Math with Money by Briana

Math with Money by Briana - October 2016 Scholarship Essay

How many students say they dread taking math? Math is one of those subjects that you either love or hate. Some would even say that they are great with math and others would say they are horrible with math. I am one of those students who would say I am horrible with math. However, I do ok with the subject and I would love to express why. So, if the roles were reversed, which academic subject would I teach? Math! Why? My mother has transformed my way of thinking about math and her method really helped me. Therefore, I would like to an opportunity to share my experience and knowledge with other students so that those who claim they are horrible with math will say that they are great with math.

When I was a freshman in High School, I was very stressed with my math class. I would tell my mom on a daily basis how I just hated math because it was so hard and I just wasn’t good at it. Finally, my mom came in my room with all this change and $1 bills. She started using money to apply certain concepts that equated to some of the problems that I had to do. She told me that for every problem that I did correctly, I would earn $1 and I would have to pay her $1 for every problem that I did incorrectly. She gave me $12 because I had 12 math problems that I had to do. Well, needless to say, I lost quite a bit of money that day. My mom told me that I had an opportunity to earn the money back and to also earn additional money until the end of the school year. The excitement I felt was indescribable. But that excitement manifested into determination. I was determined to earn this money. Here’s how I made so much money by the end of the school year!

I started asking my math teacher for extra help. My teacher would work with me after school two days a week. She also gave me practice problems and I did the problems over and over again. I found that repetition was one major key to succeeding in getting the problems correct. I used the internet to assist me with learning and also started a study group on Fridays. I was great in English and one of my friends was great with math. Therefore, we would have study sessions at my house on Fridays where I would assist her with English and she would assist me with math. My study group went viral within my core group of friends and within a month, it was nine of us attending the study sessions. The funny thing is out of my nine friends, only two of them were great with math! But, it really helped us all with the subjects we struggled with.

In conclusion, what I realized is that if you apply something interesting to a subject and make it fun, students may do better with the subject. If I were able to teach math, I would make it fun and also apply the same principle that my mom used with me but of course I would have to use monopoly money! But, I must say, we all did great our freshman year and I no longer hate math. I still have my struggles but I seek the help I need and apply the values that learned when I was a freshman. So, my philosophy is attach a $ sign to it and see how many students will apply themselves. After all, we are told to go to school to get a great education so that we are in a better position to have a prosperous career. When real life situations are applied to teaching methods, the information is much better received.