REFLECTIONS

The earliest recollections of my educational experiences over the years have been very pleasant memories of events that would remain the same if I had to do it all over again. My years of schooling from kindergarten to the 7th grade were all spent in the friendly confines of the same school in Monrovia, Liberia on the west coast of Africa. Growing up in such a positive environment where I was encouraged to succeed, and to succeed well, was good for me because it enabled me to excel with much ease throughout those early years.

Mathematics was nothing special for me, just one of my easy subjects. I was intrigued more with learning the English language. On reflecting back to those days, it pleases me to realize that throughout those years, I had no encounters with teachers that could be classified as bad experiences in mathematics, unlike the stories to that effect many of my present students relate to me.

From the 8th to the 12th grade, I received another series of wonderful experiences at another school. Again, I was lucky to have some of the most remarkable teachers one could have ever hoped for. The learning environment was extremely conducive to the absorption of knowledge, with a size of at most 20 students in every one of my classes.

There was more of a challenge at this level of schooling for me from some of my new class mates, but with much ease I still accomplished a lot, finishing in the top percent of my classes throughout those high school years.

Mathematics was presented to me through the eyes of only two teachers during my five years at this school. My junior high teacher was an inspirational and kind man who instilled in me the virtue of being patient and tireless in my mathematical conquests. Learning from him was made easier by the fact that he was an older cousin of mine too. One of his quotations that inspired me throughout the years and still ring a bell in my mind now and then was a statement to the effect "shoot for the skies and if you fall you will still land on top of the trees."

My senior high school teacher was a man who personified intelligence in his every word. His charm, wit and deliberation in the math class made learning mathematics a fun thing to do. With motivation of this kind it was with no problem that I breezed through my math classes.

Following my graduation I sought his advice on what my future plans for college should be and when he reinforced my confidence in mathematics, I found it quite easy to decide on the choice of mathematics as my major when registering for college.

My first year in college was uneventful and boring mainly because my math classes were not challenging. They were simply a review of things I had already done in high school. It was in the first semester of my sophomore year that mathematics came alive to me. My math teacher was a Peace Corp Volunteer to Liberia who made math so much fun that I looked forward to going to school just to get to his class. His kindness, his constant smile and his seemingly tireless efforts to help students in and out of the classroom, made him the most popular teacher on campus. However, his activities with the students outside of the mathematics classroom came under critical scrutiny when he was accused of inciting students with subversive behavior against the rules and regulations of the school administration. His status as a Peace Corp Volunteer was immediately revoked and he was expelled from Liberia.

This was a devastating blow to my educational goals, and so I, along with many other disillusioned students, dropped out of college in protest. After staying out for one and a half semesters, during which time I was able to experience the real world work environment without a college degree, I decided it was in my best interest to return to college and get my degree. My work experience was in the business world, as a bank clerk, but, the impressions upon me of my three favorite math teachers played a major role in my decision to return to college. This time, it was to become a mathematics teacher. Thus I enrolled in the College of Education with this goal in mind.

Following my undergraduate years, I was fortunate to get a Graduate Fellowship to attend graduate school in the US. The scholarship was partly sponsored by the University of Liberia who saw in me the promise for the future as head of the Mathematics Department, a position no Liberian had ever held before.

Graduate school in the US was full of challenges and conquests that combined to make me the person I am today. My love for teaching was reinforced by many excellent teachers throughout my graduate school experiences. My first stop at Western Michigan University gave me the opportunity to enjoy college life in every aspect. I lived in a dormitory on campus which afforded me an ideal way to submerge myself into the American culture. I also had an American host family to guide and direct my focus as I learned about the American society. After getting a graduate degree in mathematics and teaching in the community college, I moved on to the University of Toledo for further studies. It was here that I began my college teaching experiences as a Graduate Teaching Assistant. I was fortunate in this regard again, because during my first year of teaching, I was constantly monitored by a teacher-mentor who gave me guidance and advice on how to be a more effective teacher. It was a good beginning.

As the time progressed, I did my best to polish my role as a mathematics student and teacher, always keeping in mind my ultimate goal to return to Liberia as an effective teacher in the math department of the University of Liberia. However my goal to return to Liberia was sabotaged by the tragic circumstances of civil disorder, military domination and war that engulfed my country beginning in 1979, throughout the 80’s and most of the 90’s. I found myself with little or no other options other than to make the US my permanent place of residence. Thus I have continued my explorations in the field of mathematics, both as a student and a teacher of mathematics throughout the years since then.

Up until the fall of 1991, my teaching experiences with math had been confined to the teaching of mathematics at the college level. In the fall of 1991, I took an assignment with an all-boys high school that completely changed my outlook on the teaching profession. The challenge for me was to become a complete teacher, both in and out of the classroom, and on a daily basis. I realized that in a high school environment, there was more to teaching mathematics than the fundamental experiences I had gathered over the past years while teaching college students.

Within a period of three years of high school teaching, I found myself completely engaged in the active learning and teaching of mathematics. I found myself using methods that I could easily see were more effective than the ones I had used while teaching at the college level. The impact on both my students and me was strong enough to make me realize a burning desire to learn more about the theoretical nature of teaching and learning mathematics.

I returned to college teaching in 1994 and also began the journey toward a doctorate in Mathematics Education at the same time, but on a part time basis. I was ambivalent about beginning in a field that was somewhat familiar yet at the same time foreign to me. I recognized that although strong in the subject matter of mathematics, my ability to teach mathematics was incomplete because of a lack of knowledge in the theoretical nature of teaching mathematics. After struggling with the decision of pursuing a doctorate in education or finishing my doctorate in mathematics that had been on hold for a long time now, I endeavored on a journey that has been rewarding, knowledgeable and challenging in the field of mathematics education.

The foreign nature of entering a Mathematics Education program at the University of New Orleans was in my lack of a background in the theory of education and general knowledge of the mathematical curriculum. My three years of high school teaching had given me an insight that made me want to know more about the secondary and college curriculum. Every education course I took was an enlightening experience. In particular, my first mathematics methods course afforded me a great opportunity to expand on my concepts of small group and cooperative learning methods. The experience of interactively learning and working with fellow mathematics teachers also enriched my concepts of cognitive theory and constructivism.

I focused on accomplishing several personal goals. These goals included: a) enhancing my knowledge of educational theory and curriculum; b) expanding my teaching abilities; and c) developing an area of interest for extended study in the teaching and learning of mathematics. I feel that I have accomplished part if not all of these goals in the many courses that I completed.

At first, my knowledge of educational theory was extremely weak and seemed to be a paramount obstacle in most of the courses that I took. I felt that I knew what I believed, but became more uncertain with each course that stressed theory. This was enough to force me to reflect on what I truly believed about education, mathematics, learning, and teaching. Over a period of time, and following the completion of many courses, I came to the realization that I was a strong advocate of cognitive theory and discovered that my paradigm was one of a constructivist in nature. I came to the conclusion that mathematical understanding is closely aligned to one’s experiences with mathematics. Mathematical knowledge is not preexistent, nor does it exist in any one of us, rather it emerges from both our social interactions with each other and our interactions with the physical world.

My career as a teacher has continued to grow since returning to college teaching in 1994. My teaching ability has greatly improved, now that I can positively correlate the theoretical knowledge that I have learned with the practical experiences that I engage in, within the classes I teach. I believe I have an enhanced knowledge of the secondary school curriculum, and can undertake teaching in the high school and college with a better understanding of what I need to do. Being more comfortable with teaching at institutions of higher learning, the doctorate program of study I pursued enabled me to feel better at what I do.

I can say that I have developed an area of interest that I can research intensely. My interests have developed in the nature of teaching itself – how an understanding of the cognitive theories of learning can enhance the teaching of mathematics, when investigations into the many learning styles that students bring to the learning environment are taken into consideration.

Part of my interest is to research the usefulness of various teaching methods in relation to the many learning styles students bring to the classroom, and to identify the impact these methods have on student mathematical achievement. Certainly, anything I do in this area will enhance the field of mathematics education, which is continuously transforming and changing the way we teach mathematics as new ideas are expressed and introduced.

I believe that today I am in a position that is overwhelmingly better than where I was when I began this journey. I feel my goals have been practical, challenging, and for the most part within reach. I would like to continue utilizing the research knowledge I have discovering in studies of the methodology of teaching and the cognitive nature of understanding. I certainly will continue to utilize various teaching techniques in order to enhance more active learning in my mathematics classes.