In middle school I struggled in math. I was put into the slower classes and mocked for it. In eighth grade I had a different teacher for math. I walked into her classroom confused and nervous. I was surprised to see that she taught in a way that didn’t degrade me. I went from fearing to ask questions to asking them every time I was the slightest confused. I started getting all A’s. Something had finally clicked in my brain. I was learning faster and easier. My freshman year I was in Math Foundations. I was still in the slower classes, but I didn’t mind because I was not too confident I was smart enough to change courses. I had all A’s on my assignments and quizzes. I talked to my parents, my math teacher and my guidance counselor
and they all agreed I should not have been put in Math Foundations. So in the second quarter of my freshman year I bumped up to regular math. I was so nervous that I would not be smart enough. My parents hired a tutor for my so I could catch up on a missed year of math. I went to a tutor once a week and soon I was doing the homework with ease. Pretty soon I was one of the smarted students in the class. I would never be where I am today without the help of my math teachers. They believed in me more than i believed in myself.
As the dull scent of chalk dust mixes imperceptably with the drone of the teacher's monotone, I doodle in my tablet to stay awake. I notice vaguely that, despite my best efforts in the shower this morning after practice, I still smell like chlorine. I sigh and wonder why the school's administration requires the students to take a class that, if it were on the Internet, would delight Mirsky (creator of Mirsky's Worst of the Web), as yet another addition to his list of worthless sites. Still, there was hope that I would learn something that would make today's first class more than just forty-five wasted minutes... It wouldn't be the first time I learned something new from the least likely place.
This deep dive into self-knowledge occurred when I received my first progress report for second semester Ninth Grade Algebra. To say that I was put into a space of shock and awe is an understatement; I was outraged. I was completing all my assignments and turning in homework, but my poor test grades were obliterating my grade.
Now I am not referring to all of you, we are all smart in different ways, however it is very possible that some of you will never find out. Not all of my classes are like that though. There has been one teacher that has really pushed me to become a much better student, and that is Mr. DeMarco. Over these past two years, I have taken a College Anatomy & Physiology, as well as AP Biology. For 75% of my time taking those classes, I have maintained a barely passing average. Contrary to what was expected of me in that class, in this last semester, my grades have been showing consistent A’s. This improvement makes me thing two things. 1. It disappoints me to know that, if I only received that miracle towards my grades earlier, I could’ve been doing so much better than before, and 2. It makes me wonder how far I can get in this world now with my bolstered confidence in outperforming others in
For some reason, you want to know about my math life. It's about as interesting as my social life, which is pretty non-existent (this is my attempt at humor. I’m trying, I really am). I took Algebra 1 Honors at Frost in 7th grade. My teacher was Ms. Healy. I liked her as a teacher because she taught efficiently and she was funny. I took Geometry Honors at Frost in 8th grade; my teacher was Mrs. Beach. I hated Geometry mostly because I had an awful teacher. I ended up teaching myself from the textbook. I took Algebra 2 honors because I didn't feel like taking a regular course because I have some sort of dignity I feel I have the need to maintain. I've always liked math to some extent, so I chose honors. In Algebra 2 Honors, I hope to get at
I believe that my confidence in mathematics is my weakest Quantitative Literacy elements. I struggle a great deal with being confident in my abilities to remember and perform everyday math problems. I feel a lot of math anxiety when I am around other people because I feel like I am not fast at doing simple or complex math problems that other people can do relatively quickly. Math has been the only subject that I have ever scored below average in but I was always able to cover my lacking ability in the subject because I scored way above average in my other subjects. I struggle with remembering the exact methods to use and the different formulas as the course proceeds and remembering them long-term. Math is not an "ordinary language" to me, it is quite the opposite.
Summer vacation, and school ends for about three months, and then you have as much fun as you can, then back to school… right? Well I had to go to summer school, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Everything was going fine, I had a job after summer school, and that was going fine as well. They say that summer is supposed to be fun and exciting, and it usually is for me and my family. However in July my father started coughing up blood. My father usually doesn’t make it his top priority to go to the doctors, so he waited about four weeks until he really didn’t feel good.
So it's only fitting I tell you of a saga that has spanned all of three years from one of those experiences. At the ripe, tender age of 10 years old, there was nothing more I wanted than to get into accelerated math. Accelerated math would begin my 6th grade year and only students chosen by the teacher or who acquired the required grade would get in. Now was my chance, my opportunity. Back when I depended a little too heavily on what people thought of me, I cared about getting into accelerated math for one of many reasons: to prove to my fellow peers I was smart, capable.
I lived in a wonderland of games, toys and friends until a certain examination came my way. It was my first real math exam that changed everything. My father, recently returned from New York City, did all he possibly could to train me in the ways of addition and multiplication but to no success. I failed that exam. I added instead of multiplying. I got a grade of 74 in math so I missed my shot at becoming one of the Top Ten. I finished 14th in my class.
I'm terrible at math. Trigonometry. Algebra. Geometry. Unlike in other subjects, discrete inequalities and irrational functions just don't process in my brain without some form of flaw standing in their way. For as long as I can remember, it was something that hindered my ability to academically accept myself as an equal to my peers, whom I had always been equivalent with throughout our days of pubescent arithmetic. The transition into high school was really when I was met with the discovery that my struggles were greater than many of my classmates. Although I was still taking the highest levels of math possible for my grade, I was set apart in the classroom. I had to work twice as hard to meet the same expectations as my classmates. This is
I struggle with math a lot and that class was really difficult for me. Anway, we had three exams in the class and my teacher had told us that the second one is usually the one that most students have difficulty with. In hearing that, I really wanted to prove to myself that I could study hard enough to get an A on that test. I studied on my own, went to study sessions and met up with my teacher multiple times to make sure that I understood the concepts completely. I took the test and a week later I got it back with a 96%.
I’m okay at math but I’ve always had trouble with math problems. I believe my teacher became frustrated with me after a little while. I never did the problems completely right and I just wasn’t getting it like the other kids were.
I was thrust into a new world with very little English. I soon learned the language to an extent where I now consider it my primary tongue. But, even with my rapid learning, I still had a learning gap which was prevalent in math. Many I know think I was always adept at math, that it was just something I was naturally good at, but at this time they would not say so. I struggled with the most basic concepts of math, the four basic operations, for years while my brother was accepted into an advanced math course, and I admired him for that, aspired to do the same. And so I did with motivation and help from both of my parents. I was able to graduate from the below-grade level and on-grade level classes and moved on to the advanced courses available at my school. When I moved to Canada, where they did not have advanced math or science courses, my learning was challenged again. But I refused to slow down my learning, so I learned on my own and then with a
Life is full of endless amounts of information that will either cause people to peak interest or get lazy and ignore it. Information spreads almost instantaneous these days, and it is constantly getting faster. I find myself a craver of knowledge, one of the many people who peak their interest and curiosity in discovering more about the world around them. Whether any of the extra things I learn is vital to my life or not, my brain loves the very act of finding interesting facts or discovering new things. There has not been a time yet where discovering something new did not interest me in the slightest.
Prior to enrolling in your class, I completed College Algebra at Alvin Community College as well as a Precalculus course under you instruction. I also completed math courses up to Algebra II at Clear Creek High School. I have struggled with math courses (and all of school for that matter) a great deal in the past because I have been unwilling to invest the time necessary studying in order to succeed instead of spending that time leisurely. I feel confident that I can learn and understand material presented to me provided I am willing to make that sacrifice. Now more than ever, I feel as though I particularly enjoy math.
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