Symbolic World

 

Local Matters

 Local matters is a heavy article to read. Promising Girls/Unpromising Boys struck me while reading, which reminds me that we have similar situations everywhere. Talking about the STEM field, many people think it is for men and not for women. That is one reason why there are not many women in the STEM field. I was in an electronics engineering program when I was in my home country. We had only eight female students in the whole cohort. I watched the video about gender stereotypes; I cannot believe gender education could affect students’ thinking so much.

When my daughter was young, we sent her to learn Kungfu, she loved it, and she likes to practice and was proud of it. Suddenly, one day, one of our relatives said to her, Kungfu is for boys, girls should not learn it. That saying reminded her she was unnormal when she stood in the group of boys.  Since then, she never wants to go back again no matter how much we explained to her Kungfu can benefit her.

I can extend this topic a little bit further. Labelling is also hurtful to students.  During my practicum, I was teaching adapted math 9. In the beginning, I am not so sure and clear about what adapted means. When I started to teach, I can feel students were labelled by their peers and even by themselves as “not good at math,” “not smart,” “promising students.” Those labels have been eating their confidence, and they feel stressed and anxious when they try to solve math problems or take exams because they are afraid of making mistakes that prove the labels are right for them. For that class, the first thing we need to do was to build confidence and took off those labels. We start from easy and simple, working step by step and eventually, out of 16 students, we had 5 students got extending and almost two-third of them will be back to regular 10 in the fall.  Without negative labels, people can live and learn free and confidently. 

Mathematics for Human Flourishing

 This article is fascinating to read. At the beginning of the article, the extraordinary Christopher Jackson's story and the point of "every being cries out silently to be read differently" make me think about the real purpose of learning mathematics on a deeper level. To be honest, I haven't thought about it too much before. I wanted to be a teacher because I am qualified and like to solve math problems, and I want to share my knowledge with students and help students who struggle in math. Now, primarily through my practicum,  I realize that we should do way more than that to be a good math teacher.  I start to think about how I can engage my student to learn math not only for getting a good grade in school but beyond that to see and appreciate the beauty of mathematics and know the relationship between mathematics and the world around us.  I begin to think about how I can positively change the fixed mindset of anyone who claims to not be a math person, and never will be good at math. 

Another place I stopped is where Dr. Su stated, "mathematics is for human flourishing, and the proper practice of mathematics cultivates virtues that help people flourish." I want to reflect on how you achieve human flourishing and what it means to live a well-lived life. I recently watched a video about a Chinese teacher named Gui Mei Zhang who spent 12 years building a truly free girl high school for the poor in a rural area in China. She wants to help girls because she believes the mother's education level is essential for their children's education. During these 12 years,  she devoted herself to this school. She spent every penny and every minute on school.  She fostered about 1280 dropout girls due to poverty to get accepted by universities. After graduation, many of these girls are able to achieve fulfilling careers that contribute positively to society and the country.  I think she achieved human flourishing and had a well-lived life even though she lived a non-wealthy life. She is the most beautiful and flourishing woman even though she never has money to spend on her appearance and doesn't have the energy to maintain her health.

To me, "every being cries out silently to be read differently" means that everyone is unique. As a teacher, I need to value each student as equally important. This phrase reminded me of my adapted grade 9 class during my practicum where more than half of the students have individual education plans. They are equally important to me, and I care for each of them even though some students may need more attention than others.

Entrance Slip-Walking the steps

Walking Through BED Program

 

This is totally personal reflection. It is a bit negative, hopefully, it will get more positive afterwards!

Before this BED program

 

Here we go!

 

 

Start the program

Busy schedule on Zoom

 

During the First term

 

 

 

 

Start Practicum

 

 

Q4 system of teaching and learning

                                 

 

 

 

 

Online teaching

Social distance in class teaching

Wearing mask teaching group discussion

 

 

Ups and Downs classroom management

 

 

Observations debriefs

 

 

 

Working hard

 

Pass the practicum

 

 

 

Looking for TTOC

 

You are not done yet, back to online courses

 

Never give up!

 

 

 

 

Reflections on Your Practicum and Thoughts on Next Steps

 

Blog Post: Reflections on Your Practicum and Thoughts on Next Steps

1. Name: Megan Fan
2. Teaching specialty/specialties: _Mathematics______________________
3. Highlights of your teaching practicum experience: 
a. Experiences that you remember with a smile (learning, growth, “I love this job!” sorts of things)

The highlight of my teaching practicum is the class of grade 11 pre-calculus I taught. Comparing to grade 8 and grade 9s, they are so motivated to learn. Every student in that class is so prepared for the class, finishing homework, taking notes in class, eager to ask questions and learn. They show their appreciation after the class. There isn’t a classroom management issue at all. The overall class test results are good; more than half of the students in that class got extending  

b. Challenges: Things that were a struggle, perhaps in the “We learn and grow through challenges and hardships” category of “learning experience.

I had a student in grade 9, who is an IEP student, and he seems immature compared to his peers and had behavioural problems during class: sleep in the class, interrupting other students, can’t sit still… I had to discuss with my SA, his case manager, other teachers chat with him a few times after classes. Eventually, he is getting better when I try to accommodate him by giving him easier questions and in the format he is interested in. 
c. Ongoing learning: Things that, at the end of your practicum, had you thinking, “I want to learn more about, or work on developing my skills in .…” (?)
Formative assessments
Classroom management 
Student engagement

4. Reflecting on how the video, “Message from the future II”, plays with the notion of messages across time: What is the most important thing that would write in a letter to your future teacher self (e.g. five years from now)?
              
      The most important thing I would write in a letter to my future self is that you must have so many opportunities to celebrate with the classes like the grade 11 pre-calculus class in your practicum. However, I wonder whether you still be passionate about teaching after encountering many unpleasant situations and challenges from students, parents, and schools.  I hope I will still be motivated with education by then.            
5. Post-BEd plans: e.g., if you have already secured a teaching job, what/where? Or, some other sort of job? Or, further studies? Or, if you don’t have solid plans, what are your hoped-for post-BEd options?): Note: The purpose of this question is to provide us (Amanda and Mati) some context to get a sense of your interests and potential needs as you move into your career

I haven’t secured a teaching job yet; the reason could be that I started to apply a bit late, and I am still seeking one. I don’t have a solid plan yet. Hopefully, I can get something related to teaching by September.

6. Anything else? If there is anything else you would like to share, please do! Amanda and Mati would love to learn more about you - 

  Not Yet! I would like to share with all of you if I have some. Thanks.

Reflection on Inquiry project

 
Our group's actual intention (Ivy and I) for choosing the inquiry project topic of enriched learning is learning how to inspire and motivate students in math classrooms.  We researched how we could make the math classroom more exciting and help more students enjoy learning math.
We learned about the mini-school history through this inquiry project, the many and varied available enriched learning programs locally.  Most local schools have opened their own enriched learning programs and mini school program.
By interviewing mini school and regular schoolteachers, I learned that while mini schools and regular classes have similar pedagogy, mini-schools being smaller allows students to more easily participate and provide input in school management.  Mini-school students are screened by entrance exams and interviews and have above-average academic performance and ability.  The better caliber students help teachers to easily extend the teaching contents deeper and broader for students. When I was young, our school would divide the classes based on students' academic performance into accelerated, standard and slow classes.  While this system does segregate students into different tiers and potentially social ranking, it helps teachers as they are working with students with similar cognitive abilities.
In my additional research on inspiring and motivating students in mathematics, I have found some excellent videos on inspiration and mathematics motivation.  One video is "Math is the six sense" by Eddie Wu, a high school math teacher known for his passion for teaching mathematics and passing that passion onto his students.  His talk is about how everyone has a sense of mathematics.  Another video is about infinite patterns, which shows the beauty of mathematics through patterns.

Final Inquiry project slides

 Please refer to the link below:

Final Inquiry Project Slides

Exit Slip-Inquiry connection with real world

Exit Slip 

Today's progress for inquiry project:

1. We wrote an email and asked questions to one of the mini school's teachers and waiting for a response

2. We interviewed one parent and two teachers

3. We discussed the project's procedure 

Tentative Project Presentation Procedure 

Introduction and Literature Review

Part I Introduction Megan 2 minutes 

• Definition of mini schools 

• Types of mini schools 

• Recruitment standards 

Part II History          Megan         4 minutes 

Part III              Literature Review        Ivy                 6 minutes 

Real World Connection 

Part IV Ted Talk or any interview information  Megan 4 minutes 

Part V Interview Information   Ivy 4 minutes 

Activity 

Part VI Interactive activities- design mini programs 5 minutes 

Bibliography-inquiry learning

 November 22nd, 2020

Enriched Learning - A Case Study of Vancouver Mini Schools 

                                             Presented by – Megan and Ivy

Annotated Bibliography

1. Ellis, J., & Yoon, E. S. (2019). From alternative schools to school choice in the Vancouver school district, the 1960s to the neoliberal present. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy (188).

The article provides historical information about the transformation of alternative secondary school programs in Vancouver, British Columbia.  It concludes that the selective district specified alternative program is the one to thrive due to policy, institutional, and philosophical change.

2.  Davis, J. L. (07/14/2014). Gifted education: Current perspectives and issues Emerald Group Publishing Limited. doi:10.1108/S0270-4013(2014)0000026011

The chapter of the book exams the impact of family involvement for high-ability and gifted learners.  Innovative practices specifically designed to improve connections with families are discussed in this chapter.

3. Yoon, E.-S. (2011). Mini schools: the new global city communities of Vancouver. Discourse (Abingdon, England), 32(2), 253–268. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2011.562670

The article explains mini schools' development, a small and selective public school within larger urban public secondary schools. The author explores the experiences young peoples have of mini schools and how this ramification of the education market has increased the social disparity and polarization.

4. Yoon, E., Lubienski, C., & Lee, J. (2018). The geography of school choice in a city with growing inequality: The case of Vancouver Taylor & Francis. doi:10.1080/02680939.2017.1346203

The article measures the impact of school choice policy on secondary school student enrollments in Vancouver.  It examines the impact of an increasingly market-oriented educational system on schools' social-economic composition under the Canadian context.

5. Morisseau, J. J. (1975). The Mini-School Experiment. Restructuring Your School: A Handbook

The book discusses the shortcomings of the existing education system and advocates the benefits of the new alternative education program (in New York).  It also provides guidance for educators who are interested in launching their own similar programs.

6. Sharp, Laurie A, & Tiegs, Ali. (2018). Impact of WOWW’s Fine Arts Enriched Education Programming. International Journal of Instruction, 11(2), 25–40. https://doi.org/10.12973/iji.2018.1123a

The article claims that learning through fine arts in dance, music, theater, and visual arts provides many benefits to students.  Through analysis, the authors conclude that students engage in learning activities such as critical thinking, problem-solving, communications, and collaboration will enhance their academic performances and engagement in school and other social environments.  

7.  Liebrader, M. L. (1977). Alternative Education: Mini-Schools, Sub-Schools, Schools Within a School. 

This article discussed mini-school as an example of alternative education methods to prevent the students from dropping out from public schools in the 1970s. It illustrated mini schools' aims, curriculum, and the selection and administration of students.

8. Webb, R. (1972). Mini Schools: McMurray Junior High, Nashville, Tennessee.

This article describes the mini-school program is designed to provide a smooth transition from elementary school to the independent discipline approach of high school.

 

9. Raywid, M. A. (1996). Taking Stock: The Movement to Create Mini-Schools, Schools-within-Schools, and Separate Small Schools. Urban Diversity Series No. 108.

This article suggested many educators see school downsizing efforts as the linchpin of school restructuring. Several forms of that school downsizing efforts a retaking are explored, along with a discussion of the reasons small schools are being established.

 

10.   Abramowitz, S. (1976). The Effects of Mini-School Size on the Organization and Management of Instruction.

This article discussed whether the Mini-school size directly affects teachers’ interaction, attitude, role specification. This article studied 51 different mini-school sizes and found teachers were more satisfied with smaller class sizes. 

11. Beck, M. M., Lind, R. R., Geertsen, S. S., Ritz, C., Lundbye-Jensen, J., & Wienecke, J. (2016). Motor-enriched learning activities can improve mathematical performance in preadolescent children. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 10, 645. 

This article discussed how academic achievements can benefit from specific types of motor activities integrated into learning activities. The study aimed to investigate whether fine or gross motor activity integrated into math lessons (i.e., motor-enrichment) could improve children’s mathematical performance.

 

12. Bellanca, J. (2011). Enriched learning projects: A practical pathway to 21st-century skills. Solution Tree Press.

In this book, author Bellanca shared his experience as a classroom teacher about the project- based learning and the center of student- leading teaching methodology is beneficial to students.  In this book, Bellance also discussed how project-based helps learning. 

                                                      

13. How you can be good at math, and other surprising facts about learning | Jo Boaler |   TEDxStanford.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3icoSeGqQtY

Jo Boaler is a mathematics education professor at Stanford and the co-founder of YouCubed, which provides resources and ideas to inspire and excite students about mathematics. She is also the author of the first massive open online course on mathematics teaching and learning. Her book Experiencing School Mathematics won the Outstanding Book of the Year award for education in Britain.

14. Mathematics is the sense you never knew you had | Eddie Woo | TEDxSydney. https://youtu.be/PXwStduNw14 

In this illuminating talk, high school mathematics teacher and YouTube star Eddie Woo shares his passion for mathematics, declaring that "mathematics is a sense, just like sight and touch" and one we can all embrace. Using surprising examples of geometry, he encourages everyone to seek out the patterns around us, for "a whole new way to see the world."

Exit Slip-planning for inquiry project

 To connect the real world, I plan to interview the school math teachers, parents, and students about my topic. Also, I would like to add the idea of the related topic fromTed-talk to my inquiry project. The interactive activity that I plan to do is to discuss with my peers if she/he asked to volunteer to design an enriched learning program, what theme do they want to focus on? How to design this enriched learning program. 

Exit Slip-Discussion of 'trust science' and keeping open minds for creativity

Our discussion today was about how do we trust science and use rigorous scientific methods to check facts and theories, while at the same time keeping open minds for creativity and new ways of understanding the world.

In our breakroom with Julia and Zach and I discussed that people are experts in one field or some field doesn't mean he or she is an expert in every field.

As a teacher, we need to teach our students critical thinking skills which help them to make rational decisions. At the same time, encourage students to don't afraid to express their new ideas.

Entrance Slip- Permitting Creativity in Science

The first stop for reading this article is :

I feel it is so true that often we are not comfortable being different. I remember that sometime in our experiment in first-year university physics class didn't match our hypothesis. Our group member would be panic and thought it must be us did something wrong—nobody questioning our hypothesis since it was what everyone knows. I relate Bavelas's point to my short practicum when I drew three different dimensioned rectangular prisms with the same surface areas on the whiteboard and asked my students to predict which one had the largest surface area and which one had the least. No students said they have the same surface area.

My second stopping point is:

I like this passage since it is true that the new findings which everyone knows and believes it must not big discoveries. My reflection will be don't be afraid of getting unexpected results, and I would like to also encourage my students with this passage in the future.

My third stopping point is:

I like the suggestion that taking the field already clear, not the new land, because this point reminded me of my own research. I have to admit that happened to me when I tried to research Acupuncture in an English class. I hesitated to choose this topic, although I was interested in this topic since I was afraid that there were not enough articles I could find. When I finally decided to do this topic, I was in a hurry since I felt that I didn't have enough time for my research. 

Exit Slip-Short films challenging culture and gender stereotypes

Today we watched a movie about challenging culture and gender stereotypes. It reminded me of the gender stereotype when I was in high school. The students have grouped by art class and science classes. Science including math, physic, chemistry, and biology. Students need to decide to apply for art or science studying before having an entrance exam to get into high school. Parents and students believe that boys are good at science while girls are good at art. In high schools, there are more boys in science classes and more girls in art classes.

Homework part 2- Reading Response

I totally agree with the point that Van Manen scribed, " In real situations the teachers must constantly and instantly act in a manner that hopefully demonstrates a thoughtful considerateness. " It is obvious the teacher in the student's story wasn't demonstrating a thoughtful consideration. He was trying to praise the individual, but at the same time, he compared the individual's smartness with other students resulting in other students feel discouraged. The most importantly, the student was praised felt embarrassed since his peers "smirked or rolled their eyes or looked outright hostile". This was the situation of no winner. However, I feel sad that the student had to pretend to be dumb or and dull in order to fit in. It seems not a healthy environment for learning.

Van Manen also gave a true description of a common day of a teacher. He stated, "it is especially unpleasant not to have enough time to make it to the bathroom before the bell goes again; yes, it requires inventiveness to somehow respond to or push off the many pressures and demands made on you by the administration, parents, students, colleagues; and yes, it is difficult to give teaching all that it takes and still have enough time and energy left to attend to your own family at home." I had an exact experience when I started to teach part-time in a mandarin school. I supposed to have a 2.5 hour Chinese class for younger children followed by a half-hour of lunchtime, then a 1.5-hour math class. However, the parents from the Chinese class often asked many questions regarding homework or how their kids behave and so on when they come to pick up their children. The result was I had to run to my next class and had no time for my lunch or other things at all. I felt exhausted after two classes. After a while, I started to figure out that I can ask the parents to write an email to me to address their questions and concerns, I don't have to answer all their questions right after the class. Eventually, I gained back my lunchtime and still had energy for my family after work.

 Van Manen also addressed in his article"If teachers were to try to be constantly critically aware of what they were doing and why they were doing these things, they would inevitably become artificial and flounder." This point resonates with me since I always believe the saying " we teach who we are". However, to develop 'the tact of teaching' and teachers' practical wisdom' in real classroom situations is important since it helps us be professionalized in teaching and help with student learning in a positive and encouraging environment and build a healthy teacher-student-parent relationship.

Homework part 1-Inquiry Topic

 

I chose this topic because through my tutoring experience I feel many teenagers are not so motivated in school nowadays . In my opinion as a teacher, to be successful in teaching, the first step is to motivate students. Motivation can help students' intrinsic learning. Without motivation, no matter how wonderful our teaching plans are, the results will be unsatisfactory. I want to do my research on what are the cause and effects for teenagers being unmotivated in school and how can we motivate them as a teacher. 

After the class discussion, I feel my topic is a bit broad and Ivy feels hers the same way. so we had a discussion about it, we both are interested in enriched learning for secondary level. We will focus on the implementation of enriched learning on BC Mini School Program. The recent years, Mini school program is getting more and more popular and competitive to get in, so it proves that the pedagogy of this program is very successful. As educators, we want to research more about: what is the pedagogical advantage of mini school? What is the problem mini school program facing? How can we expand this mini school concept  implementing it to our regular classes to benefit most of the school-aged children instead of only 600 students?

Exit Slip-Discussion questions on the effects of marking & ranking

 Today we had a thoughtful discussion on the intended and unintended effects of marking and ranking. Regarding the purpose of schooling,  there always debating about it. Some parents send their children to school for learning knowledge and skills for their future careers. However, others argue that public schooling is primarily responsible for fostering educated citizens who value sympathy, appreciation for diversity, and serve society. In my opinion, we could try to integrate both into our education. If we want our citizens in our society to care and be responsible for each other, we need to educate them that way in schools. Over emphasize marking or grading would create the negative effects on students we have discussed in our class discussion and eventually will be transferred to our socity.

Province-wide Professional Development Day (Friday, Oct 23)

I signed up for the level Grade 4 - 12. The conference will be on Oct 23, Keynote Presentation: 8:45-9:30 am.

Entrance slip Oct. 14 : Marks, grades and their effects in schooling

When I looked at "teacher bird" and "student bird," I wasn't sure what it meant. When I searched, I found this interesting poem.  This is a poem written by Australian author and educator, Colin Thiele. The poem called 'Bird in the Classroom' describes a familiar situation to many students: being bored and sleepy during a lesson. In this poem, a sound from nature returns the students to nature's presence. 

                                                         ''The students drowsed and drowned

in the Teacher's ponderous monotone -

limp bodies loping in the wordy heat,

melted and run together, desk and flesh as one.

swooning and swimming in a sea of drone.''

I believe this bird situation is familiar to us as students and may be familiar to some teachers. When students are not interested in what the teachers teach, in other words, their hearts are not in the classroom, the percentage or letter grade assessment is meaningless. Similarly, if the teachers don't feel passionate about teaching and only teach students how to succeed in the test, it doesn't mean much even though the class average may be high. When teachers assign the percentage and letter grade marks to students, its main purpose should be serving for teachers.  One benefit of the assessment is to indicate if the teacher delivers the concepts effectively, so most students get it. If it is not the case, where the teacher needs to explain differently. The negative aspect of assessment assigned by the instructor could lead to differentiate students upon their grades. 

The negative effect is the assessment brings stress and burden to students and lower students' motivation to learn. Grades and marks lead to competition between students, schools, and districts. For example, students need to compete with their peers to get into a reputed university. The school's ranking is based on the grading of students. The districts can be popular if there are more desirable schools.

In my opinion, grading is still needed for teaching math and science. However, the purpose of grading needs to be modified. Teachers need to focus on reflective teaching and engaging students in the grading if it is possible.

Exit Slip- Oct. 8th

                                              

  

I was really enjoyed making the ropes and the multi-strand braiding while we were talking. This class opened my eyes to ways of learning. I  didn't realize how much we can benefit from embodied learning since most of my learning was from traditional structured learning that didn't involve various ways of embodied learning. From reading our discussion on the comment, I have also learned that embodied learning can connect math to music (beats, octaves), cooking( measurement, ratios), physics( throw the ball, parabola), and a lot more. I look forward to exploring more in my future learning and teaching.