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Math autobiography assignment middle school

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Discovering Each Teacher's "Math Autobiography"

What are the most powerful memories you have about learning math? Did it always feel fun and easy, supported by parents and teachers who gave you confidence? Was it generally enjoyable, but marred by a few bad experiences, like mean teachers, critical parents, and traumatic life events that impacted school? Or has math long felt like a struggle - one where you never received support?

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These home and school experiences shape the way we each think about our abilities - and thus, how much we gravitate to, persevere at, and ask for help with our school subjects. They are especially impactful in math, where students may hear the phrase "I'm not a math person" - which conveys the common erroneous belief that math is something you either "get" or you don't. These experiences are a part of each person's "math identity". To support students to be successful mathematicians, teachers must understand the math identities their students bring to the classroom, and commit to being a po

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Various people have asked me recently about my mathematical autobiography assignment, about which I have previously tweeted, so I decided to put it on my blog here for easier reference.

Caveats: This idea is not original to me (but I don’t remember who I heard about it from first). I originally wrote my own autobiography maybe two years ago now, and I think it could stand an update.

Those things said, I really enjoy the responses I get on this thing. It’s really remarkable how much people are willing to share with me, and how much it helps me quickly build rapport with my students. It allows me to deeply understand who they are when they come into a math classroom — a complicated space for many people!

But most importantly, I think, it helps signal to my students that there’s going to be something different about this space. One student wrote me a thank-you card at the end of the term one year, in which they said something like — and you’ll forgive my inability to quote directly because the card’s in my office — “From the v

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My Mathematical Autobiography

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The document provides instructions for a mathematical autobiography assignment. Students are asked to write about their experiences with mathematics in recent years by answering questions in a cutout of their name. The questions address what school they attended, their math teacher, activities in their math class, mathematical concepts they are good at or need help with, and their general feelings about math.

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0 ratings0% found this document useful (0 votes)
150 views1 page
The document provides instructions for a mathematical autobiography assignment. Students are asked to write about their experiences with mathematics in recent years by answering questions in a cutout of their name. The questions address what school they attended, their math teacher, activities in their math class, mathematical concepts they are good at or need help with, and the

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