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Carmen Sanchez’s Guide for High School Math -Blog #4

My topic was to create a guide what would help high school students who might be

struggling with their math course(s). Sometimes students struggle with math to the point that

they develop math anxiety. I decided to create a guide to proved another resource for students to

use. After doing research I identified how making math applicable to a student would help them

engage more in the course. Giving student more than one method when possible gives them an

opportunity to explore other possibilities. During this process, I too learned different methods I

had forgotten within the years. Our minds become too focused on one way to solve a problem,

that we forget there are multiple ways. I have always enjoyed mathematics because when it

comes to math most problems will have more than one way to get to a solution.

At the beginning of my journey to creating my guide, I had planned to cover all the topics

that students might suggest with. I wanted to make sure I didn’t leave anything out and that a

large major of student could benefit from my math guide. However, students struggle with a lot

of topics and after discussing possible ideas with my math teachers I decided to focus on the top

three topics. My plan to have a worksheet after every course didn’t change. I still want students

to be able to have that extra practice if they are struggling with a certain topic.

Throughout my journey, there were other various obstacles as well, but none too difficult

to overcome. My first obstacle was time, there was just never not enough time. After working

out a schedule I was able to work on my guide. Another obstacle I had was not having all the

resources with me at all times, but that was quickly solved by asking the librarians if I would

borrow a book or two. RUSD change the math curriculum going from “traditional math” to

integrated math. The integrated math textbooks were brand new and their context was not the
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best, I encounter a few issues wrong with them. A last-minute obstacle was, I hadn’t realized that

typing out the guide I had done on paper would be hard. I tried Googe Docs, Microsoft Word,

and even Office OneNote. I ended up scanning all the papers separetly.

I emailed teachers beforehand so they could think of the top three topics they have seen

their students struggle within their math courses. Some teachers didn’t answer the email so I

would go into their classroom before school, during lunch, or after school and discuss some

possible topics I could cover. After having the topics I would look through my past notes, the

textbook, workbooks and sometimes watch youtube videos to get general ideas of different ways

to approach the topic.

I strongly feel that I accomplished more than I had planned. Although my project

proposal said I would be coving a minimum of four topics, I found it easier to do three and offer

more than one approach to the topics. My topic was to help students having a hard time in their

math class and although I have already taken most math courses at Poly I still learned from my

own guide. There are methods I had never really realized how helpful they can actually be.

I have always had a passion for mathematics but it wasn’t until this project that I came to

the realization that I have gained so much knowledge. They say that if you can explain a topic to

others than you have mastered that certain topic. I have always struggled to explain myself but

after doing this project I feel like a can even be a tutor and help students at a wider range. I do

wish I had focused on one math course rather than nine because even out of those nine I did not

do three (Math I, Math II, and Math III). Due to the curriculum set up of the integrated math

course, I found it redundant to explain something twice just in different words. (Math I, Math II,

and Math III are a mix of the “traditional mathematics” that I did do topics for.
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Nevertheless, I was successful in making a difference in helping students who struggle in

math. There were days in which some of my friends asked how my project was going and I

would show them my drafts. They gave me positive feedback and some even said that their

methods that they hadn’t learned in there math classes but found them useful. I believe that with

the proper resources money I would be able to hire people who could help me and we could

cover more ground. One person’s perspective if great but with other people on board, we would

get a wider variety of methods for a topic. My advice for any incoming senior prior to the

beginning the project is, do something you are passionate about. Students look for the easier way

out of not doing the project but if you pick something you are passionate about it will seem easy,

I guarantee that.