Introduction - Module One
Welcome to my Education 325 blog! My name is Megan Minor and I live in Jacksonville, North Carolina with my husband. My parents and in-laws live in North Georgia, where we are both from. I moved to Jacksonville in April of 2016 and have been commuting to UNCW ever since I transferred that Fall! This will be my first semester taking all extension classes. In my free time, I love spending time with my family, going hiking, reading, and of course watching Netflix. I have two puppies and a cat who take up a good bit of my attention, and we are expecting our first baby this summer. Something that I would consider unique is that I own an Etsy shop which takes up a good bit of my free time! It is a super fun and exciting job and I love that I can work from home. I have attached a few photos of my me and my husband, our dogs Georgia and Harley, and our cat Don!
When it comes to math, I always liked it a lot in school. One of the best teachers I ever had was my 6th grade math teacher. I love that everything has one straight forward answer, and you just have to know the process to find it. I always did well in math and enjoyed it for the most part as a student. I feel a little nervous about teaching math because I have seen students in my field work who struggle grasping it even when it is explained in many different ways. I truly want to help my students understand that math, especially basic elementary math, is necessary in their lives and really can be fun and useful. I hope to be a teacher that inspires them to apply themselves and changes their view on math from something that may be looked at as boring or hard, to something that can be achieved by anyone if gone about in the right way. In elementary school, math is so important because it lays the foundation to their future education, not only with future math classes, but with science and basic life skills as well. These elementary topics need to eventually come easy to them, so it is important to approach them as necessary and show students that these apply to real life and can be fun. Teaching math while doing activities is a great way to involve students and get them excited about the topic at a young age. This is what I believe to be a good math teacher; someone who makes the learning environment enjoyable, teaches the concept in ways that all of their students can understand, and teaches them why this is necessary for everyday life. I honestly do not know how to define what it means to be "good" at math. Some students will like it more than others and try harder, therefore getting higher grades, but I believe that any student who is taught the process can do math and be good at it.
Lastly, the person I chose as someone well-known that I would like to have a conversation with is Lauren Graham. She is my favorite actress as well as an award winning author. You probably know her if you have ever seen Gilmore Girls or Parenthood, as those are her biggest acting roles, but she has been in numerous movies as well. I chose her because she truly inspires me to speak out for what I believe in, stay true to myself, and make time for my passions. She is a hugely famous actress, but writing is one of her passions. She does not have to write for success, but she takes the time to do so because that is what she wants to do in life.
Hi Megan :) I love the pictures you put up!! I think it is really interesting how we both remember a really great math teacher we had. I remember my teacher making what was supposed to be the hardest year of math for me, the easiest because she was such a good teacher. I like what you said about how important math is to our everyday life. I can remember always saying, "When will I ever use this in life?" when I was in school and having a hard time with math. Now today, I see how so much of it comes up in life like you mentioned. I also think it is important, like you said, to always teach multiple ways of solving to students. To some, the most difficult way of solving can make the most sense to others, and vice versa. I also agree with your point on making math fun and enjoyable rather than the hard and boring stigma it has. I am sure a conversation with Lauren Graham would be so great, and how ironic our people have the same last name :)
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