Province Wide Pro D Day

On Friday, I will be attending the BCAMT Conference virtually!

Added Friday, October 20, 2023

I attended all the sessions at the conference online; the first session by Sean Chorney, "Going to Math Class vs. Belonging to Math Class: Elevating Classroom Communities" by Timothy Spray, "Quizzes Where Wrong Answers Don't Count Against You" by Patrick Nelson, "Culturally Responsive Teachingthrough a Thinking Classroom Approach" by Aleda Klassen and the AGM. 

The first session focused on allowing students to be active participants in communities. He highlights that students need to be wanting to be a part of math class. I really enjoyed this presentation because he offered practical tips to implement on the first day of class. He provided a website (flippity.net) and emphasized that randomizing seating arrangements is beneficial and will help students work with their classmates.  Even though some students may be not comfortable in the beginning, they need to practice working through the awkwardness of all relationships even for their future. He created an environment where all students knew each other names and took risks when learning. He also emphasized the benefits of using whiteboards and allowing students to work in pairs. I enjoyed this seminar the most because there were many practical tips that I would utilize in my own classroom. 

The second session was about assessing content and how he uses quizzes for standards-based assessment. He showed us an example of how he marks quizzes. Instead of using the proficiency scale, he either marks the question right or wrong. He also requires the students to do the quiz twice for two demonstrations. His grade book is categorized into skills that he is looking for and puts a checkmark if the student acquired the skill and leaves it blank if the student did not. I liked this method because it focuses on students' curricular competencies rather than driving them to chase for grades. I would definitely try to create a classroom environment where assessment is authentic, but I think I do like the proficiency scale better because it has clear and detailed expectations and skills that are required for the students to accomplish.

The last session was focused on the thinking classrooms framework. She emphasizes that thinking classrooms allow students to be more independent. They can develop agency and independence through language and conversation. Hence, we need to implement group work so that students can connect to their classmates. She offers practical strategies such as VRG (visibly random groups). I need to make sure that I switch groups for every task and explicitly teach and give feedback on collaboration so that there is an increase in knowledge mobility and a decrease in reliance on the teacher. I also learned that we need to be culturally responsive and this can be done through instructional conversation. I would love to know more about the thinking classroom as I want to foster an environment that includes critical thinking, collaborative learning, and reflection. 

Group Curricular Teaching Reflection

Our group did a good job of integrating Desmos into our lesson. It was one way to help our learners be engaged and interested in the topic. Many students did enjoy using Desmos as it taught them an important skill for future math classes. However, some feedback talked about how they wished we shared our screens on a projector for visual aid. I initially thought it would be okay just to write down the instructions on the whiteboard but I realized I really need to think about my learner's perspective. Further, some feedback talked about our group's need to work on voice projection and body language. Using whiteboards and teaching the class is hard to do simultaneously, so our group was speaking to the board many times. This is something I need to be aware of in the future. Also, our group didn't have a proper closure. I need to be flexible as a teacher because I realized our lesson did not exactly go the way we planned it. I really learned the importance of lesson preparation and walking through the lesson in my head beforehand. Further, co-teaching was also very challenging to do. I think this is because we needed to spend more time collaborating and working on our lesson plan as a group. However, trying to combine all three of our ideas into one lesson plan was difficult. I also found that allowing students to use whiteboards would've been beneficial for group work instead of giving them handouts. Even if there were no vertical surfaces in my future classroom, I would buy portable ones so that students can freely write down their thought processes and answers. Ultimately, it was a great experience to co-teach and I found many aspects that I could work on as a teacher candidate.

What is meant by curriculum?

The author mentions that what schools teach is largely unintentional. I only carried negative perspectives on the hidden curriculum. I first thought about whether the hidden curriculum was also unintended by teachers. Teachers tend to teach based on their experiences as a student, thus their learning experience from society is a natural process. Hence, teachers tend to teach implicitly with values that are closely aligned with societal norms. If our values are aligned with societal norms, then there will be exclusion and a lack of diversity in the classroom because we are not considering our diverse learners. Nevertheless, as I read through the article, it mentioned another aspect of the implicit curriculum that I had not thought of; the implicit curriculum does not entirely have a negative impact. The reasons were that the school "can teach a host of intellectual and social virtues: punctuality, a willingness to work hard on tasks that are not immediately enjoyable, and the ability to defer immediate gratification" (Eisner). Ultimately, we need to be aware of the hidden aspects of education because it has a significant impact on students' development including academically, socially, and emotionally. It was interesting to learn that "what they teach may be among the most important lessons a child learns" (Eisner). Hence, educators must intentionally create a positive school environment because what we teach should focus on the student's development as an individual.

The BC Provincial Curriculum focuses on three big competencies including communication, thinking, and personal and social. I believe that the three competencies focus on students as an individual and provides them the need to thrive as members of their community and society. Likewise, Eisner highlights that the explicit curriculum is not all for students' learning. The BC curriculum allows students to acquire certain skills that will help them even in personal, social, educational, and workplace contexts. Hence, this is closely aligned with Eisner's ideas of the implicit curriculum. 

Group Curricular Microteaching

This is our group curricular lesson plan with Asiya and Chernie! 

Group Lesson Plan Link 

Link to Worksheet 

Microteaching Reflection

Overall, my microteaching session went well. My group members seemed to be engaged and interested in my lesson. My peer evaluations had a similar comment as well. However, as I was going through my lesson, the time went faster than I expected. Hence, I did not go by schedule at all. I don't know if this was because I was rushing thinking that 10 minutes was too short, or if it was due to my lack of experience. Thus, 10 minutes was longer than I thought and I now have a good grasp of how much I can teach in that time frame.  Two of my peer evaluations also complimented my slides. The slides consisted of playable combinations with pictures and had quick check-up questions at the end to enhance their understanding. I also think this was a good strategy because the card combinations were confusing to understand at first. But, as I was teaching, I thought having a separate piece of paper that had the combinations or rules would've been helpful during the game. My peer evaluations had the same comment. The combinations and rules were too hard to memorize, so they had to ask questions and write out the rules themselves. If I had more time, I think it would've been fun to give them a quiz on the basic rules and card combinations at the end. Lastly, because I had a minute or two left at the end, I could've shared strategies or techniques that could've been useful for all the members. Even though I walked through the lesson inside my head before my microteaching session, there were many adjustments that had to be made. Hence, I learned that I need to be flexible during my lessons and I need to be more meticulous in the future. Ultimately, it was a great experience and I am looking forward to more of these sessions in the future!

Lesson Plan for Microteaching

Presentation for Lesson

Lesson Plan (for better view) 

*updated October 11, 2023 after microteaching*

Battleground Schools

I didn't know that mathematical education was highly conservative. But it made more sense as the article talked about mathematicians who thrived in traditional mathematics classrooms. I personally did well in a traditional math classroom, so I wasn't able to think about other students who may not have enjoyed it. Memorizing formulas drives students to lose motivation and interest ultimately giving them math phobia. I also learned that the United States was worried about a lack of college students who could become mathematicians or scientists during the period of the Cold War. Even in history, the teaching of mathematics was an issue and concerned many people as it was not relevant to their lives. Lastly, the NCTM Standards and the new California Mathematics Framework emphasized skills that are needed in today's curriculum; these included problem-solving skills, understanding mathematical relationships, the use of technologies, and mathematical communication. All these skills promote relational understanding and learning in mathematics. I was able to learn that these skills should be valued and taught in the present day because it was significant even in history.

Updated October 12, 2023

I did well in a traditional math classroom because I liked teaching myself the content and I loved to solve various questions. However, after taking several education courses, I slowly started realizing the importance of diversity in assessments and assignments. I became aware that everyone learns differently. As a teacher candidate, I must remember to implement both traditional and nontraditional teaching so that everyone gets a chance to thrive in their own learning experience. Through this article, I learned that mathematics in education concerned many people as the way it was being taught was not relevant to the students' lives even in history. This is still an issue in the modern world. Hence, teachers must be flexible in their teaching so that their learners can relate and be engaged with mathematics. If we teach traditional and non-relevant mathematics to our students, then they will find no meaning in learning. We need to help students become individuals who can do good for the world and be new leaders for future generations. However, I want to be a teacher who can fully support their learning experience by being flexible and giving autonomy to my students.

The Teaching Perspectives Inventory

The highest perspective I have is transmission. My sub-score for beliefs tells me I value a substantial commitment to the content. The best way to teach is to have a strong understanding of the subject because this is the only way I can implement diverse unique assignments and assessments. Further, I can explain the content in a variety of ways only if I know the content. My social reform perspective was the lowest and I was not surprised by this result. It is difficult for me to connect mathematics to how they can do 'good' for the world. I don't know if this is because I have no experience myself or if it is because I am not aware of social reforms myself. I was surprised to see that my sub-score for actions is higher than my beliefs for developmental and nurturing perspectives. It was interesting to see that I was already trying to accomplish certain skills in my teaching without being aware of my own beliefs! Something I want to work on in the future is my developmental perspective because I believe it is crucial to always think about the learner's point of view. I can develop this skill by asking them questions and providing them practical examples. However, it is also significant to get to know who my learners are in order to provide them with the right guidance and solutions. The TPI results helped me understand where I am as a teacher candidate. Some questions I have are, "What would be the best way to enhance my perspective on social reforms? Do I need to have a stronger belief or do I need to demonstrate it as I am teaching? Where do I start?"

Individual Microteaching

 Topic: Big 2 (Card Game)