have big questions right now…What about my kids? What about their education, their activities, their brains? What about my time, my work, my SANITY?!? Never fear, the Rappin’ Mathematician is here! We really need superheros right now - and The Coop sat down with the ultimate math hero, Alex Kajitani, to learn about what we should do for our kids’ math education. It was super reassuring to learn a few tips and be given a few new tools from an expert, especially when some of us are drowning in worksheets, curriculum, and this new adventure called quarantine-schooling. As Batman says, “A hero can be anyone. Even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a little boy’s shoulder to let him know that the world hasn’t ended.” Here’s where our Rappin’ Mathematician comes in.

First, here’s a little bit about our superhero’s accomplishments:

California Teacher of the year 2009, Top-4 Finalist for National Teacher of the Year, author of three books including Owning IT: Proven Strategies to Ace and Embrace Teaching, two rapping math CDs and music videos, a Multiplication Nation online course, summer camps for migrant families to give migrant children a boost in their math and life skills, and a free, live, interactive, zoom Wacky Math Hour for grades 3-6. Try saying all of that without taking a breath! Need I say more? Okay, I will. He is super personable, super accessible, super qualified, super creative, super helpful, super fun, has super know-how, and is super caring…which is why he is our SUPERHERO!

Kajitani started his career in social work, then migrated to restaurant management. But his teacher inside of him was calling. He saw the “Bat signal,” so he rose to the new challenge and transformed into a middle school math teacher in a low-income school. He noticed his students needed more than the typical math curriculum to pay attention, to enjoy math, and to truly learn math…so he invented The Rappin’ Mathematician! Kajitani found that when he rapped math concepts, his students listened, learned, and laughed. He utilized the three L’s to make a big impact in his student’s lives, and test scores soared. He started training other teachers on his methods. When his superintendent saw what he could do, she said, “Let’s get you a bigger audience!” She did. Kajitani’s audience multiplied. His math teaching strategies even caught the attention from the CBS Evening News. Katie Couric, American television journalist extraordinaire, featured him on CBS News in 2009 as the feel-good story of the night.

After almost two decades of teaching in the traditional school setting, Kajitani now travels the country coaching teachers on math educational strategies. He is passing on his expertise helping other teachers become superheros in their own classrooms, and now in our homes! Oh, and did I mention? He and his wife homeschool their two daughters ages 11 and 14! (A former college counselor, his wife is currently a children’s book author, Meeg Pincus. Her books are beautiful, and you can check them out here.)

Now that you know a bit about our Superhero, let’s experience his super power! The Coop asked him a few questions about homeschooling, math curriculum, strategies, and how to make an impact. This is what we learned:

Should I Homeschool?

When considering what kind of schooling is a good fit for your family, Kajitani recommends that you ask yourself “What is the point of education?” Maybe spend a few minutes and write that down right now.

Now read your answer. Your answer will determine what kind of school setting and instructional delivery you think is best. Do you want your child’s education to be delivered in a classroom setting, with a group of children of the same age and similar development levels, deepening friendships with peers daily, working at desks individually and cooperatively on group projects together? It might be! Or, is it going on adventures during the week, spending more time with parents and siblings, moving with the rhythms of your children’s unique interests, deepening relationships with people of all ages, and giving your child a bigger voice and more control over what they learn? Is it both? Which way do you lean more towards? It depends on your feelings, awareness, and knowledge on this question that will help you decide what avenue or model will fit your family’s perspective, goals, budget, personalities, and lifestyle.

School Choice

Kajitani appreciates all the different choices that are out there available to families. As a current homeschooling parent, he really appreciates the freedom that homeschooling offers his kids and his family as a whole. His kids have a lot of food allergies, so with this in mind as well, homeschooling just made sense for his family. In the early years, they followed the Montessori method (a child-centered educational philosophy). Through trial-and-error they figured out what curriculum, what rhythms, and what methods worked for them. In the non-pandemic world, as their kids grew older, they chose a hybrid model. They follow rhythms, not structured routines or strict schedules. Their children attend school Mondays, focus on their school work by homeschooling on Tuesdays through Thursdays, and on Fridays attend their weekly surf club made up of parents and kids of all ages as well as their acting class.

We asked our Superhero for advice, tips, focus, and more about teaching math.

Kajitani’s 3 Tips for Your Approach to Math Education

1) Never ever say, “I’m not good at math” or “I wasn’t good at math.” We transmit our attitudes to our kids. They don’t know you aren’t or weren’t good at math. In the beginning, you are teaching things you do know. You can do simple addition. As it gets harder, if you need to, just bring in help like a tutor. Give them a chance to love math by keeping control over what you say about it and your feeling about it.

2) Do not compare your child’s strength in another subject to their strength in math. Remember that you’ve been reading to them since they were 1 or 2 years old. They have been basically learning reading since they were babies! But math, that may be entirely new to them. So keep that in mind. Do not compare the two subjects. It’s a trap.

3) Seeing and hearing are two different processes. If they are given flashcards to memorize times tables and they are really good at it, then try just asking verbally the same multiplication problem. They might not be able to tell you the answer. If that happens, they maybe just need to see the number. And vice versa. They might be really good about hearing numbers and giving answers, but when shown a flash card, they aren’t able to figure it out. That is until they say the equation softly to themselves. For each of your children, figure out their strength (seeing or hearing) and play on that strength.

Kajitani’s 3 Tips for Picking Curriculum

1) Keep it simple. It’s so tempting with all that is out there available. People buy too much curriculum and to many manipulatives.

2) Work from an anchor curriculum or framework - then supplement and add from there. You can supplement with two to three activities, like videos, Wacky Math Hour, Multiplication Nation, or games. Just don’t stray too far from the anchor.

3) Direct instruction is what matters the most. Evaluate. Ask, “How is the instruction delivered? How does your child respond to it?” Then go with the “Mogo” (the most good). Pick the “most good” curriculum. Every math curriculum has something that it does well and something it does not do as well. Find the most good for your kids. For example, Kajitani uses Math-U-See curriculum. He thinks the instructional videos are really good (the important part), but maybe the workbooks do not provide enough space to solve the problem in the workbook (less important). He problem-solves the parts of the curriculum that aren’t great by asking his kids to use another sheet of paper to solve problems as needed.

What Should I Focus On?

Kajitani has spoken to hundreds of math teachers around the country who have all said that their biggest challenge in teaching math is that, hands-down, their students never truly learned their times tables. “If all students could master their times tables, it would change the face of math education. If a student masters their times tables, it changes the trajectory of their entire career. What we know is that when a student passes Algebra, they become much more likely to go to college. But if a student fails Algebra, they are much more likely to drop-out of school completely. So I know, by teaching Algebra, that when my students show up and don’t know their times tables, that sets them up on a completely different path than my students who know their times tables.” As Kajitani knowingly explains, competency in times tables truly effects how well students can learn their future math levels, how they feel about math, and their whole academic life. Multiplication Nation is Kajitani’s solution for kids needing more help with their times tables. It’s a really great resource for teaching kids their times tables. We have started the courses ourselves, and my son loves it.

How Often Should We Practice Math?

Weekly Consistency is key. For example, you can plan to use Monday and Tuesday to work hard on math with the lesson and workbook practice. Then, Wednesday and Thursday practice those concepts with games and experiences, so your students can see those math concepts in action. Then repeat within the week or every week. That’s just one example of a cycle you can try. It’s about the rhythm. You decide what consistency looks like, but on a weekly basis.

How Can We Use Math to Make an Impact in the World?

When solving a math word problem you need to ask the following three questions:

1) What do I know?

2) What do I need to know?

3) How do I get there?

Math builds the necessary ability to solve problems. In solving math word problems, we ask our students to do the following:

1) Pull out the important information

2) Figure out a strategy to get the information needed

3) Do the action that needs to be done to solve the problem.

That is an effective way for solving most problems in our personal lives and in the world. By teaching math, you are giving kids a significant life skill for tackling any issue - a social issue, relationship issue, a marital issue, and more! What speaks to you? What problems in the world speak to you? Look at the big picture, the problems in the world, find volunteer opportunities for you and your children, and while you are there - use math. While you are helping, use the three questions to solve the problems that you are immersed in, in order to do that job better. Math is the tool to make something better.

The Rappin’ Mathematician is truly our superhero. He reminds us that the tools of math can make a huge impact in our students’ lives and in the lives of others - an impact we might not tangibly see. As Commissioner James Gordon from Batman says, “You’re going to make a difference. A lot of times it won’t be huge, it won’t be visible even. But it will matter just the same.”

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