Reflecting on my journey

Welcome to my "Glows and Grows" page. Here, I share my experiences, both successes and areas for improvement, as I navigate the continuous journey of teaching and learning mathematics. My goal is to show that recognizing our strengths and weaknesses helps us grow as educators and better support our students.

My 'glows': strengths in supporting students

Here are some of the positive practices and beliefs that I have found helpful in supporting my students' mathematical journeys:

Encouraging risk-taking: Creating a safe environment where students feel comfortable making mistakes and exploring different approaches.

Adjusting explanations: Tailoring my explanations to meet the individual needs and learning styles of each student.

Modeling persistence and confidence: Demonstrating a positive attitude towards challenges and showing students that perseverance is key to success.

My Glows:

  • Experience from subbing in many grade levels, which taught me to adapt, stay patient, and explain concepts in different ways depending on the learner.

  • Ability to connect with students and encourage them, building relationships and helping students feel safe trying new things in math.

  • Current mathematical mindset glow: I truly believe every student can learn math, even if their path looks different.

My 'grows': areas for improvement

As much as I strive to provide the best possible learning experience for my students, I also recognize that there are areas where I can continue to grow. Here are a few areas I'm currently focusing on:

Building confidence: Working to further develop my own confidence in teaching advanced mathematical concepts.

Embracing mistakes: Becoming more comfortable with making mistakes and using them as learning opportunities for both myself and my students.

Pacing the learning: Allowing students to learn at their own pace, even if it means deviating from the planned curriculum.

My Grows:

  • Building more confidence in teaching math content at a deeper level, especially during my first year in my own classroom.

  • Becoming more comfortable with mistakes. Both my own and my students’. Allowing the learning process to unfold naturally instead of trying to “fix” things too quickly (Ehlert, n.d).

Continuous growth

Thank you for joining me on this journey of reflection and growth. I hope that by sharing my "Glows and Grows," I can inspire other educators to embrace their own learning experiences and create a more supportive and engaging learning environment for their students. Mathmatical Mindset is here to help.