LIDIA VAZQUEZ

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My growth mindset project was to achieve agility in mental math. I chose this because because I was fascinated with different classmates of teachers and how quickly they could generate and calculate mentally. I strived to become better at this because it was an area were I was having a lot of difficulty especially when I would be asked a simple calculation and I would be there with my mind blank that was the worst feeling and I really wanted to change that.

This project really impacted me positively because the change and progress was slow and not that dramatic but it helped me a lot with my confidence and in my SAT. The project was applicable to math in the sense that it helped me and helped me develop a growth mindset It allowed me to visualize how you can thrive in math if you just practice which gave me a lot of hope that with hard work and persistence I can achieve anything. When I finished my project I continued to work on mental math, yet sadly I began to have a crazy amount of events and I didn’t direct my attention towards math which I find very upsetting because I love math and right know I don’t feel like I have been prioritizing in that and as a result I don’t feel intelligent in that area or skilled.

 

A problem that I enjoyed was the King Arthur problem.It involved King Arthur and his nights.  Our overall objective was to be able to identify who the winning knight in a game would be. The game consisted of all the knights sitting in a circle assigned with a number counting from one all the way to the last knight. Each round of the circle there would be a pulse of animation it would be inn and out, begging with 1 which would be inn. Apart from being really cool theme wise it was very challenging and fun. What I really enjoyed was the different pieces of the puzzle you had to establish or come to understand to then unite the overall pattern leading to the solution. I loved this problem because something that was really cool was that I understood the topic and my partner did to and what happened was I theorised the solution and It was hard for me to actualize it with the exact math yet my partner was able to understand it and do the math I needed. And at the end that was incredible because we worked together and both contributed to understanding the problem.

A Content area that I enjoyed and struggled with this year was exponents and logarithms these two topics were interesting, yet what made them so challenging was remembering all the rules or how everything has to be used correctly there wasn't flexibility within these topics. I kept forgetting the topics and had to revisit them again and again. Then I realized that I was approaching this in with the wrong method. I was thinking of these rules as something that I had to remember or memorize yet What I needed to do is understand why they were there. Like that if I forget I can still logically arrive at the rules.

 

I have grown  a lot this semester and this year, but my growth mindset has really expanded and I have also come to understand the importance of dedication and also realized how important it is to prioritize thing which you are really passionate about to improve in . And looking back I will apply this in math because I am very passionate about math and I want to develop better skills and much much more agility and thanks to my math project I have come to truly believe that I can improve in this topic.

 

Next year I am taking Calculus because, I really want to challenge myself. The only concern I have is will I be able to do it? I will work as hard as I possibly can the only problem is last semester I would be everyday at tutoring after school and I did all the packets and I sucked at the exam and that’s what is concerning since most of it is dependent on exams but I am looking forward to it. And I have always been interested in calculus so I am pumped.

 

My plan to be able to succeed at math next year is to make math a priority, I will do this by every time that I feel like going on instagram or opening my phone Instead I will do math and I will go to tutoring everyday since I will have my own car and I will also create an awesome study group.

 

Honors:

My honors was positive it was challenging in a constructive and not destructive way. The projects where fun  and really made me enjoy class. In addition the honors questions in the exams were difficult but they really pushed me to try different approaches and I loved that.

 

I learned that I can challenge myself in math and I am really glad I stuck through this year with all honors. I also learned  how to organize study groups and how to push myself and study outside of school. I learned that I need to improve in my test taking skills.

 

A suggestion I have is to maybe as extra credit provide a challenge option where the student has to learn a crazy math concept that interest them and then teach a class.