Mistakes are part of the learning process

Jess describes how she used to see math as intimidating:

I used to really shy away from math and feel so lost in the classroom but now at MSU I feel comfortable enough to allow myself to make mistakes and in return learn from them which has allowed me to grow tremendously as a student and as a future educator.

She shared that two of her professors helped her overcome that lost feeling: “When taking Math in Elementary School I, I really was nervous but the way she explained everything at a perfect pace and even posted videos explaining concepts we learned helped me be successful. In Math in Elementary Schools II, I learned how all students need to be taught in so many different ways for one single problem to ensure that everyone has the chance to learn it in a way that they understand the actual concept and not the command on how to solve the problem.” Jess went on to talk about how she persevered in problem solving for the first time:

I do remember a time this semester where a problem after a while finally clicked for me, and I feel like that was the very first time in all my educational journey that I was able to say I really stuck to it and solved it without any outside resources. It made me feel accomplished and inspired to be able to give that to my students one day.