Am I perfect yet?
Hello pi learners,When I started teaching I wanted to be “perfect”. I wanted to be the expert, I wanted to create content that was fun and engaging, I wanted my classroom management to be spot-on, I wanted students to feel safe, and I wanted students to exceed in my class. Still, at the end of the year, I learned new techniques that I wish I had done in class. It made me feel like my skills were far from perfect.
Take math, for example, I understood math, and yet my lessons were falling short. I would spend hours, upon hours looking into topics that I was teaching in each unit. I thought I knew it all. In every lesson, I was able to solve every problem in the book. So why didn’t I feel like the perfect math teacher? Hate to break it to you, but teaching is hard! Just because you can do math problems doesn't mean you truly understand the “why”. This is one of the hardest things I would have to learn.
Perfect is something to strive for, but every year there should be growth. If the lesson was “perfect”, was I really reflecting on everything I could do as an educator? When students would ask questions my answer used to be “step one, step two, step three, and there is your answer.”
This is great if you are trying to teach memorization. Which I am not. The actual understanding of math is through exploration, mistakes, discussions, reflection, and so much more.
Math isn't perfect, it's messy and hard. The easy way can lead to confusion and problems later on. Understanding takes time.
When I was in school I did really well in math class. I thought I was smart. (I mean, I got A’s every trimester in math.) Turns out I was strong at memorizing and repeating back what I was told. I wasn't aware of all of the gaps that I had because I got an A on the test. It wasn't until college that my understanding was tested. We were solving a 2-digit by 2-digit multiplication problem. My classmates and I work silently on the problem, circled our answers, and with smiles on our faces held up the same number. Most of us solved the problem by multiplying with both numbers on top of one another vertically. Multiplying the one’s place by the one’s place, the one’s place by the ten’s place, the ten’s place by the one’s place, and lastly the ten’s place by the ten’s place. Add up all of the numbers and you get your final number.
Example: Shown to the right
The professor didn't ask for the answer though, he asked why we put 0 before multiplying the tens by ones and tens by tens. (Shown in dark red). Why didn't he want the answer and why couldn't I answer the question? I didn't know… I had just been doing rope memorization since elementary school. “Always put a zero down on the second row”... Why? Such an easy concept of multiplication and I couldn't answer a simple reasoning problem.
Finally, one student raised their hand and said that it was because we're multiplying into a new house, we're not multiplying in the tens place.
OH! So you put a zero in place of the one value. of course! Why didn't I think of that? Well because I was trained to memorize not understand. I was told not to question the teachers thinking and ultimately not grow as a mathematical learner. This conversation opened my eyes as an educator ever since. The answer can be important and definitely is especially when you're working in the field. Such as an engineer trying to get someone to space, or a doctor doing a surgery. Mistakes could cost you your job.
But as a student mistakes are even more important. This is the time when students should be making every mistake, asking every question, and learning the deeper meaning behind any problem.
I urge you to start questioning mathematics. If you don't know, let's learn together and grow as educators, students, and parents with mathematics. By doing this we can create better learners that critically think and work to deepen their understanding.
By doing this we won't be memorizing and rewriting what we hear, instead, we will create a passion for discovery.
Love,Ms. Carmack
