The Language of Math

This semester I am student teaching, so I am developing lessons and handouts for the students. As I was creating a worksheet, I came across an issue that we discussed in class about on what level should we talk to the students and on what level do we expect students to be on. The worksheet is for 7th graders and I was struggling with should I write 'what is the measure of the missing angle' or 'what is the missing angle'? What if they do not understand what is being asked of them or why I worded it in such a way? In the end, I chose "what is the measure of the missing angle' because it is the correct mathematical terminology. If we ever want our students to know and use correctly math terminology we should not dumb things down for them but explain to them why we use certain wording. I have to keep this in mind.

What shaped Me?

An experience that has shaped me as a learner of mathematics occurred when i was in high school taking an Algebra II & Trigonometry class. The teacher was going over how to factor. In my opinion she was teaching what we call the long way and I knew of a shortcut and voiced that she should teach the shortcut because it's easy to understand. This resulted in a big confrontation between the teacher and I and a phone call home. From then on, I always wanted to know the shortcut and wondered why teachers just didn't teach the shortcut and that's all. Looking back I see how important it is for students to know how to solve problems using the long way and shortcuts.You miss out on so much mathematics when you only focus on the shortcuts. Also that teachers should be flexible in how they teach and know that they can learn from their students as well.