TEACHER'S CORNER: CAPE MATH TEACHER STRESSES WHY OF OPERATIONS

Education has changed a lot over the years, and Shelby Shell has seen it change from her perspective as a mathematics teacher since 1957.

She teaches at Cape Central Junior High School.

"Mathematics education has gone from just teaching how to do the problems," Shell said, "to the new math decade of teaching the `why' of the operations.

"Then came the back-to-the-basics movement. Now there are new trends toward the practical application of the theory and thinking critically about problems."

Changes in our everyday world have become a part of education.

"Pocket calculators and computers have solved many problems," Shell said, "but they have also created new theoretical questions in math education."

Shell is a graduate of Marquand High School. She received her bachelor's degree from Southeast Missouri State University and her master's degree from Wayne State University at Detroit, Mich.

"I have always perceived my job as teaching enough academic skills for the student to be successful in doing the work ahead," she said, "and enough interpersonal skills to be happy working and living with others.

"I want my students to care for each other, to exhibit good manners and to enjoy learning."

Algebra is Shell's favorite subject to teach.

"I work at presenting my examples in a logical, sequential manner," she said, "and I usually have an alternate way to teach something if students do not understand the usual way."

After Shell's first two years of teaching, she left to go with her husband, Ben, to a military assignment.

"One of my students said to me, `Mrs. Shell, if you quit teaching now, you will still be normal.'

"Every once in a while, when I do something that is not too bright, I think I should have taken that student's advice," she said.

Shell and her husband live in Cape Girardeau and have two children: a son, Loren of St. Louis, and a daughter, Laura, at home.

Her interests include working puzzles and mindbenders, traveling, reading and singing in the church choir.