Teaching and Learning

In my past I have experienced math as an early source of motivation for all of my academic accomplishments. When I was in 3rd grade I can remember my teacher telling me that my math scores (standardized score) was one of the highest scores in our school which was a huge inspiration for me not just in mathematics but in all aspects of education. I have also experienced what some might perceive as failures in mathematics courses. In my entire academic career there have only been two courses that I have had to repeat and both where math related. The reason I would not view these experiences as failures is because in both situations the second time around I was among the top performers in the class. These experiences in mathematics have raised my confidence tremendously in terms of facing challenges.
The types of challenges that I have faced as a teacher coupled with my experiences as a student have made me very much open to change, and learning new ideas. I have had experiences where students have come up with problem solving methods that I did not initially recognize, but as a result had to acknowledge. These types of experiences made me feel very much connected to our classroom discussion of "The New Mathematics Teacher". I have also experienced in teaching that when I tie in real world examples that relate directly to the students, they tend to become more engaged and willing to work. As a student the same applied to my learning. I really enjoy learning when it has a direct correlation to my life. These factors influenced my input in our discussion of, "what is teaching and learning?".