Laurel Marsh has a love and passion for teaching math. She recently retired after nearly four decades of teaching the subject to students at Saskatchewan Polytechnic (Sask Polytech) in Saskatoon.
But, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, her post-retirement travelling plans were put on hold, giving her more free time.
After her brother was laid off from his job, he started a YouTube channel called Freddie Got Furloughed. He suggested to her that she start her own channel. With the idea in mind, her friend suggested she put her math videos online. She did exactly that, launching Math Made Easy with Laurel.
“I realized the YouTube channel would be the best avenue to create my videos,” said Marsh. “When I started out I’m going to take all the math concepts I taught at Kelsey (Sask Polytech) and teach them, teach them like I was in front of a classroom.”
She says her videos are for high schoolers, and university students, but also any adults who were not able to get their heads around any type of mathematics, including fractions, algebra, calculus and word problems.
Marsh adds these 10- to 15-minute videos are helpful in any regard, even if math isn’t a strong suit.
“(My previous students) were missing some of those foundation pieces, and once those are in place, they are able to succeed in further math,” Marsh said.
Marsh says her goal was to post 200 videos by the end of the month, but says she has surpassed that and is wanting to do more.
Sask. Polytech industrial mechanics teacher Shaun Perret says his students use Marsh’s videos often. In fact, he usually provides the links to the videos for anyone wanting to better understand whatever math they need help with.
“It’s supplemental. I’ve heard a lot of good feedback from my guys,” Perret said. “I’m thankful Laurel did that and thankful the resource is there for (my students).”
Perret says the videos are done in such a simple way, they are not hard to follow along at all.
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“It’s a real simplified platform. She has been able to really hone it down over the years that are concise and to the point.”
“(The videos) are tailored to specific topics. It saves them from having to sift through hours and hours of videos to find the right set.”
Marsh says her goal with each video was straightforward — making math understandable.
“It’s easy to start developing math anxiety,” Marsh added. “Get the help that you need and then move on. Or go back and find out what building blocks you are missing where you are having trouble with a certain concept.”
She adds people are capable at succeeding in math, they just need to have the right tools in place, such as instruction and practice.
You can check out her videos for math-related help on YouTube.
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