Timmy is a fifth grader who lives in a rural community in Kentucky. The area he lives in is about an hour’s drive away from Louisville, and Cincinnati, Ohio is a little farther away. He has been to both cities several times, but is used to his country lifestyle.

Timmy is an All-American boy. He is an only child. He has brown hair and is never seen without his Cincinnati Reds baseball cap. He also carries an old, worn out baseball glove with him everywhere he goes. It is much too large for his hand, but he always has it with him. Along with the glove is a baseball. He tosses the baseball into his glove every day on the bus to keep him occupied. 

Timmy is a well behaved student at school. He is very quiet. He usually keeps to himself. He gets along with the other students without any problems, but doesn’t say much most of the time. He is a good student, and does well with every subject except one-math.

Timmy did well with learning to add and subtract when he was younger. Multiplication was a little difficult, but he worked with his father, using flash cards at home, and he memorized the multiplication tables eventually. Timmy just couldn’t understand the purpose of using so many different math functions. What is the point, he wondered? Why do we need to multiply, divide, and deal with

fractions or decimals and percentages?

He started slipping behind in

class and the situation was getting

out of control.

Timmy’s mother works second shift in a hospital. She is a nurse. Her sister would look after Timmy while she was working until she would get home. Timmy’s mother was rarely home to help with homework when he would come in from school.

Timmy’s teacher, Miss Henry, called Timmy’s mother to talk about his problems with math. Miss Henry explained that Timmy’s behavior was not the problem. She said he just didn’t seem interested in doing math at all.

Timmy’s mom was very understanding. As the conversation went on she said “I think I know what some of the problem is. Tim’s dad is in the military, and he recently was deployed overseas. Timmy and his dad are very close, and Timmy misses him terribly. I try to help him, but with my work schedule sometimes it isn’t always enough. My sister watches him until I get home, but he usually tells her he doesn’t have any work to do.”

Miss Henry asks, “May I ask a question? Timmy carries a baseball glove with him all the time. When we start doing math, he pulls the glove out of his backpack and sits it on his lap. Does the glove have special meaning to him?”

“It is his father’s glove.” the mother replies.

Miss Henry then says “I have an idea. Would it be okay if Timmy stays after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays? I think I can help him. Could your sister pick him up from school an hour later?”

Timmy’s mother agrees and then on the following Tuesday Timmy stays after school. Miss Henry starts writing some math problems on the board, and Timmy immediately pulls out the glove and sits it on his lap.

Miss Henry pulls up a chair and sits directly in front of Timmy. She then says, “I’m glad you took your glove out Timmy. The problems on the board are all about baseball.”

Timmy looks at Miss Henry with a surprised expression and says, “They ARE? What do all of those things have to do with BASEBALL?”

“Well, how do you think they figure out batting

averages, winning percentages, or even

which team is in first place?” she asked.

“I never really thought about it.” he responded.