Math Reflection

Carter, C., Bishop, J., & Kravitz, S.L. (2011). Key to Effective Learning: Study Skills and Habits

Being the oldest of four children, it was always hard me to learn things fast. My parents weren’t able to help me with schoolwork because they both dropped out of school at a very young age. As I entered high school, I was terrified of all the hard classes I would be taking. Although I am not the best in every subject, a topic in which I have excelled in is Mathematics.

I used to excel in math, making over a 95 on all my report cards, passing every test, and understanding everything so clearly, while others struggled. In my junior year of high school, I started to burn out, and I couldn’t keep up in any classes, especially math. In fact, my junior year was the year I took Pre-AP Pre-Calculus. If I had only gotten the hang of it then, I wouldn’t be writing to you today. My senior year I tried my hand at AP BC Calculus. Because I did not completely understand Pre-calculus, I failed miserably in AP BC Calculus, and only barely passed for the year.

As those who love physics or chemistry, or biology, are most likely to understand difficult and complex concepts and be successful in their respective subjects, I became more successful at understanding mathematical concepts as my junior year progressed and as my senior year began. Calculus became an infinitely easier subject and one that I could comprehend with relative ease, even easier than traditionally “easy” subjects for me such as history or language arts. I learned that I could fly through problem sets and enjoy it, and for the first time in my school life, I was the one answering my peers’ questions instead of being the designated clueless classmate. Learning to love something that is so essential to life made me enjoy myself and my life more than I had previously, and I no longer felt the self-doubt of not being “gifted” in mathematics in a group of mathematically “gifted” students. I feel markedly more confident in my mathematical abilities, both presently and in the future as a student majoring in

A skilled teacher will also construct an appropriate classroom environment where students openly discuss, reflect on and make sense of tasks set before them (Clements et al, 1990). Through pedagogical constructivism (Noddings, 1990, p.14) I believe that in order to teach well, “we need to know what our students are thinking, how they produce the chain of little marks we see on their papers, and what they can do (or want to do) with the material we present to them (Noddings, 1990, p.15).” Through pedagogical constructivism, teacher should warrant the use of more effective diagnostic tools, such as understanding ways of thinking, methodical errors and misconceptions (Noddings, 1990, p.15). This is achieved by using an array of effective teaching strategies.

I have always been capable of grasping new ideas quickly, and so my academic career has been relatively smooth sailing for me. At least, until Calculus BC. This class is unlike any other I have taken; the level of difficulty I have found myself presented with is so unbelievably overwhelming for a person who has not felt truly challenged in years. For me to go from the comfort of the soft stars to the harsh reality of failing an exam was inconceivable. I have never felt more out of my comfort zone, and yet, at the same time, I have never felt more compelled to succeed.

First and foremost, I willed to be self-disciplined. I found motivation on focusing on the objective and its benefits. I restrained myself from deserting my studies just because I could acquire an ‘A’ easily. I scheduled late-nights with my textbook and laptop to comprehend the material, poring over countless examples and Khan Academy and Youtube videos. I refused to succumb to the temptation of just reading and centered on apprehending the material’s entirety. Though I encountered obstacles, such as tackling unknown

The class didn’t even feel very challenging from the course load so my issues baffled me. I finally realized the difficulty came from myself and how my work ethic, in terms of academics, needed a dramatic upgrade. I started studying my textbook outside of school on nightly, I found helpful online study tools I began using, and did practice tests and essays in my free time. I improved massively in history and my grades and success reflected this. I was even able to pass the AP test for the subject and attain college credit. I used this experience and these new tools in many classes during my junior year and felt I’d never struggle in a class again. This introduced me to AP Physics

One of strategies I have been using for many years of schooling for difficult subjects is instead of learning reactively, like only doing homework, assigned reading, group projects, etc learning proactively can reach much better

I printed out this email and I highlighted the answers we were to bubble in. However, once we began to bubble in the answers there was a problem. The overwhelming majority of the students did not know their address. This created a major problem because I was given only one paper with the students’ address. Thus, I had to spend the majority of the time helping students with their addresses. Around 10:50 Tammy Becker walked in and told my class that we were being too loud (I was doing my best helping students fill out their address). She said we were to start the test at 11:05 am. As a result, I made sure we did start the test at 11:05 am. At 11:05 am the students began testing. I followed everything we were instructed to do during the PSAT.

In this struggle, I explored different learning practices before homing in on the right tools for me. Repetition is my default approach to mastering new concepts. Repeating thousands of problem types, hundreds of practice tests and more than a few classes has brought me to a point where I better understand math and myself. Understanding my patterns of failure have helped me to build the persistence I need to be successful. In commiserating with my peers, they have discovered a variety of techniques. Reading, highlighting, recitation, practice tests and even tutoring work for other students. Distilled, the key interactions for learning are the ability to ask questions, to practice skills and to receive timely feedback.

Furthermore, I really need to pass this course because after spring 2016 I would no longer be able to attend college to finish my degree and I am so close to complete it. Only have two classes left Math 113 and Biology 105 that I am in enrolled in for spring 2016. I was told by the Financial Aid department that I only have an enough money left for those two classes and supplies. I would greatly appreciate it if you would look at my record here at John A. Logan College and reconsider my grade in this Math 062.

When creating the MATH 103 schedule, I was very intentional in getting the TA sessions somewhat “ahead” of due dates for the online assignments. During the end of last semester, in attempt to improve student engagement, I implemented this change of “being ahead” in one of the TA sessions. We experienced greater student participation, greater workbook completion, and increased scores. While I understand the changes that were made to the schedule, I would like (with your permission) to keep my TA sessions as I had previously scheduled with hopes of this making a difference.

Once I got to Northview, I chose, yet again, the more difficult path and decided to waived into AP Calculus AB. I knew (or at least believed I knew) next to nothing about algebra or pre-calculus, or any of the previous pre-requisites for AB, and so again I was absolutely lost struggling to catch up with all of the Northview kids (who all seemed to have a natural ease with mathematics anyway). My first semester in AB followed the exact same pattern from the previous 5 years in math classes, but something suddenly happened that allowed me to understand everything in the curriculum with ease and let me enjoy math for once. I cannot say it was a magical change in my brain chemistry or anything of that sort, so the only other possible answer is

The unit test covers material all from this unit. Students will be asked questions where they have to find the reference angles, conterminal angles, and quadrants from given angle. They also have to convert angles from radians to degrees or degrees to radians. They will also be asked for the exact values of trigonometric function. Students will be asked questions that require them to identify the amplitude, period, phase shift, and vertical shift of a trigonometric function and graph. Students should also be able to sketch the trig graph given an equation and create an equation based off the graph.