Aprilsue Grulick

Aprilsue Grulick is the author of the Short Math Review CD. She teaches all the levels of Developmental Math at TSTC Waco and is the Assistant Department Chair of the Math Department. After graduating high school in Ohio she earned 2 Associates Degrees from a community college in Ohio; one in Robots and the other in Technical Studies. Later, she received her BA in Technical Education and her MA in Curriculum development and Supervision in Higher Education from University of Akron in Ohio. While living in Pennsylvania, her husband was offered a job at TSTC Waco and after the move she was hired on at TSTC Waco as part-time adjunct teacher. Within 2 semesters, she Grulick hired on full-time as an instructor.

What made you want to write the Short Math Review CD?

In my department the Accuplacer Test is the final exam. I started to notice that I would have students receive an A in the course but then fail the Accuplacer Test, hence, failing the course. I decided to take the test myself, to see the test from the students perspective and I realized that they were having difficulty figuring out what they were being asked to do on the questions. In other words, they knew how to do the work but did not know what work to do because they could not figure out the what the question was asking them to do. So I came up with Short Math Review CD that is formatted like the Accuplacer Test. It shows how to critically analyze the question being asked and step-by-step it will show the solution to the problem. I can't talk through the problems with them on the test since I can't be there with them as they take it, so this cd shows them how to analyze the question being given and they can practice it over and over.

What other problems have you faced in the classroom?

I feel that students coming into my course already have a negative feeling towards math and so I am in the process of writing a book/manual that will help the students that are in developmental math move on to the next level. I want them to actually understand it, give them information in small chunks and get their confidence back up about being successful in math.