Ask most of the elementary kids in Gorham who Greg Tang is and they are likely to get excited and tell you that he has a fun math website (www.GregTangMath.com). If they are in the fourth or fifth grade at Great Falls School, they are also fortunate to have homework that he has created.
Approximately three years ago, several Great Falls teachers attended a Tang workshop and started switching from the then popular Xtra Math website to Tang’s in an effort to improve math fluency as well as interest in learning.
The former website used timed repetition, like digital flash cards. The latter conveys the same information, but in a series of games that unlocks the voracious competitive learner in each child. The games are engaging and have many levels of fluency.
Photo credit Lori RumeryGreat Falls student Shawn Rumery is pictured with Greg Tang, who recently came to Gorham and hosted a math workshop for students and parents.
Over the last three years the popularity has caught on. All three of Gorham’s elementary schools have several teachers using his methods and/or website to engage students in mathematics. The hope is to get students to stop finger counting and to encourage grouping of pairs that equal ten while adding. For example, getting them to see 6+4 over 6+6.
On April 4, Tang visited Great Falls students during the day and hosted a workshop for parents later that evening at Gorham Middle School. During the workshop, Tang had a set of math problems for parents. Some were puzzles he created, such as NumTanga, in which students have nine different blocks with four portion sizes. It is laid out like Tic Tac Toe. Other puzzles include Kakooma, Equato, Snake, and Ten Frame Mania.
Most profoundly moving for most parents in attendance was the sampling of SAT and other standardized test word problems that Tang not only included, but went over with a revolutionary approach to solving them. His method tries to simplify the process and leave less room for errors that occur by forgetting just one piece.
Tang has heard many stories of graduates who once longed to be doctors or get into the Ivy League schools on sports scholarships, but didn’t meet the math requirement of the SATs. They therefore settled for a second or third choice college and career. He wants to see this change.
Stephanie DeVinney, who has a fourth grader and Kindergartener at Great Falls, said, “I wish I had these techniques as a kid and for the SATs.”
From his Twitter account Tang said, “My goal is simple. Help kids become smart, well rounded individuals, who love to learn.”