My Math Life Story

1. In order to find my peak experience in math, I had to travel all the way back to 5th grade. It was here that I beat every person in my class at Mad Minutes. Although I recently found out that Mad Minutes are probably not the best practice for encouraging camaraderie or a positive learning environment, I thrived in this competitive scene. I lived for the times that I turned my paper over first after completing 100 problems in a minute (40 more than the usual 60). I'd like to say that I enjoyed these experiences because it was a time in which my math skills were being harnessed however this is not the case. I relish the taste of victory! Always have and probably always will. Thinking back to those days I get a since of accomplishment and I hope that I can provide these same feelings for my future students. However, because of how competitive games and activities such as Mad Minutes become, I feel that this is probably not the best practice and I don't see myself using this strategy in my classroom. Even though this was one of my favorite experiences of my all my school years, I would rather come up with games/strategies that encourage team work and a positive work environment instead of a desire to one up thy neighbor!
2. The worst experience I've ever had with a math class is my experience with college algebra. My senior year of high school, I took an online dual credit class at a community college. All of my life I have made A's in math so I thought this class would be no different. Even better, I would receive college credit! How little did I know!! Turns out, the class actually required work and time! Two things I did not intend on putting into that class. Nonetheless, I powered through and ended up trying really hard to maintain an A in the class. My effort was in vein. The following roadblocks kept me from obtaining my goal: 

• The program for homework assignments wouldn't load on my computer. 
• Two out of my three tests were LOST in the mail and my teacher didn't believe me. 
• During my final, I was required to take it at a testing center. At the time, I was really sick with the flu and coughing like crazy! While I was taking my test in a very small but very full room I began to cough a lot and was obviously self conscious about it. So, I decided to grab my test and walk out of the room to ask the test administrator if I could go get a drink of water to try and calm my throat. The test administrator promptly informed me that now that I have exited the testing center, I may not go back in. Consequently, I was not able to finish the rest of my test! 

       To sum up, that's 2 lost tests and a half way completed final!! To say I didn't get a good grade is a   severe understatement. For the first time in my life I failed a class. It was awful. 

     3. The turning point on my view for math happened when my teacher had the faith in me to place me in gifted and talented math. I had no idea that my teacher felt that I was capable of being in that kind of rigorous curriculum. I literally showed up to school on the first day, picked up my schedule for 6th grade and saw that I had been placed and referred for gifted and talented. 

     4.  One really important scene in my math life is the way I learned subtraction. I was lucky enough to have a teacher that loved teaching different strategies to accommodate different types of learners. One of those strategies is called the Indian Method for subtraction. At the time I had no idea that this was not the "normal" method for subtraction. It wasn't until my M316K class that I realized people don't subtract the same way I do!! Furthermore, people learn all types of ways and use all different strategies to subtract numbers. Another scene in my math life that stands out is a project that I did in an AP Calculus class. My teacher thought it would be great if we spent two weeks working on how to draw pictures with our graphing calculators. In the end, the only thing I can remember from a year long class is making a block letter J and a stick figure appear on a graph. Sad isn't it?

       5.  My greatest challenge was definitely my experience with my online college algebra class. I was humiliated after doing so poorly in a class due not to an inability to complete the work but instead to several roadblocks and a lack of common sense. Failing that course made me rethink college all together. If I couldn't even pass a community college course, what made me think I would do ok at UT? It took a good friend of mine to finally get through to me and make me realize that the only person to blame for these mishaps was me. I didn't fail because I have a disability or because I didn't comprehend the material; I failed because I didn't think things through and made poor choices. In order to do well at UT I need to put time, effort and a will to learn into my classes.

        6.    I want to be a special education teacher in order to change the experiences that so many parents of children in special education. So often I hear how terrible the life skills classes are or how students color all day long in a secluded classroom. I want to create a classroom environment that uses life skills and academics to improve my student's lives. I hope to teach mathematics in a more indirect and community based way. For example, this past Spring I was in a placement that took their students to the Austin Area Food Bank on Thursdays. Here the students had to weigh boxes of food, know how to add and subtract weight to meet requirements etc. I want to use and teach practical math skills.