A Personal Math Poem

So I am going to write a little preamble to this poem. I originally wrote this poem in my senior year of high school. I vividly remember writing this during a study hall block in the empty classroom of my Pre-Calculus teachers room. I think I was trying to find some math tutoring or helping a math teacher during my study block at the time. I did this because I started dreaming of being a math teacher when I was in 8th or 9th grade. I was already planning on going to college to get my degree in math and my masters in teaching at that point. I looked up to my math teachers and noted how they did things. I vividly remember the ways they taught and the activities that made math come alive. So I wrote this when I was in a head space of my senior year of high school when I was going out of my way to find ways to stay involved in math.

So flash forward to now when I have currently started teaching my fifth year. I have taught in Oregon, China, and several schools in Boston. I have worked with a wide array of students including elementary, high school, and college. When I was in 9th grade I didn't have the dream of teaching in China. When I was a senior in high school after coming back from China I was contemplating teaching in China, but never really thought would happen. It made me realize my dream never dies, but can always change. So after having such a great day I wanted to look at it again and update it. I remember having it written in the journal I kept for my college writing class I took my senior year of high school. So I wasn't sure if I still had it. However I typed it up and saved it in my google drive. I used the search feature to locate the poem. I think I typed it up in google drive when I was in China and then had the poem posted near my workspace in China to inspire me. I actually took my journal from high school with me to China which is how I could type it up. This just illustrates how I save everything and like to take everything with me even if that means flying it over an ocean. The main reason I brought that journal was because I took notes and wrote down ideas of how I wanted my class to run, work, and look like. I often wrote down things my various teachers did or used that I really liked and wanted to do when I started teaching. So all of my teachers were my role models and inspiration. So all of my teachers had some sort of impact on how I am teaching now. I think the journal might be in the stuff I took to Boston or maybe not. I could look in my room, but do not feel like. However it is likely that it is in a box in the attic of my old house back in Oregon. Anyways I am glad it is saved in my google drive. I am also glad I have this blog so my ideas are not lost.

Ok last bit of pre-amble. The title is a reference and line from a book called Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. I read the line and just totally connected with it, but the character said because she hated Algebra and was so confused in Algebra class at that time. So I turned the line into making a student understand algebra and enjoy math. Which is why I became a math teacher to help stop or decrease people's math anxiety or fear of math.

So here it goes. This is the version I wrote in High School:

Algebra divided by Students = Confusion;

(Algebra divided by Students) + Me = Understanding

Tick! Tick! Tick!

Domain, Range, and Functions.

This knowledge is not an onto function.

Tick! Tick! Tick!

Chord, Circumference, and Circles.

This knowledge is not onto, but the output it does include is some of the best.

Tick! Tick! Tick!

Problem solving, Processes, and Puzzles.

This knowledge helps make life a consistent linear system.

Tick! Tick! Tick!

Vacant Desks, Empty Tool Box, and Non Existent Lesson Plans.

A Teacher always dreaming about their future classroom.

So here is the version I wrote now four years and four or more schools into my full time teaching career:

Algebra divided by Students = Confusion;

(Algebra divided by Students) + Me = Understanding

Tick! Tick! Tick!

Domain, Range, and Functions.

This knowledge is not an onto function.

This language must be learned and understood.

Tick! Tick! Tick!

Chord, Circumference, and Circles.

This knowledge is not onto, but the output it does include is some of the best.

This language must be learned, understood, and connected to diagrams.

Tick! Tick! Tick!

Problem solving, Processes, and Puzzles.

This knowledge helps make life a consistent linear system.

All methods and approaches should be valued however different.

Tick! Tick! Tick!

Vacant Desks, Empty Tool Box, and Non Existent Lesson Plans.

A Teacher always dreaming about their future classroom.

Tick! Tick! Tick!

Lots of Occupied Desks, A Partially Filled Tool Box, and Varied Lesson Plans.

A Teacher achieving their dream and continuing to build their future classroom.

Please find the differences and enjoy! (I highlighted them so the poems would pop out of the post)