Mathematics is not always the most exciting subject for students.

Math lessons

sometimes feel like a waste of time, and can even leave students wondering what the

point of mathematics is. As a teacher, it is my goal: to welcome every student—no matter

their attitude—into my mathematics classroom, and allow their minds to be

transformed through the numerical architecture of God’s world, and by the light of

Christ that I show them.

I believe that the subject of mathematics is an insight to God’s creation. When God

created the world, he created all that is in it, including numerical systems, mathematical

algorithms, and equations that balance together. This simple (but not simplistic!) beauty

that is shown through mathematics is what I hope to demonstrate to my students.

Rather than a time of hair-pulling, stressful activity, mathematics can be a time of

wonder, exploring an area that God so delicately designed. Isaiah 40: 26 says:

Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:

Who created all these?

He who brings out the starry host one by one

and calls forth each of them by name.

Because of his great power and mighty strength,

not one of them is missing.

Not only can we read this verse with the knowledge that the Lord created each star and

named them, but the Lord also created the students who will learn about God’s unseen

creation in my math class. With this truth, it is my hope that my students will know

they were each made for a purpose, and that God knows each of them by their names.

Not one student is forgotten. Not one student is brushed under the rug or less important
than another. We are each our own unique creation of God’s, and each deserving to

learn about the beauty of mathematics he has created for us to explore.

In my unit, students will explore fractions and their differing operations. First, my

students will study the basic rubric of fractions—what they are, and how they are

constructed. But then we will dig deeper to explore arising, and to (re)discover how

fractions appear and function in our everyday lives. This will allow us to wrestle with

the complexity fractions bring with them, and learn how to solve them. Throughout the

unit, I will allow my students to make mistakes, hoping their frustration will be a

motivator to problem solve.

So in the end, the unit is not simply about mathematical fractions. We will experience

together problem solving skills with confidence that a student can tackle any problem

given to them. We are capable of uncovering God’s mysteries embedded in numerals,

pattern, and calculation. The Belgic Confession reminds us that God reveals himself in

two ways: through general revelation (that is, nature, and for me, I read “math”), and

through special revelation (through the Bible and Jesus). God’s revelation can therefore

come right into my classroom as we examine the first, and model the second. For each

student—and teacher!— is a child of God, deserving of the education they receive, and

capable of learning even the most difficult of topics.