Name: Susan Thomas
Building: MS
Years Experience: 17
Current Position: 8th grade Pre-Algebra and Algebra 1
Rewards have appeared in many forms over these past years. They have been smiles, cards, thank you notes, gifts, etc. however, the greatest reward I have received, may be the realization that sharing my story with students about my fear of math has become a motivator for students with similar fears. This reward has been very personal and life changing for me.
About 7 years ago I realized that teaching math was a vocation chosen for me, not by me. I have known that being able to solve equations was a great skill, but it was overcoming the fear associated with learning math that has given me skills to have a better life, and a desire to be a better teacher than I was in the past. If I can pass this skill on to a student, then I feel deeply rewarded, perhaps more so than if that student mastered equation solving!
Teaching has made me a constant student. I have learned to accept that I can not change what students bring into the classroom, but I can affect what they leave with. If my efforts are going to make a difference to anyone, I have to be the one to change. Learning new techniques for delivery of concepts has become a new hobby for me. It is tough to change old habits, yet the rewards are many when I see the difference in a student's confidence level as they overcome some of those fears associated with learning. My reward will always be the knowledge that some students leave the middle school with a new level of confidence towards learning math.
I would change the way that we require students to progress through the educational process, so that their individual strengths, talents, and abilities are developed and utilized to the benefit of the student and society