The first time I liked math
I've mentioned a zillion a few times how I was told I "wasn't good at math" when I was in elementary school.
I can only attribute this to my reluctance to memorize pretty much anything. I don't trust my memory, so I'd rather look it up. However, when I went back and actually looked at my standardized test scores from elementary school, my computation was listed as "above average". My math concepts scores were often in the high nineties. Thus, I can either attribute it to the memorization thing or the possibility that math was a relative weakness when compared to my language scores. On the other hand, my science score often was even higher than language.
There is a point...really.
The first time I got the inkling that I might actually have some talent in math was when I took geometry in 10th grade. I remember the teacher clear as day. He was an extremely large man with three chins. The first time I saw him, I could only think of Jabba the Hut. While my memory of his physical appearance may not be that kind (and frankly, I was a little scared of him at first, so that's probably why I remember him that way), that was my second favorite class from high school. (My first favorite was, of course, physics.)
That was the first class I had that involved no computation. The class was all about logic and thinking. Every day, we were given several T-charts. On the top half of the page, you wrote the facts that were given and what you were supposed to prove, as well as any diagrams that were present. The bottom 2/3 of the sheet was divided into two columns. The left column was where you stated a conclusion or step. On the right side, you had to justify that step with the name of a theorem or rule.
I came out of that class with either a perfect score or near perfect score. I thought the class was SO easy and the proofs obvious...until I overheard a discussion in class when we had a sub. Several students around me were talking about how hard the class was and how smart the teacher was.
"He's obviously too smart to be teaching high school."
Really?! I couldn't believe it. I thought everything was so intuitive that I couldn't imagine someone not understanding.
Sometimes I still think about that class and wish I had a t-chart laying around just to do a proof for fun. (I miss proofs being that easy.) Unfortunately, I don't think it would do much good. Given I fail to memorize everything, I'd have an awful lot of difficulty recalling the names of any theorems.
I can only attribute this to my reluctance to memorize pretty much anything. I don't trust my memory, so I'd rather look it up. However, when I went back and actually looked at my standardized test scores from elementary school, my computation was listed as "above average". My math concepts scores were often in the high nineties. Thus, I can either attribute it to the memorization thing or the possibility that math was a relative weakness when compared to my language scores. On the other hand, my science score often was even higher than language.
There is a point...really.
The first time I got the inkling that I might actually have some talent in math was when I took geometry in 10th grade. I remember the teacher clear as day. He was an extremely large man with three chins. The first time I saw him, I could only think of Jabba the Hut. While my memory of his physical appearance may not be that kind (and frankly, I was a little scared of him at first, so that's probably why I remember him that way), that was my second favorite class from high school. (My first favorite was, of course, physics.)
That was the first class I had that involved no computation. The class was all about logic and thinking. Every day, we were given several T-charts. On the top half of the page, you wrote the facts that were given and what you were supposed to prove, as well as any diagrams that were present. The bottom 2/3 of the sheet was divided into two columns. The left column was where you stated a conclusion or step. On the right side, you had to justify that step with the name of a theorem or rule.
I came out of that class with either a perfect score or near perfect score. I thought the class was SO easy and the proofs obvious...until I overheard a discussion in class when we had a sub. Several students around me were talking about how hard the class was and how smart the teacher was.
"He's obviously too smart to be teaching high school."
Really?! I couldn't believe it. I thought everything was so intuitive that I couldn't imagine someone not understanding.
Sometimes I still think about that class and wish I had a t-chart laying around just to do a proof for fun. (I miss proofs being that easy.) Unfortunately, I don't think it would do much good. Given I fail to memorize everything, I'd have an awful lot of difficulty recalling the names of any theorems.