[amcginnis]

#3551

Mathematics is Computation. As a student that is what I thought about math. As a teacher I try to get my students to understand that there is so much more to math.
Math is just memorizing rules. As a student I remember being taught all the rules in math, and simply memorizing them. As a teacher my goal is to teach my students the process and the why behind it instead of just memorizing the rules.
You are either good at math or bad at math. As a student I believed this, I knew that math was my strength and I was pretty good at it without having to try so hard. As a teacher I know all my students are math people, even if it takes a little extra work.
Math is just about getting the right answer. There is so much more to the process than just getting the right answer. As a student I remember times when my process was right but my final answer was slightly off and it just getting marked as incorrect.
Math is creative. As a kindergarten teacher I feel this is very true. As a student I didn’t see it as more than solving problems.
Math is exploration. I never looked at math this way as a student but am trying to instill that in my students.
There are many ways to problem solve. I understood this as a student, but was often reminded that there is a right way and wrong way. As a teacher there is so much truth in that, and I stay mindful of this when teaching my students math.
Mistakes help our learning. This is the hardest one for me as a student. But it is so important to keep the growth mindset and remind students that mistakes help us grow.