Reflective Learning Journal - Nursing - Week 1

During my first fortnight on the Access to HE Diploma - Nursing, Midwifery and Health Studies programme I experienced my first maths lesson in eight years. My class and I were introduced to our teacher and given a brief introduction to the subject; the teacher discussed several different types of numbers: squared numbers, cubed numbers, triangle numbers, integers, multiples and prime numbers.
Throughout the lesson I struggled to understand what the teacher was trying to explain, as slides were shown on the board my head began to spin. The carefully structured rows of numbers and complicated sets of sums appeared to me as a messy tangle of digits. Wondering if I was the only one having difficulty I scanned the room to see some of my fellow classmates were furiously scribbling down notes, some seemed more relaxed and were sitting back in their chairs nodding along, offering the teacher answers when prompted. When the lesson ended I walked to the teacher’s desk and told her how difficult I had found it to understand any of what had just been explained, I was given a few hand-outs to practice on and told to use the Moodle or Skills Centre support if any further help was needed.
Upon reflection I can see that my feelings about this situation are a reasonable response, considering I have not studied any mathematics in the past eight years and taking into account how difficult I found maths to be during my school days. In general I feel sad and confused about this situation; I understand that numeracy is not an academic strength of mine, however I feel as though I am struggling more than is necessary considering how easy the subject seems to be to the vast majority of my classmates. I am additionally awfully scared of not catching up with the work and therefore not completing my assignments adequately thus leaving myself with bad marks and risking the chance of not passing the course and ultimately not being able to achieve my goal of being accepted onto a nursing