Shannon Vorster, Founder of Dynamic Learning and DL Maths, didn’t always excel in math. Despite her struggles in school, she later discovered her passion for teaching it, thanks to her deep interest in developmental psychology and how children learn.

Through her own challenges, Shannon realized that many students don’t grasp math because they hesitate to admit when they’re lost. With limited classroom time and traditional teaching methods not catering to different learning styles, gaps in understanding persist.

Shannon’s unique approach focuses on individualized learning, isolating key issues, and rebuilding foundational knowledge. At DL Maths, students receive tailored lessons, CAPS-aligned study notes, and access to exam-specific materials. Shannon’s teaching philosophy? It’s okay to make mistakes—learning begins when students feel supported and confident to ask questions.

Her journey proves that math isn’t inherently difficult; the right method can make all the difference.

Lets talks about Maths!

Oh no laughs, please let’s not talk about maths. No one will want to read this article.

But you’re a maths teacher, maths comes easily to you!

Maths comes easily to me now – but that wasn’t always the case.

So you didn’t get straight As for maths in school?

 No I didn’t. don’t tell any one that. Shhh.

I see that you have a post graduate degree in Psychology, how did you end up teaching  mathematics?

From a young age, I knew I wanted to work with children. Understanding people on a deeper level, and how they think always intrigued me. At university I studied developmental psychology and educational psychology. The idea of teaching and learning styles became something that I wanted to delve into deeper.

But doesn’t everyone learn in the same way?

No, they don’t. Some children learn by reading, some by listening and some by doing. A teacher needs to incorporate all of these styles into their lessons. It is the only way that every child will really understand what they are learning.

So how do you learn?

I learn by reading and doing. Put me in a classroom with 30 other student and give me a lecture and I will probably remember maybe 5% of what the teacher said. But give me notes and something to do and I will remember it forever.

So how much do you remember from your university lectures?

Umm, well I remember the crack on the wall and how it grew over the years – does that count?  But in all seriousness, thankfully I had notes and lots of practice questions – so I guess that helped.

I guess it did! But I’m still trying to get my head around how someone who battled with maths ended up specialising in it. Did you have bad teachers?

 No, I definitely didn’t have a bad teacher. My high school maths teacher was brilliant. Maybe a little too brilliant. She taught all over the country, and everyone knew who she was.

So what do you think happened?

Well I was young and the last thing I wanted to do was tell the famous lady from television, that I didn’t understand what she was talking about. I didn’t want to look stupid in front of my class, so every time she asked if we understood a concept I just nodded along with everyone else.

But you didn’t , did you?

No I didn’t, and that is still an issue that most kids have today. Teacher’s assume that a child answer’s honestly in class – but it’s unlikely that they will if they don’t understand. And the teacher will only realise this when it comes to the test or exam and then it’s too late.

What do you mean by too late? Surely, they can just go over the content again?

The biggest problem we see is that teacher’s only have a set amount of time to allocate to each section. Only a set number of hours to get through certain content. If they go back to a previous section again then there isn’t enough time for the next section or the one after that and they cannot risk falling behind.

So what did you do?

Well just like most parents my mom got me a tutor.

And that helped?

Well…not exactly. If you think it’s intimidating having a person standing in the front of the room staring at you, imagine having one breathing over your shoulder battling to understand why you didn’t understand the question in the first place – so again I nodded along every time they asked if I understood and once again I didn’t.

 

But you graduated and finished high school – did you ever think you would do maths again.

I honestly didn’t. I remember telling my parents that I wanted to go into psychology and that maths didn’t matter because I was never going to use it again. Oh, how times have changed.

You say you believed that maths didn’t matter and so many people probably hated it in school too. How has that idea changed?

 When you don’t like something, when you battle with it, you try an convince yourself that it’s not important, that you can do without it, that you won’t need it later. At least that’s what I did. But the truth is that mathematics is one of the most important concepts in education and in our lives in general. If we can’t tell time, how can we make sure that we’re on time for class or for a meeting? If we can’t count, how do we know how much money we need to pay when shopping. These are simple examples, but maths allows children to develop neural pathways in their brains that lead to the ability for deduction, critical thinking and logical reasoning.

Wow, I didn’t know that! Ok so since maths is in fact so important, let’s talk about how you got into teaching it.

Well by my lates 20s, I was the head of academics at DL Academy and I taught English and Psychology. The subjects I knew well. Every time I met with parents, every time I signed a report, every time I spoke to a student – there was a problem. Maths.

So it wasn’t just you.

No it wasn’t just me. And that was what made me wonder why? Why do so many kids battle with maths? Why don’t they understand it. Is it really that difficult? Ask any adult and 9 times out of 10, they will tell you that maths was their worst subject in school.  Nothing has changed!

So Maths is a problem?

Absolutely! But I wanted to understand why it’s a problem. I couldn’t just be because kids are saying they understand when they don’t. That can’t be a justified reason. So over the next few years I went back to grade 10 and taught myself maths again, up to matric.

Wow that sounds like an incredible feat.

It was, but it actually wasn’t. I started from scratch. And when there was something I didn’t understand, there was no one to lie to about it. So I researched until the concept became clearer. Then when I understood that, the next topic was easier because I had a better foundation to build on.  I found better ways to tackle different problems and that changed everything.

And now you specialize in mathematics.

That I do.

We know that maths is a problem – did you figure out why?

Unfortunately, there are so many elements to the problem.  Teacher’s only have a set amount the time to go over the work in class -so if a child falls behind they can never really catch up.

Each topic builds on another so if a child doesn’t understand something, they won’t understand the next bit or the one after that.

Textbooks are an issue. They don’t have the space to go through enough worked examples, so they will detail some basic ones so students can get a general idea of what’s going on, but they don’t show you how to tackle the more intricate versions.

Looking back, I think one of my biggest frustrations was the memo’s at the back of the book. I was working on an equation that took up three lines in my book and I had to solve for x. I couldn’t get it. So I checked the memo. X=6. That was the answer. What? How did they get that? What did they do? What do I need to do? These types of memos don’t help!

Tutors are good with practice – they can help a child work through some examples. But even if the students can do those examples, unless they understand exactly what they are working with, they will only be able to do those examples.

And in grades 10, 11 and 12, each year builds on the one before it. Every year assumes that a student understood they work from the previous year. So if a child is battling with grade 11, there is a very high chance that they don’t understand the grade 10 component and without it they won’t understand their new work.

With the amount of children that don’t understand, wouldn’t it just be easier from students to do maths Lit?

Well that depends. Maths lit is a much easier version of mathematics and many children do take it so they can have a maths component in their matric subject list. But if a university faculty wants maths as a subject, maths lit won’t suffice. Students who want to go into business, science or law will not have that opportunity if they take maths lit.

So with maths being such a problem, so how do we fix this? What is the solution?

Every child is different, they work differently, they learn differently and they understand differently. Teaching maths is not a one-size-fits all scenario.

So my teaching strategies change from child-to-child for their individual needs.

 

I think it starts with a cliché: honestly is the best policy. My students need to tell me when they don’t understand. It can be one question, one topic or a million. Children need to realise that it’s not their fault that they don’t understand – its mine. I haven’t covered the topic properly for them.

Too many children hate maths, It’s hard, they can’t do it. I have heard all the complaints. But they truth is that maths as a subject isn’t difficult to understand. Certain sections are difficult to understand if you don’t know the basics.

 

Telling me that you don’t understand allows me to isolate exactly where your issue lies. Then after we re-visit that issue, everything starts to make sense because they have a stronger foundation to build on.

 

Parents and students believe that grade 12 is the most important grade. Grade 10 and grade 11 don’t matter because they’re not matric! But the truth is that most of the students who I have worked with in the past battled with matric because they didn’t understand grade 10. Grade 10 is probably the most important year of all. It is the year that children build their foundation for their future learning and we all know what happened to the man who build his house on the sand.

 

I can’t agree with you more! So last question: What do you offer at DL Maths?

 

I like to call it, the personal touch! So many students are scared of their teacher, scared of getting the wrong answer.  Students need to know that its OK, getting the wrong answer, its OK, if you don’t understand, we just need to look at the topic from a different perspective.

 

Through interviews and recent test/exam results – I can isolate exactly where misunderstandings come from. The cause itself. I then provide the student with short tutorial videos, and practice exercises that they can work thorough to better understand that topic.

One-on-one lessons allows kids to ask me any questions they may have and clarify any issues.

Once they understand the content better – they can work through more content and more examples in their own time to make sure that they stay up to date with their classes and there is no more misunderstanding.

 

One question that every teacher gets is : “what is in the exam”?

 

I have designed CAPS aligned study notes for each section so that student can make sure that they cover everything needed for their final exams.

 

And finally as we say, practice, practice, practice. I have scoured the internet for examination past papers and completed every one – so my students can work through past exam papers for each topic to make sure they are fully prepared.