As a pupil, I generally enjoyed maths as a subject. Although I didn’t find it particularly easy, I found joy in the achievement of working out a problem and finding the answer and experimenting with different ways of solving a problem, figuring out what worked best for me. As I worked my way through school, maths progressively got harder however I was always blessed with very good teachers who made the subject enjoyable and took the time out to provide support and guidance if I needed it. This however all turned around when I reacher Higher maths in 5th year of high school. The huge leap from National 5 was overwhelming for me and on top of this, my teacher changed and I ended up with a teacher who had little patience for people who didn’t catch on straight away, and only provided one way of explaining something. This was very difficult for me, however I feel that it has had a positive effect as I have learned what affected me in a negative way as a pupil, and what affected me in a positive way, and therefore I look to carry this experience forward when teaching younger pupils myself.
Category Archives: UoDEdushare
Managing my Learning
Teacher Ambition
When leaving school, I never had a clear path like a lot of my friends did. I always felt lost, unable to pinpoint what my future would be. I tried a few different things; different college courses, working full-time and coaching. However the only thing I was ever really interested in was coaching gymnastics. I decided to do as much coaching as I could whilst also still working a full time job for income. When it came to Christmas 2017, I realised that I was becoming too comfortable and not exploring to discover myself and what i wanted to do with my future. I decided i wanted to venture out of my comfort zone and step away from what I always knew.
The next step for me was a journey away, meeting new people and discovering and experiencing new things. I traveled to the USA on my own to take part in the Americamp programme. This changed my whole persona. I gained more confidence, and skills than I knew I was capable of.
After this trip I knew I had more to offer than what I had been spending my time doing, I realised that I needed to stop being scared and challenge myself again.
I still wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to be my next challenge, but I spent some time thinking and the more I thought, the more I realised how rewarding it was, when on camp in the US, helping the children develop insane amounts of skills over a period of time and watching it unfold. I saw children turn from shy, anti-social individuals, to making heaps of friends and going out of their comfort zones to try a lot of new activities; from swinging on the trapeze, to gaining the confidence to stand up in front of the whole camp and sing on a microphone.
Having the opportunity to help these young people to develop and grow was something that I knew was special. I knew it was something that I wanted to continue doing and could do well. That’s when the idea came to me…. teaching.
