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Reading everyone elses posts, I feel as though I have been very lucky in my school life, to not have many negative experiences with maths teachers. I feel that all of my teachers tried their best to make maths an engaging topic and get us excited about learning. I never had a teacher tell me that there was only one way to solve a maths problem, and we were always encouraged to share our own individual processes for solving problems.

Even in more 'serious' maths in college, my math teacher tried his absolute best to make learning fun, and he would celebrate alongside us when we grasped understanding of difficult topics. In high pressure times, such as exams, he really listened to our individual concerns, and worked with each student to meet their needs. I feel that his passion for his job and the topic he was teaching really showed, and it made the whole class feel so positive!

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sam woodley what makes a good math teacher

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sam woodley what makes a good math teacher

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Sound Knowledge of Mathematics. Every great math teacher has an extensive understanding of mathematics. ...

Engaging. Successful math teachers do not force students to follow their approach. ...

Good Motivator. ...

Constantly Learning. ...

Caring.

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When reflecting back on the many math teachers I had two in particular come to mind. The first is my year 8 math teacher, I had just switched schools and some of my content knowledge had gaps due to the curriculum being taught in a different order. To get me caught up I was handed a mountain of work books and problem sheets and allowed to spend my class time doing these instead of the work the rest of the class was going. No help, no guidance, just me and my work books. The second teacher I had was my year 9 math teacher. She recognised the gaps in my learning and took time out of lessons to give me one on one support, used visual tools such as games and my makeup (which she should have confiscated) to help me grasp the concepts that I felt completely lost in. The core difference in the two teachers was the interest in the individual students, and taking the time to learn and understand how the students learns and subsequently tailor their learning to their needs. Any teacher, but especially math teachers need to take time to understand what their student find the most effective way to learn a subject that they are inevitably going to be resistant to learn.
Eilish

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Harmony - Qualities of an effective maths teacher

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Harmony - Qualities of an effective maths teacher

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I struggled through highschool mathematics, up until year 9/10. I had a wonderful teacher who was confident, personable, they spent time with each student to help them develop maths skills and understanding. She also made the maths problem relatable and authentic. We discussed different ways to work the problem outs and effective strategies.
Every other maths teacher I had became frustrated when students couldn't get it and relied heavily on copying maths problems from teaching textbooks.

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I believe an effective mathematics teacher should:

·      Create engaging lessons

·      Be confident in what they are teaching

·      Provide a range of teaching strategies to suit individual learning needs

·      Be patient

·      Have a knowledge of students skills and capabilities

·      Be organised

·      Plan lessons that are relevant and relatable to the students and their interests.

Lily

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-knowledgably
-believed in every student
-positive
-confident

Poor Qualities that impacted that impacted my learning was teachers not putting in the effort to learn the content they were teaching.

An effective mathematics teacher is the same as a effective teacher in any other subject. I believe the teacher must be positive nd enthusiastic towards the subject so students learn to develop a love for the subject and believe that as a teacher they are competent to develop every students academic ability in that subject.

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What qualities did they have?

Enthusiasm and passion

Good sense of humour and understanding of the students learning style and interests

Effective communication

The ability to work well with students individually and engage them positively

Can you compare these qualities with a teacher who had a negative impact on your learning?

I don’t think any teachers had a negative impact on my learning. The main issues I had with teachers were that they didn’t take enough time to get to know/understand me as a student which meant that they didn’t really care about me or my learning, which would have likely impacted on my overall performance

What makes an effective mathematics teacher?

Being able to explain maths concepts in a variety of ways by using different techniques and alternative explanations

Making maths meaningful and interesting

Being passionate about helping the student learn and improve

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I went to a Catholic school at the start of my high school. I excelled in English and wasnt the best in Maths. After my first year, my english teacher gave my work a C. I couldn't understand this as I had received top marks for everything, When he met with my parents, he told them that my work was and A standard but he wanted to push me harder. This in turn worked the opposite for me as I soon gave up on the desire and want to learn.
During the same year I had Brother Stan as my Maths teacher. Every lesson I would have to stand at the back of the room as I hadn't completed my maths homework. He came to me one day and asked what was going on. I explained to him that i didn't understand maths and found the concepts difficult. Brother Stan worked hard with me over the next coming months and turned my grades around. He was the biggest influence on me growing up. I now excel in Mathematics and as part of my work in a catholic school as a Teachers Assistant, i work with those students that struggle in Maths and help turn their grades around.
I think someone that is dedicated, paitent and understanding makes a fantastic maths teacher.

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Effective Maths Teacher - Emily Pregnell

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Effective Maths Teacher - Emily Pregnell

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Reflecting back to my schooling and experiences in maths class, there was one teacher who stood out from the rest and had an impact on my learning. This teacher was able to make maths lessons enjoyable and more understanding by relating the content to real life situations. Of course there were students who would say "when am i going to use this in real life?" and he was able to answer that! This teacher also used a large variety of exercises throughout his lessons so that we were learning maths in different ways, instead of just writing down in our books.

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When I look back at my mathematic classroom experiences, one teacher really stands out. She made sure all the content was explained in a way that all level of maths could understand. She showed kindness and patience to those who struggled but also made time to ensure the students who found the content comfortable were still being challenged. She showed massive support to all and also included practical demonstration as some benefit from physical forms of learning. Compared to another teacher that was not very good, he would merely state what to do, "read textbook, then do the questions" and sit at his desk and do nothing productive.
Overall, I believe quality math teachers need to be supportive, show patience and engage and apply different techniques to those of different levels of ability.

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When prompted to think about an effective math teacher who I have had, I automatically think of a teacher I had in high school who was also the woodwork teacher. He would refer absolutely every single maths problem/concept back to something real life and use that as 'motivation' to complete it. He would often refer to building a house, "you need to calculate this to find out how much cement you need", "the answer to this is the angle that your roof will sit at", "you can't just guess these things because your house will fall down". I think it mades things more engaging because it wasn't just "a question", it was given a bit of context. He also taught us to write out our working out, moving to a new line each time you made a change so it was very clear to him how you had got to an answer. He did not often call upon people for their answers, and if he did it was usually because they were being disruptive or not paying attention.

In college, I had a teacher who would sit us at individual desks and give us questions directly from the textbook. We would be required to sit in silence and work individually, however he would randomly call upon people for their answers then say "correct" or "incorrect". No opportunity to show your working out so you weren't actually shown or prompted to find where you had gone wrong. I did not enjoy going to that classroom and was always very anxious about being called upon, similarly I did not ask for help as I did not find the teacher very approachable.

When comparing these two examples, I think what makes an effective maths teacher is engaging with your whole class, making students feel comfortable to make mistakes and ask questions and trying to make maths problems relatable through giving them context.

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The most effective maths teacher I had throughout primary school had a very strong understanding of each student's individual maths understanding, and was very good at providing work that catered to all of these needs and levels. She was also very approachable if you needed help, and she openly celebrated her own mistakes and that that she was still learning. She also included fun activities and experiments, such as holding a stopwatch behind our back and clicking stop when we thought it had been a minute, which we enjoyed.

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The most effective maths teacher I had throughout primary school had a very strong understanding of each student's individual maths understanding, and was very good at providing work that catered to all of these needs and levels. She was also very approachable if you needed help, and she openly celebrated her own mistakes and that that she was still learning. She also included fun activities and experiments, such as holding a stopwatch behind our back and clicking stop when we thought it had been a minute, which we enjoyed.

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An effective maths teacher does not seek only right or wrong answers from students. In doing so they avoid encouraging children to see them selves as good or bad at maths based on responses to closed questions. Instead they encourage visual learning, that computes and enables children to see the relevance of maths day to day. I did not learn maths in this type of environment, and therefore grew up feeling I was not good at maths. I would have loved to have partaken in the ‘creative, visual, beautiful maths’ Jo Boaler refers to in her Ted Talk, growing my own growth mindset and numerical ability. Instead for me it has been words from Angela Duckworths book Grit ‘efforts counts twice’, that have developed my growth mindset about numeracy, a mindset I hope help shapes the students I one day teach, with creative approaches to numeracy education.

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I like to believe that an effective maths teacher bring joy and positivity to their maths classroom. They did to demonstrate passion, enthusiasm and needs to be able to cater to all the different levels of ability and different learning styles that appear within a classroom. An effective maths teacher needs to operate a high-challenge, high-support classroom so that students feel encourage and supported and are able to feel that sense of achievement when they accomplish a task or learn something new their maths.

Isabelle O.

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When reflecting on my time in school and maths teachers I have had throughout my years at school two educators stand out to me. One in a positive light and one in a not so positive light in relation to their maths teaching. In my grade nine maths class our teacher spent a few lessons at the beginning of a topic feeding us all the information and concepts we needed to complete the work. Once these lessons were over we were to practice equations in our books, getting the questions from a text book and we did this most of the year. There was little creativity in the way it was taught, understood and practiced. When I was in primary school maybe around grade three, I had a maths teacher who was clearly passionate. The way he taught was engaging, included group work, discussions and we had a bit of a maths community in the classroom when it was time to work on our times tables and things. It is clear to me and obviously to many others that teachers believes about how to teach influences the children they are teaching.

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Someone who is not only passionate about maths but who also has the ability to relate with students and help them grasp mathematics in a way that is fun and engaging for each individual student.

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I am definitely one of those people who believes they do not have a 'maths brain'. The idea of doing the LANTITE maths test next month makes me feel sick! But I really want to be confident with my maths ability, so I can one day teach my students how important maths is and that it can be fun.

There are a couple of teachers who I will always remember because of their approach to maths teaching. In grade 5, my teacher baked a bunch of cakes and bought them to class so we could learn about fractions through cutting the cakes - looking back on that, I really appreciate how she went that extra mile in preparing a fun (and tasty) way of learning maths.
My grade 8 maths teacher will always have a lasting impact on me, as she was always there for extra support and help when you needed it. I remember spending many lunch breaks with her, trying to get my head around new concepts - she never seemed to mind that I was taking up her precious time. She had a great sense of humour, and allowed everyone time to develop their answers; she never called upon people to say their answers out loud and always took the time to make sure you understood something.
I aspire to be like her.

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Qualities of my fabulous maths teacher:
- Used lots of interactive videos in m maths lessons
- Provided one-on-one time with each student to go over things
- Used lots of different coloured markers on board to aid learning
- Used voice and imagery to teach
- Provided many 'hands on' learning experiences to make maths more engaging and real life!

I had many ineffective maths teachers growing up at school and I do think this has caused an impact in my enthusiasm with maths.  The ineffective maths teachers failed to go over things twice if people didn't understand and rushed content to keep up with their 'planning ideas'.  They were always inflexible with their lessons and failed to accomodate for all learning needs.
- Bridget

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Effective math teachers give their students opportunities to solve mathematical problems in different ways.

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I fondly recall my grade 6 teacher. She had a very positive impact on me, and I remember her most out of all primary teachers. She made Mathematics fun, having times table races to compete for lolly snakes, and our mathematics projects were always fun and very interactive!
In Secondary school, I had a mathematics teacher who would sit us down and instruct us to work through our texts books, and that was pretty much her lessons. It was hard. Had very little enthusiasm or engagement with her students.
I feel a mathematics teacher needs to be able to make maths exciting and relevant. I recall many student rebellions starting from their inability to find relevance to the mathematics lessons.

Tiffany.

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Someone who is passionate about Maths, who has varied strategies to help students learn and grasp mathematical concepts, who is patient and someone who is able to break down mathematical equations into bite sized steps for students to understand. NOT someone who replies "because it is" when a student asks "how is that the correct answer, or how did you get to that answer"?

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Effective Maths Teachers need the qualities that effective classroom teachers have such as great student - teacher relationships,  behaviour management, knowledge of pedagogy of learning and assessment. Maths teachers in particular need knowledge of the maths curriculum, general capabilities, cross-curriculum priorities and other learning areas. Also being able to apply mathematical knowledge to the real world and situations that the students can relate to.  Reflecting on maths teachers that were most influential in my learning they all were enthusiastic about the content they were teaching and they were knowledge in their subject area (maths) and were able to teach in engaging and effective ways (use of technology, videos, real world scenarios, etc.).
- Sarah

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I had a maths teacher in grade 7 who helped me a lot with maths and I think the main reason he was such an effective teacher was because of his enthusiasm and overall level of care about each student's maths development. I think these qualities as well as a good work ethic, approachability and ability to relate problems to the real world are qualities that make a good maths teacher.

Luke

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i can distinctly remember the math teacher that i had in year 6 who finally made algebra make sense to me after years of struggling and dreading the algebra unit. The teacher had patience, understanding and multiple strategies of not only how to approach the problem but how to teach it. The teacher sat down with me for a full lesson and we used a whiteboard marker on the table just writing and rubbing out and writing the same equation and working out but doing it in a different way. it was the first time a teacher took the time to sit down and calmly and patiently continue to explain the same concept until i understood. it is because of this experience that i believe an effective teacher is someone who has patience and believes in their students ability and puts time and effort into them.

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What makes an effective mathematics teacher 

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What makes an effective mathematics teacher 

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Mathematics was a difficult subject for me, as I have challenges with working memory and processing speed. This means that it is difficult for me to hold information in my head and manipulate it, which is often required in mathematics, particularly mental math. I did however enjoy working through math problems using pen and paper, without the pressure of a time limit, providing I knew the steps/process.

I managed to hold my head above water, so to speak, for the most part, but one year I got a teacher who spent her time working with students who were on ‘extended’ tasks an did not appreciate being asked for help, as she had ‘already told  [us] what to do’ or ‘[you] know what you need to do’.
I had been struggling with the same set of multiplication and long division questions for the past week – I had turned it in multiple times but had had it returned to me with red crosses and told to ‘correct it’. Eventually, when the teacher came over to
I remember thinking at the time feeling deeply ashamed and afraid, because I knew I did not know how to complete this task, and I could not move on independently. After this lesson, I was moved onto a new task. From this point on my confidence in my ability to do math was shattered, and I quickly began to fall behind. The following year, I became sick with pneumonia, and missed a lot of school, and struggled to function afterwards for many months. I missed a lot of math lessons or could not focus on them on my return. As I was going into high school, these concepts would not be taught again (the assumption being I had already learned them), and without understanding those earlier building blocks, I was unable to fully understand high school math.

I can’t say that I ever had a good experience with mathematics – I always needed extra time and would often get stuck, and as I became less and less likely to speak up about my struggles, I would inevitably find myself confronted by a cross teacher because I had completed very little (resulting in me less likely to seek help next time). But, considering my bad experiences, a good poker face (so students never know how frustrated you are), patience, and looking at different ways to solve a problem. Also, using a variety of ways to strengthen numeracy skills – not just faced paced/ high pressure minute math challenges, or having to rapidly repeat times tables in front of the class. And scaffolding, especially visual, so that students have an opportunity to remember key concepts or strategies without needing to ask the teacher for help every time.

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Effective Maths Teaching

Reflecting on maths during my schooling years, it’s hard to think of a positive experience. I never had a teacher that was enthusiastic or even slightly interested in teaching the subject, the bare minimum was taught and and we marked our own work. This has had a negative impact on my view of mathematics for most of my life. That was until I began University and started to learn there is more to maths than a right or wrong answer.

Kirsten

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I found almost every maths teacher I had was super effective. I've always loved maths and been quite good at it, and I found having teachers who challenged me with open questions that encouraged me to think creatively about ways to solve problems had the most effective results. I believe that teachers who promote the importance of taking steps to solve problems, and praise students on their efforts, not just their ability to determine the correct final solution, are more effective, as students need to be aware that maths is not merely just memorising and following rules, but thinking critically and progressing through problems. I think that effective maths teachers need to be patient, and understand that everyone learns at their own pace. It is important that they make the content interesting and help students to connect what they are learning with real life circumstances, so that students understand why they need to know certain information.

Hannah

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The most effective maths teacher I had was for a pre-tertiary subject in yr 11, in particular she did the following really well:
-Gave enough time for repetitions for me to build confidence
-Connected theory with real world examples
-Happy to go over concepts again/very patient
-Had various ways of explaining concepts

Jed Matthews

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Hi All,

Personally, I strongly believe that in order to successfully run a lesson, whether it be HPE or Maths, the teacher in charge must have strong knowledge of the content that they teach. I believe this would enable them to be viewed as a more confident teacher allowing students to gain a better grasp of the information being delivered to them.

From my maths experience, teachers who were able to try and attempt to make content specific to my interests were normally the teachers that i admired and allowed myself to develop a stronger understanding of the learning content.

Another key characteristic that maths teachers should have would be being approachable to all students when students become stuck on problems. Throughout my secondary education, i had multiple teachers who would simply give out a text book and expect all students to complete full chapters, whilst they would not aid students and just say "check the answers at the back of the book".

There are many other teaching characteristics that could apply to being a good maths teacher, but personally I believe the above made myself understand content easier, and would like to think I would take an approach that encompasses the above attributes.

Chris

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Effective Maths Teacher.

I remember the mathematics teacher that had a positive impact on my learning would have been my year 11 teacher. I think this is because she made an effort to make learning the content not just text book based but incorporated some interactive and fun activities also. She was always willing to help us or see us in our own time for any questions on an assignment or just anything in general. This teacher made an effort to see us engaged in the class and not spend a whole lesson bored and always tried to link the theory to real world examples. This teacher had positive qualities compared to a past mathematics teacher who did not care about the topic and only taught through work sheets.
I think an effective mathematics teacher is someone who can teach content in more than one set way, can make the unit engaging and informative and allows you to demonstrate your own ways of thinking or working out.

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I remember during my schooling when ever we would get a maths test back we would have a bunch of crosses and ticks indicating weather we were right or wrong but there was no explanation or feedback as to why we got these questions wrong.  In grade 9 I had one Maths teacher that would ask his students to come to him and question his awnsers, in doing this he created a safe environment for students to gain verbal feedback on tests so they could learn from their mistakes.

Toby

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My past experiences with learning math has had a great deal of variability when it comes to teaching styles and strategies. During high school, I had what would be considered an "old style" teacher who would provide instructions on how to solve equations and the like on the whiteboard. I found this to be systematic and routine and therefore didn't have much trouble understanding math at this time. However, now i can see that this does not cater for multiple learning styles and the effectiveness of this type of teaching is somewhat questionable.
My second experience was during college where I had a great teacher who made an effort to make positive relationships with her students, had structural routines for each lesson and seemed to make the content we were learning relevant to our future in one way or another.
These two experiences, although very different, have provided me with ideas surrounding what i believe makes effective teaching and learning during mathematics.
- Cheers, Gab

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When reflecting upon an effective maths teacher i think of teachers who promote environments where questions should be asked and where mistakes are viewed as learning opportunities. Effective maths teachers were able to link the content to more familiar environments that increased understanding. They always clearly stated steps and reasoning why. Ineffective provided students with a sense of pressure and participated in firm questioning that made students uncomfortable.

Ollie

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I can remember in primary school my teacher selected me as a student helper to assist other kids with their mathematics work. It really boosted my confidence at the time. In high school, I lost my confidence a bit because our math teacher used to point at students and require a quick answer to his question, and I would just freeze.

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I can remember in primary school my teacher selected me as a student helper to assist other kids with their mathematics work. It really boosted my confidence at the time. In high school, I lost my confidence a bit because our math teacher used to point at students and require a quick answer to his question, and I would just freeze.

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Nicky

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Through my schooling I do not recall having a mathematics teacher that had a positive impact on my learning but recently I worked with a mathematics teacher who gave students a positive experience through having fun with games. I think that an effective mathematics teacher must be able to communicate well with all students while building confidence and creating a fun learning environment.
Thanks Kim M :)

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When reflecting on my previous mathematics teachers, unfortunately I cannot recall having a maths teacher that had a positive impact on my learning. They all followed a similar teaching approach which consisted of a boring, closed question lesson plan. I was taught that there was only one way to approach a mathematics question.

An effective maths teacher is someone who makes mathematics engaging and interesting. It is also important to create a safe learning environment for the students so that they feel comfortable to ask questions without the fear of making a mistake.

I also believe it is important to make mathematics relevant and relatable. I would have enjoyed mathematics more when I was at school if we rel mathematical concepts to the real life world.

Liana

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The best maths teacher I had in high school presented the lessons in a fun way.  He engaged the class and was not destructive of a persons feelings if they made a mistake.  He had a great rapport with the students and was always encouraging and allowing us to think of ways to solve problems, even though the curriculum at the time was clearly structured, he allowed students to experiment with their abilities to comprehend new knowledge.

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The best maths teacher I had in high school presented the lessons in a fun way.  He engaged the class and was not destructive of a persons feelings if they made a mistake.  He had a great rapport with the students and was always encouraging and allowing us to think of ways to solve problems, even though the curriculum at the time was clearly structured, he allowed students to experiment with their abilities to comprehend new knowledge.

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Tessa

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Personal experiences with mathematics teachers

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Personal experiences with mathematics teachers

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I have had one really positive experience with one of my primary school mathematics teachers.  She would always try and relate her maths lessons to the interests of students which definitely helped in keeping me engaged in her lessons.  I remember that once she brought in ingredients to make chocolate brownies and it was our job to read the recipe, follow the method and use the measuring cups to work out how much we needed of each ingredient.  This lesson has really stood out to me over the years, because  it allowed us to encompass so many different types of maths within the one maths lesson.

I personally believe it is all about tailoring maths lessons to the interests of students, to keep them engaged, motivated and eager to learn in mathematics lessons.

Georgia

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 What makes an effective mathematics teacher?

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 What makes an effective mathematics teacher?

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My previous experience with mathematics as a learner has been mainly negative. I recall maths lessons involving one hour of watching the teacher write on the whiteboard and then one hour of completing pages in a text book. I distinctly remember one occasion where I didn’t understand the section and felt I couldn’t ask for help. I looked to the answer page in the back of the book and wrote down the answer, so I could move on to the next question. On this occasion, the teacher asked me how I got the answer. It was very embarrassing and I remember telling her that I couldn’t remember. This experience happened when I was in year 9 and had been placed in what was considered, top level maths.Another experience that is memorable, was a more positive one. This occurred the year before the above experience. I lacked confidence in my ability to do maths at the beginning of the year. However, the teacher I had would always take the time to explain the questions and clarify our understanding of the question by giving a range of contextually meaningful examples. Following this, he would make time to spend with each student and come around to discuss our working out. I remember feeling like it was ok to not understand and actually really enjoyed listening to the examples he provided and having a go at the methods he used to problem solve. During this year I enjoyed maths class and my fears of not being good at maths disappeared. When I reflect on both experiences, it is clear that through effective teaching in year 8, I had success in both gaining confidence and conceptual understanding. These experiences highlight the importance of an effective teacher, to be successful and promote a positive attitude toward mathematics. It shows how a student view of the subject can be highly influenced by teaching and learning experiences, as well as acceptance of not understanding and encouragement to explore different methods for working out a problem. Additionally, teachers that encourage a focus on multiple ways of problems solving, would encourage students to feel comfortable in sharing their ways of working out, without the fear of being wrong.

Megan D

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I found I learnt most from mathematics lessons and teachers when they made the mathematics problem relevant and not just abstract. This occurred mostly in my year 12 business Mathematics class where we did Profit/loss statements for made up businesses for example. Business was always something I was interested in so for me, I gained a good grasp of this type of mathematics.
I enjoyed mathematics up until year 11 or so when it began to get too abstract and I didn't understand it's relevance or why I would need to know it in the future. I would always have a calculator right?
If a teacher could have shown how some of these mathematics problems could be relevant in my future world, then I would have been more interested and motivated to learn. Also making the mathematics problem something to be solved provided an opportunity to problem solve and critically think which is a more engaging way to learn.
Something to consider when I teach mathematics in the future.
Thanks,
Kelly Rennie

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As a student, I believe that I didn't have any maths teachers that suited my learning style. I was only ever taught one method of doing anything, and always found maths difficult. As an adult I was terrified of being rostered onto canteen duty for my kids sport. The idea of adding and subtracting in my head was simply sickening - people would see how bad I was at maths! This was until I started working as an aide in a primary school, and was in a grade 3 classroom with a teacher who really knew how to teach maths. I've learned so many different strategies, and am no longer terrified of canteen duty!

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As a student, I believe that I didn't have any maths teachers that suited my learning style. I was only ever taught one method of doing anything, and always found maths difficult. As an adult I was terrified of being rostered onto canteen duty for my kids sport. The idea of adding and subtracting in my head was simply sickening - people would see how bad I was at maths! This was until I started working as an aide in a primary school, and was in a grade 3 classroom with a teacher who really knew how to teach maths. I've learned so many different strategies, and am no longer terrified of canteen duty!

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Through reflection on my experience of mathematics throughout my time in school, I was always labeled as 'good at maths' and I definitely had a different attitude towards maths than those who weren't considered very good at the subject. However, when it came to teaching it wasn't until I moved to an accelerated mathematics class that I actually felt as though the teacher was passionate about each of her students learning. Unfortunately, a lot of my maths teachers seemed to have an attitude of as long as they deliver the content, it's up to the students to succeed.
Thanks
Abbie

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Throughout primary school I had a couple of really engaging teachers who made mathematics fun and not something to be scared of or worried about. There were a lot of number games involved and whole class activities. I struggled in Year 7 with a new maths teacher who was very intelligent but had a very strange way of teaching that I couldn't ever relate to. I think he decided quite early on that I was not particularly great at maths as he had taught my sister the previous year and maths was not as strong are of hers. I believe this shows that we cannot be judgemental in how we perceive our students ability and embrace challenges to help ensure that all our students can become competent in mathematics in our classroom.

Thanks for the great Ted Talk! I was encouraging my students on placement to use their fingers when counting so great to hear this backed up as good pedagogy!

Regards,

Andrew Allison.

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I was fortunate enough to mostly have good maths teachers throughout my schooling, however, there was one who was ineffective which stands out the most. This particular teacher was very methodological and expected us to solve problems in their preferred manner. Additionally, they were unapproachable and not overly supportive. My experience in this class was beneficial, however, as now I know how not to be when teaching maths to students.

Alec

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I remember what my maths teachers looked like and I remember them standing out the front writing on the board, with all the students sitting at their individual desks copying into their books and getting set homework, to practise, at the end of the class. This is the only way I was taught mathematics - no hands on, no group work, no real life examples. I didn't do the homework because it was boring. Luckily I picked up the information about how to do things well enough in class to plod along with average marks. These days I love maths because it is full of really interesting patterns and I like using my brain to problem solve. I can't actually identify a teacher or teaching style that contributed to this, though.

I think teaching maths effectively involves knowing each of your students' learning styles and providing for them in engaging and relevant ways. I also think that a love of maths is infectious - maybe that's what my teachers contributed, as they were always fully immersed and engaged in the subject as they taught it.

Lea

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The best maths teachers I had were able to relate maths to real life examples and were able to make maths interesting rather than just giving us a textbook to work from. They also were extremely positive and didn't make students feel less intelligent because they didn't understand something. The negative types of maths teachers that I had were often quick to talk down to students who didn't understand, or they would just tell students how to do something rather than actually teaching the student the process involved.

Cheers, Ryan.

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In high school I had two math teachers that had a positive affect and a negative affect on my math knowledge and beliefs. one teach looked down on me and made me feel guilty for not learning math quickly and the other had so much patients and understanding for me and made me feel positive about math.

Georgia

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I remember enjoying maths as a subject at school.. and I believe it was a strong area for me. Two maths teachers come to mind when thinking of the impact teachers had made on my learning; one in high school who had a negative impact on my learning, and one in college who had a positive impact on my learning.
With the teacher in high school, I remember feeling discouraged by her lack of motivation and praise.  I felt as though I did a good job, but then questioned myself wondering if maybe I wasn't as good as I thought I was, ending in me not applying as much effort in the future which I believe to be due to her lack of connection and communication she made with her students.
In year 11 I had a great maths teacher, who made the class fun and engaging. He was very helpful and taught the content thoroughly, offering his own time to assist students to catch up if they didn't understand fully. Students respected him because he respected us, and it showed through the amount of effort students put back into the class.
Cheers, Nat

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To be honest I don't have a positive maths experience from high school - my high school maths teacher was a very black and white thinker and I never understood his teaching. Instead of diversifying his teaching for me, he had me bring an art book or a reading book to draw or write in the back of his class rather than helping me to learn.
I always thought I was bad at maths because of this however once I started my first uni degree I found this wasn't true. I am still not the most amazingly skilled person when it comes to maths however on my placements I have found that my maths lessons are the most effective lessons I plan perhaps because I am conscious that not everyone learns the same in maths and I make sure I have multiple approaches to teaching and learning in this area.

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Thinking back to my own schooling particularly in the early stages there was teacher who had a teaching style of group rotation for his maths lessons. While this may sound very basic and common the way he conducted it was by having students working in the groups and then sharing the groups lesson with the other students in the class at the end. This gave us the opportunity to talk through our lesson and he would ask how we went, did we enjoy the lesson etc. Looking back on it now I can see he was trying to create for some sense of control in our learning and allowing us to give him feedback on how we learned different tasks. I think these qualities of being flexible teaching and allowing for students to share their thoughts and processing on the lessons will both help students and the teachers to be successful.

Thank you for reading, Amy

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In high school I was fortunate enough to have a wonderful maths teacher that was energetic and had a passion for his job. This translated across to his students and as a result, I developed a keen interest in mathematics, particularly algebra and trigonometry. Before having this teacher, I had always doubted myself and developed a fixed mindset when it came to the subject - I looked at the other students in the class that breezed through tricky problems with ease and thought that they were blessed with a 'maths mind' that I would never possess. I think that the most effective characteristic that this teacher had was that he had a wonderful way of explaining concepts in a way that was relatable. He would take dense and complex ideas and break them down into bite sized pieces that were easier to comprehend. From there, he would provide us with simple steps that we could use to work through a problem to reach a resolution. In hindsight, as a teacher, he had a comprehensive content knowledge and understanding which he could adapt to suit his learners. I feel that this is what made him and effective maths teacher.
- Maggie R

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During high school I remember that my maths teacher was fun and really enjoyed what he was doing, making our lessons creative and applying to really world scenarios. Working on budgets and applying saving plan has certainly helped me out later in life and I still use the concepts he demonstrated today. However I think the most memorable moment was when we were working on chance concepts and it was the Melbourne cup. He had us work out previous horses experiences via wins and losses and working out odds. One of the class picked the trifecta and my maths teacher won $1500.  It was a great day shared by all.
Cheers
Aimee

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When thinking of both a negative and positive experience i have had with maths teachers, it allows me to reflect on two very different teaching styles. The first had a very positive influence on myself. This teacher consistently used real-life examples and relevant contexts in relation to all questions. For example, he would plan for our data and statistics units to be taught throughout football or basketball seasons. This way, it was allowing the class to use real data to analyse and interpret. This was an engaging and positive experience. A negative mathematics experience I had was quite the opposite to my positive experience. This negative experience heavily involved working solely from a textbook and answering questions independently and with no real life examples involved. As a student, I struggled to understand a lot of what the question was asking and it became a very repetitive and boring task.I believe effective maths teachers use a variety of methods to cater for the student's needs and moves away from consistently working from questions in a textbook. I believe questions need to be relevant and given a context in order for it to be relatable and enjoyable for the students.

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When thinking of both a negative and positive experience i have had with maths teachers, it allows me to reflect on two very different teaching styles. The first had a very positive influence on myself. This teacher consistently used real-life examples and relevant contexts in relation to all questions. For example, he would plan for our data and statistics units to be taught throughout football or basketball seasons. This way, it was allowing the class to use real data to analyse and interpret. This was an engaging and positive experience. A negative mathematics experience I had was quite the opposite to my positive experience. This negative experience heavily involved working solely from a textbook and answering questions independently and with no real life examples involved. As a student, I struggled to understand a lot of what the question was asking and it became a very repetitive and boring task.I believe effective maths teachers use a variety of methods to cater for the student's needs and moves away from consistently working from questions in a textbook. I believe questions need to be relevant and given a context in order for it to be relatable and enjoyable for the students.

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When thinking of both a negative and positive experience i have had with maths teachers, it allows me to reflect on two very different teaching styles. The first had a very positive influence on myself. This teacher consistently used real-life examples and relevant contexts in relation to all questions. For example, he would plan for our data and statistics units to be taught throughout football or basketball seasons. This way, it was allowing the class to use real data to analyse and interpret. This was an engaging and positive experience. A negative mathematics experience I had was quite the opposite to my positive experience. This negative experience heavily involved working solely from a textbook and answering questions independently and with no real life examples involved. As a student, I struggled to understand a lot of what the question was asking and it became a very repetitive and boring task.
I believe effective maths teachers use a variety of methods to cater for the student's needs and moves away from consistently working from questions in a textbook. I believe questions need to be relevant and given a context in order for it to be relatable and enjoyable for the students.

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Growing up I have never been a student that has been very fond of maths. I feel that I have never been very strong in maths. However, one of my high school maths teachers took the time and the effort to change my attitude towards maths. They shifted my focus onto learning the process and concepts rather than getting answers right or wrong. They would encourage me day in and day out to keep striving until I would eventually understand the type of math we may be learning. Maths is never easy but this teacher made me conscious of the fact that NOTHING is ever easy until you positively set your mind to it and focus on the process of learning rather than the outcome.

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Someone who is patient, understanding, enthusiastic and confident in their content knowledge. They must be able to work with students, not against them to provide all students the opportunity to learn and engage in meaningful education.
They are able to facilitate an environment where students are allowed to be wrong and ask questions without fear of embarrassment.
- Isabella

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Mathematics teacher who had an  effect on me

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Mathematics teacher who had an  effect on me

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negative - I recall in high school a teacher allowing the students to make with our hands a letter box. we needed to draw the design first including measurements and then make it from the design. I loved getting my hands involved and working in a group to solve the problem.
positive - A teacher who thought this game was a good way to teach. Making two young children stand up and face each other, the teacher then said a times table problem as the children used their fingers as guns to shoot the other child western style when they said the answer. First to shoot wins. I don't remember ever winning. I was so scared every time.
Karen

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Mathematics teacher who had negative effect on me

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Mathematics teacher who had negative effect on me

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A teacher who through making two young children stand up and face each other. The teacher then said a times table problem as the children used their fingers as guns to shoot the other child western style when they said the answer. First to shoot wins. I don't remember ever winning. I was so scared every time.
Karen

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I believe that a key aspect to being an effective maths teacher is to developing a relationship with each student. Having developed that effective relationship, the teacher would understand how each student learns best and can accommodate their learning to the best of their needs. Doing this would achieve optimal learning from all students.

Whilst reflecting on effective teachers from my schooling, a common theme amongst them all was that they had that relationship developed with all students, which made us in the class feel more comfortable in asking questions and needing assistance with certain problems. It made me enjoy maths throughout my schooling.
- Phoebe

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I believe to be an effective maths teacher it is vital to make a strong relationship with each student. Teachers need to understand each student, their strengths and weaknesses and how each individual student learns. Whilst reflecting on effective teachers from my schooling, a common characteristic is the effort teachers make to form relationships with their students and to ensure that the learning environment was safe and open for all students. The comfortable environment that was created allowed students to ask questions without the fear of failing or embarrassment.
- Keisha

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I believe that the effective maths teacher of today would look much different to the effective maths teacher of 20 years ago. This could be attributed to updated research on student learning, the discovery and focus on growth mind sets, the commitment to individualise learning to some extent and to allow learning to become more student-focused rather than teacher-directed repetition of sums. I believe the effective teacher of today needs to be open to allowing students to create meaning from their own real life experiences, encourage students to learn from their mistakes and help students develop confidence in their own abilities by not comparing them to others who may be excelling in certain areas. The effective teacher of today may not "know" all about mathematics, however should be open in learning with the students, be passionate about the students' individual successes and make learning mathematics fun, relevant and allow mathematics to be intimidating or boring.

Josh

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 The mathematics teacher who taught best took me a while to think about but he was  the one who also took science which I was fairly good at, which possibly means the relationships or confidence in mine and other students abilities, and that would have made the difference, he brought out the best in everyone and was open to questions and discussion. Other teachers I remember had very little understanding or ability to explain, or they had a set way of doing it and it HAD to be done that way; hence if I wanted to know I needed to ask my friend to re-explain once they had described the method, which was almost every time, that friend was probably the best math teacher I ever had.  Relationships, patience, approachability and flexibility in thinking, was what I feel made the most difference. Cheers Shannon.

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 The mathematics teacher who taught best took me a while to think about but he was  the one who also took science which I was fairly good at, which possibly means the relationships or confidence in mine and other students abilities, and that would have made the difference, he brought out the best in everyone and was open to questions and discussion. Other teachers I remember had very little understanding or ability to explain, or they had a set way of doing it and it HAD to be done that way; hence if I wanted to know I needed to ask my friend to re-explain once they had described the method, which was almost every time, that friend was probably the best math teacher I ever had.  Relationships, patience, approachability and flexibility in thinking, was what I feel made the most difference. Cheers Shannon.

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When thinking about all of the maths teachers that I've had over the years, I would have to say that my teacher in college would have to have had the biggest positive impact on my learning. It wasn't as if he knew more content than what other teachers did, it was just the enthusiasm that he taught with and his enthusiasm about maths that motivated me to do as possibly well as I could.

On the other hand, the teachers that had a somewhat negative impact on my learning were those that were the opposite; weren't enthusiastic about their teaching. They knew all of the content off by heart and were really good at maths themselves, but they did not inspire anyone to further themselves with their work or encourage people to think that mathematics is something that people can enjoy.

Cheers, Hadyn.

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I had the pleasure of having an incredible Maths teacher in High School. He made math fun and enabled us to use different methods to help us to learn. He understood that students learn in different ways and so allowed us to be creative and explore different learning methods. This teacher also had so much time for his students - he would work in small groups or one on one with students who needed extra help and helped these students and did whatever it took to make sure they understood what we were learning.

I hope that when I am a teacher, I am able to make students want to learn and find different ways to engage each and every student because I feel as though this would impact students learning in a positive way.

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A teacher who has had a positive influence on my mathematical content knowledge was my college Maths teacher. Her outlook and experience within the subject of maths showed through her confidence and encouraging personality. Before grade eleven, I had never enjoyed maths, nor had I been a high achiever. However, after the experience of the Maths class in grade eleven I felt more comfortable with maths and its application to the real world. It is because of her "everybody can do this' attitude that every student done well and enjoyed the maths class.

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I believe an effective maths teacher needs to be passionate not just about maths but also about teaching and supporting their students to make their learning journey a fun and motivating experience.

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Good thoughts - why do you think maths teachers ar

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I remember high school maths es as notes from the board and problems from a book. Primary school I don't remember much except the use of the units (ones, tens, hundreds) blocks.
In grade 7 I had completed all of the maths work in glass and was handed the grade 10 maths text to work from. I don't think it was especially hard.
I guess then to be effective we don't want kids just learning equations and repeating questions over and over, but instead to think about problems

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I had several male maths teachers in high school, and for the most part I enjoyed the subject.  I think largely because I left it was less open to interpretation as what’s ‘good’ vs ‘bad’ as long as you were trying to solve problems in logical ways.  Have always been a visual learner, maybe I enjoyed maths because it was easier to convey as visual representations than for example English.  Think that is the quality my maths teachers had – the ability to convey what they were teaching in a way I understood.  They also all noticeably loved maths and had genuine passion for it.

I have a strong negative memory of one of my primary school teachers getting me up in front of the class to try and work through a fractions problem on the board, and I just couldn’t understand it.  Finally, the teacher drew the different items to represent the fractions, the teacher got so frustrated with me that I couldn’t make sense of the numbers until she drew them, I felt incredibly stupid, it wasn’t until later on I realised myself that I just needed a different method of working out the problem shown to me – a different method of teaching.

I believe teacher’s need to have a somewhat confident knowledge of content, the ability to give problems ‘real-life’ context so students can try to understand, use an variety of teaching methods – find out how your students learn, tailor lessons to them as best you can.  Give your students confidence to just have a go – doesn’t matter if they get it wrong.  Even if you have a go and get it wrong you are still learning.

Amy Nelson

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Unfortunately I can remember very little of my maths teachers. Like the Ted Talk was discussing, I was told I was not a maths person from a young age. I never enjoyed maths much and was average at it and I don't think the teachers really bothered. I was capable but not brilliant and so I was hardly noteworthy to the teachers I suppose and that's why I can barely remember them.

Sean

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I can't honestly say I ever had a maths teacher that stood out, but I have since encountered a teacher I wish I had had many years ago - maybe my maths journey would have been different. I came across him when he gave a workshop on teaching maths to adults, and I was mesmerised because he made maths relevant. It wasn't just some theoretical thing that didn't seem to have any point; it was related to the real world. He was telling us that was important for our adult learners, but I think it's just as important for kids. And by that I don't mean the "if Andrea is travelling in a car going at 60km/h and it goes off a cliff with an angle of 40o where will she land?" type real -world question, I mean linking it to the relevance of every day life and the future and showing kids how important and how great it can be to understand and manipulate numbers. That's what a great teacher needs to do...

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Hi Tracey and Students,

I had a wonderful Maths teacher in Year 8. I can remember clearly we particularly focused on Pythagoras' theory and the hypotenuse.

I have always struggled with Maths, unfortunately. I didn’t have the foundations and the knowledge like my other friends, I disliked my timestables tremendously and I would freeze up and become anxious in class if I didn’t know how to do something. I felt defeated and unmotivated. However, this particular teacher embodied the best qualities to help me learn and move past my fears. For example, because I didn’t enjoy my times tables she let me use my calculator. Even if it was for the simplest 3 x 4 =?. This made me feel comfortable and after a while I began to rely less and less on the calculator, until I barely needed it! Within the class, she noticed that I required extra help, extra time and I learnt best from visual cues, diagrams and explanations on the board. She made sure if I didn’t quite grasp something, she would spend extra time at lunch with me explaining it in a way that I understood. These key qualities ensured I learnt effectively and enjoyed my time in her class.  Most importantly though, she made me believe I could do it.

I never believed in myself, and from a very young age I accepted that Maths was always going to be a struggle. This was due to the negative impact on my learning from a teacher in Year 4. She made Maths scary, intimidating and created an environment where I just couldn’t learn.

On the other end of the spectrum, the teacher who had a positive impact on my learning managed to change my perspective and push the negative thoughts away. She was kind, patient and passionate. Her passion for Maths began to translate onto me. She believed in me and no matter how long it took me to do a question she was always proud and excited of my effort. She believed mistakes were good! These were qualities that made her an effective Maths teacher.

In closing, because of this teacher, I can proudly say to this day I absolutely love doing Pythagorus and I get excited when I get to use the formulas!

Olivia Meallin

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I am hard pressed to remember any primary school maths teaching - and the first years at secondary school were a blur of doing the exercises as quickly as possible, checking answers in the back of the book then enjoying free time. In Year Ten and Eleven I was fortunate to have a teacher who had not lost his curiosity, and would expand learning with 'what ifs' and 'just thinks'. The mathematic possibilities became endless! He also encouraged those of us who more easily grasped concepts to share with fellow students.  In hindsight I would say he knew we all learnt differently and utilised this to build broader understanding.

For me a good maths teacher maintains their own curiosity, wonder and joy, and utilises myriad ways to encourage understanding and applicability to everyday life as well as big picture concepts.
Verona

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I wonder what it would have been like...? 

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I wonder what it would have been like...? 

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I never had an inspiring maths teacher.  Looking back now I wonder what it would have been like to attend a class with a teacher who was dynamic, excited and believed in us all.  I had plenty of teachers that would explain mathematical processes on the board and then hand out a worksheet for the remainder of class.  I also had a teacher who shouted at us for getting things wrong and who became highly irritated if we didn't understand his explanations the very first time.  I'm certainly left thinking about how my attitude toward maths may have been different, not to mention my ability, if there had been even one maths teacher that really loved what they were teaching and cared about helping each student embrace that same love of maths.

- Sarah

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Good thoughts - why do you think maths teachers ar

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Good thoughts - why do you think maths teachers ar

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Good thoughts - why do you think maths teachers ar

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Good thoughts - why do you think maths teachers ar

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Good thoughts - why do you think maths teachers ar

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My grade six teacher used to give a question of the week in riddle form, we were to go away and come up with a solution. Often the parents ended up getting excitedly involved in the questions too. This was a really exciting way to form a special relationship between mathematical concepts and the classroom community. 

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My grade six teacher used to give a question of the week in riddle form, we were to go away and come up with a solution. Often the parents ended up getting excitedly involved in the questions too. This was a really exciting way to form a special relationship between mathematical concepts and the classroom community. 

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Again in grade nine I had a math teacher who really linked the theory of maths with the real world. I remember going on a field trip to connect our trigonometry to authentic experiences. I really value this approach as a hands on teacher and hope to incorporate  each of these methods into my mathematical teachings.

Sylvie

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As a younger student my favourite teacher was Mrs Allsop, grade 1, she was a fuddy duddy but I loved her rhythmic way of teaching times tables. The rhythm still plays in my head today when I am computing times tables. In later years, Father Gags and his over exaggerated ways of drawing on the chalk board. Then Mr L-E, with his boring monotone, aggressive and demanding ways tried to squish the mathematical excitement burning within me.  Mrs A and Father G won in the end and today I still love math.

I would like to hope that as a teacher I will put fun and excitement into mathematics by being patient, finding simplistic and easy to understand ways of teaching, playing games, using books and other media to compliment my teaching, always have a positive attitude and be enthusiastic. The measure of my success will be my students having a life long love for learning.

Mandy

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I remember very clearly my high school maths teachers. I had nine different maths teachers in grade 9 (yes 9!), and the first eight of them taught straight from the text book and basically left us to our own devices to work our way through it. There was very little learning happening in the class. Towards the end of the year, after the eighth teacher left, the vice principal took our class. He took a completely different approach and taught maths as it would be used in the outside world. For example he taught us about tax and budgeting and complex measurements,. He used real examples and got us problem solving and was not as concerned with using the 'correct' formula.
- Jacky McLean

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Good thoughts - why do you think maths teachers ar

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Good thoughts - why do you think maths teachers ar

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Good thoughts - why do you think maths teachers ar

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An individual who is able to show patience and compassion with their students. Someone who is able to recognise that everyone learns differently and is able to encourage learning abilities.

A teacher that i had throughout high school that had an big impact on my perceptions of maths was a male who understood each individuals learning abilities and work to those particular strengths. He was patient and allowed each student to gain an understanding and achieve the necessary goals. I was never fond of maths but this teacher gave me a little bit of confidence to do the best that i could.

Ella

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I believe an effective mathematics teacher to be understanding, willing to adapt, supportive and plausibly passionate.

I believe the best mathematics lessons probably happen outside strict mathematics lessons. I personally and much more likely to engage with an area of interest and want to learn new skills to further my understanding.

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Good thoughts - why do you think maths teachers ar

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TED talks are amazing, there is an excellent one about teaching in general that I think is worth watching, at least twice.
I remember my last Maths teacher in high school. He did spend a lot of time calling students donkeys but it made the classroom atmosphere more relaxed which I think was important. After calling us donkeys our teacher did spend extra time explaining the problems further, exploring each students methods of solving them (right or wrong).
I think effective maths teaching makes the learning useful, contextual and fun. If students enjoy a subject they are going to remember it, and if they can relate it to a contextual situation that occurs in their lives then they can visualise the problem as well.
Cheers,
Tristan

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Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, “They don’t pay me to like the kids.” Her response: “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.’” A rousing call to educators to believe in their students and actually connect with them on a real, human, personal level.

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Were my math teachers effective? I think not. Me in the future? I can only dream...

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Were my math teachers effective? I think not. Me in the future? I can only dream...

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I've spent the last hour or so rearranging and reading all these other notes, mostly to make this thing look a little more organised. I was also trying to work out if I was the only one to struggle in math classes due to a teacher who appeared to not care. Now, it seems I am another unfortunate human being who finds it difficult to picture a math teacher that made the subject fun and intriguing, to make us as students want to learn. To everyone else who is in a similar boat,  jump aboard and join me on this crazy adventure into a teacher's perspective of mathematics pedagogy. Hopefully we'll be better at engaging students than our previous teachers were us.
Math was never a subject I particularly enjoyed. From years of being given a booklet of worksheets to fill out and get teacher feedback on, to a set of problems that needed to be completed by the end of 100 minutes. The only consistent factor in these two approaches: the growing difficulty of the math tasks we were being asked to learn and complete. It didn't matter if we enjoyed the class or not, it was compulsory to pass. So we passed, sometimes barely, but we did it. The fail mark and teasing from our peers was worse, let alone the disappointment that our parents would no doubt feel as they looked at the end of year report card. It wasn't worth that, and so we struggled through it. At least, that's what couple of friends and I did. I can't really speak for anyone else here.
I'm not confident in my ability to teach math, not now or in the future. This will hopefully change given time and practice, and my own goals of being what my teachers weren't - patient, willing to take the time to further explain concepts to students, and engaging. I don't want to stand at the front and explain how to approach the problem once, or recite the times tables as I was taught. I want to embed math lessons in the other subject areas where possible (ie. read a picture book with math elements, or learn about mixing two colours to make a new one). I want to take time out of my day and work with a child who is struggling if they need or request it, to make sure they actually understand the current concept before moving onto the next. I want to feel like I'm doing something effective, to engage students in a typically tedious class.
That's not to say I will be an effective math teacher, but I will try. These are, after all, just some elements I believe an effective teacher of math should consider. This is, of course, alongside the general qualities needed to be an effective teacher. Now, if only I wasn't in the early childhood degree, then the one area of math I enjoyed, algebra (because math suddenly made more sense to me with letters involved - I blame my love of reading and writing), might actually be more useful to me as a teacher. Not that it isn't useful, just that you wouldn't go to teach four year old children the pythagorean theorem, let alone algrebraic equations!

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A math teacher that had a positive impact on my learning was my second level pre-tertiary math teacher in college, who tried to dissuade me from retaking the class after having failed the previous year, saying, "Most students who retake the class just fail again."

This of course, might not have been the right action to take with all students, but it motivated me to prove him wrong, which I did, by successfully passing the unit that year.

I don't think that he was trying to deliberately motivate me, however, it was the realistic outlook that I needed to hear to give me the motivation to do better.

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Maths for me was always just a subject to get through. I can't remember a single maths teacher who had a positive impact on my learning and almost all my memories just  include book and worksheet work. I can, however, remember a teacher who wasn't a great role model as he just sat at a desk and yelled the entire lesson. Couldn't even tell you the type of maths I was supposed to be learning.

After watching the Ted Talk, I really loved the ideas of letting kids know that making mistakes is actually good for them and making maths colourful and creative can be an option!

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Maths teacher pranks his class :')
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9NQatne0xg

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Someone who is patient and understanding. Who doesn't bog students down with endless handouts and exercises, a teacher who seeks to encourage discovery and provide an environment where students can be wrong and be given opportunity to correct their mistakes, to show how they've grown and developed, and how they arrived at the correct answer.

A maths teacher should certainly not be someone like the one displayed in the video, who, despite being a good actor whom I like, is dull, boring, and doesn't seek to activate any learning or discovery amongst his students.

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Not a teacher like this:

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"Anyone, anyone" teacher from Ferris Bueller's Day Off