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.

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

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

 

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

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

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 

·      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