When I sit back and reflect about primary and elementary school I have little to no memory about my experiences and the things that I do remember lack detail.  My lack of memory may have to do with the fact that I had mostly good experiences in primary and elementary school;  I did not struggle in school, I had a lot of friends and was well behaved.  Another reason may be because I started school 25 years ago.

I can remember putting the dates on the calendar every day in Kindergarten.   I remember seeing numbers posted on the walls and number charts, they were made by the teacher. I can remember seeing and memorizing multiplication tables and having “speed tests”, which were a competition between everyone in the class to see who could complete a list of multiplication or division questions the fastest.  I also remember having geometric figures in class and learning the names of each shape.  I can remember using pizzas to learn fractions.

I cannot remember something in particular that I loved about math.  I also can’t remember something I hated about math.  There’s not one thing that I liked more than another.  As I said earlier, I was good at math in primary and elementary school.  My parents always told me how well I did in math.  I know, personally that I didn't struggle because the teacher never came over to help, I never had to ask questions or get help and I did extremely well during class assessments.  I always completed my work ahead of most people in the class and moved on to other work  I remember in grade three completing the math book and being given the grade four math book to work on while the others finished the grade three book.  , When it comes to best and worst memories there is nothing specific that comes to mind.  I remember loving math, because I was good at it, but I cannot remember something I didn't like about it.   

From what I remember about the teacher during math class she would teach a concept, show an example or two and then I would do the work assigned.  She would normally sit at her desk and if a student needed help then they would go to her desk to get the extra assistance  I can’t remember any of my teachers being enthusiastic about math, however, I cannot remember them being enthusiastic about any subject area.  They were also not unenthusiastic, they were mostly neutral about everything, so it seemed to me.    

The only assessment I can remember in primary and elementary school was worksheets and testing, always marked in a red pen.  The tests usually included typical add/subtract/multiply/divide question, word problems, questions about fractions,graphing and geometry.  You were either right or wrong, there was no in between when it came to most of the questions on a test.  

Math in high school was more of a challenge for me.  When i was in grade nine they were just putting the AP courses into the high schools.  They (the school) decided that it would be a great idea for about ten of us to skip grade nine math and go right into grade ten advanced math.  The plan would be for us to then do grade eleven math in grade ten, grade twelve math in grade eleven and AP math in grade twelve.  That was a HORRIBLE decision.  Skipping a full year of math instruction was not a good idea.  We were not prepared to do grade ten advanced math.  We all ended up doing horrible in grade twelve advanced math and many of us repeated it in grade twelve to receive a better mark.  That experience ruined my love of math.  I do like math now, but not like I did in primary or elementary school.   

I did take math courses in university, 1090 and 1000, I didn't do that well on 1000 because at the time I thought socializing was more important than studying.

I use math a lot in my daily life, from grocery shopping, banking, measuring furniture to fit in rooms, calculating how long it might take to drive my son to a hockey tournament.  I was a chef for eight years, three of those an executive chef of a golf course.  I used math every day for food costing, labor costs, ordering from suppliers, recipe conversions...I could go on and on. I actually don’t think there’s a whole lot you don’t use math for,  I do enjoy math now, and I am looking forward to seeing the way the math program is taught in the primary and elementary grades today.