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I feel as though there is a negative opinion of
mathematics for many students. Some students have the experience of getting an
answer wrong, and being called out for it, which discourages the student from
enjoying the subject. Many of us feel this need to always have the correct
answer, but if we always have the correct answer, we have nowhere to improve.
Personally, I felt confident with math until grade
nine came along. Grade nine academic math, I did not do too well in. However, I
left the course feeling like I could do better next year. However, when grade
ten academic math came around, I had a very discouraging teacher. I was sitting
at a 62 in the course, and I so badly wanted to achieve an 80 in the course. During
a parent teacher interview, she told me and my dad that I would never achieve
an 80 in math, and that some students just don’t understand math. I felt so
discouraged by her comment that I basically was at a standstill with my grade
that year. Again, I was determined to do better, but this time not just for
myself. I wanted to prove her wrong. I wanted to prove that students could succeed
in math, no matter what previous grades show. I was in a grade eleven
University/College math course that next year, and I passed the course with an
87. I was thrilled, and it made me realize that I actually enjoy doing math
when I had an encouraging teacher working with me.
That being said, a good mathematics student is one
who believes in themselves, regardless of what educators tell you that you are
capable of. Therefore, an excellent mathematics teacher would be one who
encourages the student to succeed, rather than bring that student down. This relates
to this idea of a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. An excellent mathematics
teacher will always have a growth mindset for their students because they know
that all students have the ability to do well in math, some just might need
more assistance than others.
Lastly, I would like to discuss what I learned in
class. I learned how to make the classroom more fun for students, when it comes
to different ways kids can learn how to add. Some kids (or all) would enjoy the
blocks because it’s hands-on, as opposed to paper and pencil adding. It
reminded me of when I was in elementary school, and we used to use these
blocks. I thought it was interesting when the 1000 block came out. I knew the
block would have to be solid full in order to equal 1000, however, when the
teacher mentioned how students ask if it’s full, I thought that was smart on
their part, because if the cube of 1000 wasn’t full, it wouldn’t equal 1000,
but rather 600. I didn’t have an “ah ha” moment though I was worried about the
problem solving activity that we have to do by October 1st because I
realized how easy it is to forget simple math skills when you have been out of
practice for years. It will be interesting to see how the students solve these
problems, because I feel like I could learn different problem solving methods
from them, as opposed to the ones I used.
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