Growth Mindset Project
At the beginning of junior year we were given two weeks to try our best to learn the basics of a new skill. I wanted to learn how to sew because ever since I was little I was in love with watching my grandmother sew. Also I thought it was really cool that you could create wearable clothing by hand. Learning how to sew by hand, because I didn’t have a machine, was a struggle but one of the highlights of my junior year. It was very tough for me in the beginning and I didn’t want to continue at one point, but I kept on going because I wanted to have something I was proud of to show to the class. The way I worked through my struggles in the growth mindset was a great reminder for me throughout the year of what I am able to do when I have a positive mindset and push myself to achieve what I know I can. I fell in love with sewing because of this project and have actually continued to practice this new skill. I have created many different items like headbands, shirts, pillow cases, pencil bags, and I’m learning how to turn jeans into a skirt. Sewing is definitely something I will continue doing for a very long time and I’m grateful that this project not only introduced me to sewing but also helped me realize what I could do with a positive mindset.
My Favorite Math Problem
My favorite problem that we got to do this year was definitely the “around king Arthur's table” problem. In this problem King Arthur would invite all of his knights to parties around his table, at these parties they would play a game. The game went like this, King Arthur had numbered each chair around the table starting with one and continuing forward. There was a chair for each knight. King Arthur stayed standing and all the knights occupied a chair. He went behind the knight in chair one and said "you're in" then moved over to the knight in chair two and said "you're out" he continue this pattern all around his table. When a knight was out they had to get out of their seats and stand off to the side, if a chair was now empty he would just skip over it. He continued until there was only one knight at the table, that knight would be the winner. We had to find a way to figure out what knight would win if we knew the number of chairs there were. This was hands down my favorite problem because it was not only challenging but also incredibly fun. I loved finding the patterns in this problem. I was really proud of myself when I figured out that odd numbers always won and that there was an order of what numbers where the winners (1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15) but once the number of chairs matched the number that was on the winning chair the pattern would restart and the next winner would be chair number one. It was challenging because I didn’t know how to solve this problem without listing out all of the possibilities but with the help of my peers I was able to come to an understanding of the solution of this problem and I am very proud of that. To find the winner of each game you would take the closest power of two subtracted by the number of knights playing multiplied by two and then a one added at the end. For example if we wanted to find out who would win with 23 knights playing you would do 2(23-16)+1.
A Math Concept I Enjoyed
A specific concept that I really enjoyed doing in math was factoring. I really enjoyed factoring because it was something that used to cause me a lot of trouble but with practice I ended up becoming very confident in it. An example of the factoring I feel comfortable in is: X^2+8X+15. To factor that equation you would need to find two numbers that will multiply to give you 15 and also add to give you 8. In this case the factors would be (X+5)(X+3) because 5x3 is equal to 15 and 5+3 is equal to 8. Every time I would see a problem like this on a test or on homework I would let out a huge sigh of relief. I’ve never felt really confident in test taking (I’m getting better at testing though!) and seeing a problem that asked me to factor completely gave me a little boost of confidence that would make me feel really proud of myself. When I first was exposed to factoring I did not understand it very well and I tried my best but something wasn’t clicking and I felt very discouraged but like in the growth mindset project I realized that if I gave up there was no way for me to get better, so I kept trying. I asked my peers and teacher for help, at first I was still messing up. Little things like mixing up which number was supposed to be the sum of the two numbers and which one was supposed to be the product. However all I needed to improve was practice, I knew the concept well enough I just needed to continue to practice the concept to be able to feel confident in it.
Growth
I had a very bad attitude towards math pretty much since I started elementary school. I was constantly told that if I couldn’t figure out the concepts or do the problems fast enough, I wouldn’t be able to succeed in math. I was under the impression that these concepts were supposed to come to me naturally, and when I struggled in math I thought I was just dumb and bad at math, I didn’t know all I needed was practice and a growth mindset. Coming into high school I have had the most amazing math teachers that have really helped me realize that I am good at math and that I need to believe in myself and that I just have to work hard and ask for help when I need it. Every year my mindset gets better and better and this year I started to really like math and enjoy the struggle and the work it takes to get to a point where I am confident in a concept. It is the BEST FEELING EVER when I get a problem that I really struggled with right. I learned that instead of being discouraged by my mistakes I should continue working and learn from them. I’m very proud of myself for how much growth I’ve made in math and am very thankful for all the math teachers I’ve had at HTHCV so far for slowly but surely helping me mend my relationship with math.
Math Class Next Year
Next year I plan on taking the pre-college algebra class because I feel like it would be the best fit for me. I feel like my algebra skills are not at the level I know that they could be. I really want to gain more confidence in my algebra skills before college because I feel for me it would be more beneficial to go into college math very confident in my algebra skills so that when I learn new concepts, the skills I will use are as refined as possible. I did considered the calculus option but when I looked at the content we would be learning, I felt like I was not ready to jump into that yet.
Senior Year Is Near
I am equal parts nervous and excited for senior year. To be as successful as possible in senior year math I plan on bettering my study habits and continue to use my growth mindset. I really feel like my studying this year was better than it has been in the past but there are some things I should have done this year to make them even better. Next year I hope to have a more organized and distraction free study time. Many times while I was studying I would become distracted by the things around me like the T.V. or my phone or things around my room, this caused my study time to take a turn and I would forget about studying. I think a good idea is to start studying in the dining room or kitchen away from some of my distractions. I also hope to continue working in a study group. I know that when leading up to the SAT we were required to work in study groups it made it a lot easier and more fun to study. I appreciated how there were other people there that I could ask for help and we could work together to solve a problem. I also hope to continue using my growth mindset and appreciation for math to work through problems and push myself to my full potential.
Honors
Honors was a great experience and I am really glad I did it. I felt that the honors work really pushed me out of my comfort zone and helped me grow. The first couple of math tests were a little rough for me, since 20 points were taken off our score if we were in honors. I got my tests back with grades that I was not very proud of and that was hard on me, but I knew I couldn’t let that set me back so I continued to work hard and practice my skills. I began studying a little bit every day for the week leading up to the test and figuring out what I needed the most help with and then go to a peer or teacher for advice on understanding the topic. My test grades began to rise. The project required for honors was very fun but also a challenge. I decided to create origami cube and display them as a garland. I was supposed to do this project with a couple of other people but some contributed more than others. We ended up creating a really cool origami cube garland that hung in a corner in the hallway, unfortunately people like to touch things and origami is made with paper, so it ended up falling apart. We had to think up a new way to display the cubes where people would be unable to touch the origami. The origami cubes ended up in a display case stacked on top of together and I personally think it ended up looking really cool and I’m really proud of it! I learned that I’m good at finding ways of creatively solving problems and making the most of a not so good situation. The honors system worked very well for me. I liked how the requirements were challenging me (in the best way possible) and did not require I stay in for lunch. I don’t think there is anything major I personally would change about honors math.