My Experiences with Math through the Years

All through elementary school, I loved math.  My first memory of learning math and numbers was in kindergarten.  I had to count numbers to my teacher and I remember not knowing what was after ten and instead of saying eleven, I said something along the lines of "ten one." Yes I still remember that(haha). 

One of my favorite teachers was the math teacher I had in fifth grade.  My school would switch math teachers for the level you are at in math, for example: below average- ones who need extra help, average, and above average.  I was put into the above average class.  That was one of the most fun classes I  had in elementary school.  I remember just going there and it being a great environment.  My teacher would not just write math on the board and make us be robots just writing it down and trying to learn it, she actually had fun games that went along with the lessons.  I remember bringing in M&M's for a multiplication lesson; I also brought a package of M&M's when I was in third grade to make a bar graph with the data of the M&M's colors. 

My mom is a fifth grade teacher and she would always ask me if I needed any help with my homework at night; since she is a teacher I always felt that I needed to be the best in the class to impress her, so I would always say no when she asked me that.

When I got into middle school, it was still very easy for me, but when I got into high school and took Geometry Honors, I struggled.  My teacher liked to talk about himself for most of the class and teach for literally about 10 minutes every class.  Although I struggled, I made it through that class and passed the Regents exam.  After that, for the most part, I had an easy time in my math classes, up until Physics.  (I wrote about my experience with mathophobia during my Physics class in another blog.)  Most of my Physics experience was not fun, but I overcame my fears of mathophobia as my Physics teacher helped me with the lessons.  

This year in math, it has been completely different for me.  Not just because its college, but because I am re-learning things that I had learned when I was in elementary school.  Some of the things that we are learning in this class are easy because I learned them well in elementary school, but some things have been very difficult.  One thing that was difficult for me was the mad minute.  I don't ever remember doing one in third grade, but I remember struggling with the times table.  I did not do well the first time I took it, but once I retook it I ended up doing well.

All in all, my experiences with math have been very good and I have had a fairly easy time in all of the math classes that I have taken throughout the years.