We had our maths input with Tara this week and I think it was good. She spoke about the stigma surrounding maths and about peoples attitude towards maths. It was interesting to get other peoples perspective about how they felt about maths. I personally don’t mind maths although I do find it difficult I enjoy the challenge, I also like that idea that there is a right answer. In terms of teaching maths I’m not overly worried because before I do a specific lesson I will have done extra research and done lots of problems in my own time. I only have a standard grade maths qualification but I don’t feel like this will be an issue as long as I continue to work on it. I completed the NOMA to see how much maths I still remember and I got 64% which I was happy with, its not too bad but it also gives me room for improvement. I think it important to remember that I don’t need to be a maths genius to teach maths well.
I want to make sure that I engage the pupils in maths and it doesn’t seem like a chore for them. Its important that the pupils have a good attitude towards maths and for that to happen I need to have a good attitude towards maths.
Im not sure that the input offered us much advice about how to actually teach a maths lesson, it was really more about us looking at how we think and feel about maths. I think tara also wanted to get rid of some peoples anxiety surrounding maths in general. I think we will learn more about how to teach the actual subjects when we are on placement rather than in tutorials. It does feel a little like we are walking in blind to placment but I’m sure the class teacher will offer help and support. Im looking forward to the challenge.
