During junior high I was really good at math. Again, it was still a chalk and talk environment. Teachers gave you notes, did problems on the board and then you mimicked what they did and completed your work from the text book. My math marks were okay, but definitely not the top of the class. In grade nine I really struggled with math, definitely my worst math memories stem from this year. Not to blame the teacher (because I know what some students are like for blaming teachers), but we just could never get along. At one point he told me I was just never going to get it! I remember going from loving math to hating it and dreading that class. I am pretty sure he wasn’t a lover of math himself. English became my favorite subject that year, and I loved my English teacher who was so passionate about her work.
It was in high school that I flourished in math. My previous grade nine English teacher’s husband was my new math teacher and he unleashed my passion for math. I remember him being so passionate during math classes. He taught us about reasoning, discovery and logical thinking. It was no longer memorization but a process of thoughts to solve mathematical problems. I had him for Level I math, Level III math and half credit courses in both Statistics and Pre Calculus. During high school, my marks were at the top of the class. Assessments were weekly assignments and tests. It seemed in high school the role of this particular teacher was that of a guide not a drill sergeant. He went beyond to get us interested. Also, I became a math tutor during high school, which I feel assisted me in learning it better; again I am a verbal learner. During university I completed a Bachelor of Arts, with an english major and math minor. I completed Math 1090, Calculus 1000, 1001 & 2000, Linear Algebra 2050 & 2051, Discrete Mathematics 2320, Combinatorics 3340, Euclidean Geometry 3330, Statistics 2510, and Ordinary Differential Equations 3260. If I hadn’t of got accepted into the Faculty of Education and upon graduation received a permanent job at home, I had planned on completing the rest of the courses required for a mathematics major. Some day hopefully J. I really enjoyed Mathematics in university; it was a whole new world. I think the skills I had learned in my high school math classes allowed me to be prepared for university math.
One memory that sticks with me though is when I completed my math methods course during my education degree. In the first class, our professor made us work through activities that involved different manipulatives, for example, algebra tiles. We all came from caulk and talk backgrounds for the most part and using manipulatives seemed more trouble than they were worth. Looking back now, it seems so funny because the manipulatives that at that time seemed so alien are now second nature to me. Becoming a math teacher to me was a simple decision, math is something I love and I enjoy sharing it with others. Some of my favorite moments teaching are when students undergo the light bulb effect, or that’s what I call it. It’s when a student who struggles finally gets a concept; it is like a light bulb comes on in inside their head. They are so proud and I am so proud of them.
I taught 7, 8 & 9 math for four years at Fortune Bay Academy and implemented both the new grade 7 and 8 curriculums, however, last year I had to accept an English/Social Studies position at Marystown Central High School because it was closer to home. Being pregnant with my first child I did not feel comfortable being an hour away from home and having to drive two hours a day to get to work. However, I am confident that when I go back to work after my maternity leave I will be assigned math courses again. Even though I am not currently teaching math, I can explain what my math class were like. I feel it is important to try and foster an environment where students are interested and feel that they have ownership in what they are learning, becoming comfortable in taking risks when learning new concepts. Every student is different and with every year there are different students, my classroom never looks the same from one year to the next. As they are learning, so am I.I do feel however feel there are many obstacles when teaching mathematics. Like many of my colleagues have mentioned time restraints are a major issue when teaching mathematics. There is so much material to cover and if a student is having difficulty with a particular concept there is not a lot of time to stop and focus more on it. There are common assessments in grade 7 and 8 and CRT’s in grade 9. Students must cover all material and this sometimes can hinder discovery learning as well. I also feel that the grade 7 and 8 common assessments are problematic. The new grade 7 and 8 curriculum allows us to provide students with different strategies to solve problems. For example, for multiplying decimals there are several strategies and students are provided the opportunity to be introduced to each strategy but should chose what strategy they feel more comfortable with and use that. However, on the common assessment the multiple choice can test all strategies. So even though we are telling students to use the strategy they feel comfortable with, we are also telling them they need to know the others too because they need to know how to use all of them. I find students become confused with the different strategies when they tried to become experts at each one.
“The title which I most covet is that of teacher. The writing of a research paper and the teaching of freshman calculus, and everything in between, falls under this rubric. Happy is the person who comes to understand something and then gets to explain it.”
- Marshall Cohen
