Twenty-five years ago this month I graduated with my BS in
Mathematics from the University of Texas. A month later I started
teaching what was called at the time Remedial Math. I was teaching at Austin
Community College, where I had started my college career. From my first
semester at ACC I had been a tutor, and now I was stepping up to the big leagues.
My first couple of semesters were full of the pitfalls that
new teachers face: how to handle making mistakes on the board, dealing with
students who are angry with how you graded or your policies on late work and
absences, and of course, the interminable grading.
But something else happened. Something that was more than
the mundane, often aggravating details of teaching. I had decided my first
semester in college, while in my own College Algebra class that I wanted to
major in Mathematics and teach. I deliberately chose to teach at the community
college level. As a tutor I had developed ways of explaining concepts to
students, and I wanted to take them into the classroom with me.
Some worked, some didn’t work, some have been adapted to
better convey the ideas. What I am going to be writing about in the weeks to
come are insights that I have come to after teaching so many students in so
many different schools. I will be writing about the pitfalls in doing
calculations, where students often make mistakes. I will be writing about how
to succeed in math class, things students do that can really help them. And I
will be talking about anything else education or math related that come to
mind.
The material is more suited for adult students who are
taking what is now called where I work Developmental Mathematics. This is where
my expertise is, and my one attempt to transfer this to Junior High School
students was not successful. If you are looking for the ins and out of EXACTLY
how to solve a particular problem, this is not the page you are looking for. I
will soon
have links to sites that may help you.
I plan to post every Monday. December 19th may however
may be a day early as I will be having surgery done while the college is closed
for the winter break.
I will be starting out with a discussion on how to prepare
for being in a college math class, along with encouraging words about people’s
ability to actually DO math. I look forward to comments and suggestions on what you have found that works.
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