My love of reading

     I would not classify myself as a good reader, but as an impatient reader. I don’t know the last time I sat down and enjoyed a book from cover to cover. I usually get so impatient to find out what happens that I will skip ahead in my reading to discover the end of a climax scene, before returning to learn what actually transpires. I thoroughly enjoy reading. To be honest, I enjoy it a little too much. During the school year I have to limit myself to a certain number of books, otherwise I would spend my time engrossed in tales of mythical creatures, or romances, instead of doing homework or studying. I get easily caught into a good story, and can’t seem to pull myself out of an adventure to focus back to real life. My favorite kinds of novels are those that include a protagonist that the world views as nothing, who becomes something great: for example, the Eragon series. My other favorite kind of novel is a clean romance novel that has a good plot line; for example all books written by Marcia Lynn McClure.  (http://distractionsink.com/) I love to read and am not too picky when it comes to choosing a book to read. I do have one stipulation; I don’t enjoy a book with a sad ending, which somehow ended up being a good majority of the books I read in high school. When it comes to books like Night, The Outsiders, or The Pearl, I hate reading. I don’t find it worth the read, even when it is a classic, if I am going to feel sad and disappointed at the end. I read to enjoy life’s pleasures, to feel happy; not to be dismayed by an author’s perception of a dark society.

My love of reading comes from my dad. He loves to read and loves to learn. No longer being in school, he feels books are one of the best ways to further his education. He reads at least 50 books a year ranging from poetry to books on quantum physics. My dad’s eagerness to learn has spread to me. As a child he would take me on daddy daughter dates, which almost always ended in us going to a book store to each pick out a new book to buy. At the beginning my reading was simply novels, but as time has gone on, I have come to love poetry, news articles, and comics, especially math comics.

I was introduced to math comics by a teacher up here at Utah State, Dave Brown. At the beginning or end of each class he would past a comic on the overhead, usually about what we had learned. Being able to understand a math comic was enjoyable because 1, it was hilarious, and 2, you felt smart getting a joke, not many other people would understand. It made me enjoy my math just that much more. There are not too many texts that my students will use apart from their math textbooks. I would, however, love to help my students find a joy in reading articles or comics abut math. From my experiences I have learned, that if the reading is not something I am interested in, or is something I don’t like, I will not enjoy the reading and I will not retain what I read.  As much as people dislike math, math is involved in so many things. I would love to have an activity which included my students finding an article about a personal hobby of theirs, and how math is related to that hobby. I would also love to incorporate the use of comics in my daily or at least weekly lesson plan. I want my students to learn to enjoy math, and I hope it can be achieved through this sort of analogy charting activity, and through the comics.  I hope to be able to foster an environment in which my students begin to see a value in math, as it is applicable to not just their daily lives, but also the things they enjoy. I hope, that by giving students the freedom to choose their reading as it relates to math and their hobbies, and by letting them enjoy it, through comics, they will become successful math readers. Math is not so much about reading a text, as it is about finding how it can be applied to life.  I believe student’s self-perceptions of themselves as readers can be built up by letting them incorporate what is important to them, into what you are teaching, and having them read.

Math Memories

Mathematics is more than just a personal interest, it is a family interest. My mom received a degree in math education from Utah State, and as the first child, my math instruction started at an early age. At 6 years old, i remember a rode trip our family took to visit my grandma. Instead of the classic car game of I spy using color, we would use shapes. "I spy a triangle," my mom would yell. My dad and I would then frantically point to every triangle shape we could find until the correct one was located. This game taught me shapes, and also made me very competitive as later in car rides I couldn't help but search the land for well known shapes, hoping to get a head start if we started playing.
Another experience I remember as a child, was baking with my mom. I was that child that had to be involved in everything, so I would put on my little pink checkered apron, push a chair to the counter and beg my mom to let me help until my pestering would win out her patience. My job was to pour in the contents once she had measured them. Some of the recipes would be the same and I would become familiar with how much we needed of certain items. For example, when making cookies I got to dump two cups of flour into the bowl. One day, however, i remember my mom handing me a third cup of flour to pour in. I pointed out her mistake but she explained we had grandma and grandpa visiting and grandpa ate a lot of cookies so we needed to make more. Although learning exactly what a fraction was wouldn't come for another 4 years, understanding the concept of fractions was introduced to me.

Both of these experiences to a degree have shaped the way I think about my discipline. From an early age I learned that math was enjoyable; it makes games and makes more cookies. I also learned that math is more than just a subject in school, and a homework assignment; it has real world application.
I want my future students to also learn to see the value of math, and to find joy in its contributions. Mathematical concepts can be applicable to everyone's life. Everyone has background knowledge or experiences that can link to a mathematical concept. As a teacher accessing these experiences will help the students comprehend  the material we are learning. For example, when teaching about fractions, using food and recipes will help students understand why they need to know it, and hopefully motivate them to truly learn the material. A fun before reading activity might be having students discuss in groups, different shapes they have observed. We could even play "I spy" in small groups in a geometry class.
I have never really thought of these experiences as having any value to my future career. However, in thinking back my love of math didn't come when i started college, it started when i was a child. The greatest thing I can give my students through these experiences is my love for math.