I would describe my experience with math in grade school
through high school as a love hate relationship. There were points in my
experience in math where I was ahead of the class, there were points where I
did not grasp the concept being taught, and there were points where I did not
even want to try.
In third grade I remember have the greatest trouble with
my multiplication tables. This trouble with multiplication was my lowest point
in math and also my greatest struggle. My teacher would have us memorize the
multiplication tables and then take a quiz every morning for a month where we
needed to answer one-hundred multiplication problems in a small amount of time.
I had an extreme amount of trouble memorizing then multiplication tables my
parents would sit me down on the kitchen table and have me recite the
multiplication table and I was not allowed to pause to think. I felt like
having to recite the multiplication table was a form of punishment I was
intensely discouraged because I just did not know the answer. My parents also
had me try to teach the multiplication tables to my brother to have me better
understand how it worked. This method just ended with my brother who was in
kindergarten knowing and understanding the multiplication table better than me
and was able able to recite the whole multiplication table perfectly. Still to this day I have not overcome my
trouble with doing multiplication and to make up for the knowledge I do not
know I use a calculator. From third till eighth grade I really disliked math because
of this trouble and did not believe I was good at math even though other than
multiplication I was good at it. I remember in fourth and fifth grade not even
paying attention to the teacher when he taught because of my dislike for math.
I believe I felt that I could not be good at math since I did not know my
multiplication table and so much was based of multiplication.
In eighth grade I my experience in math really peaked. I had a really great math teacher who was really
approachable and when I asked a question I was not fearful that I was wrong.
During this year we were learning algebra and I really excelled in this area. I
remember the teacher telling me that I was doing really well with the algebra,
which made my confidence level with math go up. I remember being confident to
go up to the board and solve problems and explaining to the class how I go to
the answer. It was the first time I accepted that I was good at math. I believe
in eighth grade I had a turning point in math, this was due to my math teacher
instructing in a way that was based less on memorization and had more emphasis
on learning why we would go about solving a math problem in a certain way. My
teacher also made an effort for every concept we covered in that math class to
relate what we were learning to the real world. This increased my understanding
in mathematics and also gave me problem solving tools. Another turning point I
had during eighth grade was being allowed to use a calculator. By being allowed
to use a calculator my trouble with the multiplication table did not hinder me anymore
and I my knowledge was able to grow instead of being held back.
In the future I see my relationship with mathematics
growing. I want to try to familiarize myself was the math concepts that I have
forgotten. I also want to teach math in a way similar to how my eighth grade
math teacher taught, where more emphasis is put on understanding then
memorizing. A negative future in mathematics for me would me one where I am
become afraid of teaching math because of the challenges it might bring. Also I
am fearful of teaching my students in a way that does not that does not benefit
my students understanding of math and makes my students hate math.
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