Maths has always been a subject I have associated with anxiety and fear. During my time at school maths always filled me with dread and I used to get myself worked up about going to it. I feel one of the reasons why I did not enjoy maths was the teaching style. The teacher would always go around the room and make everyone answer maths questions. This type of teaching did not suit me at all I needed time to think and process what was being asked of me.
When I arrived at university and there was maths on my timetable I thought, oh no!! However the maths input really surprised me and also comforted me to see how many students teachers also shared my anxiety about maths and how nervous they felt about teaching maths. I was shocked to find out that one of the reasons why so many people have anxiety about maths is due to the way they were taught it in school. This then made me think, how will I reduce these feelings of anxiety make maths fun and exciting for my pupils?
From my personal experience I feel I did not enjoy maths because it was very much read out the text book. However I do remember one maths lesson in primary school. We were doing measurement and it had been snowing, our class teacher took us outside and we built snowmen and then measured how tall they were. To this day I still know how many feet are inches etc as I can relate it back to the snowmen. I believe that by making maths more interactive and fun increases the chance of children not feeling so stressed and anxious about maths.
I feel its so important for children to have a concrete knowledge of maths and have confidence in their ability. Maths is in everyday life and also evident across the curriculum. It is heavily evident in subjects such as science and technology however it also appears in other subjects such as; geography for map work and history for timelines. One way I feel can be beneficial for securing a child’s mathematical knowledge is having them explain the solution to you. It is important for children to get the correct answer. Having the ability however to understand how they got to that answer and being able to do it again is when you know if they have really understood what you have taught them.
In my personal opinion, in order to change this perspective of maths I feel we have to make maths more interactive and creative. Instead of a child just reading out of text book and answering the questions actually put maths into action. If your studying measurement ask the children to measure something, if your doing fractions use plasticine and make pizza’s and get the children half their pizzas. A child will always remember more when they have something to relate it to, like myself with the snowman. There will be times in maths when it is just a case of using the textbook but when you can bring your maths lesson to life. Maths is such a crucial part of life and it is so important for everyone to have confidence within their maths ability.
