For those of you who already can't stand me because of the title of my blog, I hope we can set aside our differences and still get along. My name is Joli Brenchley, I love my family, music, and strangely yes, MATH. I have been married for 3 years and have a little girl I adore and I spend most of my time with her. I play the oboe and piano and I love to read, swim, and cook.Now for the math part of my life.
I don't do math as much as I am about to let on, really. I like the challenge math presents. It's empowering to understand a proof or be able to answer everyday questions with the math I have learned. I think these are two of many reasons I would like to facilitate and guide students to develop an understanding and maybe even a passion for mathematics. I hope to teach geometry and algebra although I don't believe they are still separate classes in schools now. I have a special place in my heart for geometry in part because of my wonderful teacher who taught me geometry in High School.
One of the reasons I enjoy math is because my mother likes to do math, specifically puzzles. I learned to love puzzles and games like sudoku, paint by numbers, and more. One other reason I love the mystery and puzzles in math is thanks to a math class I took while attending Snow College about a broad spectrum of mathematical concepts geared toward "art brained people"-maybe I am one of these because that was my favorite math class. Currently I am reading "In Code", written by a 16 year old girl and her father about cryptography (codes)-it's a fun book.
Literacy does relate to math. I think math is a language of numbers, symbols, shapes, etc. Students need to be literate in the terminology of math so they can become literate in mathematics and use it in their lives.
Thanks for your first posting. Your comments made me think about how our early experiences shape our later interests. For instance, your house had puzzles and paint by numbers (and perhaps card games or other things) that promoted numeric/spatial reasoning. You had positive experiences with these things. Some students have never had positive or fond family memories associated with mathematics. I think as a math teacher, one challenge will be to foster this positive climate where math is associated with memories of good things. I think that, as an education major, you will be able to provide those positive math experiences for your own daughter as well!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your first posting, and I look forward to reading more of your ideas as the semester continues.
Well even though I wouldn't have started my blog with " I heart math," I still can agree with you to the fullest. The reasons you mentioned are very similar to mine. I especially love how I can use math to understand or solve things more efficiently than without; like riddles. I love riddles and now after having taken discrete and abstract algebra, I have new ways to solve and understand them. Its funny how math can become so much a part of your life. After doing proofs so much, I seem to use that methodology in my everyday life.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post,
Ben Dietrich