Alan McSeveny was an 11-year-old boy when he first heard the
story of King Solomon – a man who could have anything, but who
asked God only for Wisdom. In return, King Solomon and his people
received all they needed.
Alan was profoundly moved by King Solomon’s story and right then,
decided to live by Solomon’s creed: to seek wisdom and always
consider the needs of others.
Fifty years later, with 25 years’ teaching and over 100 Mathematics textbooks to his credit, Alan McSeveny is the most successful writer
of Mathematics textbooks in Australia.
Tested as a teacher
In late-2007, after writing a series of primary school Mathematics texts, Alan accepted a 12-month position at a Western Sydney high school, teaching Mathematics to the highest level Year 10 class and the lowest level Year 7, 8 and 9 classes.
On Day 1 in front of the Year 7, 8 and 9 classes, Alan realised that all of his teaching skills would be put to the test. This school was in a tough, underprivileged area of Sydney and many of his new students had experienced real hardship. They were difficult to control and every student’s learning development was well below expectations for the year. In Year 8, for example, mathematical abilities ranged from Year 2 to Year 7.
Alan knew that to awaken their desire to learn, he had to create a relaxed and positive environment and find ways of meeting the individual learning needs of his students. The timing was perfect. The primary texts had just written were the ideal starting point.
Filing cabinet system
The next day Alan took boxes of the new primary texts to class, tore off bindings and arranged the loose leaf pages in filing cabinets according to mathematical strand. This ‘filing cabinet system’ of teaching Mathematics would give him the flexibility and speed he needed to respond to every student’s learning needs while holding the attention of the class. He would also introduce interesting activities and games – because learning should be fun.
Six months later, passers-by were astonished to hear Alan’s ‘unteachable’ classes humming with industry. By the end of the year, every student was making progress in their learning of Mathematics, self-confidence was much improved, and many were enjoying learning.
Empowering others
Alan knew that the educational outcomes of that extraordinary year were due, in part, to good timing. The primary texts he had written before the school year started were a perfect fit for the year 7, 8 and 9 students and, because he knew the content of every page in those books, his experience allowed him to set up the ‘filing cabinet system’ for teaching Mathematics – and so teach each child at their level
of development.
Alan believed that if he could transpose his ‘filing cabinet system’ to the Internet, others could also benefit from what he as a teacher, and each of his students, had experienced that year. He knew that the flexibility and speed of the Internet could allow other teachers to use his new system of teaching Mathematics – and achieve the incredibly difficult goal of teaching every student at their stage of development; 'to teach to stage rather than age'.
Now, several years later, Maths Builder is a reality. Mathematics teachers are now empowered to consistently meet the individual learning needs of every child in their class.