By Dillan Combs, Staff Writer – Sentinel Echo
“With this certification, you inherit an expectation. People, including yourself, will expect bigger and better things out of you,” educator Don White said. Thursday evening, White endowed his interning teachers with certificates for ClearMath, a methodology of teaching where students learn critical thinking through understanding the context behind their materials.
According to White, this methodology of teaching eliminates the need to rely on the memorization of rules and formulas because students will understand the concepts behind those rules and formulas. White added that, while “math” is in the title of the program, teachers can apply it to all forms of teaching.
Teachers certified Thursday night included Tanner Chaney and Kendra Cook of Keavy Elementary, as well as McKenzie King of Sublimity Elementary. In addition, Venessa Smith of Keavy Elementary; Lauren Wombles of Sublimity Elementary; and Diane Allen and Lynette Bradford of Cornerstone Christian School all became certified but were unable to attend the ceremony.
I had to envision how ClearMath and understanding work together,” said Chaney. “So Mr. White related math to soccer to help me see the big picture. I had to see how the small, little details come together to form the big picture. That is the concept of ClearMath.”</
Meredith Chandler, a former pupil of White and an instructor at London Elementary, discussed at the ceremony how she relates ClearMath to teaching English.
“Knowing that the skills that I have learned using context clues, genre, vocabulary, even the evolution of language itself through symbols and digits, putting those digits together to form numbers, numbers to expressions, expressions to equations — that parallels with how our English language is acquired as well,” she said.
Also present that night was Will White (no relation to Don), a 10th-grade student who has been tutored by White since middle school. In the 8th grade, he set a goal to score a perfect 36 on the math ACT. To his disappointment, he scored a 34. Will has taken the ACT two more times since, scoring perfect in math both times. With an ACT composite score of 35, numerous colleges are now recruiting him, such as the Gatton Academy of Mathematics in Bowling Green and Craft Academy in Moorehead University.
“Of course, Will was always a gifted child,” said White. “But ClearMath isn’t just for gifted students. I tutor students who have been struggling in school as well. They’ve seen tremendous results.”
The schools within Laurel County that have adopted ClearMath, are Keavy, Sublimity and Cornerstone Christian, are reportedly seeing an improvement in the overall grades of their students.
In 2016, 76 percent of Sublimity students scored proficient or distinguished on the K-PREP test, ranking the school 110th among the approximate 700 elementary schools in Kentucky. In 2018, that number jumped to 94.3 percent, naming the school 21st in Kentucky. According to White, K-PREP tests a variety of subjects in addition to math.
“For years, teaching has required students to adapt to the lesson. What ClearMath does is adapt the lesson to the student,” said White. “We need to teach students at a higher level. Because when students are taught at a higher level, they perform at a higher level. And when students perform at a higher level, the school performs at a higher level.”
White said that teachers can enroll for ClearMath internships through their principal. Parents who want their students to be tutored in ClearMath can contact Don White via phone at (606) 224-0128.