Reflection

**Reflection**
This page is updated after every class in CURS 4140 - because I'll forget otherwise. Also see my Practicum Reflection page.

I took a day off to visit my FEI and Tony Petrarca. We did a shark dissection with the kids. It was great! The students really liked it and were really engaged. A few were grossed out (one had worked herself up so much that she was on the verge of vomiting) but it was educational all the way. I was happy that Mr. P showed me his consolidation and assessment tools for the dissection. They were comparison tables, sharks vs. humans. I think students would really enjoy filling it out and making the connections. It was worth missing a day for this.
 * Lesson 17 & 18, Late November and Final Thoughts**

I met with my AT today in the morning before math. High school is a lot different than grade-school. Still, there was a lot of stuff that was the same: we took up homework, it was lecture style, and there were some pair-work on assignments.

This course did a lot to change how I think about teaching and education. In short, my take away is that for some students, you need to "take the math out of math." Math is just not enjoyable for some students... so it's our job to make math more meaningful to them. We need to make them active participants (in group work or other types of collaboration). We need to use technology (as a tool). And we need to give them a chance to be creative with the math.

It's always a joy to watch other TC's show lesson plans. Honestly, when I read a lesson plan, my eyes glaze over and before I get to "pre-assessment". Some really good ideas that stood out for me are: giving students a work-sheet that guide them to develop a math "rule"; getting students up and moving to show a math concept; using history in your math lessons; make your math lessons into stories.
 * Lesson 15 & 16, Mid November**

I wasn't happy with my lesson plan. I'm actually pretty ashamed of it. I don't feel like it speaks well as to how I believe teaching should be. When I look back at it, I cringe. However, from this I can learn this: making a lesson plan in partners doesn't work for me. Don't get me wrong, I love to work in groups but when I'm doing a lesson plan, leave me alone. I'm the one in charge. Maybe I'm just stubborn? Or maybe my partner and I just didn't jive. That's very possible. Still, he's a good guy.

We looked at some high-school teaching strategies. For the majority, these were great! I like group work, I like graphic organizers. I don't like how some of them were structured (e.g. "my way or the highway") but for the most part, they were really nice. Some things I absolutely don't agree with are singing in class. It's not because I'm against music (hell, if a student wants to write me a song to show how much they know about cosine and sine (they rhyme!) I encourage it) but I am against drill-and-kill. Don't teach the kids a song that forces them to memorize a formula.
 * Lesson 10-14, Early November**

Assessment vs. Evaluation. We did a workshop on this and it's still a bit fuzzy in my mind. I mean, I know the difference but when it comes to actually setting out to //do// it, I find I often get the two confused. It's just too easy to give someone a test to try to figure out if they get it. But really, I should be trying to move away from that. There were some really good examples of assessment types that I'll include in my pedagogy section. I'm going to try really hard to "change it up" and use a lot of different strategies to gauge where my students are at and see where they need help and what they need from me.
 * Lesson 9, October 4th, 2010**

I'm guilty of teaching to people by just talking and talking __at__ them. This is partly due to the fact that this is how I was taught (so it's not completely a useless way of doing things) but also because I love to hear myself talk. Today really opened my eyes when it comes to giving your "lecture" - maybe instead of just talking, I should just ask questions. This goes hand-and-hand with the video on my homepage; do less to help students. Let them discover math for what it is - a natural and beautiful thing.
 * Lesson 8, September 29th, 2010**

Of course, I made it sound a lot easier than it actually is. But like all things worthwhile in life, I'll have to practise it in order to really get it.

I'll also have to really think on asking //good questions//. This is so important and it's going to be something I strive to be amazing at.

Today we took a look at collaborative tools. I think these are great things to have around - especially if they're browser based. I can really see myself using things like this. However, it's important to really look at the tool and see if it's right for your purpose (or if there's a limitation). Not to mention, just like all technology, you better be comfortable using it before you actually show it to a class (e.g. SMART boards).
 * Lesson 7, September 27th, 2010**

We also looked at some browser based apps and flash games. These are nifty and cool. However, I don't find them incredibly useful. If the classroom had enough computers for each student, I would almost constantly be using them. However, as it stands in my school, we either all go to the computer lab or they get to watch me (or another student) do it while everyone else watches. Even if we were able to book the lab (apparently this is very hard to do in my school), I could never base an entire lesson on just one flash game. I see the use in it, but I think there are better tools out there to achieve the same thing (manipulatives, for example).

I really like Tinker Plots. The best part is that you can use ANY data. To do this, just drag a website (the icon next to the address bar) into Tinker Plot. You get a table then you just have to click on Plot and it'll show up as data points. I think kids will get a real kick out of seeing hockey stats or maybe stats about movies and other really current things.
 * Lesson 6, September 22nd, 2010**

Geometer's Sketchpad is a cool tool, but when I was in highschool we only used it to do really boring assignments. We just didn't do a whole lot that seemed important. I remember thinking to myself, "I could just do this on paper and it'd be faster." However, with the things we saw, I might have just have to revisit it.

Man, I //looooove// manipulatives. I wish we had used these more when I was in elementary school. Now, when I look at them, my head just explodes with ideas. I love seeing math done in different ways and this gives me a colourful, hands-on approach to it. I can't wait until I start making full lesson plans on this stuff. However, I find that a lot of people just don't like these things. That really boggles my mind. Do I love these too much? Will kids find these "toys" tiresome and kind of "kiddish"? I hope not.
 * Lesson 5, September 20th, 2010**

As a kid, I loved making creative stuff! I think asking kids to create something - a math story, a short skit, etc. - is just a wonderful thing. Of course, how much math can you actually pull out of a skit about a world without circles? Probably not a terrible lot. But it's something fun to do and it makes your classroom a really safe and fun place to be in. That's something in itself - something really important if you ask me.
 * Day 4, September 15th, 2010**

Even story-time is great. What a nice way to just kind of bring a class down after a really "rough" week of lessons. That's not say that it's a reward, but more like a treat.

I don't think I have seen a strategy yet that makes me say, "Nah, I won't be using that" or "I don't think I could do that." I think everything we've seen so far is worth trying at least once.

Today I got to roleplay as the mean ol' teacher. Man, was that really eye-opening toward reward and punishment. Not to mention, it showed me just how hopeless a power-struggle can be. Still, it was all in good fun. I hope I didn't scare anyone too badly! I guess my teacher voice is coming along swimmingly.
 * Day 3, September 13th, 2010**

When I run a class, I think I'll take the time to say "good morning" to everyone and try to gauge just where they are in the morning. That way, I can see if maybe they're having a rough day or not and I can adjust my own attitude accordingly.

Today we talked about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. I never really gave it much thought before. Some kinds of motivations are kind of sticky - they kind of fall under both. The main point, though, is that you want your students to be intrinsically motivated. To drive this home, we watched the Alfie Kohn videos; that was really interesting.
 * Day 2, September 1st, 2010**

We also did some bell-work activities. I think the more I do these, the easier they'll get. I have to remember to make these short and sweet. Minds on, not burnt out.

We talked pretty extensively about reward and punishment. I don't know about others, but it's really counter-intuitive for me to think of punishment/rewards as a way to de-motivate a student. I think that's because I was educated that way. I'm going to have to think about this a lot more...

Now just because it is not the way you were taught, doesn't make it wrong - We really need to be careful about "the way we were taught" I am curious about how it is counterintuitive - If you reward students, they will seek the reward and lose site of the learning. As soon as you bring in rewards, the intrinsic value of the tasks at hand drops - In a way, you are saying, "do this for rewards, not because it has any real value to you". Otherwise you you would not bring in the reward. As for punishment, please tell me a time you felt good about being punished, that you felt respected and listened to, that you thought, "that's the way I want to be treated"(Robin)

Students contributing to the class rules at the beginning - Personally, I don't think it's necessary. My style requires as few rules as possible. At camp, I kept it to one rule: be respectful. You can do whatever you want as long as you're respecting yourself, other campers, the staff, and the equipment and campus. I think I can still keep this attitude in a classroom. If I can't, then yes, I agree with this; I think it's better than just laying out your 10 Commandments.

Well camp is a bit different form the classroom, but your approach may have some problems. First of all, many students have different ideas of what respect is, so it is good to flesh that idea out. BUT more importantly, when students get a chance to develop the rules, they take ownership. PLUS the process of developing their own rules is really valuable (And rare) experience - they feel they have some control and that is a good thing. (Robin)

Competition - Competition with yourself is great; always strive to be better. Competition with others... not so much. Yes, there's a time and a place - competition is just part of the world we live in. But to use it as a motivator... I disagree. I think there are better things to focus on.

Competition is a no one scenario in almost any instance - If you compete with yourself, you are never satisfied - you always are living in the future and not enjoying the present and the process of life. There is nothing really wrong with trying to improve but the goal should be more than being better than you were on another occasion. I strongly encourage you to listen to Alfie Kohn's podcast on competition on this Wiki under Learning Theory - He says it far better than I do. (Robin)

Making Math Relevant - This is super important, I think. But it's really difficult to figure out how to do this. I guess that's just one of the great challenges of being a teacher. This is going to require a lot of thought and discussion with other teachers, I think.

We did some work today. Building a lesson outline was more challenging than I thought it'd be. Remember to avoid "times" on it - you'll never be able to follow it. Also, we saw an example of a wiki we will be doing for the class. I can see this being a very effective learning tool for home activities.
 * Day 1, August 30th, 2010**

"Oh, you forgot how to complete the square? Don't worry - it's on the wiki!" I wonder if other teachers have done this successfully...

Bell work - I really like bell work that is just one question that you really have to think about. I especially love when it leads into another lesson. E.g. Ask them to list all the ways you can measure how much water will fit in a cylinder, then lead into discussion about volume.

Getting attention - As a camp counselor, I had tons of these lined up all the time.
 * If you can hear me, clap once.
 * BOOP. (That's where you touch your nose and say "BOOP!" really loud once and then stop.
 * Dexterity check.
 * Other cheers. "When I say, you say !"
 * Low voice.
 * Loud, teacher voice.
 * Turning lights on and off (I actually don't like this one; just as a person, it irritates me).
 * Using eye-contact and low voice.
 * Behaviour by proximity.

My fears in a classroom - This is a big one for me. This summer, I was exposed to "mean girls" and "cliques." In fact, a group of girls (who I was responsible for) really hurt another girl in the group. The scary part is that I never even noticed this was happening until it was too late; all of a sudden, I had a camper tell me that she wasn't coming back to camp and gave me a really thin excuse. I even wrote up a small lesson plan to talk to the girls in my group but my boss advised me not to go through with it - there was only one day left of camp.

I can see why you would be fearful and I encourage you to not let it take over your mindset in the classroom. Lots of strange stuff happens and students have lots of weird ideas BUT in the end, create an engaging lesson where students are actively participating and show that you care - I think those two strategies will serve you well.