Week 6: Reaction to Online Classrooms

When I learned that we were going to be hearing from a math teacher that teaches online only, I was surprised because I did not think about those options being available or even existing. I just assumed the kids primarily go to a public or private high school or they are home schooled. I did not think about kids that are home schooled actually having instructors that teach them online. I will admit that I find it strange that someone would want to teach online because to me that just means that you are more interested in the material than the kids that are being taught. As much as I love math, I am going into teaching because I want to have a positive influence on young teenagers lives. I absolutely love the energy and enthusiasm that they have for life, and I am excited about the prospect of waking up every day and being excited to go do my job. When he said that he had some negative experiences in the classroom, I was not surprised because I expect to encounter things in the classroom that I am not going to be pleased with, but it is how one responds to those situations that shows what type of teacher they really are.

In Mike's situation, I am happy that he found a job doing something that he really enjoys, which is teaching math. It was easy to see that he really enjoys teaching online, and teaching higher level math to students that want to be challenged. It seemed to me though that he may have had a tougher time enjoying teaching in public schools because he had to deal with both the kids that wanted to learn and the kids that did not want to learn (as much.) One of the challenges that I look forward to when I become a teacher is to find ways to help students that have more trouble with math so that they can go through there life not feeling limited when it comes to having mathematical knowledge. I know that this will not be easy, but I look forward to the challenges that I will have with these students. I believe that early on in teaching, I will run into some bumps in the road, and I will have to learn how to adjust to those bumps, but I think that once I have some experience under my belt I will have some really good ideas on how the majority of middle grade students like to learn math. I do not think there will be one way in particular, but I think I will know different ways to benefit each student's mathematical abilities.

The speculations that I have made about Mike may not be true. This is just my opinion based on listening to him talk last Thursday. I think it is awesome that there are people that are talented enough to teach students online because I do not think I would be as effective as a teacher that way, but he seems to be really good at it. Overall, I thought it was good to hear from someone who was in a different situation in teaching math, and hearing how their experiences have been in their situation with teaching mathematics.