Looking Back at Math

Since my internship, I have been thinking about my past math experiences.  I went to meet the teacher I would be with for my internship and it turned out to be one of the two favorite math teachers I had while I was in school.  As I sat there and watched her teach, I tried to figure out why she was one I chose as a favorite math teacher.  Nothing she did was way different than any other teacher who taught math.  Then it struck me, she let you do the math the way you figured it out.  You would just have to show her how you came to the answer.  So many times in school if you weren't doing the math the way the teacher was teaching it, you were doing it wrong, even though you were arriving at the same answer.  Both of my favorite teachers allowed me to do that!  I was one who liked to figure it out on my own, using my own methods and they allowed me to do that.  This is a lot what reformed based math looks like.  I hope that when I teach math I give the students the opportunity to discover methods on their own and find their own way of doing the math.