Interesting and inspirational (to me at least)

Two things that I found interesting that is related to the teaching of Mathematics to young children is that
1) The way the teacher puts the question across to the children is very important
2) Forcing things down the children's throats is not right

Let me explain...

1) The way the teacher puts the question across to the children is very important.

I've been doing a lot of reflecting lately and I have realized that sometimes, the children don't quite understand what I'm asking and I remember not understanding questions as a child. Through these past few days, I've finally made the connection between language and Math. I know now that if I do not equip the children with enough vocabulary to understand and that if I do not use proper, simpler and understandable terms to get my question across to the children, the children in my class will end up not learning anything.

2) Forcing things down the children's throats is not right

I've personally been through this and I tell you, the one who comes out as the loser is the teacher. I went to school when learning was still torturous, everything was drilled and nobody dared to ask why. I remembered closing my eyes and reciting multiplication tables and formulas at night so that I would be ready when my teacher would ask me to regurgitate them the next morning. Sadly, this went on for nearly 13 years, all the way from kindergarten right up to JC2. The only thing was as I grew older, I developed the habit of writing down all the formulas that I knew right onto my exam paper as soon as I got it. This unhealthy habit of 'unloading' onto my paper actually helped me to forget all of the formulas and other things that I have learned prior to my examinations. Also thanks to this as an adult, I have totally forgotten everything that I have learned in school. The reason why I mentioned that the one who comes out as the loser is the teacher is because I found myself cursing at all my Math teachers (except for my Sec 4 one because he was nice) throughout the whole week for making my life hell and for screwing up my Math learning. They are also the losers because in my eyes right now, they were ignorant and silly thinking we all could learn by scaring us into remembering things.

So my point is, if only I was taught to visualize and see the reason and rationale behind certain Math concepts, perhaps Math lessons in school would not have been so bad and I would probably still remember some of what has been taught to me because I would know the reason why this is this and that is that. Hence, forcing things down the children's throats is so so not right.