A Little Reward

Today I was at Starbucks (of course, where else would I be), when one of my old students came over to say hello and share her latest news.

To give a little background info here, this woman was one of my Math Structures students.  Math Structures is meant for students who are majoring in Education (primarily Elementary Ed).  It's a math class that they have to take; thus, most take it begrudgingly not realizing they'll have to do actual math in the course. ---To all my friends who are non-math lovers and teachers, I'm not talking about you :-). ---

I LOVE that I got to teach this class; I LOVE that I got to have some impact on who becomes an educator, to impart some passion and knowledge that I have gained over my eight years of teaching.  With this, I HATE some of the things that come with this class.  The saying, "ignorance is bliss" describes my experience well.  Before this class, I assumed that all students who go on to be teachers do this after passing courses based on their knowledge of subject matter and competence in being able to teach a subject.  This, I have discovered, is not always the case.  I have had students cuss me out because I would not let them use a calculator on a test that was over a fourth grade level topic.  More and more I see students struggling over basic concepts they once were taught in elementary school and will have to teach themselves.  This I can forgive; this struggle can be met with studying and relearning elementary mathematics.  Unfortunately, though, I don't often see students embrace the work that must be done to relearn the very subject they'll be asking their students to learn.  In fact, I see students trying to do the bare minimum (self-admittedly) to "just get by" and get out of school, so they can do what they want.  WHY? I AM DUMBFOUNDED.  I don't understand this generation of student.  I don't understand why someone, who wants to teach little kids information and lessons to be better than they are, refuses to do the same for themselves!  What hypocrites we are creating.  I ask my students, when they start to complain and slack off, to be the kind of student they will ask their future students to be.  Sometimes this is met with nods and the realization that they are choosing a profession that insists they be better than they are, and sometimes it is met with yawns and rolling eyes.  Now, I have had several brilliant and talented students come through my classroom over the years (though they unfortunately are the minority), so not all students fit into the picture I am painting for you.  

With that rant, I'll bring you back to my student I ran into today.  This girl was definitely one of the exceptions I mentioned earlier.  She worked hard.  She understood that to get to her goal, she had to not only know the material, but also to understand it (yes, there's a difference but that's for another day and another rant).  She finished her schooling last semester and was one of the fortunate ones to find a job at a local elementary school teaching fourth grade.  I am super happy for her.  She proceeded to tell me that with the restructuring in education that Arkansas is taking on (to try to catch up with the rest of the nation), her grade will be departmentalizing, having each teacher specialize in a particular subject rather than teaching their one class every subject.  In her latest meeting, they chose who would teach what.  She was one of the first to speak up (if you knew her, you'd say "of course").  Of the subjects to choose from, one being literacy--her level of specialization, she chose math!  She told me that everyone sighed a huge sigh of relief because no one else wanted math.  This student of mine was smart, but not a math major.  She had the same amount of math that everyone else in that room had (or less).  She took on math because she found it an exciting  challenge.  She was so jazzed telling me about all the information she's finding about teaching fourth and fifth grade level math (because you have to know what you're students will need to know in the future).

This interaction with my past student made my heart smile.  It has encouraged me that something I do has meaning.  I have complete confidence that a student that I passed out of my course is a true teacher.  She's going to influence students in a positive way towards math; I believe that students coming out of her class will know and understand their material no matter their personal feelings about it.