Oct20 Pro-D: BCAMT Conference

For the Pro-D day on October 20th, I attended the BCAMT conference through Zoom (I unfortunately could not attend in-person because I had other plans later that day). 

The sessions I attended were: 

1. Timothy Spray - Going to Math Class vs. Belonging to Math Class: Elevating Classrooms to Communities
2. Patrick Nelson - Quizzes Where Wrong Answers Don't Count Against You
3. Aleda Klassen - Culturally Responsive Thinking Through a Thinking Classroom Approach

The ideas and strategies suggested and discussed by each presenter were really interesting and informative. I obtained a lot of resources and ideas that I could easily incorporate during my practicum. Furthermore, it was a nice experience to also meet other math teachers and their different thoughts and perspectives on what was discussed. To me, all these ideas were really unique and nice, but it definitely gave a reality check when there were other teachers who had critiques/issues with some ideas because nothing is perfect. 

From Timothy's presentation, I really liked his strategies on how he gets his students to connect and work with different students by completely randomizing the group seating arrangements. What I especially liked was how after setting up the arrangements, he gets the students more comfortable with each other by having the students ask their seatmates simple questions (what they did on the weekend, etc) or ask low-stakes questions to the entire class and have them knock on their desks if they agree, and so on. As someone who was very shy in school, I really appreciate that he tries to build a sense of community using low-stakes questions because it doesn't make anyone feel "dumb" or singled out. Unfortunately, Timothy had much more to his presentation but was cut short because of time. I may try to reach out to him about his ideas when I have the time. 

From Pat's presentation, I liked the idea of how he assesses whether his students have met each competency/skill and makes wrong answers not count anywhere so students can keep trying without any detriment for being wrong. I think this is really good because grades can really deter students' motivation and interest (as discussed in a previous reading). As for Aleda, her presentation gave nice insight on how to frame questions that are more open-ended on how to approach them, so that it gets students thinking and problem solving in whichever way works for them. 

I really enjoyed and gained a lot from the BCAMT conference and I would definitely attend again next time if there is another one!

Group Microteaching Feedback and Reflection

Feedback Forms: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SoYTKjxKVcRVkCo_i5zKImvmzp97HWPV/view?usp=sharing 

During the group microteaching, I've learned that planning a lesson and actually doing the lesson is very different, especially when co-teaching with others. What I imagined in my head how the lesson would go was definitely not how it ended up panning out to be. During the lesson, I think we ended up making it too lecture-y at the latter half because as I was walking around the class to check student comprehension, I could see that some people started looking bored and doing other things which was fair. Reflecting back, I think we should have allowed people to get into groups and try problems by themselves sooner. Letting them try it themselves instead of us force feeding them information would have been a better approach. Furthermore, figuring out roles for co-teaching was difficult because while one person is explaining things to the class, what exactly should the other teachers be doing? Maybe during the demo part, we could've each had a group of students to do the demo with? 

Co-teaching is definitely a very different method of teaching that I have not thought about until this assignment so it was very difficult to figure out how to implement it. It is especially difficult when each teacher has a different teaching style too because styles can clash. 

What is Meant by "Curriculum"?

"Take, for example, the expectation that students must not speak unless called on, or the expectation that virtually all of the activities within a course shall be determines by the teacher..." (p.90)

I always knew that the school curriculum didn't solely teach the subject contents, but also skills needed in life, such as communication, speaking skills, patience, etc.. However, I never thought to consider that it also in a way shaped us and our mentalities and behaviours, such as when Eisner mentioned how school, knowingly or unknowingly, taught students to be compliant and also competitive. It was interesting to see this perspective on how school shapes us because school has been such a normal part of my own life that I never thought to consider how it might have shaped me to be the type of person that I am. 

~

"An ability to allow one's imagination to grasp and play with the qualitative aspects of cumming's impression is a necessary condition for recovering the meaning the poet has created." (p.101)

It was very impactful how Eisner was able to glean such a vivid imagery from just two lines of cumming's poem. I was never good at analyzing poetry (and the arts) and the meanings behind it, but I was always did well when it comes to logical structured concepts, such as grammar and spelling and noticing use of alliteration, etc. It reminds me of another reading about grades/marks having an effect on school and how I think it restricts students' creativity, and I wonder if this is also another example of this type of influence in school. 

~

I agree that school in the past was much more focused on the learning subject specific content when I think back to my schooling in the past. However, now it's more revolved around other aspects/skills, such as communication, building connections, creativity... the more soft skills... A great example would be how some math teachers are now implementing the idea of Thinking Classrooms in their own classrooms. Back in my day, it was mainly lectures, textbooks, and worksheets, but now learning is much more interactive and exploratory and I think the new BC Curriculum has helped to give space for that. 

Group Curricular Microteaching Lesson Plan

LESSON PLAN PRE-CALCULUS 11

Unit: Quadratics

Lesson: Completing the Square

Big Ideas: 

• Algebra allows us to generalize relationships through abstract thinking.

• The meanings of, and connections between, operations extend to powers, radicals, and polynomials.

Curricular Competencies: 

• Visualize to explore and illustrate mathematical concepts and relationships

• Represent mathematical ideas in concrete, pictorial, and symbolic forms

• Solve problems with persistence and a positive disposition

Learning Objectives:

• Understand why completing the square is essential in finding the roots of a quadratic equation

• Develop a geometric interpretation of what completing the square looks like

• Be able to complete the square algebraically 

• Apply the process of completing the square to solve quadratic equations

Materials needed:

• Whiteboards + markers

• Paper

• Scissors

• Pencil/pen 

Lesson:

Introduction: (3 mins)

• Recap: we already learned about quadratic factoring.

• Intuition for today’s lesson

Demo: (5 mins)

• Pass out paper and scissors to students. Instruct students how to visualize completing the square with this short arts and craft

Direct Instruction: (7 mins)

• Relate what we did in the demo to how we complete the square algebraically

• Do an example or two.

Closure: Exit Slip (5 mins)

• Everyone get into groups of 3 and tries a problem

Assessment (formative):

• Introduction & Direct Instruction: Are students paying attention? Are students engaged, asking/answering questions, and participating in discussions? Are students making connections or comments comparing new material learned with material they already know? 

• Hands-on Practice (group-work): Teacher walks around and guides students in their groups. Teacher poses questions to help the students think & self-evaluate. Are students able to carry out instructions? Are students asking for help from their peers or from me when needed? Is there growth and improvement from the last time I walked around? Are students reflecting on their experiences and learning from their mistakes? Are particular students finding it easy? Are others getting stuck and finding it difficult?

EDIT: October 18, 2023

Updated Group Lesson Plan: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VHLKGTeT73rnYomzjQRv_l8LzHHh0ebI/view?usp=sharing

Microteaching #1 Feedback and Reflection

During the presentation, I actually forgot to mention a rule for KenKen (I did not think I would but it ended up actually happening in the moment) which really made me realize that even when you know the topic really well, you may forget something you wanted to mention. Next time, I will make sure to note these down on my lesson plan or, a sheet or paper, or flashcard to look back on. 

I also realized my pacing when practicing by myself and on the day of was very different. I think I tend to speed up when doing the actual presentation which was why I finished my explanations faster than expected. I actually reflected on this quite a bit a day later and realized I could have also used the whiteboard when doing the demonstration. It would have made my instructions/actions/reasoning more clear and it'd make it easier to show and for my audience to follow along (and maybe more interactive). 

Microteaching #1 Lesson Plan

Here is my lesson plan for our first non-curricular microteaching lesson. My topic is on KenKen! :)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NoBMiSFiV199b7q5un6vSnkpWKfc1k9_/view?usp=sharing  

Battleground Schools

On page 392 of the reading, the dichotomies listed under Table M.1: 

"Absorbing and applying facts"
vs
"Inquiry and sense-making"

&

"Obedience and a valuing of precision and correctness"  
vs
"Original thinking and generic problem-solving skills"

These two dichotomies heavily reminded me of our previous reading and discussion on "instrumental" vs "relational" mathematics.  One side is more primarily focused on getting the correct/accurate answer through plugging into a formula, while the other focuses on inquiring about the "why" and "how" of mathematics concepts. 

"there is no shame, and lots of positive social valuation, for those who claim to be incapable of doing and understanding mathematics" (p. 393)

This point actually made me chuckle because it reminded me how true this is in today's society. It's actually more common to hear people say (and sometimes quite proudly even) that they "don't like math", "are bad at math" or "can't do math" than those who say they like math. Additionally, the ones who say they DO like math are the ones who are looked upon as very unique, different, unorthodox ("a different species," as some of my friends sometimes joke). I find this quite sad that this is what the impressions of math has become. 

"raising parental anxieties about the quality of education in their children's schools" (p.399)

& 

"motivated by worries that their children were being shortchanged by teachers experimenting with their education" (p. 399)

These quotes bring to mind that even though we, as math teachers, want to make a change to how mathematics is taught, the hurdle is very high. People are inherently afraid of the unknown, of uncertainty, of change. We're so used to our old, stable, traditional ways that doing something different is scary. It makes sense that many parents would have concerns because they were taught in the traditional way and it worked fine with them, they got by. However, if their children face these new changes, there is no guarantee it'll work out or bring positive results, and so it's their children and families who will take the fall if it doesn't work out. From that perspective, it makes sense there would be resistance to this change in teaching standards. 

Individual Non-curricular Microteaching Topic

If it's OK, I'd like to teach how to play KenKen! :)

Teaching Perspectives Inventory (TPI)

While doing the TPI test, it mentioned keeping one group of students in mind, so I kept in mind the few students I'm currently tutoring/mentoring this semester. 

Although I didn't know what each teaching perspective entailed, I had a general idea just from the names that Nurturing might be one of my highest and Social Reform would probably be my lowest. So I wasn't too surprised from the result that this was the case, but I was quite surprised at how low my Social Reform score was compared to the others. Honestly speaking, I do not know what Social Reform perspective entails. I did a brief search and it says teachers who are "interested in creating a better society and view their teaching as contributing to that end." I do believe creating a better society is important; thus, it makes sense my belief (B) score is highest of the sub-stats. However, I've (previously) always believed learning how to better society was something learned in Socials Studies (from history/current events) or Science (ex. global warming). Since I teach math, I've never considered how my subject area would corroborate this belief so it makes sense my action (A) score is very low in comparison. However, from Inquiry 1, I'm realizing that math classes can shed more light on societal issues, but it will likely take me a while to incorporate this into my teaching. Knowing my recessive perspective will hopefully make me more aware of it when teaching. However, trying to balance all five perspectives will probably be difficult given there's some trade-off (focusing more on one will reduce the others). 

From reading the summary of each perspective type, my dominant (Nurturing) and back-up (Transmission, Developmental, Apprenticeship) perspectives do reflect how I see myself and my own teaching and the sub-stats also align fairly consistently so there is not much surprise there for me. However, I did notice in Apprenticeship that my intention (I) score was quite low in comparison to my belief (B) or action (A). I'm not too sure what this could mean, maybe this belief is simply not my main priority when I teach, since I tend to focus more on Nurturing and Transmission. 

Overall, I think this was a really interesting and eye-opening test and it helped me reflect on what I prioritize when I teach.