Why Mathematics

Every teacher planted a seed inside of our bodies on the first day when we went to

school. They took good care of us to make sure the seeds that they planted could grow as big

trees. However, the environment that we live in and our personal experiences are also the factors

that affect the growth of the seeds. Just like other students, my teachers planted seeds inside of

my body as well. Unfortunately, only one seed survived,

and it was called mathematics.

Elementary School:

One day I was trying to memorize an article next

to my mom who was knitting a sweater. I read the article

out loud over and over again, which I thought would

help, and my mom was just knitting the sweater with a

smile on her face. I could not remember how many times

I read the article, but I remember when my mom finally

said that she could memorize the article because I read the article out loud for so many times.

Instead of being angry, I thought my mom was so smart. This scenario happened many times.

Even now I have not found a way to memorize something, and I am sure this is one reason that I

hate reading.

Mathematics is a subject that requires very little or no reading, and this is one reason I

like this subject. Also, I just need to memorize the basic formulas instead of everything, and it is

the subject that makes sense to me.

 I remember when the first time I received my math

test that was over 90%, my father was so happy and

gave me extra snack money. This really inspired me to

work hard on math so that I could have money to buy

things that I liked (my mathematics seed started

growing. Also, I was not good at math at the

beginning, and this tells us that no one was born with a

math brain or math person. Everyone can be good at

mathematics as long as there is something that inspires

you to work hard on math).

Middle School:

When I went to middle school, I lived with my grandparents, for my parents had to work

in a different city. My grandfather grew a lot of vegetables, and my grandmother would take the

extra vegetables to sell. I loved selling vegetables with my grandmother because I could help her

with some simple math. That made me feel that I was

useful, and my grandmother would always buy me

candies after selling the vegetables.

This experience helped me to make

connections with mathematics and real-world life. It

made me realize that mathematics is a useful tool in

our lives. As a result, my seed grew as a small tree.

High School:
 I was a little lost in the second year of my high

school life. I was not used to the teaching style, so I could

not focus on the math when my teacher presented the

lectures. It took me a while to adjust myself, and it

reflected on my math tree. On the right side, it missed

some leaves. Fortunately, I found my path to keep up

with mathematics.

The high school experience was very important to

me. It taught me a lesson that never give up when a task

is hard. We should face the difficulty instead and try our

best to solve it.

Moving to the US: (I am very lucky that my parents never forced me to do something that they

thought would be better for me. They are always so supportive and respect my decisions. Even

when I decided to travel abroad alone, they only hoped that I can enjoy my life and be happy)

It was tough for the first couple years. I had to work

and learn a second language. Besides, I wanted to finish

my education. As a result, I chose my major as Education

because I hope I can help some students find their ways

to be successful in math.

The environment I live in and my experiences

formed my mathematics identity. To me, mathematics is a

subject that makes sense to me, and I have passions to

work on math questions. I always try my best if I need to do something so that I will not regret it

when I fail. My other identities are a student, a teacher, a friend, and a family member. All these

identities make me become a better person.

Most of the time I enjoyed learning math, but sometimes I could not focus on math.

Students have different learning styles, and it is hard for teachers to teach math in all different

ways to make sure every student can enjoy learning. I do not like it when a math teacher teaches

a math concept over and over again, I will lose my passion and feel bored. Sometimes I could not

focus on math because of the topic. I do not like statistics, so I feel math is difficult when it is

related to statistics.

I do not think there are math people or some people are smarter than the others. People

who are good at some subjects because they spend more time on these subjects, and they can find

ways to help them stay focused on learning.

America is a melting pot. Students have different ethnicity, race, gender identity, ability

status, sexual orientation, linguistic, religious, and socioeconomic background. Some students

may have the same ethnicity or race, but they are still different from each other because of the

environment they grow up in and their personal experiences. I do not know how other students

learn math. When I take a math class, I always complete homework, and that is the practice to

help me understand the concepts. If I do not understand, I will ask some classmates for help. I do

not do anything else besides this. I am not a sports person. I do not have any hobby that is related

to math.

Being good at math really helps me in choosing a major because many majors require

students to pass some higher level math courses. Students who are not good at math will not be
willing to choose these majors because they will struggle in these math classes. I want to become

a teacher because I hope I can help some students find their ways to be successful in math.

The experiences in learning math help me understand where students may make

mistakes. This gives me ideas on where I need to spend more time when I teach a lesson. Also, I

will teach math in different ways to help students who have different learning styles.

Students’ mathematics identity is always related to their personal experiences. If I can

understand their mathematics identity, I can make connections with their mathematics identity

and math questions to support them learn math.

My personal experiences tell me that mathematics is an important subject because I can

use it in my daily life. This makes mathematics outstanding to me, and I think this is the power

and status of math. This also gives me an idea that I need to connect mathematics with real-world

questions to help students understand that math is important when I become a teacher.