The concept of becoming a teacher has always inspired me to become a better person. For as long as I can remember, I have dreamed of becoming a teacher. As a child, I can fondly remember playing school in my parent’s basement. My mother had purchased old wooden school desks and a free-standing black board from a closing school that she had worked at. I turned our basement into a classroom; I covered the walls with educational posters and learning resources. I had shelves of books, paper, and school supplies of every sort to fill the room. I remember gathering my sister, cousins, and neighborhood friends to attend my class. (Since I was the oldest, I was always the teacher.) I would assign homework and teach lessons that usually revolved around mathematics. For the most part, this is how I spent many hours of my summer vacations. I have always been a strong believer that it takes doing math to learn math. A child can learn almost any subject through reading about it and memorizing it; when it comes to math, learning needs to be hands on! Mathematics is a subject best taught using a variety of different methods; using manipulatives and interactive exercises are wonderful resources for use with students of all ages. Teaching students to use algorithms to solve math problems helps them grasp the much needed concept of practicing math to learn math. Once students learn how to complete a particular algorithmic procedure they will be able to approach the next set of problems with more confidence; this will greatly reduce a student’s level of frustration and anxiety when learning new skills. Throughout the school year teachers can review previous concepts, present the students with new skills, and assist and guide them in making connections between ideas, problems, and solutions. As a future elementary school teacher, I will be responsible for making sure that my math lessons are interesting and easy to understand so I keep my students attention. Every math lesson I create will need to have varying instructional levels in order to accommodate each of my students; it will be my responsibility to ensure that every student can learn based on their developmental levels. As I come up with ideas for my lessons, I will use all of the strategies I have learned during my education to help keep my students actively involved in the learning process and to encourage further understanding of the material being taught. It is very important to take what a child has as prior knowledge and build on it to ensure that the child grasps the material to his or her greatest potential. We have learned that as teachers, it is up to us to help progress our students’ learning from concrete to abstract.