Introductions are a Must

Hi class! My name is Melissa Andersen. I am from Logan, UT. In the event that you missed the title which occurs at the top of this blog, I am majoring in Secondary Mathematics Education. My minor is School Library Media, which means that I would either love to eventually become a math teacher or a school librarian. I love to read books, play the piano, and watch old movies in my spare time. I also enjoy sleeping and eating ice cream. I definitely prefer vanilla over chocolate. An interesting fact about me that few people know is that I love rocks, and I own my very own rock collection, which is continually growing (even though rocks don't really grow :).

In the beginning of my college career, I had no idea what I wanted to do or become. I had always kind of wanted to be a teacher, but I didn't know what subject I wanted to teach. I was good at math during middle school and high school, and did well in all the math courses I took during those years. So, after my first year at the university, I finally put the two together and decided on this major. I honestly don't know why I like math so much. I think I like it mainly because I love solving puzzles. I love working on a problem, even to the point of frustration. And then, when I solve that problem, the feeling of satisfaction that I figured it all out is so worth it!

And allow me to put a small plug-in for school librarians at this point. They can help you all so much as secondary education teachers! They are highly involved with the literacy aspect which we will be focusing on in this class, as well as the research skills that students need in the world today. Collaborate with them, and you will be amazed at what they can help you to accomplish with your students. This is something that I am very passionate about, so don't be surprised if you hear more comments like this in the future. :)

Mathematics to me is a rich language of numbers, dealing with their values and the manipulation of their values. I feel that mathematics can be as difficult to learn as a foreign language would be to learn. Some people learn the "language" of mathematics a lot quicker than other people do, and not all people like to "speak" the language of mathematics. Mathematics is also a great discipline to me because there can only be so many answers to a problem or question. In this aspect, mathematics is quite absolute - there is usually only one right answer. It is easy to tell if you have worked a problem correctly or not; I love that set structure.

I want to teach math to students because I want them to know that they can learn something that is difficult. Math will come easily to some students, and not so easily to other students. I want to be able to teach and help all of my students to have confidence in themselves. It may take a lot of work to understand the use of variables in algebra, but I want to be a main support for those students as they struggle and eventually achieve an understanding of math. I definitely am not the smartest mathematician out there; I have to get help from my classmates from time to time in my upper-division math courses here at the university. I think that those types of experiences have been very humbling for me because I will be able to understand the frustration and overwhelming feelings that my future students experience as they stumble through their homework.

I hope and anticipate that this class and you, my classmates, will be able to help me understand and improve my teaching methods, implement literacy into my future courses, and aid the learning of my future students.