James Lee, in his letter to the editor on August 6 regarding the article, “Carrots and Sticks for School Systems,” said something that I liked:

 Excellent teaching requires well-honed judgments about individual students based on observation, information from a robust assessment program, and a great deal of knowledge and informed intuition about young people.

To be a teacher, one must understand the audience! I think that analysis of student beliefs and understandings is something that is lacking in our current education programs.  Student sociology should be something that is studied and discussed.

This is something interesting as I sit and write about my own philosophy of for whom I shall teach (portfolio assignment due about my teaching philosophy).  In this I commented that I cannot teach just a group of students, but rather teach each individual.  To teach the individuals means I must know and understand them! May I never try to get out easy and just teach the material in my own way, but rather alway take the students into account.  With this, I am convinced, all students within a class body will be empowered to learn, and furthermore convince them that math is in fact beautiful, at least in the eyes of some.