Monday, January 2, 2017

Life Of A Math Teacher: The (Math) Joke's On Me

The pun is a bit of a groaner, but when I ran across this little gem, I knew it was the perfect bag for me and my trusty math markers. 

Imagine me as a fairly feisty teenager. 

I know. Not that much of a stretch. 

But back in those days, as I pondered my place in the world, with specific regard to my college major, I knew two things for sure:

1. I would never be a mathematician like my father.
2. I would never be a teacher like my mom. 

So when the sirens of accounting and finance beckoned me, I followed, and felt smug satisfaction that - rather than trailing along in my parents' predictable footsteps - I had paved my own particular way in life.

Now, fast forward a few decades and the punch line gains momentum. Not only am I a teacher but I teach mathematics.

Yep. I managed to mash up both parents' professions into one, and claim it for my own. 

And what's even more preposterous, I love what I do. Can't imagine any work more deliciously challenging and soul-satisfying than breaking down the rules for exponents for some profoundly disinterested teenage students and eventually coaxing them into caring about what they've learned.

So yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it. Life is full of irony and when I look back on the stamping of my scrappy little teenage foot, I understand.

2 comments:

  1. The math joke was on me about the time my kids got to 3rd grade and I couldn't help them with their homework anymore! :) Love the bag!

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    1. Most self-defined math illiterates suffer from inusfficirntt teaching more than anything else. It's hard for a teacher who works with 30 students at a time to reach anyone except the most naturally gifted. Which leaves many perfectly capable math students feeling inadequate and ashamed. If you lived just a wee bit closer, I'd come over with my textbooks and help you gain your confidence!

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