In March of 1997, my mother won the Division 4 state competitive cheerleading

competition. In April of 1997, I was born. Why do I share this, you may ask? Well,

because I credit this to what made me the person/teacher that I am today. I would

describe myself as a cheerleader, not in the literal sense, because I never did cheer, but

in all other ways. In the way I act, the way that I teach, and the way that I conduct

relationships with students. A cheerleader is always there for the team, win or lose.

They are at every match, home or away. They are cheering the team up, whether they

are up or down. This is who I strive to be for my students. The person that is always

right next to them, showing them that they can do whatever they put their mind to. The

person who is there for them every day, whether it is a good day or a bad day. And the

person who is reminding them that even if a math classroom is not their “home field,” or

their most comfortable subject, that doesn’t mean we cannot try.

There will be students that walk into my room who are unsure if they belong.

They may have never felt comfortable in a math classroom before. “It is essential to

help all of our students develop a sense of well-being – the sense of self, identity, and

belonging in the world that will give each of them their best chance to learn, grow and

thrive” (Capacity Building K-12, 2018). The most important thing to me when students

walk into my room is that they feel like they belong. This might feel like the “away game”

for them, but my goal is for all of my students to feel at home in my room. It may not be

as comfortable as other subjects, but that does not mean that we aren’t capable, and

my hope is to show my students this.

 I heard one important quote that has stuck with me through my teaching

education: “Don’t be the ‘Sage on the Stage’ be the ‘Guide on the Side’.” This is another

aim of mine throughout teaching. I recall sitting in math class when I was in high school,

where the teacher would sit at his desk, take some lecture notes, we would do some

problems together, and then send us on our way to do almost the same problems, with

essentially different numbers. Back then, I thought this was how math was done:

individually and repetitively. I thought the teacher held all of the knowledge, and that we

couldn’t do anything without their help. This is the opposite of how I want my classroom.

I want my students sitting in groups, or pairs, working together to reason through difficult

problems. Just like a team. I want them to come to those “AH HA” moments, that all

teachers love so much, on their own. My hope is that when someone walks into my

classroom, I am not up front lecturing, but rather I am walking around and helping

students bounce ideas off of each other. That doesn’t mean there is not a time for direct

instruction, because I do see the value for that as well, but my hope is that for the most

part, my students are doing the talking. I hope that when we do have whole class

discussions, it is exactly that: a discussion, not a lecture. I want students to be the main

source of knowledge for each other, and me on the side guiding them to find it. “To

learn math means to speak it, write it, and participate in mathematical thought and

conversation on a daily basis’” (Obrycki, n.d.). My students will be held to this standard

every single day.

Just like a cheerleader, who is always there for the team, I will always be there

for my students. I want students to walk out of my classroom with the idea that they can
do things that they had never thought possible, just takes the drive and determination.

“One of the big shifts is moving away from an ‘I-teacher’ to being a ‘them-teacher.’

Instead of asking yourself, ‘What do I say now? What do I do next?’ you ask, ‘What do

they need next? What are they doing?’” (Horn 2012, 6). I am a teacher because of the

students that walk into my class. My teaching revolves around them and their needs. I

am so excited and eager to show my future students this, now I’m just looking for my

team to cheer on.

 References

Capacity Building, K-12. Yes, I can! Paying Attention to Well-Being in the Mathematics
Classroom. Special Edition # 48, (2018, January). Retrieved from
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/math_classroo
m.html​.

Obrycki, J. (n.d.). Listening to My Students' Thoughts on Mathematics Education. In

Promoting Purposeful Discourse: Teacher Research in Mathematics Classrooms
(pp. 187–202).

Horn, I. S. (2012). ​Strength in numbers: collaborative learning in secondary

mathematics.​ Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.