Think about before reading: What do proof writing skills, and a knowledge in the history of mathematics do to help a preservice teacher be better prepared for teaching? Even courses such as: modern algebra, calculus, linear algebra, discrete mathematics.
Keep reading to find out because I never thought I would be able to make the connection and I would need to have a talk with the education department.
A student in the mathematics classes
After college I am pursuing to be a teacher in an elementary class. As a freshman coming into college I was told I needed to pick a major from: science, social studies, english, or mathematics. (There were more options, but not important to my journey.) I picked mathematics because it was my favorite subject in high school and I was the best at it. I was not concerened about the content I would get out of these classes because I was sure I wanted to be an elementary teacher. I was lucky to pinpoint my passion early.
I started out in calculus, which I had taken in high school, so my first college math class was a breeze. The structure in the class was perfect for me and was comparable to my high school calculus class. We learned the concepts and I took the tests. Calculus was very accessible to me, but when I started increasing in difficulty I would sometimes feel out of place. I was in these classes with people whose majors were only mathematics. I would be intimitdated because I was in education. However I soon learned this not to be the case. People can have access to mathematics, if they want to put in the proper work. Does not matter what title you have, put in the work and you will succeed. Success has different definitions to different people. Some people want to pass, which is completley fine. However, my success level was achieving the best letter grade, which I want to blame schooling for, but I am not sure that is fair. I really had to work hard, but I achieved it many times.
A student in mathematics education classes
I started off in a basic overall mathematics for teaching elementary course. I knew I was right where I needed to be by what we worked on and being able to work with the students. However, my definition of mathematics was challanged. At this time in my college career, I was the calculus student explained above.
In the class we discussed growth mindsets and focused on conceptual fluency rather than focus being on procedural fluency. In my calculus class I had set procedures with little conceptual understanding and that is how I preffered my math in the beginning. It was easy for me to use math as a puzzle, where I have to try and fit my numbers in, to work. However, in my first teaching elementary class, I was learning to teach it differently and how it benefited students. We discussed a growth mindset throughout the whole course, which means to be able to learn from mistakes and understand that if you want to work for something you will be able to achieve it. On the other side is a fixed mindset, which is where I had before college. A fix mindset is thinking everyone has a set intelligence and if you are smart then you will be able to achieve. I hope you can see how this can be dangerous in a classroom where we are trying to support students to learn. I found all of my teaching mathematics classes to be this way. I learned how to create an environment where students will be supported to make mistakes and take risks in order to solidify learning concepts in math.
Not only did I learn how to do this for my students, but I had to shift my thinking as well. In order to model a growth mindset, I needed to believe in it as well. I was always very scared to make mistakes, so it took a lot of effort, but I have only seen positve effects come from me adopting a growth mindset. It has allowed me to be the kind of successful I wanted to be in all of my courses and in life (I really liked to be perfect in all aspects of life)!
Connecting teaching mathematics & college mathematics courses
In my college mathematics courses I needed the growth mindset I learned through teaching mathematics classes. In the college math classes I had a lot of practice failing an learning from my mistakes, allowing me to see in personal experience how the growth mindset can be so powerful. My experience completing a mathematics major has helped me be better equipped to teach a classroom mathematics. College math is different than high school, here at Grand Valley I have expanded my way of thinking in order to be successful in mathematics. Mathematics inculdes creativity and perseverance. In the course entitled: The Nature of Modern Mathematics, we have been learning about the history of math, different big ideas in mathematics. I was able to see and understand the level of difficulty to "invent" or "discover" these ideas. It takes hard work, but the people who do mathematics know the work level they put in will produce results. Whether those results lead to failure and trying something else or success.
I feel prepared to invite young learners into the exciting world of mathematics, but it took the expansion of my critical thinking skills in my mathematics classes and teaching mathematics classes together to prepare me.
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