Noelle Giorgio

Math Portfolio: Final Reflection

I enjoyed growing and building stronger relationships with my peers. I loved the connections that
I made in this class and it showed me that everyone is encouraging and are there for each other. I never
felt stupid or embarrassed that I didn’t understand something, I was lucky that people showed me patience
and kindness and helped me through situations when I didn’t understand them.

In some cases I felt lost and confused. Sometimes the classes felt too fast to the point where I
wasn’t able to process the last question, and we were already moving on to the next. I found myself
getting frustrated and stuck on problems without being able to find a solution. It really aggravated me and
made me worried for when the test would come around. When this happened I would be unprepared
which would result in me being unsuccessful on my tests. I constantly felt defeated and mentally drained.
However, I was able to learn from my mistakes and adapt which lead to small improvements on my tests

My advice would be to take a breather and ask a lot of questions. This course can feel like a lot
and it can seem very overwhelming but do not worry too much about it because the more you stress the
worse you will do. Also if you get confused, ask questions, don’t wait until the last minute or try and
understand it yourself. Ask, ask, ask. It’s always better to get clarification before it’s too late, especially
because this course builds on top of itself. So if you don’t have a steady foundation, your building will
fall.

My plan is to be studying Psychology and Neuroscience at Laurier! I already got accepted into
my program so I’m very excited about that. It is a very thrilling opportunity for me and I’m very
passionate about the subject. My goal is to either become a child psychologist or a behaviour analyst
(specifically on the criminal side). I also applied to McMaster for Psychology, Behaviour and
Neuroscience (specialising in mental health). That is a dream school that I most likely won’t get into but
if I do get into that program I will be going there. I’m so excited for what the future holds and I can’t wait
to go to post secondary to improve my knowledge on the human brain.

I will most likely be taking math courses throughout university or at least at the beginning, so
what I learned from this course will help me to expand my knowledge and understanding as I further
progress in my educational career. It is a perfect foundation for functions and calculus so I feel as though I
will be prepared and not as stressed which will help ease my nerves of starting university.

I think the most important thing I learned was to ask questions and make sure you understand as
soon as possible. Coming into this course I always understood math and I did really well in the course.
However, this year was not the same case and I really struggled with it. I thought that I would just be able
to figure it out by myself but in reality I needed help. I needed help and I wasn’t asking for it. I started
working with my friend Kate and she was very helpful and I was able to learn a lot and improve. It made
me feel a lot better about the tests that I did and I began to do well again. Overall I learned that it’s ok to
ask for help and I should’ve been doing it a lot sooner.