The Importance of Foundation

When I went into teaching seven years ago, I did not know (even with the education degree) exactly what it meant to be a teacher.  I am hoping that I will never truly know what it is to be a teacher, but I do like having a better idea about it at this time.

As a math teacher, I am really an architect, building manager, construction worker, and psychotherapist.  As an architect, I design my lessons, assessments, tutoring sessions, and the like with a clear goal in mind; that goal is NOT having students pass an End of Course Exam.  Instead, that goal is to get the students to the point that they can perform well in a mathematical environment.  If they can do this, then any test should be a piece of cake to pass.

I am a building manager because I oversee everything that is done throughout the mathematics department (and science department for that matter).  At my current school, the person who teaches the highest level of the subject is the "department head;" since I teach AP Calculus AB and AP Physics B, I am technically the head of both the math and science department.  As such, I oversee all of the other math and science teachers, making sure that the overall design is kept in mind as teachers do their jobs.

I am a construction worker because I sit in the trenches everyday and slowly build the knowledge of students and help them hone there skills.  The key to this, in my experience, is providing students with a solid foundation to build themselves up from.  For example, I refuse to teach the ever popular FOIL method for multiplying binomial expressions because I view it as a crutch that makes it more difficult for students to have success when they reach multiplying true polynomials.  The stronger the foundation, the less chance that the house will crumble in a storm.

Finally, I am a psychotherapist because I continually council students out of their fear of mathematics.  As the title of this blog indicates, mathematics is art.  It is a wonderfully beautiful collage of logic, problem solving, poetry (yes, I said poetry), and images.  I am happy to say that many of my students have seen the beauty of mathematics.

In short, I am a teacher... and I am always looking to improve.