Math Teachers: Cut Them Some Slack!

    As a student you sit there day after day hating this class. You groan and complain as soon as your teacher finishes attendance and begins a lesson. You find yourself counting down the minutes until the class is over and thinking of anything but the subject presented in front of you.

Sound familiar? Yeah, this was my middle school and high school experiences with math classes. I know for a fact that many students share the same feelings.

What students don’t realize is that math teachers do not have it easy, and this behavior does not make their job any easier. As a teacher, you are required to do just that Teach. However, the job of a math teacher is far more difficult than teaching other subjects, in my opinion.

 

A math teacher carries a lot of responsibility:

·         They must be able to get their class engaged into the topic or discussion in class, which most times is already labeled “BORING” by their students.

·         They must adapt their teaching style to meet the needs of many different types of learners. (For example, some students are visual learners, while others are not.)

·         They must be able to carefully explain their topics so that the students will somewhat understand the strange figures, letters, and numbers on the board in front of them.

·         They must pace themselves because going too fast in class will leave everyone frustrated and confused, but going too slow in class will cause the class to lose attentiveness.

·         It is necessary that they will be able to answer any question thrown their way. (A teacher who can’t answer questions and just teaches out of a book is no good!)

·         Math teachers must remain enthusiastic about their subject because the students feed off of this.

·         Among other things!

Math teachers are given a year or semester (depending on the class); to convince their students that math is not something to fear and can actually be interesting or easier to understand than they had anticipated.

Math teachers, being persistent beings, spend their days (and even years!)dedicated to teaching students about math and its concepts. I give math teachers a lot of credit because they did not pick the easiest profession to enter.

So remember, next time you are about to groan at the start of yet another lesson in your math class, that your teacher is a hero! They’re dedicating their life to teaching people just like you and I all about math and how it works. They are interpreting a foreign language right before your eyes and are even showing you things about the world around you that you never knew! So do not hesitate to thank your math teachers, they are very brave souls.

What Makes a Good Teacher?

                The million dollar question that teachers and prospective teachers are dying to answer is "What makes a good math teacher?" Unfortunately, I believe that there is no one, perfect answer to this question.

                Over the course of my years of schooling I have come in contact with many different teaching styles. However, my favorite math teacher I had both my junior and senior years of high school. At that point in my mathematical career I was already taking pretty challenging math courses--some that others wouldn't dare to even attempt the class. I am not going to say that any of those classes were not challenging; I had the greatest challenge of my life when in my senior year of high school I decided to take up two math classes at the same time in order to get extra credits. You can only imagine that by October of that year I was cursing myself for the foolish decision I had made.

                My teacher, who taught both of my math classes that year, saw that I was feeling overwhelmed and offered for me to come and sit in on some of his other classes during my free periods. I could now hear the same lecture twice a day and have a better understanding of what I was learning in my classes. I began to become more comfortable--and most importantly confident with my math abilities. Through the help of my teacher I was able to successfully pass both of my classes and even go on to receive A's in both of these courses.

                There is no correct outline for teachers to follow in order to be a good teacher, how to teach or even help their students, but I do believe that one of the most successful ways a teacher can help their students is by reacting how my teacher did. My teacher realized the sense of panic and uneasiness I was feeling towards challenging myself and my math abilities through taking Pre-calculus and college statistics at the same time. As a prospective teacher myself, I hope to gain the ability to recognize the same panic I felt as a student in them and be able to help them much like how my teacher helped me.

                As I said before, I do not believe that there is truly one way to be a good teacher; I believe that there are many ways to be a successful teacher. I believe that if a teacher takes the time to not solely just teach their students, but if they take a moment to realize the struggles their students may be having and address those issues, they will help their students in so many ways. By addressing the struggles of your students you will not only help them in your course, but their other courses as well. If you help them become comfortable with math they will begin to think, "If Mr. Smith showed me how to be a really great math student and now I'm not afraid of it anymore, then I can conquer any problems I have with any class I take!" By addressing your students' struggles, you are setting them up for success in the future!