The Hawthorne Math Counts Club Research Paper

As I look back on my prepubescent years, I remember failing a difficult math test in the fourth grade. I was extremely disheartened. It was one of the hardest tests of the year, but I was determined to pass with flying colors. I had put my utmost effort into solving each of the problems, and I had even studied for days in advance.

As an extracurricular program our school extends our knowledge by having a program called electives. The school offers art, sport stats, comic creation, The Number Devil, P.E, coding, and Puzzle Solving. One of the electives that helps you in math is The Number Devil. The Number Devil is a book that talks about a boy named Robert that always had terrible dreams. Each Wednesday, your group and you will have a conversation about the dreams you read about. Then our math teacher, will help us understand the math concept that we read about. At the end of the book, you start to learn things that you will learn next year. The Number Devil is a great book, and you will learn numerous of things.

In the past few years I have faced many challenges. The major challenge I faced in the year 2017 was the passing of my Father. He passed in a very stressful and busy part in my life, and it was very hard to focus on my school work, volleyball team, and job. As difficult as that situation was I have learned to persevere through the hardest of times. I now can push through any situation and face any challenge that comes my way, whether that be academic or in life.

The biggest challenge for me this year was doing my work thoroughly. While on the surface this may seem like something that should be easy, for me it was the first year I was really unable to get away with only giving 75% effort on my work. The assignment that really got me to understand this was an active reading assignment we had early in the school year. When we got into class we were told to define the word “affectation”. While I had read over the article I had not taken the time to define every word and got a 0/5. This assignment was my abyss because of the fact that I missed points that I could have easily received had I spent just another 30 seconds to completely finish my homework. The majority of my challenges occurred after my abyss. A major challenge for me came in my writing. At the beginning of the year I did not realize how important it was to truly stick to the writing process and take time with my writing. In past years I had been able to get away with occasionally drifting off topic during my writing and it took me a while to understand how exactly to approach a paper. Throughout the year I went through a transformation in my writing. After a few writing assignment I began to understand how to approach a paper and my writing has grown since. This year in humanities has left me with a gift. Through Humanities I learned a couple things that I will take away with me and use not just for the rest of highschool but for the rest of my life. One thing I took away was how to approach my work. When facing a large assignment it is important to not be intimidated and procrastinate starting your work. While the first few days of such an assignment can be challenging if you focus and knock out parts of the assignment slowly and concisely the end result of your work will be much better and your last few days doing the assignment will be far less

in high school some challenges did approach me, I did not let myself down and I was determined

However, I learned very quickly that I could not rely only on my natural talent. Although, I did achieve my goal, I was not satisfied with the end result. Determined to be successful in the activity I loved, I came to understand that the amount of effort I invested in this activity should correspond with my natural ability. The next year, I worked relentlessly on researching and memorizing. Free time was spent on practicing in my room for hours. Ultimately, my efforts resulted in two state medals and hopefully I will be able to return to the state tournament later this year as a senior and be awarded, yet again, a state champion title.

Over the course of human events, men and women of all ages fought and worked relentlessly to better their lives and their families' lives as well. Despite the arduous efforts, each and every one of those people ended up or will end up exactly the same: buried six feet under the ground. Life and death are the largest eventualities to happen to humans as a whole, yet most sentient beings, particularly humans, are afraid of death, due mainly to the natural fear of the unknown. "Numbers" by Mary Cornish seems to beg the question of what does it mean to truly be alive. Being alive is to expand horizons and to feel what life has to offer or simply to be happy, but in layman's terms, life is more than just being born, surviving and finally dying.

A significant challenge I have faced in my life was when I went through survival training during the summer of 9th grade when I was apart of a military youth program known as the California Cadet Corps. Known as the hardest feat in the program, Cadets who enlist in it must survive 5 days in the woods without food, water or shelter accompanied 3 strangers in order to receive one of the highest honors, the red beret. Though at first the task sounds lively, it quickly transforms into a living nightmare where one must endure hunger, cold nights, and grueling feelings of regret and homesickness that nearly made me pick up the security radio given to us and say the shameful words, I quit. If not for the group of daring individuals alongside me,

I am writing with the intention of describing the math skills that I acquired prior to taking the Math 2414 course. I further intend to explain how my previous math skills have helped me to succeed in the calculus II course. As I intend to pursue a career as an electrical engineer, the Math 2414 course has provided me with skills that I will need in order to succeed in many of my future science courses, as well as in my career as an engineer.

Everyone goes through a challenge at some point in their life. I went through a challenge last year at the beginning of my freshman year attending Foothills Christian High School. Last year, my freshman year I did not know anybody starting the school year. This made me super nervous to start high school. I was also concerned about the three days a week at school and two days homeschool. One of my challenges was going to school and parts of that challenge was not knowing anybody starting school, having to go to school on three days a week instead of five, and not knowing the campus well.

Math 201 has taught me a variety of mathematical concepts that will be useful in my teaching career. This course was very interactive and for that reason have a better understanding of how to teach math to children. Before taking this course, my primary approach to teaching math was rote memorization as I was taught this way. After taking math 201, I have come to understand that this approach is not highly effective at all; that children who are taught this way end u missing out on important concepts. I have learned the theory behind memorizing by repetition is the more you go over a particular bit of information, the easier it is to recall. But create weaknesses as children work their way though school, they may be memorizing information

At the beginning of the year, I had a major winter that I was faced with. I felt like I could not overcome the challenge. The challenge that I am referring to is attending the Star Academy Program. I was intimidated. I felt that I would not be able to succeed. I just knew that the work was going to be extremely hard. Now that I am in the program, I have found that it's not like I thought it was going to be. It is actually pretty interesting and the teachers there are good listeners. The help they provide is exceptional.

Maths is ubiquitous in our lives, but depending on the learning received as a child it could inspire or frighten. If a child has a negative experience in mathematics, that experience has the ability to affect his/her attitude toward mathematics as an adult. Solso (2009) explains that math has the ability to confuse, frighten, and frustrate learners of all ages; Math also has the ability to inspire, encourage and achieve. Almost all daily activities include some form of mathematical procedure, whether people are aware of it or not. Possessing a solid learning foundation for math is vital to ensure a lifelong understanding of math. This essay will discuss why it is crucial to develop in children the ability to tackle problems with initiative and confidence (Anghileri, 2006, p. 2) and why mathematics has changed from careful rehearsal of standard procedures to a focus on mathematical thinking and communication to prepare them for the world of tomorrow (Anghileri).

Mathematics has always been a difficult subject for students. Many children have developed phobias and barriers towards mathematics, which prevail into adulthood, thus limiting their potential. This limitation implies problems of learning, resulting in the child a sense of inferiority.

The past learning experience that I found difficult was a speech assignment at high school when I was 14 years old. It wasn’t just the presenting but the process of researching and having to write a 30-minute speech for an internal English assignment. I found it hard and it ended with me failing.