Sandra Birkett

We’ve all had that one math teacher who made us HATE math. But of course not all of them suck! So this week Vanessa chats with our fave teacher Sandra Birkett, who overcame some SERIOUS high school math trauma to become a caring and passionate educator herself.

SHOW NOTES

About that letter…You can find Sandra reading her open letter to her horrible math teacher on our Instagram, @themathguru

Wait, Grade 13?! Yup! Until 1988, Ontario high schools were five years, not four years. Grade 13 is something many adults went through but no longer exists!

OAC = Ontario Academic Credit which was a fifth year of high school that was for students who were preparing to enter post-secondary school. It replaced Grade 13 after it was phased out in 1988. OAC was discontinued in 2003, so Ontario high schools now only have four years (grades 9 to 12).

Applied vs academic? Sandra and Vanessa talk about “applied” and “academic” streams and classes. In the Ontario school curriculum, we have two streams for fundamental classes, like math and English: “applied” classes focus on hands-on approaches, whereas “academic” classes focus on theoretical approaches. If one would like to go to a university, they have to be in “academic” streams.

SANDRA’S PRESCRIPTION

You know the deal: Vanessa gives each of her podcast guests a Math Therapy prescription to fulfill, because, what kind of Math Therapist would she be otherwise? During this episode, Sandra talked about the math teacher that bullied & intimidated her when she was in high school, and Vanessa was super pissed off FOR her! She agreed to write an open letter to Mr. Should-Have-Never-Been-A-Teacher, and we filmed her reading it. IT👏IS👏AMAZING👏 Head to The Math Guru’s IGTV to watch Sandra read her letter to her high school math teacher. And make sure you have Kleenex nearby guys!

MORE FROM SANDRA BIRKETT

Sandra Birkett has a B.A., B.Ed. AND M.Sc and is the head of the English department at Toronto Prep School. She studied English Literature, World Religions, and Cultural Anthropology at McGill University, and wrote her Master's Thesis at the University of Edinburgh on the connection between physical text and critical thinking.

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SHOW CREDITS

Hosted by: Vanessa Vakharia
Produced by: Sabina Wex
Edited by: David Kochberg
Logo by: Scott Wise
Theme music: WVV by Goodnight, Sunrise