Interview with Stduents and Teachers

Interview with Mr. Lucas:
1. What’s the greatest challenge you or new student teacher will face?
• For student teachers, you can’t get all classes in math. Sometimes you need to teach other courses you are not well prepared for.
• Even for seasoned teachers, the greatest challenge would be the constant arguments among students, parents and teachers whether the students should get the mark they desired.

2. How well prepared were you for your teaching?
• I am very well prepared
• This includes mastery of the curriculum, background concepts, and extended fields

3. How about the use of lesson plan? Do you think it would be useful?
• I have taught the course for many years. I don’t need a complete lesson plan.
• I use assignments and tests to evaluate the students, and I know very well how the class will go on.
• A checklist of what to do in class is good enough.

4. Do you approve variable standards in your math class?
• No. Students should meet certain standards in order to continue studying in math.
• It doesn’t have to be the common standard set by the school, but when the standard is set, students should work to meet the standard.

5. How different is it to teach different grades and which grade do you prefer?
• For different grades, different standards are required and different focus is concerned, for example, calculation skill based or concept based
• Higher level of math teaching(such as calculus) is preferred for me because students will focus more on the problems and then develop on the problem solving and critical thinking skills
• Teaching students at lower grades often need to deal with behaviour issues.


Interview with students:
1. What is Math to you? Why are you taking math? Do you like it?
2. What is the greatest difficulty or barrier you face in learning math?
3. Has it ever come across your mind you feel that math is not important?
Why or why not?
4. Do you think that your math teacher actually care about your grades? Or
do you think he only pays attention to those who are good at math?
5. Math is only for smart people. True or False? Why or why not?

Berta
1. Math is I don't know what math is to me but I think it is important and that’s why I’m taking it. I like math when I understand it but it can be really difficult if I don’t.
2. Most of the difficulties I have in learning math is when I don’t understand the question like if it is a long question with hard words I have to read it at least 5 times to understand it.
3. Somehow. Because there are something that we learn in math class that I think we won’t use in the future but math is important.
4. NO I don't think my teacher cares. But he is funny in class
5. False. Math is for everyone.

Winie
1. Math is a course that is required for me to graduate high school. I do like math as it teaches me how to apply different formulas to different equations.
2. Trigonometry was the biggest barrier I had encountered when learning math in school as I had a difficult time trying to understand it.
3. To be honest, unless one wishes to pursue a career that involves serious math skills, I don't find that learning more complicated math is very useful in everyday life.
4. My math teacher does care about my grades and everyone else's in class. He tries different methods to help everyone with different learning paces to understand the material.
5. False, as everyone can do it, but only if they are motivated and willing to do so.


Summary:
1. For new teachers, the challenge is not only from math teaching, but also from administration and management jobs.
2. We need to have extended knowledge on math, not just knowing how to solve a question.
3. A student teacher need to have a good and detailed lesson plan to guide us. As we become more experienced, we can just use checklists.
4. Variable standard might be Ok for some other courses. But it is not a good idea for math because new math skills are built on previously learnt skills.
5. Classroom management is very important in lower grades.
6. Most students think math is useful, but only at basic calculation level.
7. Most Students like math only when they can do well on math. The reason they want to learn math is because they need math to go to university.