“I got an answer!”
Ava Taylor yells as she runs up to Micah Sittig on the other side of the classroom. He sits trying to solve 25 math problems in 30 minutes while 5 kids sit near him trying to solve the same problems. When one student is done Mr. Sittig checks the problem and give them a point. When the 30 minutes is over whoever has the most points wins.
Mr. Sittig takes a break from teaching high school students every Friday afternoon to coach his daughter, Charlotte’s, math bowl team.
The math bowl is a math competition between kids in fourth-grade through sixth-grade in southern California. Mr. Sittig is helping with the sixth-grade team from San Antonio Elementary School where his daughter goes.
This is Mr. Sittig’s first year helping out with the math bowl, but his daughter’s third year participating. He decided to lead the team this year because they had nobody to help them, so a letter was sent out asking if any parent could take on the role.
Other parents wished they could help out, but it didn’t work in some of their schedules, so they were very grateful Mr. Sittig was able to coach the kids.
Though coaching the students is something new and unfamiliar to him, he is very excited to have this new experience. But, he wants to stay teaching high school students.
“It sort of fits my personality more to teach high schoolers.” Mr. Sittig said.
He spends most of his time with high schoolers, but the Friday nights he has spent with the middle schoolers have taught him a lot. There are many pros and cons for teaching sixth-graders and high school students, Mr. Sittig says.
“[The team] is super high energy, which is a double-edged sword, right? Because on the one hand, they’re like, ‘Yeah, math! Let’s do it,’ but it’s really easy for the energy to get out of control.” Mr. Sittig said.
Mr. Sittig knows how to put a twist on math to help the kids enjoy it. He makes math so much fun for the kids, and their parents can tell.
“Ava thinks Mr. Sittig is awesome! She enjoys working with him because he explains math concepts well and makes learning math and the tutoring sessions fun,” Tiarzha Taylor, Ava’s mother, said.
Mr. Sittig has done a great job with adjusting to the crazy new situation he has been put in, and the kids seem to think so too. When asked if they liked Mr. Sittig, it was a unanimous yes.