In the beginning I was scared about teaching elementary math because I thought I would never understand math the way students do now. After weeks of learning the conceptual way, I have to say I am finally understanding and I more confident about teaching elementary math. When I was in elementary school, I was taught standard algorithms and the answer just was because that was the way to do it. I always thought there was just one way to add, subtract, multiply, etc., but that is not the case at all. I did not know this going into this class because I was completely caught off guard with all the manipulatives students do now.
There were many reasons I did not do well this year. It was my first time at a public school, the class was large, and the teacher did not explain things very well. I remember how hard it was learning how to factor, when later on in a different math class, I learned how it should not have been difficult. Since I didn’t do well in Algebra 1, it almost set me up for failure for the rest of high school. I never got anything anything less than a C, but grades have always been important to me.
Upon joining the regular class, I was getting A’s and felt under challenged which confused me even more. I spent the next two years of middle school in the regular math courses, fighting my advising officer to try to get back in Honors because I knew I could do it. High school I was more determined to prove myself. I started freshman year in the honors cou... ... middle of paper ... ... real world today. Not to mention, it’s essential for students to be able to discuss, redefine, and critique theirs and others understanding of mathematics and ideas.
I eventually started putting my academic priorities over my friends when they came back to visit; as cold as it may sound, I had to get the feeling of work off my chest in order to be truly relaxed. As I have heavily implied, I wasn’t a great student in high school. Seeing grades get passed back I was always prepared for either a failing or barely passing grade, and I was usually right. This led to me becoming paranoid and very pessimistic. I would begin to doubt my aca... ... middle of paper ... ...dn’t accomplish much of anything in high school I finally woke up by realizing I couldn’t mess up on my last chance at redemption.
I could feel myself starting to sweat because I knew the other kids were judging me. The other two boys that were in my group laughed and said “Do you even know how to read?” At that very instant I knew that I would never get better at reading and I was always going to be the odd one out at school. I was afraid of going back to school after what happened to me on the first week of this new school. Mrs. Hattershide (my teacher) said that I would have to be in another class to get extra help with reading and writing until I was told I didn’t need it anymore. This “extra class” was called an IEP, which means Individuated Education Program.
All my prior preparations for this day of classes seemed to be failing me already. While I frantically screened for the right door number and avoided the glares from the upper classmen to hide my embarrassment, I had finally arrived at my first class, Chemistry
No Child Behind Act: The history and continued debate of its effectiveness As I filled in scantron form with my number two pencil, I remembered that writing my name was just as important as entering my school code. Thinking back to elementary school I can remember the week long exams. The week in which I longed to be sick just so I wouldn’t have to be spilt from my class and spaced out to test rigorously on my comprehension of various subjects. This describes my first encounter with the ineffectiveness of standardized testing. Teachers were extremely stressed during this period as well but at the time I didn’t understand why.
Then two weeks after getting results if you pass you also have to take it again it wastes so much time and money wasted. “This testing is all a waste of tax dollars.” That was told to me by a high school teacher I had last year. I passed the PERT test and I had so much relieve off my back. One thing about the PERT test is you get results right then in there and there is no waiting game. But know I have to take the FCAT reading, again I felt so stupid taking as a high school senior reason being if you pass it the 10th grade you no longer have to worry about it.
If you were to ask a high school student or first year college student to do a proof, you will most likely be met with groans and feelings of disgust. Students at this age have probably encountered proof in a geometry class where they were expected to follow a strict format without much freedom to express proofs on their own. However, if you were to ask a mathematician about proof they would begin to tell you about how beautiful proof in mathematics can be. Proof has always been a topic of interest for me. In high school geometry and my first year of college, I too did not understand proof.
I and my parents had a big fight about the grades that I had and the school even had us sat in the parent center to reconcile our problem with a psychologist. After the talk between my parent, the psychologist, and me, my parents seems changed, they don’t restrain me anymore like before. Even though I still thought that education is not important, but I started working hard to make up all the classes that I failed to get my high school diploma because I realized the hope that they put on me and I don’t want them to be disappointed again. During my senior year of high school, I did not only take six classes, but also working on a program called Cyber High to retake all my failed classes with high grades, and also take extra class to average up my GPA in order to meet graduate requirements.