Math class is unlike any other. Unless you genuinely enjoy the challenge and rigors of the curriculum, it can undoubtedly be a drag.
When I was in math classes, there were hardly any class discussions, fun group projects, or the slight chance that a movie would be part of the lesson plan. We sat down with our textbooks and either took notes or began solving problems for an hour or so.
While we were undoubtedly learning math and, in some cases, science, those classes are just different. Being engaged would be really far down the list of things we’d feel in those classes. But one teacher who has successfully found a way to make math as engaging as she can is Lee Middle School eighth-grade teacher Tiffany Radcliff.
“Tiffany and the math department have found a way to make math relevant to kids, and they have found a way to make it fun,” said Lee Middle School Principal Shelley Friery. “So it’s one of those things where you trick kids into the learning, and you feel like it’s important to you and you can use in life.”
Radcliff grew up in small-town Firebaugh, west of Fresno. After graduating high school in 2007, Radcliff attended Fresno State and studied kinesiology intending to be a physical therapist. She also earned her first teaching credential at the school before getting her second one from UC Riverside.
After an eye-opening internship as a physical therapist assistant where she realized that might not be the job for her, Radcliff got another job as a tutor at an afterschool program and fell in love with it.
“It was one of those one door closes one door opens kind of things,” Radcliff said.
Radcliff moved to Woodland with her husband around six years ago. Before landing a job at Lee, Radcliff was a physical education teacher bouncing around Yuba City elementary schools.
Around two years ago, Radcliff decided she didn’t want to commute to Yuba City anymore, so she applied to anything math-related in Woodland. Lee Middle School was the first job to call her back.
“I love Woodland,” Radcliff said. “I have lived here for six years and been teaching for two, and I love it. It’s the slightly bigger version of my hometown, but it still has that small hometown feel. I don’t have to leave Woodland to get anything. Growing up, I’d drive an hour to get groceries or go the doctor.”
At Lee, Radcliff is more than just a math teacher. She is also among educators who run a leadership class.
Lee Middle School currently has three leadership classes. In those classes, students do anything from planing school-wide activities to having eighth-grade mentors and providing outreach to seventh graders, who have barely taken their first steps on the campus this week.
“She really has gone above and beyond this year to not only help her students in math but also to help re-engage all of the students at our school in fun activities in the virtual world,” Friery said. “She’s been able to plan rallies and lunchtime activities and kindness challenges to keep our kids engaged as much as possible. Just give them some sort of normalcy within this crazy environment.”
After being a PE teacher for a few years, what was it about math that made Radcliff want to teach it full time?
“I love to be that person that turns the students from ‘I am not a math person,’ into ‘Hmm, I don’t hate it as much as I thought I did,’ and that’s how I start my introduction every single year,” Radcliff said. “I hate the stigma that you either are or aren’t a math person. That doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Radcliff mentions that she tries to limit the number of worksheets or non-interacting activities her class does. When they were in person, they would do a lot of group work and projects. She also provided options for her students to prove they understand a subject over standard tests at the end of chapters.
“We did a spin-off of ‘Shark Tank’ the last few years, and it was amazing,” Radcliff said. “Kids really got into it and had no idea they were doing math until the very end. That was a really complex topic that they got because it was business, and it was something they choose to make their business about. You can’t always make it real life or super engaging, however.”
These days, Radcliff likens some parts of distance learning to “trying to walk up a snowy hill without shoes on and an avalanche coming down at you,” but she still tries her hardest because she loves it. She senses her students are trying just as hard as she is.
“I think as long as you still try, the kids know that you are trying, and they will still show up and be there and learn,” Radcliff said. “We are all in the storm together, whether it’s a happy or bad storm.”
Radcliff feels she has found a “sweet spot,” not only geographically but professionally as well.
“Eighth-graders are just like kindergarteners that are just taller,” Radcliff. “They are so rambunctious. They try to be cool, but they are awesome. I taught elementary school PE for most of my career, but I found my sweet spot. I know what it’s like to be an awkward eighth-grader, and I know what it’s like to think you’re cool or you’re not.”
“I have yet to meet a student who didn’t just love her,” Friery said. “I think her students really connect with her. The way I can tell that in the virtual environment is that they participate in the chat. They un-mute themselves, and they are active participants in the class. She takes time to build relationships with her students so that they do respond to her and they will do what she is asking them to do.”
