Who am I?

My name is Jonathan Greer and I am a freshman at Edinboro Univeristy. I am majoring in Secondary Education-Mathematics in hopes of teaching mathematics at the middle school level somewhere in Pennsylvania, preferably close to home. One of my favorite things to do is just lounge on the couch eating food! My favorite food is tacos, and I thoroughly enjoy eating any sugar related foods. I am the second child out of three. When I'm just with friends I tend to be the talkative, loud one who enjoys to reminisce, but when I get put into a crowd of people I don't know I become quiet and shy. However, if someone random strikes up a conversation I'm likely to keep it going. I like to think that I'm an approachable person, and it doesn't take a lot for me to like someone. As long as the person is kind and flashes a smile I generally think highly of the person. I believe I am quite optimistic, always looking at the brighter side of things. I love reading inspirational quotes. I'm not one to back down from a challenge; rather I encourage them, because I hold high expectations of myself and think I can overcome any obstacle in my way.


Getting back to me wanting to be a teacher, I want to become a teacher because I want to get students to like math more. I want to help kids improve their mathematic skills so they can feel more confident in their abilities to be a successful mathematician. Rather than be intimidated by math, I want kids to look at a math problem knowing they have what it takes to conquer it. Unlike most people, I discovered what I wanted to be early on in life, specifically fourth grade. In the fourth grade I noticed that I was a pretty gifted student. All the subjects I was learning came naturally to me and I excelled through my academics. This helped develop my love for school. While most of my peers growing up HATED going to school, I actually didn't mind it. School was where I felt confident and comfortable. Some kids find their talents through extracurricular activities such as sports or theatre productions, but I discovered what I was good at in the classroom. This is why I want to teach, I want kids to enjoy school as much as I did. I discovered I want to be a middle school math teacher in the transition from middle school to high school. In middle school I had this horrible math teacher who made everything more complicated than it needed to be. This caused most kids to fall behind and struggle with math, but I was one of the lucky ones who, after hours of re-learning the material myself, was able to catch on. As I went on to high school I realized that I was just building on the basics I learned in middle school, which opened my eyes to how critical being able to understand the math skills learned in middle school was. I discovered that the reason some of my classmates struggled in math was because they never fully understood the math concepts taught in middle school. That's when I decided I wanted to be a middle school math teacher, so I could help my students understand and master the skills needed at the lower level in order to succeed in the future.

Through this blog, I am hoping to explain my journey of reaching my goals of becoming a teacher. Explaining the different life lessons I learn along the way, and the ups and downs I experience on the way there. To quote a Miley Cyrus song it "ain't about how fast I get there, ain't about what's waitin' on the other side, it's the climb."