Entrance Slip: October 7

I enjoyed reading today's article and reflecting on the ways that I've used principles of mathematics in order to comprehend other topics that I've learned about in my life. 

Some of my favourite quotes are below:

"It derives from Bateson's (1972/2000, p. 279) logical categories of learning: first-order learning, which proceeds within agreed boundaries and does not challenge basic values; second-order learning, which reflects critically on the assumptions that govern first-order learning; and third-order learning, which involves a creative shift of consciousness made possible by deep awareness of alternative worldviews."

I thought this was a really easy way to comprehend different types of learning, when I maybe wouldn't have typically recognized my differentiation. It's a really interesting way to think about the different ways that I have grown through education.

"Shifts the responsibility of knowledge production from the teacher to the entire classroom collective."

I like this quote a lot because of my belief in agency of learning. It is not my job to be the sole source of knowledge for my class, but for my students to also help come up with ideas of what and how to do things. As a classroom, we have a wider variety of interest, experience, and critical thinking skills than as just one person.

The last piece of the article that I liked a lot was the explanation of the butterfly power effect: how a big impact from a small choice calls us to act with humility. I think humility is such an important piece of the puzzle as we move forward in our education and in life, and I would love to encourage my students to embody that value as they move forward in their lives.

Exit Slip: Sept 23 2021

 Today’s class in the Orchard Garden was especially enjoyable for me! I really enjoyed our two primary activities, both the poem and the rope/braid making. 

My poem was written about my favourite part of the Orchard Garden, the Asian pear tree. I chose to write in colour as it helped me feel connected to the fall atmosphere in the garden today and engage with the colours and feelings that were around me as I sat. Of course, my poem does rhyme, but it actually happened accidentally and I only noticed after a handful of lines were already written. This did lead me to making sure the other lines rhymed. I am quite proud of my poem and am excited to see how I can incorporate cross-curricular content in my science and math courses.

The next part of the class was rope and braid making, in which I got to practice my rope-making with cloth and grass and corn husks, and I practiced my 7-strand braiding with Marlaina’s climbing rope and the ribbon. I found the ribbon incredibly different to keep track of and it didn’t end up going so well. But I did love the rope making! Such an easy way to improve the tensile strength and the functionality of a lot of random materials. I even pulled out blades of grass and made rope with them!

In our group, we reflected on back sourcing and the idea of shifting our mindset from loss of convenience, to gaining skills and something new. We need to think of ways that we can continue to learn skills about how to add pieces from our hands into our lives. I was mentioning in my group that when I was vegan, I was no longer able to buy baked goods from the grocery store, or even buy cheese! It ended up with me learning how to make my own "perfect" muffins and breads, with the flours and sugars and oils that I preferred..or even learning how to make my own cheese using probiotic capsules and nuts! Instead of loss, think of gain, and think of ownership and agency over your consumption and consumerism.

Entrance Slip Class 3: Common Threads

I enjoyed reading the excerpt this week, as it gave me a lot to reflect on! Some of the bigger 'stops' for me:

• "What we make, how we make it, and where the materials come from": I was just chatting to a friend today about reusable "ziploc" baggies and how her perspective was that processing the materials gone into making them were no less damaging than processing normal disposable bags. It's an interesting thought, because even as many clothing manufacturers or furniture companies will brag, just because something is assembled or fabricated 'by hand' in Canada, does not mean they didn't use overseas, large-scale factories to process all the materials before putting the final piece together. If this is a reflection you want to have, it's important to consider the practices of which companies tend to be less transparent.
• "Support production as well as consumption": nobody is saying to stop enjoying new clothes, or new jewelry, or new furniture. But it is important to notice where we are able to support our local infrastructure, whether by supporting small local creators/artists, or by supporting the processing of local materials and resources. It's a beautiful and grounding thing to have a home decorated with pieces of the land (without excess damage).
• "The empowerment of being able to opt out of the consumer paradigm, even for one small thing": I agree with the author that this boosts self-esteem. Even collecting homegrown vegetables, I recognize the beauty of not having to depend on the cost of that tomato at the grocery store, and what that signifies in a bigger sense (no import costs/transportation costs/labour costs). And by 'cost', it is so much more than a dollar amount - what about the cost to the climate, the wellbeing and equitable treatment of employees, etc.?

Watching the crafting videos was also super interesting! I think being someone who plays/played with hairstyles a lot throughout my life, I am super keen to get back into braiding with string, and with rope! I've always been curious how different textures can affect the process of rope making. I remember making so many of those string bracelets at summer camp when I was little. Again, it was such a flattering gift when someone would make a bracelet for you - you knew the thought and time and sore thumbs that went into it.

Exit Slip Sept 16

 Today’s class in the garden was very enjoyable and insightful into different ways of putting a fun spin on math or science classes. I would have been surprised in my science class and therefore maybe a little more inclined to pay attention, especially if I were a more disruptive or “anti-science class” type of student. 

The drawing activity was a fun way of bringing more creative minds into an analytical space, and vice versa. Especially in a young science or math class where they’re obligated to be there, it’s a fun way for students to show their strengths in a different discipline, and associate where even in art, there is a space for math and science concepts. It gives students a chance to be quiet and reflective, as we experienced, but also gives them opportunity to connect with others and see their classmates in a different light.

The movement and body-oriented sun and measurement activities are also a fun way to maybe break up a lesson, get the students moving, and get some extra energy out, while still engaging with the technical material. It would be interesting to see what kids could come up with for different projects that they can use their body mechanics for. The fractal discussion was also very reminiscent of the Fibonacci sequence being presented in nature, so that could even be another spin on it. 

Outdoor learning is something I don’t think I’m super comfortable with all the time, but there is definitely a place to use it in getting students out of (or into) their comfort zones to switch up their engagement with the material. As someone from Ontario, inclement weather was the name of the game for most of the school year, so I’m excited to continue to see ways of implementing nature into my math lessons, and movement into my science classroom.

Entrance Slip Class 2: Grant & Zeichner

 I thought this was a really interesting article that explained a lot of thoughts I had had, but hadn’t figured out a way to express. Open mindedness, responsibility, and wholehearted ness are all words that I have used before to describe my teaching philosophies in various conversations. I think the article was not dated at all, and that everything the authors mentioned is still very relevant today, and will continue to be relevant in the future. Since teaching is such a subjective profession, and learning such a subjective task, I agree that in order to do either well you need to be in constant reflection. My experiences in meditation and leadership development has definitely emphasized more time and mindfulness spent on reflection and interpretation, analyzing actions and thoughts of myself and of others, and questioning everything. Honestly in my opinion, nothing is particularly dated, because the authors seemed to have specifically chosen examples that were more conceptual rather than tangible.

Although I spend a lot of my personal time “thinking” and reflecting naturally, I think the best tip that I got from this article was to be questioning aloud, especially during my practicum. Already in my student teaching experiences I have received and responded to feedback/advice from teachers, without questioning a lot of the thoughts that went into coming up with these solutions. I also have to realize that just because one technique works for one teacher, does not mean it will be a useful tool for my authentic teaching persona. I also really appreciated the point made in the article that the best teachers seem to be guided by intuition rather than theory, because that is often when I feel the most comfortable in my teaching experience too (when I don’t overthink it).

Exit Blog 1: Frank McCourt

 Watching these short videos, I am definitely a little bit envious of the creative freedom English teachers will have with their curriculum and the different style of inquiry that could happen in their classroom. I loved my English classes in high school for so many reasons, but especially the creativity and agency that I could bring into my projects (picking what interested me most, what would challenge me, what I could expand on). To me, that was the best way that Frank McCourt brought inquiry into his classroom.

In another class this term, we studied an article discussing how many teachers model their own classrooms after their favourite classroom experiences, as we are students for roughly 13,000 hours before we being on the other side of the desk. My favourite takeaway from Frank’s story is that since he didn’t really have a high school experience, most of his teaching ended up being student-led.  As he talks about in the first video, he would see how students responded to a book, discussion, or topic, and flow with them. I think in a standard classroom the experience is so teacher-led that students don’t have a chance to explore their own interests in a subject, or exercise their agency over their learning. Obviously the cliche is that “as a teacher you learn more from your students than they learn from you” which is maybe not technically true, but I think teacher inquiry is about allowing students to direct their own learning (within the bounds of the curriculum) and also being able to read the “society” of the classroom.

I am hoping that as a teacher, I will encourage students to inquire where they can connect topics with their everyday life. Obviously this is what we hope as teachers (having students see the relevancy of the material) but as someone who struggled with Physics and then proceeded to get an engineering degree, it was the most helpful way to learn to appreciate the intricacies of science and math. Even though the topic could be electricity, how could students connect that to their particular interest (i.e. medicine, film production, math) and how could they look at it in a more or less technical way to grasp the full concept?

In short, my perspective on teacher inquiry boils down to being flexible enough to work with your students, and create options for self-directed learning. I won’t have techniques that work for everyone, but I hope to help students find the techniques they need to succeed.

 I am excited to start learning about how to teach Math and Physics!