MAT 107 and What I Took Away from It

Being a freshman at my local community college I knew what I wanted to major in and had a general idea of what I was going to study. When I signed up for my classes in the spring of 2010 I was placed in a class that taught us about the general studies of elementary math, MAT 107. I was looking forward to beginning this class and was willing to see exactly what it was about and what knowledge it had to offer to me. I have two younger siblings that both accelerate in mathematics however they too have questions sometimes and I believe since I have taken this class aiding them with my further expanded knowledge of this subject I can help them understand their problems better and more sophisticatedly. MAT 107 has taught me the facts of math and how to explain how I solved the problems. This process of explaining how I solved the problems has taught me how to understand the problem that much more rather than just solve the problem because that's what the formula said. Instead of just plugging numbers into a formula and solving the problem,  I now know the true values and meanings to these answers. I learned that what I thought was easy is more complicated that it was when I first learned it like the greatest common factor and the least common multiple. I discovered that I was pretty rusty on my graphs and that I did not even know the difference between a histogram and a bar graph. I learned that we learn numbers on a Base 10 basis. Who knew that? I sure did not have a clue, I always believed it was generally the counting numbers and they went in tens. I did not know that it had a formal name. Everything that I have learned in this class will in fact benefit me when it comes to my own teaching experience. I believe that taking this class will give me the advantage of having that insight on the facts of math and how to further explain how exactly a problem is solved the way it is and why it needs to be done that way. I struggled on a few assignments because they asked me to explain how I got the answer that I did. I always sat there for a moment after solving a problem and stared down at my paper and questioned myself as to how I was going to properly explain how I managed to get the answer that I did so that someone else could understand and learn from my example.  I strongly recommend this course, MAT 107, to any individuals who have difficulty with math, wish to become an elementary teacher, or who wish to become a general math teacher or major. This course has many great things to teach and will only be beneficial to those who choose to take it.

Math Is Everywhere

Many students always ask, "Why do we need to know this?" Well even though at the time that many students are learning the math that they are whether they are in elementary school, middle school , high school , or college they do not understand the true value of the information they will one day look back and understand. Math is everywhere. Math is in the change you get back from the clerk at the store. Math is the number of innings in a baseball game based on how many outs there are. Math is in the way your car runs or the way your house was built. Math plays a very important and large role in the lives of many individuals. Many careers focus on mathematics in order to succeed and benefit us and our living conditions. Construction workers, chemists, pharmacists, car mechanics, chefs, bakers, pastry chefs, and computer technicians are just a few examples of careers that many choose to go into that use math every day in order to do their job. I wish to be a math teacher in order to help students understand why exactly we do need math and why it is so important to begin learning mathematics at such a young age. Mathematics is just as important as language is to many individuals. In fact, mathematics is in some senses a language that needs to be learned in order to sufficiently communicate amongst people. Imagine if nobody in the world new any sort of mathematics and wanted to build a house, drive a car, bake a cake, make a boat, fly an airplane, or even play a sport. None of these would exists without mathematics. Mathematics goes as far back as the caveman and the Romans. Today it is not normally used but we do occasionally see the Roman Numeral System used in novels. Even the individuals in older civilizations knew that a counting system or numeric system would be needed in order to keep order and conduct amongst their people. Today we see the same thing amongst our people whether it is with speed limits, how much something costs, or the time. I have always wondered myself why students do not recognize why exactly they need to learn and understand math well. Many would think if you were to look around your everyday life style you would be able to recognize that math is everywhere you look. Without math in our lives our people would be disorderly and life would be chaotic. Nothing would get done well enough to be functional without the use of math and our technology would not be nearly as advanced as it is in today's world. Look around you before you ask, "Why do we need to know this?"; or say, "I am never going to use this again in my life." Math is everywhere and without it we may as well not even exist.

How Procrastinating Can Effect Your Grade

Being a math major in college, I have learned the terrible effects of procrastination. Math is one of the worst subjects you could choose to procrastinate in. When it comes to studying or homework assignments it is best to study longer for more days and to do the work spread out over a period of time rather than all at once or at the very last second. The less you do the work and the more you put it off the more students will begin to stop retaining that information. Many students believe that this will not affect them if they choose to procrastinate, however you can be sure to see your grades reflecting this exact process. Many students grades will be very high at the beginning of a year or semester because they are starting fresh and are willing to do work right away. However, as the school year or semester goes on many teachers and professors begin to see students grades fluctuate and they begin to become poorer and poorer. Many students use the excuse that the work becomes too difficult when really they do not give their best efforts when it comes to their school work and they procrastinate on projects and assignments causing their grades to be very poor compared to their high grades in the beginning of the year or semester. The best way to avoid becoming part of this trend is to do your assignments over the time period you have to finish them do not do them all in one night or the very last second, give yourself time to study and go over your work so that you catch mistakes and can better your work, give yourself the benefit of a peaceful learning environment so that you can concentrate on your work and do your best, never cut yourself short of what you're truly capable of. If you find yourself falling into this trend and you see your grades being affected simply look back at what you can do to stop it and begin again. Anybody is capable of bettering their work and stopping themselves from procrastinating and putting other things first whether that be other classes, a job, or a family. Allow yourself to succeed and simply do your work more often and study over a longer period of time, find a quiet learning environment, and allow yourself to look over your work thoroughly after you have completed the assignment or test in order to catch any mistakes. This is important to many students because if you do not stop procrastinating your grades will suffer and you will not be reflected on your transcript as what your truly capable of. Stop procrastinating especially in math because in order to remember numbers and formulas you cannot stop for a few months then pick back up and do it in all again in one night.

How To Manage Stress and Maintain Focus

Many students struggle throughout their schooling careers to maintain focus on their school work while dealing with a lot of stressful events occurring in life. Many students see their grades majorly affected due to attempting to do school work in a stressful environment. Math is a very mind consuming subject that needs more attention and focus than many other subjects. Math you need to be able to think fast with formulas and know how to solve problems in your head without allowing other thoughts and daydreams to interrupt your thought process. I myself am guilty of trying to focus on math work and tests while being highly stressed out causing my grades to be very poor and not reflect my true knowledge of the subject. The advice that I can give to many other students attempting to work under these conditions is find a way to relieve stress. Whether that is dancing, singing, writing, scream out loud, crying, running, or blowing bubbles relieve your stress before trying to do school work of any sort especially math. You will see a great difference in how you feel and the way you perform in class and on your work. Your grades will increase and reflect your true abilities in the classroom. Another great way to relieve stress is to study in a group and talk to your peers about what is weighing on your mind. Learn how to vent and control stress; do not let your stress control you. If you are trying to do work and your mind wanders off due to stress close your eyes take a few deep breathes and focus on relaxing once you feel relaxed open your eyes and try to do your work again this should clear your thoughts and allow you to focus on what you need to know for that problem. It is important to embrace stress when it comes because every student will face stress while in school several times and they need to overcome this stress in order to succeed. Math itself can cause stress to those who do not work well with numbers and formulas with this subject and they need to overcome this stress in order to succeed. With this students can seek help with a tutor or find someone to talk to about this subject and find some of their strong points and weaknesses If you are stressed and are receiving grades below average for your work do not feel discouraged, find a way to relieve stress, and try to clear your mind while in class doing work if you can do this you will be successful in bringing your grades back up to where you would like for them to be. It is important to keep a clear mind while doing work so that you can maintain a high grade point average if you get a low grade due to stress this will reflect into your grade point average and will not truly reflect your capabilities.

Different Learning Styles

There are three main types of learning; visual, auditory, and kinesthetic/tactile learning. Each of these can affect you as mathematics student depending on your teachers style of teaching. A visual learner does better if they are given written notes and equations, if they have a easier time reading their notes to study for a test, or if they find the different graphs and diagrams in their text useful. Visual learners are the most common and have a pretty easy time learning. An auditory learner is someone who retains information once they have heard it and find it much easier to understand written information it is also verbally explained by a teacher. Many auditory learners prefer listening in class over taking notes and having verbal instructions then written instructions. Kinesthetic/tactile learners are the least common. They learn best if their study sessions have small breaks and they have a hard time explaining a problem when they know they know how to solve it, and they have a hard time understanding problems until they solve them themselves. I am a mixture of all three. If I see the notes and solve the problems along with the verbal notes I usually understand the topic. Once I understand a topic in math class I have a pretty solid grasp on it and continue taking notes while drawing pictures and diagrams for myself. It can become pretty difficult depending on the learning environment for myself to grasp certain aspects in math. I do not particularly care for written notes without someone explaining them thoroughly and me doing them myself and getting the correct answer and knowing how. Sometimes depending on the teacher and how they teach I don't have the opportunity to have all of these elements while I am trying to learn and it causes issues in my brain and I become overwhelmed and have to try again. I usually have to try and teach myself or try other problems in my own time just to make sure I have a complete hold on the topic we are learning in class.   Sometimes I need help and have to go to the teacher for help to explain the notes again so that I can hear it again and it makes more sense. When I study I cannot just re-read my notes I have to re-write them or highlight the important information. I usually re-write formulas or equations so that I can visualize my notes and what I wrote while I am taking a test so that I do not draw a blank or lose my place. When I take tests I would much rather a test be in the order of my notes rather than all over the place because it is easier for me to retain information and re-use information in the order that it was given to me.

Technology Used Within Mathematics

Mathematics today would not be comprehended so well without the use of different types of technology. Today we use math for just about everything. We use math to build houses and make blue prints, we use math in order to get the proper number of hot dogs with however many people you have over knowing that there are 8 hot dogs in each package, we use math to build our computers in order to make hard drives big enough to hold all of our information, and the list goes on. Technology used for math started with an abacus which is a counting device or in technical terms a mechanical device for making calculations consisting of a frame mounted with rods along which beads or balls are moved. In lower grades students use blocks for counting and grouping, as you get older students begin to use simple calculators for more difficult math problems, and once you hit high school and after that you use graphing calculators which are so complex you can plug in a problem and it will completely solve it for you. Not only do these graphing calculators have such a high solving technology they can also be configured to carry games and other non educational information. I personally do not agree with where technology has gone in mathematics. I feel as if technology makes the subject much more difficult to comprehend and it makes the problems harder to solve. When math was simple where you could use only your knowledge and long division with a pen or pencil to a piece of paper it was much easier to learn. Once math is mixed with technology many people become lost because they are no longer solving the problem for themselves they are simply plugging in the problems to the calculator and it solves it for them. Mathematics would be much simpler to be taught if it was nothing but pen to paper once you mix in technology there is only so much a teacher can teach without their students getting completely confused or lost it is much easier to be able to write notes and practice problems onto a chalk board or dry erase board showing each step of an equation. With technology it gives you the problem and the answer. It is a much lazier way in which teachers have resulted to in order to teach and teachers themselves learn this subject. Technology can be used for with math outside of the classroom, but it should not be a mandatory way to teach mathematics in schools. Many people are better hands on learners by seeing how a problem is solved by seeing step by step to get to the answer. I know it is much easier for me to see the problem and then solve it on my own step by step then write the solution.

Ever Experienced a Bad Math Teacher?

Have you experienced a terrible math teacher that had you ready to rip your hair out of your head you were so lost or frustrated? I have. The worst experience I have ever had with a teacher is someone who is clearly very intelligent and knows exactly what the topic is they are trying to teach, but they have no clue how to communicate that topic from their head to a class without it becoming lost in translation. I am majoring in Mathematics Education and I know that it is my job to know the material I am going to be teaching like the back of my hand. I also know that it is going to be my responsibility to be able to get  a lesson from my head to a board or worksheet so that my students understand exactly what I am trying to teach them. For instance I have had a teacher that was teaching the class pre-calc, they knew what they were trying to teach very well. This teacher was capable of understanding the topic, but when it came to getting it down in notes and in practice problems they had a very difficult time putting it in writing so that it made sense to the students. It should not be blamed on the student for getting below average grades for a course they are having taught to them in a very messy environment. But what exactly can you do about that? Do you get a tutor and try to understand the topic outside of the classroom with that specific teacher? Do you talk to a guidance counselor about the issues you see with the teaching tactics of that specific teacher? Do you try and talk to the teacher them self? I do not like being the bad guy and getting anyone into trouble or looked down upon, but I would most definitely rather passing grades that I know I am more than capable in a course than have a below average grade because I am not being taught properly or in a way that can be made sense of instead of a complete class lost in translation. The biggest issue I have seen now a days with teachers is that they are well aware of their subjects and the topics of the subjects they are teaching, just like my math teacher, yet they have a very difficult time finding a way to properly teach that topic or communicating that topic to a class full of students without it getting lost in translation. Many teachers need to focus on their teaching tactics now and not just their subjects they are majoring in. What is being a teacher in a certain subject and knowing your subject inside and out without being able to teach the subject without it getting made into complete nonsense. It is worth absolutely nothing to those students and that teacher will not be teaching students but they will be causing more problems for students.