MyMathEducation

Math has always been a good subject in terms of academic achievement for me. It wasn't until I had my high school calculus teacher where learning and doing and teaching math became a passion. It was at Rancho Highschool, where the student population was extremely diverse in terms of ethnicity, race, gender identity, ability status, sexual orientation, linguistic, religious, and socioeconomic background, probably due in part of its magnet school status. I remember seeing a variety of student cultures during the little culture fair the school held during the middle of the semester which showcased their foods and cultural artifacts. This was also reflected in the math courses I took. There was a variety of races and backgrounds that the students came from that were there to learn math So with this experience, I didn't really feel the microaggressions or the difference in race that's traditionally seen in student achievement surveys. Thought despite the student population being stellar, the teachers were a mixed bag of effectiveness to learn math from. In middle school up to algebra 2, I was counting on YouTube videos and free library tutors to help me pass the math classes I was in. With this stern reliance on these resources, I felt myself merely tolerating math, rather than enjoy the subject. I felt like doing math just for the grade and without trying to really conceptually understand the underlying principles behind each operation. I was a plugging and chugging machine until I was in my high school calculus teacher's classroom where she took the time to facilitate mathematical discourse and made us, the students, teach the class how to do problems to better our understanding. It was this classroom environment of constant discussion and frequent high level mathematical discourse when I wanted to emulate this teaching style and demystify the often seen as scary subject of math. As all math really is, is a set of rules that you can employ when the the math problem calls for it. Math is just a really big puzzle solving field of study. And in this classroom that I was in, the teacher made the puzzle solving aspect accessible to me, someone who didn't really know what they were doing in math until they looked it up online. With this learning experience, my teaching of math is very much the same as it was back in high school where the teacher pushed for a "mistakes ok" environment I frequently get complimented at how patient and easy going I am when I interact with students by my mentor teachers, and how I allow the students to struggle a bit before giving them any semblance of a hint since I know they can get it. Honestly, it gets a bit hard to believe that it's praiseworthy as a teacher, but I'm reflecting here so, might as well bring it up.

Before taking a math class, all the way in kindergarten, I had a feeling that I was going to be a teacher of some sort. A premonition, if you will, that it would have to do something with mathematics, despite not knowing how to count to 100 yet. It was then, in that calculus class, that the profession felt real to me, and that I had to go into education. So here I am, secondary education major with a math concentration and math minor, trying to become a math teacher.