To teach math

Introduction

Hello! My name is Aparna Nagasubramanian. I am 30 years old, I came to the United States about 5 years ago and have been living in Anaheim, California ever since. I was born and raised in India. I have a degree in Engineering and have worked as a software engineer for 3 years. I got married and moved to US to live with my husband. It was one of the hardest decisions of my life. It was even harder to leave my family, relatives, friends, my job and start life in the US. I now think it was all for the best, I have a good life and I am enjoying California with my 5 year old son who just started school 2 days ago.
I have always wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. I remember telling my teachers in school that one day I will be in their shoes. But it became a long lost dream as I got into engineering college. I spent the last 5 years of my life taking care of my son and when I thought about going back to work, I thought I should do something for the community, something meaningful and satisfying. That is when I decided to teach. Again it was a hard decision, but I decided to get a job I love. I am not teaching yet, I have tutored students in math and I have loved it. I am thinking about substitute teaching now that my son is in school. I have made many observations in classrooms and it has benefited me greatly.

Personality

How did your personality affect your choice of content area?

I think my personality has some impact in the selection of my content area, math. I have a deep love for this subject, Mathematics ever since I was in school. I love to sit and solve problems all day long. So when I decided to teach there was no doubt about what subject I was going to teach. But many students dread the subject and even hate it. I think I can make a difference in the life of these students.

How does or will your personality affect your relationships with your students? 

My personality test states that I have a caring relationship and act kindly towards others. I think this is very true and I think this can affect my students in a positive way. I want my students to see me as someone approachable, some one who thinks its okay to make mistakes and learn from them especially in a subject like math. My closest personality type is ISTJ which means I like to observe and listen, have clear goals. I think this can benefit my students greatly. By listening to my students, I would get to know them, their likes, dislikes, learning styles and use this in my instruction to get them interested and show them I care. A small act of care can make a huge impact in a student's life.

How will your teaching and learning style affect your teaching and your students' abilities to be successful?

My learning style is kind of mixed, sometimes I learn some things visually, sometimes verbally. These were my results on the teaching style:

expert 4
 
formal authority 4.125
 
personal model 3.625
 
facilitator 4.25
 
delegator 3.5

I like to be a facilitator, I love designing group activities that engage the students in active learning. I like my students to take responsibility for their learning and be independent learners. I think my natural  teaching style is personal model, most of the lessons I taught previously were teacher centered, where I explain theorems, model problems and finally ask my students to work independently to see how much they have understood and re teach if necessary. Although this has worked for the students I taught, I am learning to be a facilitator. I want my students to come up with possible solutions to problems on their own as I believe this would deepen their understanding and make them responsible for their learning.