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Week 1: August 26th

Please reply to this post with a response of about 300 - 500 words. 
(This is due by Sunday, August 29th.) 

How do you identify or think about yourself as a mathematics learner, doer, and teacher? 
What experiences led you to think this way about yourself as a mathematician and teacher of mathematics?


22 Comments

  1. I identify myself as a learner of mathematics. I have yet to master the subject and find myself needing assistance from teachers and peers when solving a problem more challenging than I can solve. Since a lot of learning takes practice with various problems I would also consider myself a doer. I am able to figure out what another person did to solve and explain why, in relation to the methods. I find myself having more success if I do a problem after learning how it’s done, rather than manipulating the numbers to solve for what I think the answer should be.
    I would say my strongest subject of mathematics was geometry because it was mostly based on shapes and problems that were visually represented. Although I haven’t practiced doing geometry in many years, I remember learning all the calculator tricks from my teachers about cos sin and tan, for example. I think I got a true view of my identity in relation to the topic because the teachers were able to logically explain the methods to solve. I need someone to reason with me why things were done a certain way. I also liked that I had two teachers who collaboratively designed problems that would be a class sample to work on.
    Since my high school education, I have expanded my learning with math that is economically based. Infused with economics and the market of real estate and stocks, I have developed a better sense of how to utilize what I know with purchasing anything from groceries to stocks all working towards my personalized goals. I often like to think about purchases by breaking down the price per use, or price per wear in regards to clothing. With stocks, I rely heavily on the history and reliability of stock and I learn if I should consider investing. Once I learn how “safe” the stock would be, I could choose to invest or choose to not invest. From stocks to teaching, I believe that over time I can make sure to practice methods and strategies over time. As you said Professor, that the students learning is not lateral, and I would agree to compare it to stocks. They, (students and stocks), may have good days and bad days but can overall improve.

  2. As a mathematics learner and doer, I personally am conflicted because I am really not the best when it comes to understanding mathematics and solving most problems. This has been a constant thing in life and it has made me feel self-conscious especially when I think of teaching math to older students in the near future. I am worried I won’t be able to fully explain something if I myself do not fully understand it. I struggle in some parts of math and I do hope I get better at that. So as a teacher this is one of the top things I am worried about. So I want to try and keep a good outlook and learn as much as possible so future students do not feel the same way I do.

    Most of the experiences that led me to think this way have to do with my personal teachers when I was younger. Most of them would teach a lesson in math and if I asked questions they would look at me like I was dumb. This would make me feel embarrassed and later on I would just ignore the problems and do the bare minimum. I did have one specific teacher who was great though, she listened and shared various of ways to solve one problem. When I still did not understand she understood and had others showcase ways to solve it and also helped me after class and made sure I understood before going home. She was understanding and great and I think she is one of the reasons why I want to make sure students do not go through what I did.

  3. When thinking about myself as a mathematics learner and teacher I think of skills. I think of using skills because in math to solve problems you use multiple steps. This has also helped me with my communication skills as well as instruction skills that I will continue to use as a future educator. I also think of myself as a listener when it comes to math because there are multiple ways to solve a problem or an equation. Therefore, I like to listen to how other people solve certain questions to then learn from the ways they did it. I also I identify myself as a confident math teacher. I say confident because when solving math equations, I always make sure to check my answer by checking my work.
    The experiences that have led to me to think this way about myself as a mathematician and teacher of mathematics are all the math classes I have taken. I have learned many different ways to solve a problem. I have also learned that as a teacher in order for students to do their best, their teacher has to be understanding. From my own personal experience in school, I am more motivated and I do better on my work when I know my teacher listens to me and my ideas. There may also be students who don’t enjoy math because they find it to be so hard. This is where I will use my creativity skills as a future educator and find ways to make learning math fun. In all my math classes that I have taken I would always look forward to the math projects that we were able to solve using our own method or ways to show how we got the answer. Overall I hope to learn a lot this semester that I would be able to use when I am a future math teacher!

  4. When it comes to Mathematics, I would have considered myself as a weak Mathematics learner. To be honest, Mathematics is my weakest subject. I thought I would not have to get in touch with Mathematics anymore after all the required Mathematics classes. However, I am in a Mathematic class again. My Mathematics exam grades started to drop when I was in my fourth grade. My understanding of Mathematics is getting harder, and that is when I started to lose interest and confidence in Math. I feel so lost in the Math class, and I always could not focus during the class since I know that my path is not on the right track with the teachers and my classmates. I always avoid having eye contact with my teacher because I am afraid they will ask me to answer the question in front of the class. Besides that, I have always put my Math homework to the last since I am trying to escape from it, and I could not get it done myself. However, I am thankful that the Mathematics center in school helped me a lot. I spend most of my time between classes at the Math Center to finish my math homework and get more practice. The tutor explained those concepts and materials patiently and told me there are many ways to understand and solve those Mathematics questions. The different teachers will have a different ways to teach or using different strategies to solve math problems.

    As I will be a Mathematics teacher in the future, I will try my best to let my students comfortably learn Math in my class. So they would not be afraid of Mathematics like I used to be. Making sure the students understand every chapter is important as well since Mathematics questions are always relatable to each chapter. A teacher’s patience and creativity are also essential. They can explain the method to solve the problems in many different ways to ensure everyone masters the topics.

  5. I would identify myself as a visual mathematics learner. From a young age I tended to think of numbers in terms of items to help me with my calculations. The experiences I feel that led me to think in this way was the way in which I was taught math. I remember in elementary school when learning simplistic math such as addition and subtraction, my teachers would use word problems such as “If I have 5 apples and I take away 3 how many do I have?” This would then lead me to start to visualize in my head or even draw the apples out on paper to help me solve this problem. As I got older the visualization came more in the form of seeing the steps in my head as I was working out the problem. I could visually see which part of the problem to tackle first. This came from seeing an example problem done previously by a teacher or if I had answered a problem similarly in the past, so I was already familiar with the steps. As a mathematics learner I was always observant, I needed to see several examples on how to solve a problem before attempting to try it by myself. Seeing the steps written out or writing them out myself really helped me in my math classes. As a mathematics doer I solve problems by following each step exactly. If I am stuck on a problem, I would attempt to solve it and try my best to figure it out. My previous experiences with my math teachers have almost all instilled in me to never leave a problem blank and to try to the best of my abilities to answer the question. As a mathematics teacher I hope to provide my students with encouragement as I know math can be a tricky subject for a lot of students. I want to be able to give them the resources and motivation they need in order for them to succeed and have fun while learning math.

  6. As a mathematics learner, initially I struggle in learning the material but eventually I am able to master it and do well in class. However, over time, due to lack of practice, I forget the material and concepts and need to relearn everything. As a teacher, I think it’s the same process. I initially struggle because I need to relearn the material if I haven’t practiced it in a long time because I forget everything. Once I relearn the material and can plan out a lesson, I feel better about teaching it but I think it takes me a while to figure out the best approach to present the lesson to the students. I also get nervous that if a student asks me a question, I may not know to answer.

    The experiences that led me to think this way about myself as a mathematician is my own journey in school and learning math. I struggled through all of high school with math and once I reached college the initial struggle was overcome, and I began to do well in my math classes. However, I always found myself forgetting everything and having to relearn it in different classes. I have a hard time retaining the material over time.

    The experience that led to view myself this way as a teacher of mathematics was during an internship experience the last two school semesters. I was in a 4th grade classroom and during math, I always had to learn the lesson with the students before I could help them. I also had the opportunity to teach a math lesson based on how the teacher taught his lessons and I struggled with answering some student questions.

  7. As a mathematics doer and learner, I was never good at math, I always struggled with it. There were times where I would easily understand concepts and I honestly enjoyed it when I was able to understand what I was doing. Throughout elementary school, middle school and high school, I struggled with math, but my teachers always told me I could do it. I remember in high school; I was taking geometry and it was a nightmare. I couldn’t understand it at all, and my mom put me in tutoring every Saturday at Khan Academy. They were great tutors, and they would really try and help me understand the work. However, even though I understood a little at the time, when I came back to class, I still felt like I couldn’t do it, I would go blank. I feel that as a future teacher, my students would feel the same as well. They would feel more confident in doing math and even enjoy it once they fully understand what they are doing and how to solve problems. I think the key to math is building confidence because when you lack confidence in yourself, you doubt your capabilities. For my students, I would like to show them that there is more than one method in solving a problem and because everyone has a different learning style, I would like to incorporate their learning styles in terms of helping them understand methods in different ways. Everyone deserves the chance to learn according to their preference as well as experience new ways of learning. A fear that I have when it comes to teaching mathematics is not being able to get through to my students in helping them understand the material and not being able to teach it to them correctly. I believe in trial and error and that’s how we learn. We learn from our mistakes but also, at the same time, I don’t want to fail my students and have them miss out on a learning opportunity by not teaching them the material correctly or in a way they don’t understand. I’m hoping I can build my confidence in learning math so that I can be confident in teaching it as well.

  8. I’ve always loved math, up until 2nd year of college i was great at it, but although i was great at it my grades wouldn’t come as good a they were supposed to. When i would practice at home i did everything perfectly and correctly, but when i would go into the exam room i wouldn’t get it right. That’s when tutor came in, in 9th grade. She taught me all the math, then would test me, and my method and formulas would be right but my answers would be wrong. That tutor of mine was the reason I realized where i made my mistakes. She caught me from what i was doing wrong. I would get the wrong answers because i was making dumb calculations mistakes, i would punch in multiply sign instead of a plus sign or i would add where i would have to subtract, and that’s what was screwing up my grade. She knew i had potential and i knew what i was doing, and from there on i would always double check my work and make sure i had all my calculations right. So as a mathematics teacher, i would try my best for my kids to love math, i believe i would be very confident teaching math. I would try to come up with different methods and ways so that my students can use whichever method they understand best.

  9. I’ve always loved math, up until 2nd year of college i was great at it, but although i was great at it my grades wouldn’t come as good a they were supposed to. When i would practice at home i did everything perfectly and correctly, but when i would go into the exam room i wouldn’t get it right. That’s when tutor came in, in 9th grade. She taught me all the math, then would test me, and my method and formulas would be right but my answers would be wrong. That tutor of mine was the reason I realized where i made my mistakes. She caught me from what i was doing wrong. I would get the wrong answers because i was making dumb calculations mistakes, i would punch in multiply sign instead of a plus sign or i would add where i would have to subtract, and that’s what was screwing up my grade.

  10. I think of myself as a reluctant mathematician. I will do my best not to have to measure or calculate if I have a choice. I am confident when it comes to basic math, like calculating a percentage or dividing a recipe in half. However, when it comes to more involved math problems, I start to hesitate and shy away. I believe I do a good job teaching math and helping students with homework. I try to show them the steps first and outline the different methods. I feel confident teaching math for younger grades, yet as soon as algebra gets involved, I become nervous and embarrassed if I get it wrong.

    This stems from a bad experience with a teacher in high school. I enjoyed math growing up. There were some topics I stumbled on though there was still an overwhelming appreciation for the subject. I was nervous in high school to take trigonometry after being told it was a tough subject. I thrived in that class because I had an amazing teacher who took the time to explain what we were doing step by step and including the reason why. My attitude for math changed the following year in precalculus. My teacher then still haunts me. She was rude, insensitive, and did not care about me as a learner or a person. She would make me feel ashamed if I did not know the answer. I would have trouble with the topic, stemming from learning loss over the summer. I would spend extra time at school to attend tutoring with her in which she would be sitting next to me eating and telling me to do the problem without providing anything helpful. She was one of the worst teachers I’d ever had in my entire public-school encounter. Because of this experience, I offer multiple methods and rephrase steps to ensure my students don’t feel the way I did. I am slowly trying to reframe my attitude towards math to help my future students teach a passionate subject.

  11. As a mathematics learner I have some struggles. I am a visual learner so I have to see it in pictures and examples then I start to grasp the idea of what is being taught. As a doer I will try my best to make sure I understand. And I go over the work to see how to solve a problem with other examples. Lastly as a teacher I always think of different way to explain so the students can understand. I know how hard math is for me so I would never want a student to not know what is going on and be clueless. I have had some teachers who didn’t care if the student was understanding the material or not so it is important to me that I teach all the students in a way they like and understand math.
    My 6th grade math teacher was very mean and would yell at students if they didn’t know what to do. She liked to put students on the spot if they didn’t know the answer. This is why I always try to be calm and take as much time as the students need.

  12. When identifying myself as a mathematics learner and doer I consider myself “average”. I was never the best student when it came to learning and understanding math, but I always tried my best to succeed. Throughout elementary school I did not have much self confidence about the subject because of the teachers I had and how I was taught. I got discouraged very easily and never wanted to share my answers with my teacher or classmates. However, today there is a huge difference in my thoughts about math. When I was younger, I got easily frustrated because I could not grasp the information my teachers were giving me. The techniques that have learned over the past few years allowed me to think critically and gave me the feeling of satisfaction when I correctly solved a problem. It was not until high school where I met my freshman year math teacher who made me realize I loved the subject. This teacher showed me that it is normal to need extra help and with a little extra practice I would get to where I needed to be. I spent every morning before school and every day after school in my math classroom where my classmates and I would do practice problems and learn new strategies to solve equations. Practicing math problems repeatedly was a technique that has helped me tremendously throughout my math career. My teacher was always there to uplift us and gave us to motivation to do better. My teacher is truly reason why I went to school to become a teacher and is the definition of what type of teacher I plan on being. Even though I have never taught math to children before and it is extremely intimidating, I know I will have the patience to get my students to where they need to be.

  13. I personally think that as a mathematics learner, I tend to be more independent because I always want to try to understand everything presented in the class by myself, but if I can’t understand, I will seek help from others, since if I keep trying to understand by myself, I will get very frustrated and stressed. I believe that sometimes a little help from others can lead someone back to the right track and minimize any stress. While I am a doer, I prefer to work as a class or group, even I do my works on my own beforehand, I am still interested if there are other ways to solve the problems. Also working with others can get lots of inspiration on the strategies. As a teacher, I would like to allow students to explore the problems beforehand using their previous knowledge because I believe that math problems don’t always go by one strategy, math can also be creative by switching strategies. Since I went to school in a different country, some of the strategies I learn are different than here, and when my little cousin comes to seek help from me, I often use the strategies I am familiar with, that is not the same as what his teacher taught in school, but he often doesn’t accept my strategies, because he insists on using the one he learned from school. Sometimes, I told him there is another strategy that can solve faster and easier, he didn’t seem too interesting and believe that using other strategies may mark as incorrect by the teachers. In my point of view, most of the students usually learn a new strategy, then easily forget the old strategies, and if they are asking to solve some problems after they learn the new strategy, most likely they will only apply the new strategy they just learn.

  14. When I was younger, I really enjoyed math and was pretty good at it. In elementary school, I always received good grades on all my math exams. As I got older, math became more difficult for me and I started liking it way less. Now I am at the point where I hate math. I think my “hatred” for math began in 8th grade when I started learning algebra. I am not the best with numbers, although I try my best when I have to deal with it. I have now become dependent on my calculator for most of my math. I believe I started feeling this way towards math when the math I was learning became more challenging. I enjoyed solving fun, and easy math problems but, when the problems became more complex, I disliked it. I remember I would sit in my trigonometry class and think, “I will never need to use this in my life, this is pointless” and I actually have never used trigonometry in my everyday life. I would consider myself a perfectionist, so when my scores on my math tests began to drop, it really discouraged me from enjoying math. As I got older, and the math I was learning became more difficult, it confused and frustrated me more. It became stressful for me to complete my math homework and exams. I can see why some people enjoy math and have a passion for it, but I believe math is just not for me. I do believe I can teach simple math and enjoy it, once I learn the correct way to do it. I am hoping I can learn to love math one day again, and I am hoping my students enjoy math as well. Hopefully, this class helps me find my passion for math, but I am very excited to teach it!

  15. I want to start by saying math is definitely my strongest subject, has been ever since Elementary School and I’ve always had an incredible passion for math. As a Mathematic learner, I believe I am a visual learner, I was quick to pick up all math subjects. My teacher would solve a problem with the whole class, I would observe and then do the problems alone, when I finished the problems, I would help my classmates if they needed help which helped me solidify my learnings of each topic. If I ever got stuck on a problem, I would just keep trying to solve it until I got the answer, I did not like to ask for help. As a Mathematics doer, one thing that would trouble me was word problems, I would always rush it and miss some information because I was not reading carefully. While solving math problems, there cannot be only one way to do a math problem, teachers shouldn’t expect their students to answer math questions the way they like to teach them, rather be open to different ways of solving problems(As a teacher I would be so excited if a student came to me with a new approach to a problem I presented them with). As a Math teacher, you should be open to teaching students problem-solving skills, which helps teachers understand how their students think and articulate a plan to solve problems.
    I want to be just like my High school math teacher, she was always so passionate about teaching math. She was my teacher for 3 years in High school, she is the reason why I love math. Whenever she was solving a problem, she would say “Do you see the beauty?”, and I know it’s cheesy but I did see the beauty when she would solve the problems. This teacher would help each student with whatever they specifically needed which is so important in a math class. Every single one of your students will be different, they will grasp information taught to them differently, at a different pace, as a teacher it is our job to meet each student at their level not the other way around, the pressure should be on us, not them. As a teacher, I would try to teach a problem in different ways and the student can pick which one they understood or liked better, I know as a student I liked doing math problems my way so I have to accept when my students do it. The most important thing in teaching math is making sure students are understanding the problems instead of memorizing them. As a teacher, you have to support kids and have faith in them it gives them confidence and the ability to work hard to achieve goals. One thing that I didn’t like about some of my math classes was when the teacher would just give one example and then give us problems and herself sit at her desk and not have any concerns about if the students understand it or not. The teacher has to be enthusiastic about teaching in order for the students to enjoy learning math.

  16. In terms of a mathematics learner and doer, I identify myself as a visual problem solver. When I am trying to solve a math problem, I always need to do two things; one, draw a picture for myself and two, watch someone do the problem before I go about solving it on my own. By drawing pictures for myself I give myself the opportunity to dissect each part of the question. Moreover, by watching someone complete the problem before I go about solving it helped me understand the steps, I had to take to complete the problem. I can recall from all the different math classes I have been through, drawing the problem out and watching the problem be done always helped me. From elementary mathematics to college level mathematics, I always looked for that teacher do visually show me how they solved the problem first and from there I drew out the problem and went about solving the problem on my own. Furthermore, as a teacher, I identify myself as one who shows my students all the possible ways to finding the resolution to all math problems they come across in my class. I want to provide my students with all the different strategies and methods they can use to go about any problem they come across. The reason I want to provide my students with all the different methods is because I can remember how it felt to be shown only one way to solve a problem, not understand what to do and be lost in the math. I do not want my students to feel this way or to be discouraged because one method may not work for them. My students need to know that there are multiple ways to go about solving problems and that it is okay for one strategy to work for one person and not the other. Everyone is a different type of learner and so we need to support all learners when giving instruction. I want to be able to reach all my students and give them the most support I can. My goal as a teacher of mathematics is for my students to leave my classroom being comfortable and confident in their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

  17. As a mathematics learner, I tend to grasp topics that are easy for me to learn. On the other hand, if it came to a hard topic, I’ll start having trouble finding out how the answer was found and how did the teacher solve it. As a mathematics doer, I can do problems that I’ll get but if it came to a problem that I couldn’t do, I would spend lots of time figuring out how to solve it, and sometimes I would ask my friends to help me. As a mathematics teacher, I would have to look over the lessons before the next day. I tutored a 6th grader during last school year, there were topics that I understood and some I didn’t, so I would have to look over their teacher’s examples on how to do the homework examples. The experience that I found out doing math is that practice is key. I realize that doing lots of practice on that certain topic really helped me understand the topic better. None of the math teachers I had did creative things in math, so I hope to bring in the classroom some creative lessons that students can enjoy instead of having to do worksheets of problems to do.

  18. When it comes to mathematics, I see myself as a mixture of both a learner and a doer. The reason I feel that way is because I will always attempt to solve a problem and when I find out the answer is wrong, I do not get discouraged. I have no fear in asking someone who is experienced for help. After I ask for help, is when I see myself as the learner, because I start to understand the concepts of the problems and what I did wrong. Immediately after I understand the concept, I have to try the problem on my own. It is funny because when I think about it, I have been that way since I was a child. When I could not tie my shoes as a child, after seeing my mom do it a couple of times, I sat there tying my shoes for hours until I got it right. That is just something that helps especially when it comes to math. Furthermore, I believe that me being a learner and a doer are interconnected because when I learn how, I constantly want to attempt to get it on my own. Math problems dealing with fractions and precents used to stress me out as a student in elementary school, but as I got older, I realized practicing made math a lot easier. Although practicing made things easier for me, I still have my ups and downs with math. Experiences from my childhood definitely led me to think this way of myself when it comes to math. I remember I really struggled with division and long division in school, but luckily my mom forced me to memorize my multiplication tables. She claimed it would make dividing easier and it really changed my life. Till this day I remember saying all of my multiplication facts out loud for hours and if I got one wrong my mom would make me start from the very beginning. I am thankful she did that because after I learned all of them, I was able to do division problems with no hesitation. It got to the point where I would beg her to make division problems for fun. I have always liked practicing and learning from others when I lacked a certain skill.

  19. Personally, as a mathematics learner and doer, I consider myself to not be very “good at math.” I used to struggle with math in high school. Some problems seemed too complicated for me to understand and I would view math in a negative way. However, once I understood a concept and when I learned to implement it I was more proficient. Learning math can be a bit complex however with the right materials and using effective strategies to solve mathematical equations, it can be easier to understand.

    As a teacher, I feel a bit nervous teaching math because you need to be able to effectively communicate math concepts so that students can engage in mathematics themselves. However, it is imperative to come with a positive attitude when teaching math. You have to believe that all students can learn math and believe in their abilities. Many teachers’ perception of math is not favorable and this is what they project to their students. Sometimes, I remember that my teachers would have to reteach a lesson and would be upset while doing so.

    I believe that you need to bring a positive outlook, so students can feel confident in themselves and their abilities.Therefore, I want to be able to develop the math understanding that I need for teaching. I want to feel capable of reaching all my students and have the resources and teaching strategies so my students can grasp difficult concepts.

  20. The way I think about myself when it comes to mathematics is mixed. On one hand, I love solving puzzles and problems, but on the other hand, I was never that great when it came to math classes, especially when it came to word problems. The part that I love about math and math problems is that there is always a solution, even when there is none. I like seeing problems that can be solved in many different ways, because there shouldn’t just be one way to solve the problem, especially if there is another way of solving the problem.
    I have had two experiences with math that has made me feel both good and bad about learning math and teaching math. My bad math experience was when I had a math teacher in junior high school that marked me wrong on an exam for getting the answer to a problem right but got the question wrong because I didn’t show the work the way she wanted/presented in class).
    However, I had a math teacher in second grade that I remember was teaching us about money and the concept of change. Instead of just standing in front of the classroom boringly teaching the class the information, she transformed the entire classroom into a supermarket filled with toys and snacks. She gave us monopoly money and only gave us bills that required us to figure out the change and what we were owed after the transaction. Once we found an item or items we wanted to purchase, if we figured out how much change we should have gotten back, we would keep what we bought. If we got it wrong, she would go over what to do and how to solve it and told us to go back on line and/or find something else to buy so we could have another chance to solve the problem.
    This experience in second grade was the exact moment I knew I wanted to become a teacher. This moment made me realize that teaching isn’t just about a teacher figure standing in the front of the classroom talking and teaching the information the entire class time. Teaching is about using creativity to teach the information. Just like my second-grade teacher, I learned that I can incorporate projects and creative activities into my lessons and still be able to teach my students everything they need to know while they are still able to have fun and enjoy learning the fundamentals of life.

  21. I identify myself as a solver in mathematics. I firmly believe that there is always an answer in math, even if there is no absolute solution to the problem, that still counts as an answer. As a mathematics learner, I like to see how to solve it after an attempt or attempts to the problem. I like to see that there is more than one way to solve a problem because sometimes there is an easier way to solve the problem. As a teacher in mathematics, I see myself teaching skills the easier way but various ways in order of solving it the easier way; whether it is with drawings or actual math, I would like to able to teach different ways for the different kinds of learners.
    There were a few experiences where I kind of fell in love with math. As a child in elementary school, I was a kid that struggled with math especially the concept of fractions and my teachers never took the time to slowly explain or show what we need to know in a different way. But, luckily my mom loves math and she took it upon herself to show me different ways of solving fractions and helping me with future math problems. I am also a strong believer that the more practice problems, the more comfortable you will be with the skill, so as I grew older, I took it upon myself to do extra problems to excel in math. I grew to be very confident in math, it seemed very natural for me to understand the math skills quickly. And when I got into college, I actually wanted to major in math but quickly changed my mind because of my interest in psychology and teaching. That will not stop my love for math and I can’y wait to possibly teach the ways that my mom taught me and even more.

  22. Personally as a mathematics learner I enjoy challenging problems. I view myself as a very determined student that will work on a mathematical problem until I can figure out a solving method. Once I have gotten the hint of the appropriate solving method for a set group of problems I will complete the problems. I am also very cautious of my numbers because as I solve I will often go back and check that my work is correct and that there is no mistake. I also tend to look overcomplicate problems if something seems unclear to me but, with a simple explanation I start realizing the solving method. I also tend to be very attentive when it comes to learning math because I feel that once simple step you miss you will be lost for the rest of the problem. As a teacher I feel a little uncomfortable teaching math because I believe you have to know the correct phrases and words to be able to explain to students how to think about a problem and how to come up with the correct solving method for a specific problem.

    My passion for math came in high school. I love solving algebra problems but, there were times where the methods would be complicated for me to understand. There were also times where I would stop paying attention or run to the bathroom and as I came back I would have already lost myself in a problem. This is why I believe that in math you have to be very cautious and attentive. There would also be some teachers that wouldn’t be able to get their message across to me that made it harder for me to understand a problem. This is what I fear the most when I become a teacher that there would be students that I might not get across to and loose throughout the process.

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