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283 sats \ 6 replies \ @ek OP 31 Dec 2023 freebie \ parent \ on: Zap to Zero Day 4 meta
I used to teach math for some easy extra cash. The classes were very mixed. Anything from high school to elementary school could be inside the same room.
It really showed me how some people think completely different. I really struggled to explain subtraction to one kid in a way that he got it. Sometimes, I felt like we're making progress only for him to do the same exact mistakes a few minutes later, lol
My favorite thing about teaching math was puzzling out what was going on inside students' heads when they weren't understanding something.
Math is a special subject, because we know it makes logical sense, so misunderstandings definitively point to some cognitive malfunction.
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Yeah. I think I only realized a few semesters into university how math actually makes totally sense. Most of the times, we just assume things that are wrong but we don't even realize that we're assuming stuff.
It's was always an eye opener when you figured out a proof or something. It was always this feeling that you're not suddenly smart now, you're just less stupid than before.
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"You're not smart. You're just less stupid than you used to be."
That's a powerful way to reframe learning.
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That's how I walk through life lol
I'm not smart, everyone else is just even more stupid than me!
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Whenever I'm in a new stressful situation, I remind myself that the environment I'm in was designed for stupid people to be able to navigate it.
It seems like we think alike.
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Oh, that does sound indeed familiar. Too much handholding in this world as if we can't make our own decisions and learn from mistakes.
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