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Teacher Ssolo, a very hardworking teacher,teaches Mathematics in one of the good Schools in Kampala City. He doubles as the Head of the Mathematics department . Tr. Ssolo is results oriented and often, he encourages his fellow teachers of Mathematics to care to produce good results as required by the School Administration. 

As HOD, he makes sure every teacher has schemes of work and lesson plans. He follows up to make sure all lessons are taught on time and according to the timetable, pupils ' books are marked and learners are given timely feedback after exercises. 

He emphasizes consistent display of learners' achievements in the classrooms to motivate them .

Last week, as Tr Ssolo went around supervising the display of the learners ' work, he realized that the practice had long been abandoned by the teachers.  He was disappointed, angry and annoyed with his teachers.

He called a Mathematics Department meeting the same evening and all the Mathematics teachers arrived on time, tense , serious and ready for anything. 

When Tr. Ssolo detected the teachers' mood and tension in the meeting room , he decided to lower his guard, to be calm, to be collected and listen to them instead of expressing his anger, annoyance and disappointment. 

"Goodevening Ladies and Gentlemen," he started. "I have you invited for a short meeting to discuss how we can improve our learners' performance in our Subject. I know that each of you is putting in the best but probably our best is not good enough.

When I went around supervising, I realized that you stopped displaying learners' scores. I suspected they were low and demotivating . Am I right?"... Tr. Ssolo asked.

The whole team responded in affirmative. 

"So , what do we do?" Mr Ssolo asked.

Tr Ritah, one of the usual best performers, stood up to speak.

"Our HOD sir, with respect, we have tried our best to teach Mathematics to our learners. We have done everything we need to do, but the results are not coming forth. We need to examine ourselves. May be there is something we are not doing right. May be we have exhausted our abilities. We need renewal. Why don't we seek for more expertise! I know an Expert who can help us if we give him chance. "

"I trust your intuition Ritah. Lets get him next week!", Ssolo decided.

A Workshop that was conducted by the Expert revealed to the team the following key issues as recorded by Tr Ritah.

1. Mathematics is a Discpline of discipline, concentration, focus, patience and consistency by first the teacher , then the learner.
2. Numeracy and Arithmetic are the foundation of Mathematics. Concepts can only be understood by learners who have mastered numbers(Numeracy) and manipulation of Mathematical properties (Arithmetic
3. Mathematics is spiral and progressive. One concept is built on another. Before mastery of a lower concept, it's senseless to introduce a higher one.
4. Mathematical concepts are mental skills which requires ample practice to be mastered by learners. This can only be achieved by teachers giving very clear and systematic explanations, illustrations and demonstrations before letting the learners repetitively make practice for mastery. 
5. Mathematical concepts are not for remembering, they are for understanding and mastery for daily use. We apply Mathematics every moment of our lives. We are buying and selling, measuring, sharing, taking away, adding, increasing, multiplying, reducing, proving, checking, confirming, building etc.
6. Mathematics is real,      practical and living. For example...we have five fingers on each arm, we have two arms and therefore we have ten fingers. Buildings are so metres tall and therefore need doors of so metres. Tyres of a car make few revolutions to cover a distance in metres and will make so many revolutions to cover kilometers.

Tr Ritah also summarized some common errors most Mathematics teachers need to correct to become more effective and productive. 

Among them are;

• Failure to organize clear understandable steps of the concepts during planning which leads to gambling during teaching and consequently confusing learners. 
• Failure to be systematic during teaching. Not following the steps or hurrying through them .
• Weakness in preparing clear explanations and exciting ,vivid and practical examples thus making teaching of Mathematics boring, confusing and extremely academic .
•  Failure to give ample time to each learner to practice each step of the concept to mastery before introducing a higher concept. 
• Emphasizing scores instead of mastery.
• The illusion that some people are Mathematically talented while others are not.Skills are learnt and do not require any talents.They only require discipline through consistent repetition. 
• Labelling learners weak in Mathematics instead of acknowledging the failure of many teachers to teach Mathematics correctly. 
• Teaching with pride and arrogance where patience and individual consideration are critically required. 
• Introducing concepts before mastery of Numeracy and Arithmetic. 
• Avoiding authentic assessment in search of deceptive scores to impress parents and Administrators. 

The Expert suggested the following solutions to the team.

1. Emphasize mastery of Numeracy and Arithmetic early and before introduction of higher concepts.
2. Always plan systematically and clearly. Follow the plan during teaching.
3. Make clear and steady explanations, illustrations and demonstrations during teaching. Use interesting practical example. Make Mathematics real life experience. 
4. Give learners time to repetitively practice every step to mastery before proceeding to the next one.
5. Build high concepts on mastered lower concepts. 
6. Commit to authentic assessment that provides genuine and dependable feedback for replanning and progress. 

The team unanimously agreed to organize the newly learnt knowledge into practical steps for implementation. They are now more motivated, confident and eager to achieve and excel at teaching Mathematics than ever before.