Math Autobiography

I really don't remember much about math in the K to 6 classroom. I can remember having  word problems wrote on the board, having to memorize times tables (which I still remember today), and doing work from the text book. There always seemed to be a standard way when it came to learning mathematics. 

One of my not so fond memories was during a problem solving exercise in grade two. I can remember feeling hopeless when the word problems were wrote on the board. I had a lot of trouble understanding how to solve the problems and we had to work individually and weren't able to ask for help. We were told that we had to figure out the problems on our own. I remember feeling an overwhelming feeling of helplessness and embarrassment when I couldn't figure them out. My teacher would call us up to the board to answer the questions and it was a horrible feeling when you didn't know how to solve it. I still have negative feelings towards word problems to this day. 

Overall, I was average at math. I wasn't good at geometry but I really enjoyed algebra. In high school I had to get extra help throughout the three years. I did get good grades in math but I did have to work hard to get those grades. I really enjoyed doing math that I could understand and once I figured out topics I struggled with, I formed a more positive outlook when it came to that topic.  

I remember in junior high and high school, students would always comment on how they felt like the mathematics we were doing was pointless and we would never have to use things like cos, sin, and tan in real life. I can remember one teacher in particular agreeing with us but they claimed they had to teach it because we would be tested on the CRT's on the topic. The teacher seemed to enjoy teaching mathematics but seemed to also believe that some of what we were learning wasn't relevant to our lives and future. Assessment in math was always formal testing. I don't have any memories about math assessment in any other form than a written math test.  

Math in high school was okay. I had the same teacher for each year and my teacher had a degree in mathematics and you could tell that it was his passion. In university, I did math 1050/1051. I really enjoyed the type of Mathematics that was covered in Math 1050 since it was different than any Math that I had done before. However, I didn't enjoy math 1051 as much because there was a geometry section. I haven't taken any math electives and I don't engage with mathematics in any major way in my life.     

I feel okay about mathematics now. However, I don't feel like i'm strong overall with the subject and I feel like I need to feel more confident in the subject matter. I hope that this course boosts my confidence when it comes to teaching mathematics.