Before? After? Well, both. by Glenda

Before? After? Well, both. by Glenda - August 2016 Scholarship Essay

It might seem that speeding through a course sequence doesn’t give one enough time to really learn or appreciate the subject. However, going forwards, backwards, and sideways in math made me look at the subject from all different viewpoints – of the honors student, the struggling student, the teacher, and the magician.

I finished Calculus BC in tenth grade and then went back to be a teacher’s assistant. Being an in-class tutor for Algebra 1 took me back to middle school when math started to become my playground. As I tutored students in my grade and older, I saw that for some, the obstacle was less their ability than the way math was presented. Sometimes the math didn’t make sense the way the teacher explained it, so I used student language or switched the method, and – aha- it clicked. If that didn’t work, then I had to think of four other new ways to say the same thing. My mind was dancing between angles different from how I had originally understood algebra. It is really intriguing to investigate how people think – which parts trip them up, why those topics are confusing, and how to work around that. I like to draw analogies, starting with a simple equation from months ago, then adding pieces to show that what looks like a complex mess of symbols and exponents is really similar to what they already know.

Grading exams helped me review math and notice where the most common pitfalls were, so that the teacher and I could see where to help students. Especially in calculus, students often look at a question and don’t know where to start. I like to tell them that we are translating words into equations and using a certain technique as simply a tool to build a bridge from the problem to the solution.

What is teaching? What is learning? In all the levels ranging from remedial to AP, the teacher has a responsibility to get students to “solve” rather than just “do.” It may hurt to have to assign a grade of 62%, but better to give a low grade and demand actual understanding, rather than let the whole class finish with A’s without comprehending the subject matter.

That means that each homework question needs to be purposeful and not just “busy work.” In assembling problem sets for my math team, I learned to judge which problems were really worth doing, which ones were basic but necessary technique repetition, or which ones were just too time-consuming and possibly discouraging. Now, although I am not taking a specific class, I flip through the calculus textbook and I can pick out questions for myself to solve. Being the lesson-writer also allowed me the freedom and fun of sharing new, weird topics with the group, since learning restricts itself to no set curriculum.

It’s not easy being a teacher (or a student). To be a teacher, one must think like a student; to be a student, one must learn well enough to able to teach. Learning isn’t linear. It goes around in loops and zigzags, combining the old with the new.