Math Autobiography PDF

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Math Autobiography...

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Annie Wang Math Autobiography University of North Texas EDEE 3350 September 7, 2021

When I was a child, I remembered that I didn’t have very good experiences with math and have always struggled with it since elementary and even now I still struggle with math. I remember coming home from school and being extremely stressed with math assignments, I took Algebra I in middle school and I remember struggling with it because I was super confused with the symbols. I really hated math since I was young and never enjoyed it, and growing up I struggled with what I wanted to major in in college, and my dad, being a computer analyst and a computer science major at his university, he tried to get me into computer science but I was terrible at it because it comprised of math and logic skills which I have neither. I don’t think my feelings towards math changed over time, I still maintain the same feelings of math and that I still struggle with it. However, when it comes to elementary math and basic math, I feel that I am confident in teaching. Any other grades I might not be able to, depending on what the topic is. There isn’t really any specific reason pertaining to school that I’ve hated math, I just wasn’t good at it and I’m just not a math person. There are some math teachers that I’ve encountered in elementary and middle school years that have made math a little more enjoyable, but it was still difficult for me. When I see students in the elementary classroom struggle to do math and I read the problem, sometimes I feel that maybe over the years I’ve gotten better at math because it’s a problem that I can do and it’s a problem that I can understand and even help a student out and it makes me have this very positive feeling. Though, I also do get frustrated whenever a student can't solve the problem even when I have tried to assist them and given them a step-by-step process. However, saying that “this is so easy!” and/or “you should already know this!” As mentioned in the previous reading responses is something that a teacher should never say to their students because it will make them feel more pressured and feel “dumber” in a sense. My school

math experiences impacted my understanding of math is that it really depends on who my math teacher was and how they taught the subject, as well as my parents’ attitude of me not being able to learn math quicker than others. I think what made it hard for me to learn math was that I, as a person, learn slower than normal people do. I also am a very visual and step-by-step person, so it helps to have a chart and I would implement that in my lessons. I have seen my mentor teacher do charts while learning adding place values, and I think it helps students see the process and how it’s done with charts and colors. My parents tried to help me a lot and engage me in math, such as sending me to math class outside of school which also consisted of Chinese school. Ther were a few games that I think I had to apply math, such as monopoly and other money games. I received mathematics instruction in a different language, since English is technically my second language because I mostly speak Chinese at home. I only received different language instructions in mathematics when I’m at home, and learned math in English at school. My teachers knew I was bilingual, so ESL and bilingual classes helped while I was learning math. Compared to other students in my math classes, I was considered the oddball because I was Asian and it is a stereotype that Asians are usually considered “smart” and “math people,” but for me, I’m the complete opposite of that description. My experiences, feelings and beliefs will definitely impact the kind of mathematics teacher I will be. I would want my future students to enjoy math and have a more positive attitude towards math than I did, I want to make it fun and enjoyable for them. I will implement as many math games and visual math problems for my students as much as I can, and I know math will be a lot more fun with games and a colorful world. I want to be there to support them when they struggle and help them through it. The second math life story that I would like to share is about my significant other’s math learning experiences. He remembered learning addition, subtraction, multiplication and division

in elementary and middle school math. He likes math, and enjoys learning/doing math. His attitude towards math has changed over time, such as being less interested in math than he used to be. He is neutral to how school presented math, he has either good or bad experiences mostly, his decline in interest is personal. It causes him to increase in understanding, teachers working through problems made it easier to learn math. There was abstract and applied math, which it consisted of tied in math to the real world, how they put specific problems to everyday situations. When he was three, he was taught addition and subtraction at home. He’s in the “normal” wavelength of learning mathematics but wouldn’t consider himself “average.” He was taught math from an early age by his parents at home, taught himself a little bit of math on the side, and learned math in school and through college. From comparing math stories with his, my attitude and experiences towards math definitely was more negative than his attitude as well as experiences. Even though we both had been taught math from an early age, I didn’t get to enjoy math and I still don’t like math and still struggle with math to this day. My experiences were a little different than his on how I was taught math because I was taught in another language (which is my first language), and he was taught math in one language. I think this is a pretty big difference because two different languages can be pretty confusing sometimes. The way that teachers and parents teach math can be completely different, such as mathematical strategy skills of how to solve the problem could be different. The way parents and teachers encourage and discourage us from learning math is also different, some may use phrases that can be helpful to us and others may use harmful languages that could discourage us from learning math. As for conclusion, my experiences, feelings, and beliefs would impact the kind of mathematics teacher I aim to be. Even though I struggle with math a lot, deep down inside I would want my students to enjoy math. I do not

wish to see them struggle and despise math, I want to make the world of math become fun and would implement math games in my lesson and have math activities that are more enjoyable and hands-on....