Instructor Mistakes The most important part about making a mistake is taking responsibility for it! And I guess, even more importantly, is admitting it to your students. The truth of the matter is everyone makes mistakes; they are a part of life. But what do we do? Learn from them! The first step to learning is admitting. If students see you take ownership of your mistakes and go through this process, not only are you correcting yourself, but you are teaching them how to handle mistakes in their lives.

Types of Students There are all types of students that make up a classroom. The important thing to remember is that they all deserve equal treatment. Just because someone is quiet in your classroom, doesn’t mean that you should ignore him or her. Along the same lines, just because one of your students is trying to be a “teacher’s pet” doesn’t mean that he or she should receive better treatment. Students will quickly notice if you are not being “fair.”

Rationale for Learning One of the biggest challenges for teaching math to students is getting them to see that it does have a purpose! Once you give them specific examples of where it can be seen/used in real life, they are more apt to actually want to learn it. I try to start lessons out by getting them engaged this way.