For those of you that have been following this blog since the beginning, you may remember me mentioning that my stomach was in my throat when my job offer in Egypt arrived because it came with a small surprise. Grade seven - GREAT! Social Studies - GREAT! Mathematics - YIKES! (This is the point when my stomach did some somersaults, eventually landing in my throat). My heart raced and I got very nervous, very quickly.
Me?? Teach math?? They really have no idea who I am.
I am a person that despised math in school. I found it mundane, boring, and with no purpose. I did not see why I would need to know what an angle bisector was or how to draw it would benefit me in the future. Nor did I find any excitement in solving for an unknown variable. I did not see the puzzles that math had and had zero interest in taking the time to sit an figure anything out.
Math never came easy for me when I was in school. My teachers were extremely qualified math teachers. Brilliant and passionate mathematicians. However, they could not get my classmates, or me, interested in what they loved. A teachers job is not only to teach, but to get students interested in a subject. If I am passionate about something, it needs to show!
I am not passionate about math. I did not like math. " How on EARTH am I going to get other students to like math". The task seemed daunting.
I kept telling myself that it was only grade 7 math. How hard could it be? I reviewed the curriculum hundreds of times and convinced myself that yes, this is indeed something I could 'attempt' to do. If I failed miserably, the administration may consider giving me subjects I actually enjoy...like PE!
Then the teaching began...and they moved me to teach grade 7,8 and 9 math. I will not go into the details of that. I have blogged endlessly about that transition. All I will say is that I took the task willingly, but not without a sense of fear of failure. Grade 9 math is very different from grade 7 math.
But, what I have come to realize is, that even though I am not a mathematician and even though I did not take any math courses in university, I do know how to teach. I know that I know how to teach; and I do teach well.
My realization has come from the fact that because I am NOT trained to teach mathematics, I APPROACH the subject from a different angle. An angle that makes math more REAL. An angle that makes math more approachable itself. An angle that has helped me develop, believe it or not, a real INTEREST in math. This is not to say that mathematicians are not good teachers. I am sure that there are many out there. But, in my experience, the mathematicians are the unapproachable teachers because they are intimidating. They make math SCARY...but, not because they are bad teachers, but because they are BRILLIANT and it intimidates students.
That was my experience in school. Many of my high school math teachers were intimidating because they were brilliant. They were so brilliant that they forgot that the students were not quite matching their brilliance yet and that students do in fact, have questions. My experience was that if the brilliant mathematician forgot how to make things simple, the students get lost, quickly, and have a hard time catching up. That was me. I tripped early in grade 11 math and was unable to recover from the early lack of understanding. When I reflected on that experience, I made a distinct decision to be the opposite. I needed to make math APPROACHABLE for all students. Break it down, step by step; with LOTS of examples.
Now, I LOOK FORWARD to the days that I am going to teach math. I ENJOY planning my math lessons, and I LOVE it when my students have a light bulb moment in the middle of class. Am I becoming passionate about something I once detested? It is possible?
The other day, one of my inquisitive grade 7's asked me, "Ms., do you actually like math??"
I quickly responded with an emphatic, "of course I do!" My students do not know about my history with math and my perceptions of math when I was in school. That would not help them at all. But, what surprised me, is that I know that was a truthful response. I do actually like math...I do think that it is important...and I do think that it is everywhere in our lives.
But, most of all, I know that this is what I will be teaching for the next year and that excites me. Sure, I have made some mistakes along the way. But now, as the year comes to a close, I know that I am doing well and I am excited about next year. I have a million ideas running through my head, and oddly enough...I think I am meant to teach math and that seems...Weird.
Me?? Teach math?? They really have no idea who I am.
I am a person that despised math in school. I found it mundane, boring, and with no purpose. I did not see why I would need to know what an angle bisector was or how to draw it would benefit me in the future. Nor did I find any excitement in solving for an unknown variable. I did not see the puzzles that math had and had zero interest in taking the time to sit an figure anything out.
Math never came easy for me when I was in school. My teachers were extremely qualified math teachers. Brilliant and passionate mathematicians. However, they could not get my classmates, or me, interested in what they loved. A teachers job is not only to teach, but to get students interested in a subject. If I am passionate about something, it needs to show!
I am not passionate about math. I did not like math. " How on EARTH am I going to get other students to like math". The task seemed daunting.
I kept telling myself that it was only grade 7 math. How hard could it be? I reviewed the curriculum hundreds of times and convinced myself that yes, this is indeed something I could 'attempt' to do. If I failed miserably, the administration may consider giving me subjects I actually enjoy...like PE!
Then the teaching began...and they moved me to teach grade 7,8 and 9 math. I will not go into the details of that. I have blogged endlessly about that transition. All I will say is that I took the task willingly, but not without a sense of fear of failure. Grade 9 math is very different from grade 7 math.
But, what I have come to realize is, that even though I am not a mathematician and even though I did not take any math courses in university, I do know how to teach. I know that I know how to teach; and I do teach well.
My realization has come from the fact that because I am NOT trained to teach mathematics, I APPROACH the subject from a different angle. An angle that makes math more REAL. An angle that makes math more approachable itself. An angle that has helped me develop, believe it or not, a real INTEREST in math. This is not to say that mathematicians are not good teachers. I am sure that there are many out there. But, in my experience, the mathematicians are the unapproachable teachers because they are intimidating. They make math SCARY...but, not because they are bad teachers, but because they are BRILLIANT and it intimidates students.
That was my experience in school. Many of my high school math teachers were intimidating because they were brilliant. They were so brilliant that they forgot that the students were not quite matching their brilliance yet and that students do in fact, have questions. My experience was that if the brilliant mathematician forgot how to make things simple, the students get lost, quickly, and have a hard time catching up. That was me. I tripped early in grade 11 math and was unable to recover from the early lack of understanding. When I reflected on that experience, I made a distinct decision to be the opposite. I needed to make math APPROACHABLE for all students. Break it down, step by step; with LOTS of examples.
Now, I LOOK FORWARD to the days that I am going to teach math. I ENJOY planning my math lessons, and I LOVE it when my students have a light bulb moment in the middle of class. Am I becoming passionate about something I once detested? It is possible?
The other day, one of my inquisitive grade 7's asked me, "Ms., do you actually like math??"
I quickly responded with an emphatic, "of course I do!" My students do not know about my history with math and my perceptions of math when I was in school. That would not help them at all. But, what surprised me, is that I know that was a truthful response. I do actually like math...I do think that it is important...and I do think that it is everywhere in our lives.
But, most of all, I know that this is what I will be teaching for the next year and that excites me. Sure, I have made some mistakes along the way. But now, as the year comes to a close, I know that I am doing well and I am excited about next year. I have a million ideas running through my head, and oddly enough...I think I am meant to teach math and that seems...Weird.
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