Math Challenges

Post date: Apr 10, 2018 12:54:22 AM

Kissmark S. Bendo, TI-BNHS

Teaching is never easy. Teaching is a noble profession and that’s why it means years of practice and years of finding the teaching strategies that would be perfect for the diverse learners. Suffice it to say, that when the word ‘teaching’ and ‘Mathematics’ are put together, one has to be really ready.

Teaching Mathematics is not a piece of cake. The problem lies from cognitive difficulties to lack of teaching strategies.

For others, the difficulty of learning it has been a cliché. Almost all of the young students I knew have a stigma about the subject. They fear numbers. They fear equations. They hate finding the meaning of the ever present ‘x.’ They find it hard to spend half an hour in solving mathematical equation. All of these preconceptions have actually added up to the burden that a Mathematics teacher has to carry every day. Of course, it is hard to make students learn a subject if they already preluded that it is not their cup of tea.

Also, one of the struggles that I have also encountered is the differences of students’ learning styles. Not all of the children can understand a mathematical concept by just one explanation. Some are easy to catch up while others have to struggle understanding the concept at hand. It is also congruent to the students’ problem of having patience. Patience, as one says, is a virtue—and it is true especially in the world of numbers and figures. It emanates from the intrinsic desire to achieve something even if that means working an extra mile. As a teacher, that is what I really want to teach to my students. Mathematics is nothing but a test of trial and error, a test of one’s endurance, and a test of how far one can go. Mathematicians and great people, I believe, have also started from nothing.

Moreover, I also came across books which do not have enough drills and exercises. Some textbooks being used at school do not give opportunities for the improvement of the students’ performance. Drills and exercises are vital in inculcating mathematical skills to learners. These activities will help the students remember the lessons because they have worked hard in answering many practices to learn those.

But beyond all of these, I have realized that any path is not free of struggles. These things we call problems are actually opportunities for us to grow. These make teaching a noble profession.