Week 6 Blog – Best Math Lesson – Carolina Ruiz

When I think of the best math lesson that I have ever experienced, I think about my high school — junior year math teacher — Mr. Martinez. As I stated on your first blog, I have my ups and down with math, but with Mr. Martinez, math was always easy. He was patient and had different ways to teach students that did not understand the material well. I felt comfortable in his classroom because he was always patient and never put students in the spotlight for not understanding math. He was a very one-on-one instructor which helps me a lot because I can ask all the questions I have. I remember the week we learned about parabolas, circles, ellipses, and hyperbolas were so easy because we started off looking at the formulas and understanding their “why’s”, we then drew out what the shape looks like. After we practiced together he waited until all of us felt confident enough to work on the problems alone. The lesson was good because Mr. Martinez helped the class define everything and create a comfortable environment where “it just takes practice to master this”. I would use the elements of positive reinforcement, eye contact, creating a comfortable environment, and avoiding saying “no” in my classroom.