I honestly don’t remember much of the math I learned in elementary school. I went to a public school called Ma’ema’e Elementary. In fourth and fifth grade we were split up by math skill. For both years I was in the highest math class of four. I was never the smartest in the class but I was never the slowest either. From about third to fifth grade I also attended once a week soroban classes. Soroban, or abacus, is a Chinese calculator based upon beads on a tray. It involved a lot of simple mental math and quick fingers. I don’t really think this made a significant difference in my math skills as my mental math is pretty terrible. In sixth grade, I began school at Punahou School. In seventh, my math teacher recommended that I enter into the …show more content…
I actually quite enjoyed it because the math felt like puzzles to me. I just hated having to memorize theorems word for word and I kind of disliked my teacher. We pretty much never actually talked about math during class. I continued on the middle track and did Algebra II/ Trigonometry for sophomore year. That wasn’t too bad. Junior year was Advanced Pre-Calculus. I kind of overloaded myself that year and threw myself into AP US History and AP Physics 1 and AP Physics 2. That turned out to be a terrible idea and my math grades suffered the most from it. I was then recommended to drop down a half step in math. I began Differential Calculus in senior year. It’s the class that students go to when they drop down from the advanced classes. The students are still higher than the normal track but they’re not ready for AP Calculus AB or AP Calculus BC. I actually thoroughly enjoyed that class. It was actually kind of a breeze because my teacher was awesome. That was also the first math class that we were given partial credit for showing work. In previous years, if the answer in the answer blank was wrong, you got the whole thing wrong. For this class, if your work was correct or you did certain things right, you could get points for
After reading the article, “The Myth of ‘I’m Bad at Math’” I began to think about my past learning experiences and realized that my opinions on this subject have changed drastically over the years. For the most part, I felt like this article made a lot of good points, especially considering my own experience with believing in incremental vs. fixed intelligence. Basically from the beginning of my schooling I was taught to think that some kids were just smarter than others, and that that couldn’t necessarily be changed. I think this had a lot to do with the fact that I was considered a “smart” kid: I caught onto most learning concepts easily, so people told me that I was “smarter” than other kids. If I had been a child who learned a different way, I think that I would have been taught to believe in the incremental model of intelligence very early on as to not discourage me from growing as a learner (which was exactly what teaching kids that
I've always loved learning, especially math. Math has always come easy to me. Science also has never been challenging enough so I took Chemistry this year and I am planning to take physics next years. Chemistry is very challenging for me and I've had thoughts of dropping out of it, but I pushed myself and forced myself not to give
The most challenging class that I have taken during my senior year would be AP Calculus. Having to transition in going to Precalculus to AP Calculus have been a brave action for me to do. AP Calculus has been the class of my senior year that I am having the most struggle on. Even though I have been struggling in that class, I have the ability to make myself to go to tutoring with my AP Calculus teacher Mr. Ninofranco in order to clarify my confusions. I had to endure all the challenging courses with hard work and dedication to the subject in order to fully understand it and obtain a passing grade. This year, I have found my strength in having the ability to ask for help whenever I am confused at a certain point. I had the chance to take the advantage of using the resources that my school have made available to me.
This class made me realize that there is more to math then just numbers and calculations. One interesting concept
It challenged me more than usual. Even though I love math, my teacher challenged me to be better at it. But while I was in a specialized high school in DC, I thought everything would be very easy. It became more difficult because it felt like I was behind in the learning process. But managing my positions and school was very hard. I tend to take sports more seriously than academics. Once I transferred schools, it became more difficult because it felt like I was behind in the learning process. By the end of my sophomore year, I was learning that my GPA is very big. I admit. I messed up but now that I know, I do not play around and I take my work very seriously. I found this through my teachers and guidance
Mathematics has become a very large part of society today. From the moment children learn the basic principles of math to the day those children become working members of society, everyone has used mathematics at one point in their life. The crucial time for learning mathematics is during the childhood years when the concepts and principles of mathematics can be processed more easily. However, this time in life is also when the point in a person’s life where information has to be broken down to the very basics, as children don’t have an advanced capacity to understand as adults do. Mathematics, an essential subject, must be taught in such a way that children can understand and remember.
Math is not a scary thing. It can be fun and highly useful. In researching adult learners who return to college, I found a quote by Einstein saying (2015), “Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics. I can assure you that mine are still greater.” In Einstein’s humility, it was heartening to know we all have our weaknesses. It was even more hopeful knowing his historical mathematical strengths. According to Erskine (2015), “While the overwhelming majority of Americans, 93 percent, agree that strong math skills are essential to being successful in life, nearly a third say they would rather clean the bathroom than solve a math problem.” We all know how socially acceptable and funny it is to be bad at math. Although Erskine stated it too, she is right. However, I feel the tide is turning. It is becoming increasingly acceptable to improve oneself. I am looking forward to using the EdReady program for my Algebra, Calculus and Trigonometry skills. In bringing this essay to a close, there is always a practical and approachable way to have better math comprehension. Math does not have to be scary. This is my math life
In my freshman year I took all AP classes, which included; AP Human Geography, Pre-AP Math, Pre-AP Physics, and Pre-AP English. My Sophomore year, I tried going a little further and made the decision to get into two programs. One of the programs is called Middle College, which is a program where you are able to take college classes and get college credit. The other program I’m in is called, the Health Careers Academy. Joining the Health Careers Academy was one of the best choices I made.
One of the biggest struggles in my junior year was my AP US History class. The workload in that class, combined with the rigorous schedule of other AP and IB courses, plus sports, and the occasional meetings of the debate team made it a real challenge to follow my passion.
I was in seventh grade year and my second year of Algebra One. I was ready to give up; I assumed since I wasn’t adept enough the first time that I’d never be.
The foundation of learning was never built from that point on the next levels of math became difficult since we we never taught the principles. Every substitute teacher that came in our school trying to build a bridge failed because they were only, “‘starting on one side of the shore with some bricks and pieces of steel’” (Whitaker par.6). Math wasn’t the only subject I experienced with having many substitutes throughout a course. The other subjects where I experienced a low quality education included science, pre- calculus, and world history.
Lack of memorization is why our children struggle with elaborate arithmetic (Lipman). If you know your multiplication tables, thank that unyielding
Children, especially very young children, are naturally inquisitive and want to know as much as possible about the world around them. Preschoolers who attend private schools are exposed to an almost-endless variety of learning opportunities that not only gives them answers to questions they already have but also stimulates them to want to know more. Of the subjects that preschoolers are introduced to, math is the most important for their future academic and personal success. Math Is Everywhere While we all probably remember asking in a high school math class if we’d ever need to use algebraic equations - ever - in our adult lives, the fact is that you do need and use math on an almost-daily basis.
Fractions were the first challenge from math that I had to fight through, in which eventually I was placed in a Special Education class and I was diagnosed with a learning disability. From 4th grade to 7th grade, I had extra help in Math in the Special Education class. I kept struggling with fractions and decimals, such as dividing and multiplying them. After some time, I was told that I have advanced in my skills in Math and I was put out of the class, but they gave me the option to go to the class whenever I thought I needed help in Math and in anything I needed extra time or help in. As I entered my freshman year of high school at Carver Military Academy, I took Algebra l class and Math Navigator class. I had my ups and downs in those classes. Even though I had those two mathematical classes in my first year of high school, I really didn’t struggle through them because it was just learning about the distance formula, absolute volume, factoring numbers, finding the greatest common factor, converting fractions and decimals since it was pretty neutral to
Throughout out this semester, I’ve had the opportunity to gain a better understanding when it comes to teaching Mathematics in the classroom. During the course of this semester, EDEL 440 has showed my classmates and myself the appropriate ways mathematics can be taught in an elementary classroom and how the students in the classroom may retrieve the information. During my years of school, mathematics has been my favorite subject. Over the years, math has challenged me on so many different levels. Having the opportunity to see the appropriate ways math should be taught in an Elementary classroom has giving me a