Math Teachers
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Some people know from an early age what they want to be when they grow up. My sister was one of them; she wanted to be a chemist and never strayed from her goal, even when one science teacher told my mom she should choose a different profession. He said my sister didn’t have what it took to be a chemist. This just made my sister more determined to succeed and, she did.
I, on the other hand, waffled even into my college years. Early in life I wanted to be a nurse, because that’s what my mom was; later I wanted to be a mechanic; a truck driver; a journalist; and finally a teacher. I went to college pursuing the teacher idea, but I didn’t want to be an elementary school teacher, I wanted to teach secondary education; specifically, junior high. In order to teach secondary school, you have to major in a specific subject and minor in education. At the time I was going to school, I was told that English and history were over saturated and I would not be able to find a job if I majored in one of these subjects. My best bet was math or science; my two worst subjects.
Although I struggled with math, I had taken all the advanced classes available in high school and had relatively good grades. This was not achieved without a lot of tears and hours of frustration and homework. I often went into class early to discuss assignments with my math teacher. When I told my mom I was going to be a math teacher, she did not try to dissuade me from pursuing it, even though she knew the difficulties I had through my high school years.
In college, I chose to skip a pre-calculus class and proceed straight into calculus because the other class would not count towards my credited hours. Within a few weeks it became clear to me just how good my high school math teacher was. My college math professor was much more analytical in his teaching method, if you could really call it teaching. He would come into class and simply work problems on the board. He rarely looked at the class. I liken it to the scene in “The Mirror has Two Faces” in which Barbra Streisand’s character tells Jeff Bridges’, “You’re up there with your back to the room, solving your own problems. It’s like you’re having a math party, and only invited yourself.”
I could not see how anyone was learning anything in that class. I expected everyone to be struggling as much as I was because our professor was not teaching us anything. However, I was wrong. Many of my friends had little or no difficulty in class. I spent hours studying and in the end, received a D in a 5 hour class my first semester of college. I immediately dropped all pretense of wanting to be a math teacher and started looking for the right career for me.
My ability at math had not changed from high school to college. I was still capable in some areas, such as algebra, and struggled in others, such as fractions and word problems. What changed was the teacher. If this same class had been taught by my high school math teacher, I’m confident my grade would have been better. I related to her. I liked her. However, in the end, my college math professor taught me a valuable lesson and helped me to realize I needed to pursue a career much more suited to my learning and personality styles. Once I found that path, I graduated with a 4.0 in my major and succeeded in my career. Something I never would have been able to do if I had continued to pursue math.
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In your journey to adulthood, did you have any career changes along the way that made you realize you needed to be true to yourself? Did you have any teachers that helped you with that realization?
Hi Deb,
Recently I commented on another blog how I wanted to be a nurse when I grew up, but it was because of the cute uniforms they wore. (That was when they dressed in those starched white dresses with matching caps).
Me? I’ve always loved numbers, and being analytical, I’m always using them. When I first started working I didn’t have jobs where I could use numbers, but years later when an opportunity surfaced, I jumped at it and even took a cut in pay. I know what you mean about begin true to ourselves and our passions; it makes a huge difference.
Barbara Swafford´s last blog ..2nd Chance Drawing
The funny thing is, I’m analytical, too. I need things to make sense and I can figure out the statistics side of math. But just leave the word problems for someone else! Part of it is in my head though. I’ve set up an “I can’t do that” attitude and it does make things more difficult.