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!
I agree with you completely that there is no specific way to be a good math teacher. I believe that teachers in general, not just math, need to be more observant of the children in their classes. They need to realize, like your teacher did, when a student is struggling. I think its awesome that your teacher wanted you to come into his other classes. I know personally that hearing the lesson twice would help me catch little things that I might have not heard the first time around.
ReplyDeleteYah, I don't think there is such a thing as a perfect teacher. Each teacher has to find their own way with the kids. If they are trying to be someone they aren't, it's not going to come across in the right way for the kids. They should be themselves and just work on becoming more in tune with the children and their emotions about the topic being teached. Especially if the topic is harder, some kids will naturally get it while others just won't. It's good to set up a system that you find helpful where the stronger students are helping the weaker students in a way.
ReplyDeleteI agree, there is no "perfect math teacher". I think math teachers need to be very observant. If a math teacher notices more kids are struggling I think that's the teachers responsibility to try to change the way they are conveying the lesson so more children understand. If there is more than one way to solve the problem I think it's important that a teacher tries to show it all different ways. Sometimes if a teacher doesn't show it different ways and a student has it one way they erase it thinking it's wrong when it might not be. Overall, I think a good teacher tries to reach out to their students and adopts their lessons every year to help the new set of students.
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