I really liked maths, and i was really good at it. I just liked other subjects more so didn't take it beyond GCSE, i got A's, and started with A*'s but I liked messing around a bit too much so my grade fell.
I think maths is a basic life skill, like reading and writing and hated it when others kids would be like "whhhyyy? when am i ever going to need X and Y or algebra" surprisingly you need maths in a quite a lot of things.
I used to do long sums to calm myself down because it's consuming and an avenue for OCD perfectionism - very nice.
My teacher in 5th and 6th year was very good, but my 2nd and 3rd year teacher wasn't. He'd assume that if some people understood something then everyone must understand it, and he'd move on. And if you were one of the people that didn't understand, he'd assume you were being lazy. My 5th/6th year teacher would actually sit with someone having trouble and patiently explain things to them. I've always believed that a class is only as good as its worst student, and she evidently agreed because she always took the time to bring the slower students (like me) up to speed, which my 2nd/3rd year teacher would never do.
I don't think it matters what subject you teach, it's your approach to teaching that counts. A good teacher can make a subject that some people find boring (like maths) at least somewhat bearable, and a bad teacher can suck the life out of an enjoyable subject.
This.
There are bad teachers in every school teaching every subject. And of course whether or not you find them bad may depend on whether or not it is just a case of clashing learning styles or if it comes down to a personal dislike.
Maths is a subject that is never properly explained in my experience. I'd ask "why is that?" and be told "because that's the way it is", which wasn't helpful. But then I also experienced that in chemistry and geography.
I loved maths at school as a subject. I still do enjoy it, actually, I just don't do it very often since it isn't my degree and geography is only statistics really. I had a wonderful teacher for GCSE and a lovely teacher before that. My GCSE teacher got me through those two years, seriously. She was amazing. Then for A level I had a teacher that I hated. He was terrible (well, he was nice enough and okay, I guess but some personal issues got in the way and I disliked him intensely because of it) so I didn't do so well and I've been annoyed about it every since.
Originally Posted by Isoverity I always have a need to know "why" to do something and not just "what" to to do. Maths teachers more than others will tell students what to do but are bad at explaining the why of it. .
this!!
I always needed to know why too and no one ever told me! I did fine in primary school but back in the dark ages it was really mostly arithmetic. length and weight in primary school with a little algebra at the end of P.7 which I loved. Did not too badly in 1st, 2nd and 3rd year maths in secondary school but really struggled in 4th year. The teacher told my mum I had reached a plateau and wouldn't learn any more which did wonders for my confidence! NOT! In 4th year I sat beside one of the brightest girls the school had ever had. The teacher stood at the front teaching and she quietly translated everything he said to me in words I could understand. Bless her! I passed my O Level in spite of the teacher's predictions but had no confidence to even think of attempting Higher Maths. I like to try some maths now just to see if I could undertand it.
Also just out of interest, many people have said they didn't have great maths teacher, was it just maths teachers that weren't very good? Or other subjects as well? Also why don't you think they were very good? Sorry i'm slightly nosy and just wondering :)
Nope most of my teachers in high school were only there to get a paycheck and never cared much about helping me out. The only teacher I had that ever really cared about her students and would work with us to better understand was my English teacher. In middle school the teachers were always willing to help us out and they always told us they were prepairing us for high school which was utter bs since once I got into high school the teachers didn't help at all and basically gave us the work and said do it. So if you didn't understand it than you were screwed. That was one of the reasons why we had one of highest drop out rates in our state.
“I didn't want to wake up. I was having a much better time asleep.
And that's really sad. It was almost like a reverse nightmare,
like when you wake up from a nightmare you're so relieved.
I woke up into a nightmare.”
― Ned Vizzini
One of my main problems with math was that one teacher would teach me a certain way to get the answer yet another teacher would tell me that was the wrong way to do it and would show me another way which honestly just got so confusing and ridiculous.
“I didn't want to wake up. I was having a much better time asleep.
And that's really sad. It was almost like a reverse nightmare,
like when you wake up from a nightmare you're so relieved.
I woke up into a nightmare.”
― Ned Vizzini
I had some rubbish teachers and some good teachers at school (in fact one in my primary school was amazing). But 90% of the maths I know I have self-taught. And I come from a very maths/science-oriented family: my dad has a PhD in Civil Engineering, my mum has a degree in Accounting and Eastern European Economics, and some other members of my family work in various fields like architecture, engineering, economics etc....
I was introduced to maths at a very young age. By the time I was 3 years old I understood well the concept of numbers, and by the time I was 4 I could do simple arithmetic. I knew all my times tables up to 15 x 15 by the time I was around 5 or 6 years old.
My favourite bit was when I was 10 years old and my dad introduced me to calculus in a Chinese restaurant on a piece of paper :)
PM me if you want a PDF copy of the ICD-10or the Mental Health Act 1983/2007. I ALSO HAVE THE DSM-V BOOK and am a pharmacology student.
I have a visual impairment / neurological problems so I need people to type in clear text and no funny fonts. Also excuse any typos, my vision blocks things out.
I have autism and have problems communicating, PMs included.
Just becasue I type well doesn't mean I speak well. I am only part time verbal.
Thankyou for all your replies on your teachers! I am appalled at some teachers. They should be there to help the students no matter what their ability, and their paycheck. I completely understand the needing to know 'why' not just 'what' I am like that too :P I had amazing maths teachers, especially my further maths one now. I actually spend most of my spare time with him... I guess I have had bad teachers but I always thought it was due to me disliking the subject in general!
Have you ever looked fear in the face and said "I just don't care"?
Like most people here I generally need to know "why" too, but I make an exception for maths. I'm surprised more people don't, because with maths, the answer is "because it's basically a law of the universe." Maths doesn't need a reason to exist, it just does.
Hate maths with a passion! I struggled with maths right from the start. Had extra lessons in primary school but never helped. Secondary school was even worse. Teachers just didn't give a damn! I was put on Report card for maths by teachers just because they thought i was naughty, but infact they never understood why i just sat there doing nothing. To this day i have no ability in maths. Can't do simple maths, even adding up simple change is a challenge to me. Sometimes i wish teachers took me seriously.
Hate maths with a passion! I struggled with maths right from the start. Had extra lessons in primary school but never helped. Secondary school was even worse. Teachers just didn't give a damn! I was put on Report card for maths by teachers just because they thought i was naughty, but infact they never understood why i just sat there doing nothing. To this day i have no ability in maths. Can't do simple maths, even adding up simple change is a challenge to me. Sometimes i wish teachers took me seriously.
you're defantly not alone in that... I am (hopfully) starting to tutor a functional skills class soon, and some of the students who I have met so far can't count at all (some also can't read or write but I will be mainly working within the numercy side of things - I'm sure anyone who's seen my spelling can guess why lol). Some didn't go to school at all, but others were just basically ignored, put on report, deemened "disruptive", etc. and so never got taught anything...
Sorry to hear that :( which year's paper did you do? I was one mark away from Round 2 the last time I did it, grr (I did the Round 1 paper).
PM me if you want a PDF copy of the ICD-10or the Mental Health Act 1983/2007. I ALSO HAVE THE DSM-V BOOK and am a pharmacology student.
I have a visual impairment / neurological problems so I need people to type in clear text and no funny fonts. Also excuse any typos, my vision blocks things out.
I have autism and have problems communicating, PMs included.
Just becasue I type well doesn't mean I speak well. I am only part time verbal.
Like most people here I generally need to know "why" too, but I make an exception for maths. I'm surprised more people don't, because with maths, the answer is "because it's basically a law of the universe." Maths doesn't need a reason to exist, it just does.
I slightly disagree :) I think maybe instead of 'why' its more 'where it comes from'. For example I could never understand any equation unless I knew how someone had found that equation; the 'why' behind the equation. I had to work out why a^2 + b^2 = c^2 otherwise I wouldn't understand. Mostly though our maths teacher, as an activity, would get us to work out the equation before he gave it to us (like the quadratic equation). But I can see why for many people it may be easier just to accept that is the answer, how you do it and so move on :) I do agree Maths is the law of the universe though :P
Oly, I did the 2010 paper :) I didn't do to badly, but i didn't make it to round 2. Oh that is a shame :( but you did really well to be 1 mark off, have you entered again since? What paper did you do? I think you can pay to enter round 2 if you really wanted can't you? I'm not entirely sure though :)
Have you ever looked fear in the face and said "I just don't care"?
i did not like maths did not seem to be good at it, passed it by the skin of my teeth.
“Never lose faith in yourself,
and never lose hope;
remember, even when this world throws its worst and then turns its back,
there is still always hope.”
I've never admitted it before, aside from to my mum, but I have the maths skills of a three year old. I had a mixture ofgood and bad teachers, I learnt my times tables every year but could not remember them past a day or two and could not understand them. I can just about add up and subtract. That's it.