What does it mean to be a math teacher?

As I see it, being a math teacher is all about demystifying and humanizing math. Students can often feel alienated and confused by math because of its abstract, black-and-white nature, and I remember feeling that way about math myself. It doesn't have to be that way, though! Math can be really interesting, fun, and challenging in a healthy, enjoyable way, and being a good math teacher involves revealing that side of math.

The best math teachers I ever had didn't try to make the subject easier, but they did try to make it fun and welcoming. They also welcomed mistakes and were invested in the students' learning, not their correctness. Math was created by humans, so there's no reason for it to be abstracted away from humanity so far as to seem impenetrable and complex instead of creative and flexible.

Being a math teacher feels like it will be important work, considering the huge impacts a single math course can have on a student's perceptions of the subject as a whole. A math teacher must be understanding, patient, and forgiving in order to empower students through math instead of punish them through it. Only then can students feel comfortable to be inquisitive and open-minded in math. That's what it's all about for me!