I consider myself an academic and good at school. I have a knack for it – for understanding how to succeed in academics. I am also a good test taker. One of the things I was looking forward to when I heard we had two courses in Mathematics was learning math. I know we were really learning how to teach math better, but I want to learn more math. I love it when the material just begins to blow my mind. Then I realize how something works or the teacher explains the last little piece. The moment it all comes together and I gain mathematical power is one of my favorite things.
But, we aren’t really learning math per se. Instead we are learning how to inspire our students to learn. We are learning things like, “Care about the kids and teach them how to care for each other;” respect the kids; empathize with their emotions and their problems.
The most valuable thing I’ve learned has been more something of confirmation. Our teaching – especially elementary teachers – should be interdisciplinary. The most obvious example involves math and science. These two subjects are like Siamese twins. Sure we can learn in abstraction about science and math, but it is almost impossible to pass chemistry without learning how to do the mathematical basics of chemistry.
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