Math is not a male thing, it is not a rich thing and it is not a race thing- Look at me!? exclaimed Adrian Cox Settles, a teacher at Al Rahmah School in Baltimore and the winner of the 2014 Outstanding Teacher Award. This award is given to teachers in the math and sciences by the National Technical Association Baltimore Chapter and was presented to Settles on June 26, 2014 at the Morgan State University.
Her credentials and her team of six female students, who had entered the NTA/MSU Mathletics Competition and won top positions, impressed the NTA.
Adrian and her brother Johnny were raised as Christians by her grandmother, Bessie Cox. They grew up in the Lexington Terrace housing projects of Baltimore City, Maryland in the seventies. A crime-ridden, drug laced neighborhood where kids didn?t have much hope of succeeding because of the lack of opportunities.
Except that she had a talent?she was great at Math. And she had a teacher who exposed her to language and art; showed her a window outside the bleak world of the project.
?Math was the only constant in my life. The thing I was good at,? explains Settles. Her mother, who has problems with addictions was in and out of Cox?s life. Her addiction causing Settles pain in itself and in the form of the bullying and harassment she suffered for 5 long years during elementary and middle school at the hands of the neighborhood boys who attended her school
?As a child, I always felt that excelling in school was my only ticket out of the housing projects. Therefore I was very adamant about going to school every day.? However, attending school every day was not an easy task as she was severely bullied. Life in the project is very intertwined; everyone knew everyone and they knew about her mother?s problems.
Many students, especially girls are scared of math or don?t have confidence in their math skills. Settles believes this is because of the way they have been taught. She uses the humanist approach when teaching mathematics.
This style of thinking and teaching is directed at educating the Whole Child. It takes away power from the teacher and gives it in the hands of the students. Many of her students are first generation immigrants and share the methods taught to them by their parents.
She recalls a special teacher-students moment while teaching geometry; she presented a math problem and told them to solve it without given them any directions. As she walked around the classroom she noticed that the students used five different examples of how to solve the same problem, which resulted in the same answer.
She then picked five students with five different examples to write their steps on the board.
?Once the examples were on the on the board, I told all the students to examine each example to see how different each student thought about solving the same problem. I then pointed out that everyone thinks uniquely and has a different ways of solving problems. There is not one restricted way to solve any math problem,? says Settles.
Diversity in thinking is what makes the math learning experience richer for all in her view. The students were amazed about how many different ways that particular one problem could be solved.
Freedom in math expression and the notion that everyone has something to bring to the math experience in the learning community left each student feeling validated and appreciated. In the process she saw some strategies that she did not think about. ?The teacher should be learning from the students just as well as the students are learning from the teacher,? she reflects.
?Teaching math is personal to me because math is a big part of who I am today. Except for Allah?s love for me, my ability to do math has been the second longest consistent thing that has made me feel significant when obstacles try to bring me down,? says Settles in a humility-tinged proud voice.
?Being good in math has open doors and afforded me opportunities that I would not have experienced otherwise,? she expresses in an interview with Muslim Link. In second grade, her mother Debra Cox dedicated quality time in making sure that she learned her multiplication facts. ?That was the initial time that sparked my passion for math that still resides in me until this day,? she shares.
?I teach math because I want to show students that math does not have to be hard. Math is an extremely useful language and if you can master it doors of opportunity will open for you. Math is view as the elite subject, so it is used to determine who is and who is not. I just want to share my gift that Allah has given me with others, so that they can experience that math is not just limited to one particular group,? says Settles. The ability to do math can be experienced by anyone if the following two things present, stressed Settles?an experienced facilitator of mathematics and the student?s openness to experience new adventures.
Settles is an experienced teacher. In high school and college she started tutoring math. An associate?s degree in General Studies from the local community college follwed and she then completed her Bachelor in Biology at Morgan State University. After teaching math at Baltimore City Community College for a year, she taught math and mentored math teachers, and lead the math departments of various high Schools during her 10-year stint in the Baltimore City Public School System.
Currently, she is pursuing her masters of Science in mathematics education from MSU and teaching Middle and High School Math at the Al-Rahmah School in Woodlawn for the last 2 years.
Adrian met her husband Billy while they were both teaching math across the hallway in a Baltimore elementary school. She accepted Islam several months after her marriage and now has 3 beautiful sons, Damion, Idrees, and Jibril.
Her family is her greatest inspiration in the dunya is her family, her sister in Islam Najaah, close friends, and her Muslim community. ?These are the people that encourage me to be the best Muslim that I can be to try to reach the highest level of Jannah as possible,? she says.
After leaving Baltimore City Public Schools, Settles decided she wanted to spend more time with her family and started substituting at Al-Rahmah School. The substitute job turned into a math teaching position.
Working in an Islamic environment was a breath of fresh air: to teach, communicate, and pray daily amongst a group of Muslims. She fit right in.
The children at an Islamic private school did not have the challenges that many of her public school students endure, thus increasing their focus. The parents, principal, and staff are extremely supportive which makes her job a lot easier. Humble is how her colleagues describe her. She was overjoyed by how many people rejoiced with her in her award.
She says her greatest inspiration in the deen is Allah. ?I learned that Allah really loves a person when he gives him/her tests involving hardship and pain. Therefore, I know that he loves me because as a child I had a very concentrated dose of hardship and pain. I love Allah so much because he has given us Prophet Muhammad as an example of how to live our lives. Allah has been an inspiration to me because he has been so merciful, forgiving, generous, just, and patient to me,? shares
Knowing that she was good in math helped her to keep her head up in the midst of the many storms, and she believes it can help all students learning at their own pace in their own way.
Sr Adrian?s Advice to Teachers:
Always put Allah first. Without Allah?s guidance things will be difficult.
Teachers should teach what excites them. This will motivate the teacher and foster a positive learning environment for all, inshallah.
Teachers should let the students take the lead of the learning while the teachers become the facilitators of learning. Facilitating consists of allowing the students to experience learning through their eyes. Since the learning is directed towards the student, the lesson should be geared toward the students? interest and centered on the students? needs. This is one way of reaching the students intrinsically. If the students are reached intrinsically, they will become life-long learner.
Teachers should build relationships with their students because learning does not take place unless the students consent to want to learn.
I want teachers to remember that you are extremely important because you are shaping the future minds of our society.
Comments powered by CComment