Topic for inquiry based project

 

As today's education system exploring Indigenous educational practices into the classrooms, Karishma and I decided to expand our ideas and knowledge about Indigenous practices. According to my experience, I learnt a lot from my grandparents with the help of their cultural and traditional knowledge such as knitting, making strings, making Indian beds, easiest techniques of solving problems etc. At that point, I didn't know about any math, but it was so fascinating to learn, but now after knowing that this can be used in the teaching mathematics. I feel that each student might have some kind of knowledge from their culture and will help other students to learn those techniques as well.  Due to the diversity in the classrooms, I think that each student will learn from each other's culture and provide a safe and inclusive environment. 

Entrance Slip on Pedagogical Sensitivity and Teachers Practical knowing in Action by Van Manen

Source: https://www.psd.gov.sg/challenge/ideas/work-better/speak-your-mind-tactfully-and-authentically 

•  “Good teachers are intuitively aware that the daily activities of teaching and learning are conditioned by such subtle factors as the atmosphere of the school and classroom, by the relational qualities that pertain amongst students and teachers, and by the corporeal skills or embodied knowledge that teacher enact.” (Page 5) 

I agree with this quote that school and classroom environment plays an essential role in learning. I think a good teacher should able to provide a safe and inclusive atmosphere in the classroom by encouraging collaborative learning and incorporating embodied knowledge. To create an inclusive environment, a teacher should need to provide a connection between curriculum and the real world and to make students comfortable and secure; a teacher must respect the uniqueness in student’s learning styles and treat each student reasonably not equally. 

• “Reflective educators tend to be pedagogically sensitive to their students and to what and how they teach. Therefore, the idea of an unreflective type of pedagogy or teaching would really be a contradiction in terms. Reflective thinking is important not only as a tool for teaching, but also as an aim of education.” (Page 6)

This quote reminds me of the Grant and Zeichner article on reflective teacher where they explained that teachers should be open-minded, responsible, and wholehearted. I think the teacher should able to acknowledge the truth that the teacher is the learners as well who can improve their performance by examining their practices. Reflecting the lessons will help teachers to alter their strategies to engage all the students in the classroom.  

•  “tact occupies the place that theory leaves vacant.” (Page 16)

This quote made me think that incorporating tactful teaching into the classrooms will help students to build strong relations with teachers. I believe that every student can reach their potential if they are providing with fun activities and a curriculum tied to everyday life. Students will feel more connected and engaged. Sometimes changing strategies such as incorporating hands-on learning will help students to get connected.

 

Exit slip for October 15

 

From my experience of high schooling in India, I want the society who don’t focus on grading and marks only. In India, we have only one big standardized exam at the end of the school year. Teachers should be focused on inclusive learning in the classrooms rather than the standardized exams. From my personal experience, standardized exams only create anxiety and depression among students. Due to that, anxiety or fear of not getting appropriate grades, students commit suicide. During our group discussion, we discussed the ways of reducing cheating during test or exams. I think teachers should put more emphasis on project-based learning and less focus on test or exams. It will also develop cognitive skills among students. Another way of reducing cheating is to use different versions of exams or tests in the same classroom. I remember my science teacher in high school used to give us five different versions of exams. The first version gave to the first person in a row and the sixth person in the row. In a nutshell, the marks and grading policy is the main contributors in the making of society.

Entrance Slip-on Marks, grades and their effects in schooling

 

While reading, I noticed that an article pointed out the stress and pressure of grades and percentages on students. Due to the current education system, letter grades or percentages are essential for high-level classes such as grade 11 and 12 to enrol into the universities. Sometimes, getting grades will help students to self assess during the course and will motivate students to do better in future. For example, if a student did not get a good percentage in one test or assignment, then he/ she will work hard to get good grades. But on the other side, even though a student improved his/her marks at the end of the course but the overall marks will be affected negatively.

           I think that students are more focused on letter grades rather than the learning due to high expectations from the family. Grades increase stress and pressure in the minds of students to compete with other students, and they do cheat to get good grades in the exams or tests. Another side effect of grading is that students don’t learn the concept, whereas they are more focused on memorizing the material for tests and exams.

           I haven’t experienced any math class without grades, but I think that a teacher should not rely on only grades. Still, he/she should consider other methods of assessment as well, such as project-based learning, presentations, hands-on activities and conversation with students for the formative evaluation. A teacher should consider the quality of work by the students rather than the quantity of work for assessment.

Exit Slip for October 8, 2020

 

Exit Slip for October 8, 2020

While learning through activities is so much fun. I feel so proud that I am part of this type of learning. Making rope and ribbon strands, I realize that it will help students to get engaged while learning and students will able to make connections with the real world. In discussion with groups, I found that physical movements will keep students active while learning. I really like the idea that taking small field trips, such as in the school playground will change the environment of learning. This also reminds me of my experience of observing a teacher while teaching the quadratic functions. He took students to the basketball court in the school playground to show the shape of parabola while shooting the ball to the hoop. I really like the ideas that some groups have posted, such as sinusoidal waves for teaching or learning trigonometry and making clear representation to show the connection between maths and craft. I am really excited to use embodied learning in my future classrooms.

Entrance Slip for Learning Mathematics through Birch Bark Biting

 

Source: http://www.isuma.tv/aboriginal-perspectives/rosella-carney-birch-bark-biting-photos

The article “Learning Mathematics through Birch Bark Biting: Affirming Indigenous Identity” by Borden inspires me to incorporate the body as a tool in learning mathematics. I felt so disappointed that I had no experience with this learning in my high school years and during my volunteer experience. As Birch Bark Biting is an indigenous activity which reflects indigenous culture and practices in the classroom, I believe that teachers should allow students to use and share their methods of learning in their community or culture. It will help students to actively engaged in the classroom while connecting with their culture as well. It will also motivate students to respect their culture and others too.  

           The idea of “Show Me Your Math.” program in the article will help the teacher to make connections with students. Also, the teacher will able to provide a safe environment to enhance collaborative learning. The quote “Let’s Learn Together! as a way of emphasising this focus on learning together” (Page 758) reminds me of my experience when I moved to Canada and took English classes to upgrade my English. In my class, the teacher told each student to represent their culture using artifact or presentations. I remember I felt so proud that my cultural identity is acknowledged. 

Exit Slip on group discussion for October 1

 

 

Today’s group discussion cleared my doubts about spirituality and religion. I was confused with both terms at first glance, but after the conversation, I understand that both have some different perspectives. I know that everyone has their own beliefs of religion; as a teacher, I think we should not force students to believe in other religions. It should be their choice. We found that spirituality and science are mutually exclusive. In our discussion, I came to know that there should be room for uncertainty in classrooms. I think teachers can connect students with real situations by providing project-based learning which includes real scenarios or word problem that makes sense in reality.