Personal Response to Interview

When we fist began this assignment I really wanted to gain an understanding of what it is like to be a math teacher and how students feel about math in general.

 

Mr.Y gave us answers above and beyond what I was expecting hear.  I found his response about how to engage students with low motivation particularly interesting.  I have always felt that I as a teacher I would want to show students that math is fun and exciting but Mr. Y made me re-evaluate at which times I should use this enthusiasm.  Perhaps because there are so many students in our schools who have a math phobia I should be careful how I place this enthusiasm about math in the classroom.  Keeping an open mind and explaining to students who aren’t highly motivated that I understand that math is difficult and not always exciting may be the proper way to approach these situations. 

 

I found Mr. Y’s tip about making use of colleagues AND students to be highly interesting.  From this I realized that using brighter students to assist those who are having difficulties is not only a way to vary explanations but also a way to have students actively engaged in the classroom.  This is something we are constantly being asked to strive for in the teacher education program.

 

I highly appreciate the answers our student provided to our questions.  I found it interesting that the student we interviewed felt she would prefer to work alone rather than participate in group activities.  This was really the opposite answer I was expecting. 

I wish we had all had the chance to speak with Sam’s sister and some other students about our questions to get a more in depth look at how a student views math.

 

I enjoyed hearing some of the other questions that were asked to both students and teachers in class on Friday.  One group asked a question about whether students should have homework and how much, to both teachers and students.  I believe homework is important as and educator and I was surprised that most of the students interviewed in that group felt so as well.  I also found it interesting how the answer to this question varied so much in the teacher responses.  It really shows you how each person takes their own personality and ideas into the classroom.  Another group asked for tips to make the classroom more engaging and one teacher responded that we should act as a discussion leader and have the students to teach themselves.  I have been having some doubts about this method, which has been so frequently referred to by all of our instructors, so I found it encouraging knowing that there are teachers in the school system who are using it.  I really hope that I will be able to incorporate this style into my own teaching style in the future.