Why teach maths? That is the question. Before the first maths input, I was terrified of maths. I wasn’t good at it at school because I had to work hard to achieve and others around me seemed to be able to do it without any issues. My mum used to always tell me “I wasn’t good at maths, so that’s why you aren’t good at maths either!” I thought that this was true and that I would never be good at maths because my mum wasn’t either.  I wanted to prove everyone wrong and when I worked hard in classes and stayed focused, I managed to achieve and gained much more knowledge and understanding of the subject.

There are so many myths about maths which always made fear the subject:

• Men are better at maths than women
• Maths is not creative
• It’s always important to get the right answer
• It’s bad to count on your fingers
• Some people have a “maths mind” some people don’t
• Mathematicians solve problems quickly in their heads
• If your parents aren’t good at maths, neither are you

None of these are true. When I was younger, I believed all of these to be true but I now understand that this is not the case:

• Researched failed to show any difference between men and women in mathematical ability.  Men are reluctant to admit they have problems so they express difficulty with math by saying, “I could do it if I tried.” Women are often too ready to admit inadequacy and say, “I just can’t do maths.”
• There are so many ways in which maths can be creative. Making patterns with pictures etc. Maths requires imagination, intellect, intuition, and aesthetic about the rightness of things.
• The ability to obtain approximate answer is often more important than getting exact answers. Feeling about the importance of the answer often are a reversion to early school years when arithmetic was taught as a feeling that you were “good” when you got the right answer and “bad” when you did not.
• It is not bad at all to count on your fingers. Actually it indicates an understanding of arithmetic, more understanding than if everything were memorized.
• People who believe this myth often lack self-confidence in maths.But it is self-confidence that is one of the most important determining factors in mathematical performance.
• Solving new problems or learning new material is always difficult and time consuming. The only problems mathematicians do quickly are those they have solved before. Speed is not a measure of ability. It is the result of experience and practice.
• This myth is again to do with self-confidence. If your parents tell you that you are not good at maths because they weren’t, then you probably will believe this. However, this will not boost your confidence in maths and will event in you not believing yourself and not engaging with the subject to the best of your ability.

After the first input on maths, I have completely changed my views about teaching maths and how I feel about the subject as a whole. Before the input, I didn’t really see the importance of maths and why we need to engage with it. I now see understand that being able to do maths is extremely important in life and that we use it everyday without even knowing. I set an alarm every morning to get up to go to university and if I wasn’t able to tell the time, I wouldn’t be able to this. Being able to do maths is extremely important in life and is exactly why is should be taught to children.

I was nervous about going into my first placement and having to teach maths but I now can see that maths can be fun and enjoyable. The input has put my mind at ease about maths and has made me feel more confident is teaching this subject to children. When I go out on my placement, I want to find creative and fun ways to do maths to make the subject one that the children actually want to learn.]