Year 2 Reflection 1

This was the first week back at Brock for my final year in the B.Ed. program. This year we have another math class, where I hope to continue my personal growth as an educator of mathematics.

Natural Math. (2014, November 15). Math symbols in a
heart [image]. Retrieved from:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/26208371@N06/15798134722

I'm excited to learn more activities and strategies to get my students excited about learning math. This week we went over topics such as brain growth, math myths and stereotypes, and attitudes towards math. It wasn't surprising that the myths, stereotypes, and attitudes were all negative towards math. Many people, including myself, dislike math for many reasons. I found that many of the stereotypes where directed towards females being bad at math. I had hoped that this stereotype had disappeared since I was in school, but it is disappointing to learn that it hasn't. I know many girls that I went to school with, as well as girls in elementary school now who are extremely good at math, and who really enjoy the challenge of solving math problems. As teachers, we need to stop dividing our students' talents into genders. We need to realize that gender has nothing to do with understanding subjects or succeeding in class. The following video explains how ALL students can succeed in math.


This video explains how the brain is like any muscle in the body, and can develop and grow the more that we train it. If we encourage our students to challenge themselves in math class, they can develop their brains and in the end train their brains to be good at math. I think this is such an interesting video and will be useful for when I teach math, because I will be able to encourage every one of my students to challenge themselves. I hope to challenge my students so they work hard and become good at math with practice and perseverance. 

Another resource that I particularly enjoyed was the video Hollywood Hates Math. It was funny, but also eye-opening. It was a compilation of clips from various pop culture movies and shows that showed a negative attitude towards math. It was shocking to realize just how much our society dislikes math. We find it funny to talk about math in a negative way, but we don't realize the impact it can have on our students. When our students see these negative comments on their favourite show or movie, they tend to agree with it. We need to help our students see that math is fun and useful by having a positive attitude ourselves and by showing them positive attitudes in pop culture. 

This week was a good start to this year. I have learned a lot so far, and my attitude towards math is changing. I hope to continue to learn more this year and better myself as an educator.