The Importance Of My Math Journey

My math journey has been a difficult road, but it has certainly been a journey of growth. I don’t remember much from my younger days, but when I was in kindergarten I was decent at math. I had a teacher that worked with every student, but the downside was that I was only enrolled in a half-day program. I can remember starting to struggle with math in the first grade. We would have timed tests, which stressed me out even at 6 years old. We would have 5 minutes to complete 100 addition problems. I remember once not finishing one of the tests, and I became very upset at myself. Fast forwarding to sixth grade, I had a math teacher that was very difficult for me to work with. I remember trying to ask questions about concepts I did not understand, but she would always say, “What don’t you understand?” This was a frustrating question because I was completely lost and didn’t understand anything about what we were working on. I changed schools for seventh grade and my math teacher tested me on the first day of school. My mom received a phone call from my very concerned math teacher. I had tested at a third grade math level entering the seventh grade. Looking back to those times, I felt very bad about my abilities in school. I went from a school with the same 90 students from kindergarten through

I feel that the more confident I am in teaching a topic, the more responsive my students will be. My second goal for teaching mathematics is to remember to always reflect on my teaching, and remember that there is always room for improvement. If my students do not understand a concept, I need to take a step back and evaluate myself, so I can improve what is lacking or confusing in my teaching methods. My last goal is to remember to make math fun for my students. If I can reach my students by engaging them in math activities that are fun, they may be more interested in learning more about