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Innovative Teacher Allays Students' Math Fears Through Interactive Lessons AT THE START OF EACH SEMESTER when new students enter her class, math teacher Vanessa Castillo-Ikegami knows that before her students can be successful learners, she must first conquer one major obstacle - overcoming her students' fears about the subject. "I try to make the class fun and interesting by trying to teach math based on real-life situations," said Castillo-Ikegami, 25, now in her fourth year of teaching at Banning High School in Wilmington. This semester's students are operating a mock business and are using math to calculate cost, payroll, taxes, and profit margin. This lesson is part of Castillo-Ikegami's math investigations unit, an interactive student-centered mathematics program designed to gradually build up students' math knowledge through a semester-long project that uses manipulatives, interaction, and critical thinking. "I love what the students are doing in my class," Castillo-Ikegami said. "It gives them a chance to present their ideas to each other, learn different ways to solve problems and learn from their mistakes. Students have gained a great respect for each other." According to Castillo-Ikegami, one of the biggest barriers to student learning is their own motivation, or lack thereof, which she knows from experience. It was a college math professor at California State University Long Beach who inspired her to pursue a career as a math teacher through similar teaching methods she uses with her own students. "He was an excellent instructor who encouraged me to attend workshops and helped shape the way I teach," she said. Castillo-Ikegami brings "math to life" by having students link it to real-life situations like having them calculate the inflation rate or study how math is used in weather forecasting. "I'm constantly looking for ways to make [math] more enjoyable," Castillo-Ikegami said. "I'm always looking through magazines and newspapers to try to find examples of how math is applied in the real world. Although Castillo-Ikegami uses mostly non-traditional lessons in teaching math, she does believe that traditional teaching methods have value and a place in her curriculum. "I understand that traditional methods are necessary, so I try to maintain a balance," Castillo-Ikegami said. "There's a time and a place for everything." Castillo-Ikegami is sharing her teaching methods outside the classroom by working this past year within the Los Angeles Unified School District's Los Angeles Systemic Initiative (LA-SI) to develop assessment units as well as training teachers in how to use them.