'Flow' reflection

It was interesting to consider the benefits of having students be in a 'flow' state in class and what benefits that would elicit. I think the idea of being challenged and using existing skills is really important for a math classroom and a key role of the teacher - to find activities that are not too challenging but also not boring. 

I have experienced a state of flow -  when I am interested in completing a task I can get into a state of flow. Sometimes cooking, biking, reading or doing a Math question and I can feel very focused but enjoying my progress. I remember feeling that sometimes in Math exams - very odd I know! But if I felt well prepared, I was concentrated and just challenged enough. 

I do think it is possible to achieve a state of flow in secondary math classes but students need to have some level of interest in what they are doing and feel capable of reaching the goal. This really does depend on the culture of the classroom the teacher creates and how aware the teacher is of the level the students are at and how to challenge them just enough and pique their interests. I don't know if it is possible to have all students in "flow" all at once, but hopefully creating a culture of exploration and teamwork will allow it to happen frequently! I think the 'Thinking Classroom' design is a great way to set up a classroom where students will experience 'flow'. 

Dave Hewitt reflection

 It was interesting to watch how Dave Hewitt fostered student engagement in the video. He mentioned wanting students to be in control and he achieved this by having them answer questions about something being right and decentralizing himself. I love the idea of having students check if something is right by using problem-solving skills. I do think smaller groups are better because some might be lost but can just go along with what the collective is saying. This was a great example of how math knowledge is accessible and intrinsic. Students went from counting to the beginning of multi-step algebra! 

I enjoyed the fraction activity and I think it would work very well in a classroom. It encourages mathematical thinking and problem-solving. I appreciate how his method is very visual and how he introduces problems in context and increases difficulty slowly as to scaffold the understanding. I'm not sure how he created the fractions problem, perhaps by trial and error and working backwards from a solution? Teacher-created math problems can be great, especially when the teacher has thought through exactly what knowledge is needed and knows that students are ready for that particular problem. Sometimes textbook questions don't work for our classes because they are so general. 

Hewitt's methods remind me of the Thinking Classroom (Peter Liljedahl) because it is focused on student innovation and students being in control of their learning. He doesn't take the role of having all the knowledge but rather has students figure things out. I want to teach like this. 

Arbitrary and necessary - Nov. 6

 

Arbitrary names and labels are developed within a community. I think it is important to recognize that students come from many different communities and the labels or names that they are used to are just as effective at describing a particular shape or idea. This reminds me of conversations we have had in our LLED class about literacy and how students who are ELL have a background of knowledge in other languages and should be able to use that in conveying ideas. As teachers, we need to think about what we are assessing and give our students multiple modes to communicate their understanding. 

The author describes necessary parts of education as being things that students could figure out, that don't have to be taught like conventions or names. This makes me think of the thinking classroom and how the belief that students can actually figure out a lot of the content in the curriculum is the foundation for that pedagogy. Students are given very short lessons and then prompted to figure out a lot of things. 

One example from my practicum was how the teacher introduced the idea of radians as another way to measure angles and talked briefly about how it was developed but did not give any direct conversion between the two. The students then had to figure out how to convert in groups. I had never seen this done before, I had only seen teachers present 180/pi and then have students practice. It was so excited to students use their understanding of ratios to figure out the conversions.

There is an important discussion started here about what are we trying to teach students and the significance of doing math not just learning arbitrary steps or conventions. The skills developed in figuring things out are so much more valuable. The competencies we want students to develop can not be taught with the "recipe" format of teaching because to learn problem-solving, students need to work through things and use multiple strategies to get there. 

Campbell soup question

 Assuming the bike is 3ft by 5.5ft.

Assume the diameter is 2.5 bikes and the length is 2.5 bikes.

Diameter = 7.5 ft

Length = 13.75 ft

Volume of the can = 604.22 cubic feet

Volume of a regular can of soup = 12 fluid ounces or 0.0125326 cubic feet

From a student perspective, my first priority was estimating the size of the bike. I used my own bike as a reference. I think it is a good way to connect proportional reasoning to a real-life example. I looked up the size of a regular can of soup, although I could have just measured one that I had. How fun to think about how many cans of soup could fit into the big one!

Here is another activity that could be done by looking at some pictures!

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If I were assigning an activity based on my adventures in the cranberry bogs today, I might show a picture of how many cranberries I could see within a certain area and then have students estimate how many cranberries were in the bog! It would be a great opportunity to teach about the process of growing and harvesting cranberries - something my friend does on his farm!

Pro-D reflection

I attended the conference on Introduction to SOGI in the K-12 Context. We began the day with a short keynote which introduced everyone to what SOGI is and the importance of it. A key point was that every person has a Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation, and implementing these resources benefits all students. We then attended two small group workshops. The first one I attended was focused on how to have SOGI themes integrated into the curriculum. The speaker highlighted the importance of representation and that it doesn't need to only be explicit conversations but your resources can have 2SLGBTQ+ people represented, as well as other groups seeking equity, and that means more students will be able to see themselves in what you're teaching. He shared with us various lesson plans and ideas for integrating SOGI into the curriculum, using curricular language. I really appreciated his examples of navigating conversations in the classrooms with his students. My second workshop was on how to create safe places. We had an interesting activity where we came up with various struggles facing the 2SLGBTQ+ community right now and we had to identify two perspectives and find the humanity in both perspectives. We looked at religious positions taken by some and trans rights that are being debated. I think this was a really incredible idea - that we need to find the humanity in people who have views potentially very different from our own in order to have productive conversations. I think this is an ongoing conversation - how to best support 2SLGBTQ+ students in my classroom but I'm so thankful I got the opportunity to think through that more on Friday. Many thanks to all who organized the event and took the time to present.

Pro-D

 I am going to the presentation on campus on Introduction to SOGI in the K-12 Context.

What is curriculum?

I found it fascinating to read about how when reward systems are set up, it can actually mean that in the future the students are less likely to engage in the activity because the extrinsic reward is no longer there. In a sense, it really strips students of finding natural reasons to read extra at home or try a tricky problem etc. 

I hadn't considered the perspective that school systems are actually preparing some students for the types of jobs they will have after high school. The hierarchical nature of schools, the extrinsic reward systems and time management all will teach skills that students may use in their future jobs. However, I'm not sure if these are the skills we necessarily want to be focusing on, it feels negative to say that schools are teaching compliance and how to fit into a hierarchical system - I would rather students leave feeling they've learned how to express their individuality and be creative. I think these skills will also equip them for their futures.

This article has definitely expanded my thinking on what is being communicated to students in all the different ways they are learning. The implicit curriculum is teaching just as much as the content, however, much less time is given to think through what those lessons are. This also reminded me of our discussion about grids and how schools are set up like grids and that is teaching students something as well. I think the BC curriculum is attempting to emphasize the underlying skills that students are learning and not just prioritize content. The curriculum seems to recognize that HOW we teach our students is important because it communicates certain skills that the teacher/government deems important. The Ministry wants teachers to prioritize different skills and competencies because they believe this is the most important thing as we prepare students for their lives after Grade 12. Indigenizing education is also a push against teaching certain implicit skills. I appreciate that the BC curriculum wants all teachers to value the history of Indigenous peoples and understand different ways of knowing - focusing on connectedness and relationships is so valuable and I think that will influence our implicit teaching for the better.