Final Course Reflection

 

I am grateful that this course provides me with the valuable information that will help me to polish my personality as an educator and a learner as well as. My biggest takeaways from this course are that as an educator, it will be my duty to motivate and encourage my students on their path of learning by acknowledging their prior knowledge and culture. It will be my responsibility to enhance my understanding of the subject that I will be teaching to students. 

    

    While working on my inquiry project on Indigenous perspectives in math classrooms, I learn the ways by which I can incorporate Indigenous education in my classroom. I understand that it is my responsibility to spread this awareness among my students and to do so, I can make sure that I Indigenize my lessons organically and authentically. During my short practicum and school visits, I had a conversation with my SA about incorporating indigenous education in the classrooms. She pointed towards the "First Peoples Principles of Learning" poster in her math classroom. She asked me to pay attention to one of these principles, i.e., "Learning involves generational roles and responsibility." She suggested that one way to Indigenize lessons is by making ancestral connections to the topic. For example, she proposed to connect surface areas and volumes to the length/height of the canoe, the totem poles, and tree huts or to connect the money conversion methods from old times to now. 

In the end, I am so excited to use that knowledge into my extended practicum. I am looking to meet Susan and my classmates after a while and curious to work further on my inquiry project.

            !!!!! Thank You and Happy Holidays !!!!!

Reflection on inquiry project

 Here are the slides for the inquiry project:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-reZ5v1zqvOBf-ijZqi2-QvIw1j9RFKeBb3mE_-J62w/edit#slide=id.p

Here is the link to actual activity that I talked about in the presentation:

https://burnabyschools.ca/indigenouseducation/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/11/weaving-math.compressed.pdf

I enjoyed working on this project. I get useful information about the indigenous culture and their impacts on the students. I can understand the emotions of students whose prior knowledge or cultural education get identified. The resources or activities that Karishma and I found during this project are so useful that I can use in my extended practicum. 

Exit Slip for November 26

 

In today's class, Karishma and I spent the whole class working on our project about indigenous perspectives in the classrooms. We have already found our resources, and today we discussed the real-world connections from other people with the help of discussions. We are planning to incorporate those discussions into our project. We also started working on our slides by starting with an introduction about the indigenous knowledge, literature review, and engaging activity. 

    I also talked to Susan about my and my SA plan to engage students through activities relating to indigenous cultures during my long practicum. I am thrilled that Susan tries to connect me with a person who can help me to connect with Tsawwassen Indigenous learning resources.   

Annotated Bibliography for on Indigenous Perspectives in the classrooms

Karishma and I are working on the inquiry project on Indigenous perspectives in the classrooms. We plan to start with the introduction of Indigenous culture, and after that, we will discuss the academic impact and SEL impact on the students. The articles and videos that we are using in our research are as below:

·   Barta, J, & Shockey, T. (2016). Finding the ‘Space Between’ in Developing Mathematical Curriculum and Pedagogy across Cultures: The Mathematical Ways of the Northern Ute. The Journal of Mathematics and Culture. 10(3). Retrieved from: https://journalofmathematicsandculture.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/barta-shockey-final-august.pdf

These articles include information on how Indigenous peoples of Ute used or continue to use math in their lives. It provides explicit connections to curriculum-required content, as well as different perspectives, such as spatial awareness.

·   Cherinda, M. (2015). Integrating Indigenous Knowledge into Mathematics School Curriculum: What is the Story so far? Ethomathematics Studies. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.1.2598.1282

 In this article, research was done on shifting traditional teaching practices into hands-on activities. It also tells about how this shift helps students socially and emotionally by developing their cognitive skills. It also explains how to create connections between cultural knowledge and mathematical knowledge.

·   Chrona, J. (2015). Learning recognizes the role of Indigenous Knowledge. Retrieved from: https://firstpeoplesprinciplesoflearning.wordpress.com/learning-recognizes-the-role-of-indigenous-knowledge/

 This blog page describes what Indigenous Knowledge is and how it connects to various subject areas, including math.

·   First Nations Education Steering Committee. (2020). Math first peoples: Teacher resource guide, elementary & secondary. Retrieved from: http://www.fnesc.ca/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/PUBLICATION-Math-FP-TRG-2020-09-04.pdf

This textbook includes good descriptions of what constitutes Indigenous practices/perspectives, but since it’s a fairly new textbook, not much is mentioned about previous successes in implementing these ideas. There are also various activities listed that are designed to help teachers tie Indigenous Perspectives and curriculum goals together.

·   Galindo, Ed. (2009). Compassion: A Hearts-on Paradigm for Transiting Native American Students into a STEM University Environment. The Journal of Mathematics and Culture. 4(1). Retrieved from: https://journalofmathematicsandculture.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/compassion-a-hearts-on-paradigm-v4-1.pdf

This article details the efforts of a collaboration project between a high school and university in Idaho called “Indian Summer,” which aimed to increase Indigenous student enrollment into STEM fields by working with students on locally relevant issues. Although specific to Indigenous students, this article illustrates the Indigenous Perspective of “hands-on-hearts-on” learning and how this benefits students on a social and emotional level.

• Goeson, D., Nicolidakis, M., Gamble, K., & Houghland, M. (2017).Weaving Math Aboriginal Mathematics Inquiry Team. Burnaby Schools Website. (https://burnabyschools.ca/indigenouseducation/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/11/weaving-math.compressed.pdf 

This PDF details the lesson plan and successful outcomes of a weaving activity done in a Grade 10 math classroom. We plan on conducting a similar activity with our class using paper instead of yarn so that our classmates get a sense of what incorporating Indigenous Perspectives in a classroom actually looks and feels like.

·   Meaney, T., McMurchy-Pilkington, C., & Trinick, T. Indigenous students and the learning of mathematics. (pp. 67-87). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. doi: 10.1007/978-94-6091-970-1_5

This article discusses the reasons why Indigenous students struggle in Western-centred math classrooms in Australasia. The article also includes suggestions of good ways to incorporate Indigenous perspectives in a meaningful way (e.g. group work is an Indigenous perspective so long as it is framed that way because it includes oral passing of knowledge and collaboration).

·   Nolan, K., & Weston, J. H. (2015). Aboriginal perspectives and/in mathematics: A case study of three grade 6 teachers. In Education, 21(1), 12. Retrieved from: https://ineducation.ca/ineducation/article/view/195/788

In this study, three teachers are given a kit that includes various math activities involving Indigenous perspectives. The article discusses the results each teacher found in their classroom, which ranged from no perceived gain in mathematical knowledge to seamless incorporation of both Indigenous knowledge and curriculum-required mathematics.

·   Peterson, S. S., Jang, S. Y., San Miguel, J., Styres, S., & Madsen, A. (2018). Infusing indigenous knowledge and epistemologies: Learning from teachers in northern aboriginal head start classrooms. McGill Journal of Education, 53(1), 26-46. Doi: 10.7202/1056281ar

This article talks about SEL and Academic impact of indigenous knowledge. It also reflects the impact of residential schools on the students' social-emotional learning and how they lose their language and get disconnected from their land and ancestors. This article is full of real examples presented by the students, how they share their cultural knowledge and land acknowledgement and feel connected with other students in the classroom.

·   Toulouse, P. R. (2016). What matters in indigenous education: Implementing a vision committed to holism, diversity and engagement. Measuring What Matters. Retrieved from: https://peopleforeducation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/MWM-What-Matters-in-Indigenous-Education.pdf

This article talks about building interpersonal relationships among students in the classroom by allowing students to present their cultural knowledge thoughts authentically. It also explains the impacts of connecting students with the real world by acknowledging the student’s prior knowledge and skills.

·   Troutman, J. & McCoy, L. (2008). Re-membering Mathematics: The Effect of Culturally Relevant Lessons in Math History on Student’s Attitudes. The Journal of Mathematics and Culture. 3(1). Retrieved from: https://journalofmathematicsandculture.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/re-membering-mathematics.pdf

This article describes the importance of teaching culturally and historically relevant mathematics to students by showing the attitudes of different students towards math that lacks this connection. That is, this article shows that including diverse backgrounds, including Indigenous perspectives, increases all student motivation and SEL.

·   Stavros Stavrou. (Nov 22, 2015). Aboriginal math education: Collaborative learning [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHyvlrbCiAY

This video provides some examples of how to incorporate the land into the math classrooms. It also presents how aboriginal language acknowledgement helps aboriginal students to build confidence and feel connected with other students.

Exit slip for Inquiry-based project discussion (Nov 19)

 

While finding articles relevant to our project, we came across with so many resources which provides ideas and activities to engage students in the classrooms. During the small group discussion, we were going through the articles which seemed relevant to the Indigenous Perspective in the Canadian curriculum. Still, unfortunately, there were not enough resources for the Canadian context. So, we are still going through the resources to make a relevant connection with the researches and our thoughts. 

           We also discussed the outline for the presentation, in which we will start with the introduction of Indigenous perspectives and how it is related to the math classroom. We will discuss the impact of this on the students, and we are thinking about an interactive activity (weaving using recycled paper) during our presentation to engage all the classmates. I am hoping to ask my older son (grade 7) about his thoughts on incorporating indigenous knowledge into the classroom. Will he able to differentiate the leaning using indigenous perspective and how?

           

Exit Slip on class discussion about thinking creatively

 

Source: https://terrynwilliams.wordpress.com/2019/04/01/do-you-think-your-culture-supports-critical-thinking/

I felt today’s group discussions connect with my short practicum experience. One thing I learn that the time and circumstances make you creative. As a teacher, we should be open-minded to adapt to any situations and think creatively to engage our students in the classroom. In our small group discussion, Adam, May, Max, and I discussed the validity of the sources and information. As teachers, we need to make sure that the information that we are providing to the students should be trustworthy and encourage students to think critically so that they can ask “why” questions. I also feel that teachers should be confident in their knowledge. During the short practicum, the students were learning about the factoring difference of squares, and one student asked me why we cannot factor “(a²+b²)” using the difference of squares. At that point, I remember, I got nervous because I did not want to give them incorrect information. I realized that in the math classroom, we don’t allow students to think critically because they have to follow some rules to solve the questions.

Entrance Slip on Permitting Creativity in Science

 

 Source: http://web.uvic.ca/psyc/bavelas/

I found the article, "Permitting Creativity in Science" by Janet Beavin Bavelas, related to my journey and two-week practicum. The quote, “Anyone who has been attracted to a field probably began noticing and thinking about it long before graduate or even undergraduate training” (page 309), took me to the time when I was in the last years of high school in India. At that time, I started helping the kids who are struggling in mathematics, and I found my interest and passion for teaching mathematics and that passion takes me at this point in my life.

           Other quotes, “The reshuffling of ideas already in the field must, by definition, be limited to whatever such recombination can achieve, and the result can be at best a new permutation of old ideas” (page 309) and “If those fail, then another pair of techniques will succeed for sure” (page 312), remind me my two-week practicum experience. During my practicum, I planned to do a scavenger hunt and station activity with grade 10 math class, but when I discussed my plan with my school advisor, she told me that due to Covid, students could not move around in the classroom. Instead, drop the idea of the scavenger hunt, I altered the activity in corresponds to the situation. I used a big poster on the wall rather than the stations so that students can work on their desks. 

           Finally quote, “Our problems are caused by our efforts to deal with the problem” (page 316), resonates with my personal experience. Sometimes, when we leave to do things in a rush or hurry, then there are more chances of making mistakes. I remembered a day when we are going on vacation; I forgot my passport at home in a hurry due to last-minute packing.