I hope you're doing well. It has been ten years since you taught me high school math. I was happy to see you again at the restaurant and greet you briefly. However, I didn't get the chance to have a full conversation with you. Your math teachings were very helpful for me, since they prepared me well for the difficulties in university. Your rigor and proofs were genuine and didn't take too much time. They were intuitive and made me understand the topics on a deeper level. I loved your reminders that university does things a little differently. My friends from other classes were so shocked, but I wasn't! Your lessons were stepping stones to enter post secondary. Some topics are hard to grasp initially, but you broke it down very nicely. Thank you for your explanations!. . .
Dear Mr. Zhang,
I was happy to see you at the teachers conference. I'm teaching English/history right now. It was nice having a small chat with you regarding some of the pedagogical differences we have regarding math. To start, I'm not strong with math and not fluent. Sometimes your proofs are too long to follow, and I couldn't keep up. Your lessons on mathematical/symbolic logic was also not necessary, though it may be interesting to some. People like me are more interested in how and in which situations to use certain formulae. The tangents you went into about some cautions to take for the future weren't beneficial as I didn't take math afterwards. . .
I'm hopeful that I can explain topics on a deeper level but I hope to not digress too far and focus on the main topics. The balance on how much rigor I should implement is something I have to keep in mind as well. Sometimes I may not have to introduce some concepts since it may not be useful.
Good thoughts here, and interesting to think about proofs and rigour. (I'm looking forward to your Inquiry 1 project on this topic too!) I notice that your initial concerns are about what you will do in class -- and I encourage you to begin the shift to thinking as well about what learners will be doing and engaging with in your classes. Remember, it's all about the students' learning! Our skills as teachers support, encourage and create situations for that to happen.
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