Why am I choosing math? That is a very good question and one that I get asked all the time. Every time I went into a high school or middle school classroom to observe and teach, I got the question "You're choosing to be here?" Yes. Every time, yes. I love math and have made the decision for myself that whatever it is I do with the rest of my life, math will be apart of it.

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My love for math probably has been around for awhile without me even knowing. I didn't really embrace my love for this subject until the end of my junior year. I had always been good at math and it had always been fairly easy for me. Except for the times that it wasn't. I clearly remember back in 6th grade, the dreaded back table. It was only a kidney bean shaped table that sat in the back of the room, but if you didn't understand the math lesson after it was taught you could choose to go back to that table and the teacher would be there for guidance. Knowing that I was good at math, I felt stupid if I ever went back there. However, the day we started algebra was a different story. I had no clue what was going on, so I mustered up some courage and walked to that back table to get help. No, it wasn't that terrible. The next time that I vividly remember struggling in math was 8th grade. We had just started factoring and I understood the concept, but I couldn't do mental math fast enough to come up with the answers. My classmates were geniuses and came up with the answers what seemed like almost instantly. I again didn't feel very smart.

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Well, the past is behind us and believe it or not if someone were to ask me what my favorite math concept is, I would quickly tell them factoring. I love it that much. It was after the dreaded year of geometry that I started to find a groove in math again. It was never a class that I hated attending, but it was never anything special either. It was just math. This changed in 11th grade, though. I took a pre-calculus class junior year and fell in love. Although to this day I hate graphing, the class itself and all the other math was amazing. Also, it is never a bad day when you finally understand something. In fact, I understood it so well that I received over 100% on my final in that class. That boosted my confidence just enough to make me realize I wanted to do something with math for a career. Having that I had always wanted to be a teacher, I put the two together and decided on high school math teacher.

 

So yes, I may be a little bit crazy, but I embrace the craziness. As a senior, I am taking AP Statistics and I love it just as much as pre-calc. The teacher that I have had for the last two years has helped me to really see that math is my calling. Her positivity and passion for math has impacted my life in so many wonderful ways and for that I am thankful. So you can ask me a thousand times if I am choosing to be in a math classroom for the rest of my life and I will tell you a thousand times over, YES.