Among my favorite math teachers must be Ms. W, Prof H, and Prof A. Ms. W's class I enjoyed because she worked really hard to make the class fun. It was my senior year of high school and so she treated us as adults, but she also worked games into her class framework. It was a class that I could say without a doubt that I wanted to attend every day. Prof H and Prof A, whom I also liked just from their personalities, pushed us harder in class. They were the profs who gave us all the pieces and asked us to put it together ourselves in class, which was difficult but ultimately I felt like I had a much better handle on the material because of the practical experience in class.
On the other side of the spectrum, my least favorite math teachers all share one quality— solely lecturing without interaction with the class. I find that listening to a lecture for an hour or more gets extremely tiring and I lose focus. I don't learn the material very well nor do I end up finding it interesting. This is absolutely something that influences me as I teach and I try to educate in a way that is more engaging than a straight up lecture.
Minami, I like how you highlighted different strengths from your favourite teachers — Ms. W making class fun and engaging, and Profs H and A challenging you to piece things together yourself. You’ve shown real insight in noticing how those different approaches helped you both enjoy and deeply understand math. I also appreciate how you connected your frustration with lecture-heavy classes to your own teaching, making it clear you want to create something more interactive (as i saw in your group presentation this week too). That awareness of what works and what doesn’t will really shape your classroom in positive ways.
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