Running Head: EDUCATIONAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Educational Autobiography
Andrea Boyd
Ashland University

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EDUCATIONAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Educational Autobiography
My name is Andrea Boyd and this is a little bit about my educational background, what
led me to where I am now and some experiences that stand out to me from my math education.
I attended a private school from preschool through my senior year in high school. Purdue
University is where I spent my freshman year of college, but finances brought me back to Ohio
for my remaining three years of college. I graduated from The Ohio State University with a
degree in horticulture and a minor in entomology. For four years I worked in the horticulture
field as well as the investment industry but I have been a stay at home mom for the last ten years.
Throughout the years I have gone into my childrens school to help students who needed extra
help with math or reading. I quickly found that this was my passion and decided after spending
every free minute at the school that it was time to go back to school to teach. I am currently in
the bachelors plus program at Ashland University, working toward my pre k-3 teaching
licensure.
My most powerful memory of my math education comes from my senior year in high
school. That year I had my dad as my calculus teacher. I actually had him as my teacher three
times between eighth grade algebra and calculus, my senior year. In calculus I was having a hard
time. I often felt that the material was completely over my head but every day I tried to go into
class with the attitude that that day would be the day that a light bulb would go off and it would
all make sense to me. One day I decided that instead of taking notes and writing down all the
examples from the board I would put my pencil down and just focus on what my dad was saying.
My dad saw me watching him but not taking notes and this did not go over well with him. He
stopped his explanation of the problem and told me that I should be writing down everything that

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he says. With your grade what it is he said there is no reason you shouldnt be taking notes!
To say that this humiliated me is an understatement. This experience will make me cognizant to
respect every student in my classroom and strive to never humiliate them or put them on the spot.
Kids remember those things. At least I did.
My second most memorable experience with math followed not too far behind. I took
another calculus class at Purdue University. This class was equally as foreign to me as the one I
had taken the year before so I was already a little anxious going in, but my greatest academic
fear was realized when the professor walked in and he spoke very broken English. That semester
wasnt as traumatizing as my high school experience but it was very frustrating to struggle to
understand what the professor was saying. I survived that class by making sure that I turned in all
assignments and followed along in our book but I by no means ever really had a good grasp on
the material and sometimes I felt like going to class did more harm than good. I will never forget
how it felt to not be able to understand what my professor was saying. It left me confused and at
times disengaged. This will make me more aware of how kids with English as a second language
must often struggle to understand what is going on in class. Special attention will need to be
given to them to make sure that they are comprehending the material.
My third most vibrant memory from my math education comes from way back in
kindergarten. Every morning when we first arrived at school we had to put our book bags away
and then start our list of daily activities. One of those activities was to pick up, from a designated
area, a bag of little squares of different colored construction paper. Then we had a cardboard
board with slots on then, arranged in rows. We would have to take this all to our desk and sort

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the squares by colors and line then up in rows by colors. Once we were finished we took the
board back to our teacher. At the time I did not see this activity as math at all, it was just
something that we had to do, but now I see it as helping to build a mathematical foundation. I
now know that sorting by color is very important for children to be able to do because it helps
them notice differences in items and this skill is very useful to children as they begin to tackle
more complex math concepts. I think back on this task with fondness and although it doesnt
seem like the most exciting activity, especially in comparison to the technology that exists today
in our classrooms, for us, it was part of our daily routine. I remember feeling accomplished when
I would finish mine and was able to proudly show the teacher my work. From this experience I
learned that we do not always have to use cutting edge technology in the classroom to teach our
students the foundation of mathematics. Sometimes good old fashion paper squares can do the
work of an iPad and become a lasting memory for our students.