Learning and Teaching Mathematics

Math has been a strong passion of mine since I was young, I specifically remember in grade 3 realizing how much I enjoyed it. This subject however, often seems to be looked at in a negative way by a lot of people. It is a subject that a lot of people seem to get frustrated with easily. I believe that there is a stigma that some people “just get it” and some people “just don't get it.” I think this is false, and people start to believe that at a young age and then lose hope and confidence in gaining math skills. Through my many years of tutoring, I often whiteness students that come to me and say “I just don’t get math,” it does not take long to realize that most of the time these students are just afraid of making mistakes and need a boost of confidence. I believe that the way a lot of mathematics teacher teach the content only benefits specific types of learners. I would say almost every one of my math teachers growing up taught the same way in which they would go through a note about the topic for that lesson and then give out homework questions to complete about that topic. These lessons would usually be followed by quizzes and a final unit test. There were not many strategies within the math classes that benefited to visual and/or hands on learners.  A lot of times the material was taught in a dry manner, which did not engage students or reflect on student interests, which then lead a lot of students to believing that math is boring. This is definitely not how I feel about math though. I truly do love learning and doing math, and I hope my love to teaching math also grows through out this year and throughout this course. I think a good mathematics student is someone who is willing to make mistakes, is dedicated to learning the required skills and is open minded when it comes to approaching a problem from different angles. I think an excellent math teacher is one whom teaches their lessons in way that engage students and reflect on their interests and learning styles. It also takes someone who is caring and passionate. This is a subject that may require extra time and help for the students.

photo from: http://www.thechalkface.net/teaching/subjectwordle.jpg

 I hope to teach my students that there are many ways to approach a problem and it is more than okay to make mistakes. I have learned throughout my experience as a math student that making mistakes is one of the best ways to learn. This is something I hope I can teach my students. I also hope to show them various ways to approach a problem, such as using graphing, technology and/or mathematic programming etc. I know that math education is very important and I hope to learn new ways to incorporate technology and student’s interests into my classroom in my future as a math and physics teacher.