All stories start somewhere. My story starts twenty-five years ago on my first day of kindergarten. As I stepped off of that large, yellow bus and into a three story brick building my stomach turned into knots. Unlike many of my peers, my knots were not due to nervousness. I felt no empty pit of anxiety in my stomach, instead I marched through those doors and into the classroom I knew to be mine from orientation the week before. My teacher, a lovely woman I remember fondly to this day, greeted me with a smile, asked if I remembered where my cubby was located and told me to look for my name on my table. The beginning of my educational career began at a little hexagonal table with a smile, a new group of friends, and a fresh tub of blue PlayDoh.
Fast forward a decade and you have a teenager whose main goal in school was to be the best alto saxophone player in the marching band, and to keep a decent GPA while never doing a bit of homework. I am proud to say that I was able to be a slacker though out my elementary and middle school experience. My reading level was above many of my classmates and school just came naturally to me. I anticipated that highschool would be the same. In many cases it was. Reading and writing still came with great ease, I enjoyed social studies and biology, and I continually took a full load of electives along with my core classes. Band, French, Spanish, Culinary Arts, and even some computer classes found their way into my permanent record as time went on. By the time I graduated I had only taken one semester of study hall, and it was only due to the fact that it was the only class to fit into my schedule at the time. My parents would tell their friends and coworkers that I loved school, I flourished.
They were wrong.
Yes, school came easy to me. Yes, I had some AMAZING teachers who helped shape me into the person I am today. Yes, I liked school. Love, however, I did not love school. There was one big problem when it came to school.
Math class.
Math hated me. I wasn't overly fond of it. Basic arithmetic, sure, fine, I could handle that. 2+2=4, gotcha. No problems there. Even basic algebra. I could (usually) solve for x or y, but never both. Letters in math offended me. Letters were to create words, words were to be used to form sentences, sentences were to give life to ideas. I loved letters, letters loved me. What I kept asking myself was, if letters love me so much, then why are they found in my arch-nemesis? Why is the alphabet in my equations? Geometry made sense. I could do geometric proofs all day long. Angles, lines, even basic geometric formulas. Pythagorean theorem? Yes please. The ability to calculate the interest accrued on a savings account over the course of a business quarter if the APR is 2.69%? No, no, just, no.
I had decided at a young age, second grade in fact, that I wanted to go to pharmacy school and be a pharmacisit when I grew up. Unfortunately for me, math is a big part of chemistry, and chemistry is a huge part of pharmacy. I tried. I really did. I spent time in the math lab in college. Worked with a study group for chemistry. Had partners in physics. I still hated math.
That hatred kept me back.
That hatred was fear.
I eventually switched majors and completed my bachelors in English and moved on with my life. Who needs math? I could read, I could write. Surely I'd never need to bother myself with my rival again.
Then I had children. A daughter at first. We were so happy. She was perfect. Beautiful and smart. She picked up on things so quickly. Counting, letters, colors, shapes, you name it, she could learn it. As I watched her learn new things, and develop her own knowledge of the world, I realized what I really wanted from life. Up until this point, I kept my job as a pharmacy technician because I knew the job, it paid the bills, and the hours were flexible so I could spend time with my family. Now I had a goal in life. I selfishly wanted to watch as children made the same discoveries my daughter made on a daily basis. I wanted to not only watch, but help facilitate that AH-HAH moment as a new concept was learned. I wanted to teach.
Back to school I went. Back with that same knot in my stomach from almost two decades prior. Back with new pencils, new paper, and new ideas. I was home.
Unfortunately for me, my enemy was there as well. I wanted to be an elementary school teacher, to do this, I had to learn how to teach math. TEACH MATH? I couldn't LEARN math, much less TEACH it. Luckily for me, I had another teacher who was able to inspire me. Yet another person who was able to influence me and guide me along my life's journey. Math is taught differently than when I first learned it. Math makes sense to me now. I may go so far as to say I like math. Not love. Reading will always be my first love, but math and I can be friends and attend parties together now.
Why such a focus on math when I have titled this blog Literacy Around the Globe? Because I have redefined what literacy means to me. Yes, being literate still means being able to read and write. Yes, our goal as educators should be to create literate individuals who can (and hopefully love to) read and appreciate a basic (or more) piece of writing.
But, I have decided that literacy goes beyond the language arts block. A literate human being should have a good foundation in all aspects of schooling. They should be truly well rounded. I believe in multiple intellegences. I believe that everyone has their stronger subjects. But I also believe that it is my job as a teacher to help each and every student appreciate all of the disciplines a balanced education can offer.
To do this, I am studying not only how we teach our children, but also why we teach them these ways. My scope reaches across oceans and language barriers. Why do teachers teach one way in Britain, but another way in Japan. How is education in India based verses how do they do it in Finland. My hope is to combine the best practices from around the world and bring it home. Help my students learn the best way possible, and hopefully fill the shoes of some of my best teachers, and become one of them myself.
No comments:
Post a Comment