Reading one and Ken Robinson Video

As I went through mathematics in school I always believed that anything we did in class was definite and true. Any formula, equation or activity I participated in during class was as real to me as the person sitting next to me. My love for math grew stronger every year and I became more biased that math made sense, while the arts courses such as english did not. I thought that there were to many opinions in those topics and that math was concrete. After high school I went on and continued my studies in math because I wanted to do courses where there were right answers involved.
My thoughts on mathematics did not begin to change until I entered the education program and then within my first years of teaching. I realized first of all that there was not only one way to get to an answer. I encountered many people who thought of questions in different ways then I did and worked out problems using a completely different method then myself. When I was a student I thought that what the teacher did was right and it was the only way to do the question. This has helped me tremendously in my teaching career as I encourage the students to investigate problems on their own using their own strategic thinking as opposed to doing everything the way I may do it on the board. There are so many kids that amaze me with the ways that they reach an answer. I allow them to share their thoughts with the class and perhaps they will help other classmates understand the concept better.
Sir Ken Robinsons video opened my mind up to so many thoughts. There are many students I encounter that do not like math. They feel like they don't need to know it and that they will never be good at it. I must realize that these students have talents elsewhere. As their math teacher though I feel the responsibility to focus on math when I have them in the classroom. I am beginning to think about other ways I can still teach them math but help them find out what they enjoy, what they are good at and what makes them happy. When I was in school and still today there is the idea that the core courses are the most important in life while the others are not as useful. This however is not the case and we as educators must help diminish this idea.