What, Or Who, Inspired You To Become A Maths Teacher? By Jacob Jones
Maths has always been something that I got along with and enjoyed. However, if you were to ask me 5 years ago what I wanted to do, admittedly, being a maths teacher wasn’t high on the list. My inspiration to become a math teacher started when I took my GCSE’s, where I had a motivational teacher who put in the time to help the whole class succeed. I remember distinctly the way she would find rules in maths, such as the cosine rule by making it as engaging as possible. From making us create math rule books, practicing rearranging equations with whiteboard pens on tables, and most importantly, applying maths to the real world. This helped me see maths in a new light where I went on to take it with further at sixth form.
The hardest part of sixth form for me was how fast the challenge increased. With the guidance and demonstrations of my teachers, this helped with the tough content, which made the challenge become enjoyable. Throughout my time at sixth form, I had been taught by great teachers, who ensured to make each lesson interesting and engaging. One part in maths I struggled with was mechanics, and without my teacher’s guidance and pedagogy I would not have succeeded. I remember when teaching things such as polar coordinates, we spent a lesson looking at different types of funky graphs on desmos, and how they change with variables. With collisions in mechanics, I remember our teacher demonstrating examples in the textbook with a tin of soup, which helped our understanding of each type of question.
When it came to the end of sixth form, my teacher helped me decide what I wanted to do after sixth form. I’d always wanted to help people in some way, and my teacher explained about getting into teaching. So, I went to university and did my undergraduate in maths. One of the interesting things at university, was the different types of virtual learning environments there are in maths, which I explored in my final year.
As it comes to the end of the first term, it is a good time to reflect on the journey. When teaching topics to classes, I still remember demonstrations that were given to me at my time at school and try to reflect this in my practice. Overall, my time at school and university has helped me get into teaching, by seeing the application of mathematics and seeing dedication to help people succeed. As I begin my teaching career, this is something I aim to do, as my teachers did, which made me achieve my best.
By Jacob Jones
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