If Math Was An Animal...
Many teachers, including me, ask students to write on this topic so that I can understand their comfort, apprehensions and fears about learning Math. So I thought to take a trip back in my memory lane, and see how I felt about learning Math as a student. It surely was my most feared subject.
So for me, as a student, if math was an animal, it would be a python. It scared the hell out of me. I felt that Math will wrap its coil around me and suffocate me to death. It coiled all the time so I could not see the head or tail of it. And guess what, I am quite an ophidiophobic! So I was always anxious, failed many tests as I never studied. I never studied it because I never understood it. I never understood it because I am a visual-kinesthetic learner, and teaching of it with blackboard and white chalk did not trigger my imagination. So Math kept slithering and I kept sliding down and under until one day I had to teach it to my grade 5.
Ah, all the anxiety crept up, the fear of failing to teach it weighed on me. And how could I teach when I failed as a student. Then I remembered my first teaching job interview. The Principal told me that when he got hired for his first job, he was asked to teach Math as it was his weakest subject. So he had to make it his strength. And that is the route I took. I decided to teach it the way I would have learned. I shared my apprehensions and fears with my students, and they laughed; it made me smile. We vowed to overcome our fears together!Many teachers, including me, ask students to write on this topic so that I can understand their comfort, apprehensions and fears about learning Math. So I thought to take a trip back in my memory lane, and see how I felt about learning Math as a student. It surely was my most feared subject.
So for me, as a student, if math was an animal, it would be a python. It scared the hell out of me. I felt that Math will wrap its coil around me and suffocate me to death. It coiled all the time so I could not see the head or tail of it. And guess what, I am quite an ophidiophobic! So I was always anxious, failed many tests as I never studied. I never studied it because I never understood it. I never understood it because I am a visual kinesthetic learner, and teaching of it with black board and white chalk did not trigger my imagination. So Math kept slithering and I kept sliding down and under until one day I had to teach it to my grade 5.
Ah, all the anxiety crept up, the fear of failing to teach it weighed on me. And how could I teach when I failed as a student. Then I remembered my first teaching job interview. The Principal told me that when he got hired for his first job, he was asked to teach Math as it was his weakest subject. So he had to make it his strength. And that is the route I took. I decided to teach it the way I would have learned. I shared my apprehensions and fears with my students, and they laughed; it made me smile. We vowed to overcome our fears together!
Ask me today which animal is Math for me as a teacher, and I pick Peacock. I see the patterns, the colours, the logic, the brilliance as it surrounds us in nature, and I can learn it easily. Why? Because I learn it myself. This is the beauty of being a self-motivated learner. And if I can do it, anyone can; that's the focus in my classroom.
Ask me today which animal is Math for me as a teacher, and I pick Peacock. I see the patterns, the colours, the logic, the brilliance as it surrounds us in nature, and I can learn it easily. Why? Because I learn it myself. This is the beauty of being a self-motivated learner. And if I can do it, anyone can; that's the focus in my classroom.
So for me, as a student, if math was an animal, it would be a python. It scared the hell out of me. I felt that Math will wrap its coil around me and suffocate me to death. It coiled all the time so I could not see the head or tail of it. And guess what, I am quite an ophidiophobic! So I was always anxious, failed many tests as I never studied. I never studied it because I never understood it. I never understood it because I am a visual-kinesthetic learner, and teaching of it with blackboard and white chalk did not trigger my imagination. So Math kept slithering and I kept sliding down and under until one day I had to teach it to my grade 5.
Ah, all the anxiety crept up, the fear of failing to teach it weighed on me. And how could I teach when I failed as a student. Then I remembered my first teaching job interview. The Principal told me that when he got hired for his first job, he was asked to teach Math as it was his weakest subject. So he had to make it his strength. And that is the route I took. I decided to teach it the way I would have learned. I shared my apprehensions and fears with my students, and they laughed; it made me smile. We vowed to overcome our fears together!Many teachers, including me, ask students to write on this topic so that I can understand their comfort, apprehensions and fears about learning Math. So I thought to take a trip back in my memory lane, and see how I felt about learning Math as a student. It surely was my most feared subject.
So for me, as a student, if math was an animal, it would be a python. It scared the hell out of me. I felt that Math will wrap its coil around me and suffocate me to death. It coiled all the time so I could not see the head or tail of it. And guess what, I am quite an ophidiophobic! So I was always anxious, failed many tests as I never studied. I never studied it because I never understood it. I never understood it because I am a visual kinesthetic learner, and teaching of it with black board and white chalk did not trigger my imagination. So Math kept slithering and I kept sliding down and under until one day I had to teach it to my grade 5.
Ah, all the anxiety crept up, the fear of failing to teach it weighed on me. And how could I teach when I failed as a student. Then I remembered my first teaching job interview. The Principal told me that when he got hired for his first job, he was asked to teach Math as it was his weakest subject. So he had to make it his strength. And that is the route I took. I decided to teach it the way I would have learned. I shared my apprehensions and fears with my students, and they laughed; it made me smile. We vowed to overcome our fears together!
Ask me today which animal is Math for me as a teacher, and I pick Peacock. I see the patterns, the colours, the logic, the brilliance as it surrounds us in nature, and I can learn it easily. Why? Because I learn it myself. This is the beauty of being a self-motivated learner. And if I can do it, anyone can; that's the focus in my classroom.
Ask me today which animal is Math for me as a teacher, and I pick Peacock. I see the patterns, the colours, the logic, the brilliance as it surrounds us in nature, and I can learn it easily. Why? Because I learn it myself. This is the beauty of being a self-motivated learner. And if I can do it, anyone can; that's the focus in my classroom.
Comments
Post a Comment