Blog Post #5 Online Webinars: Continually Growing Professionally

Hello everyone,

Welcome to my final blog post of the year. The next post on my blog will be and Exit Portfolio which will dig deeper into three outstanding moments of this past year in my mathematics for teaching class. This last year has been an outstanding journey and blogging has been a way for me to keep note of what I have learned this year. Today’s blog post will be a little different from my previous ones, as I will review and reflect on a series of online webinars/conferences provided by my teacher. Before we get started today, I would like to reflect on the three “chalkboard” quotes above.

“Teachers who love teacher, teach children to love learning”

            “A teacher ignites the fire that fuels a student’s third for knowledge, curiosity and wisdom”

            “It is a beautiful thing when a career and a passion come together”

These quotes outline what I have come to realize over the last year in my pre-service teaching education program. Teachers can have a crucial impact on every single student they teach, and it is important to note what you bring into the classroom directly effects each and every student you teach. One of my goals prior to starting this blog was ways to promote a positive growth mindset in the classroom, and preferably in a mathematics classroom where many students tend to have a negative relationship with the word “math.” The videos that I will be reflecting on today relate to these quotes as the videos have provided me with encouragement, motivation and include effective methods to increase student success in my future classroom. For example, to encourage on-going class discussions and evoking creativity and critical thinking or through a vertical classroom exercise. Additionally, the videos I watched increased my knowledge on how to create a positive classroom environment, encouraging positive growth mindset.

Video 1: Building Thinking Classrooms by Dr. Peter Liljedhal

            The first video I watched as Building Thinking Classrooms by Dr. Peter Liljedhal which was given as a Webinar hosted by the Global Math Department on March 20^th, 2017. Dr. Peter Liljedhal is an associate professor of mathematics education at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, who focuses on problem-based learning in the classroom. I wanted to watch this video because on of the most impactful learning experiences in our mathematics class was the strategy of using vertical surfaces to engage in learning. I than put this strategy to the test in my first practicum where I taught grade 9 mathematics. Therefore, I would like to learn more about this approach and other ways I can implement the vertical classroom and focus on problem-based learning in my future math and chemistry classrooms. Dr. Liljedhal started off the webinar discussing a problem shown in the image below:

           Dr. Liljedhal was in this situation many years ago and he was approached by a grade 7/8 teacher who wanted to incorporate problem solving in her classroom. Thus, Dr. L sat in the back of the classroom and watched this teacher show this problem to the class and noted that it was a “disaster.” He mentions that it was painful to watch and watch the teacher run to each and every student as there were numerous questions to be asked and occurred for about 40 minutes. The teacher didn’t want to give up and tried for another couple days. I believe that the teacher should have approached this problem in a different way as use it for more of a guideline to use as a group exercise and give some tips and tricks on how to problem solve with partners or groups. As Dr. L mentioned, he never saw the students “think” the whole time he as observing them. This is a problem in most math classes and relates to an article we read for our curriculum project of the difference between arbitrary and necessary parts of the curriculum. Where the students are forced to memorize information and spill it out on a page, however, it is more important to teach the students to think on their own. This is what Dr. L wanted the grade 7/8 teacher to do. I also believe it is important that the teacher knows how to solve the problem from more than one perspective to meet all learning needs. For example, the teacher “ran around the room,” thus, if she was more prepared and had some guidelines to how to answer the question effectively her class might have ran smoother.


           Since I was in high school, I believe there has been a slight switch to how teachers approach mathematics in the classroom. In my practicum experience, my math teacher used problem based learning approach, however, did rely heavily on using the lecture-note-textbook approach. Dr. L mentioned that the problems teachers give students are usually textbook or worksheet exercises, which is exactly the way I was taught throughout my educational journey. He also notes that in the last 100 years, the aspects of a classroom hasn’t changed and fundamentally the same thing has been going on in the classroom, where students are sitting behind a desk in a chair and all facing the front of the classroom. I believe this is problematic and students begin to loose interests pretty quickly if there is a lack of movement in the class. The most memorial moments in my practicum is when I had students do relay races, use motion sensors for distance time graphs and use the vertical surfaces around the room to problem solve. This was also when the students worked the hardest and gave it their all, with the most positive outcome of knowing the work and being able to solve the problems that were given. Another thing that struck me during this presentation was the list of variables Dr. L gave on ways we as teachers should organize the classroom and the positive effect, shown below: 

Above, these are many variables that I haven’t thought a lot about, and really don’t know how to incorporate most effectively until I have more experience in the classroom. I believe the way you organize your classroom, really depends on the students you are teaching. The last point that struck me during this webinar was the guide Dr. L developed as a way to implement a positive learning experience in the classroom. It begins with using good problems, using vertical non-permanent surfaces and forming visibly random groups. To incorporate good problem in the classroom, the problems should be engaging and encourage collaboration and discussion among the students. This is something that has been one of the most important topics in our EDBE 8F83 classroom. In my practicum I did use textbook questions, however, the students never held a textbook in the classroom, instead I modified the questions and posted them around the classroom which allowed the students to problem solve using vertical services. Therefore, what I have learned throughout this webinar is to promote activities, where students are engaged and discussing mathematics. When students have the opportunity to think on their feet, use movement, learn with body language and use a vertical surface will engage students and promote learning.  

Video 2: Teaching as Professional Work by Deborah Ball

            The second video I watched was Teaching as Professional Work by Deborah Ball at the National Math Festival on April 16^th, 2015. She gave a talk at a math education forum titled Finding Common Ground in Math Education: Where We’ve Been, Where We are, Where We’re Going. She also discussed in the presentation that the teaching profession needs to be modified in order to better prepare future teachers. She also mentions that “we have not yet understood what happens for students in this country depends on teaching.” We need to improve the learning opportunities to increase critical thinking and creativity when it comes to mathematics. Another quote that struck me was “What does it take for a teacher to be mathematically and pedagogically skillful?” She explored this notion by taking us into a classroom of grade 4 students, (30 students) in a low income district. It was interesting to watch Deborah Ball teach and she focused on student-centered instruction and wanted the students to think about how they got to a certain answer. This is something that most math teacher’s today lack, as they focus on giving the students the instruction or “recipe” to solve the problem and have the students practice and follow without thinking. This method is something I could use in my future classroom by allowing the students to develop the recipe and the thought process instead of the teacher doing it for them. This will allow the focus of student centered thinking and stray away from memorization of mathematics. 

Thank you for reading my blog and I will go back and look through my previous blogs and reflect further on my experiences and see how I have grown as a professional and what I still need to work on.

“Mathematics is not about numbers, equations, computations or algorithms: it is about UNDERSTANDING”

References

Ball, D. (2015). Teaching as Professional Work. https://vimeo.com/147286728. (Accessed February 26, 2019).

Liljedhal, P. (2017). Building Thinking Classrooms. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc0hp0d15-4&feature=youtu.be (Accessed Feb 26, 2019).

Dweck, C. (2014). The power of believing that you can improve. https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve?language=en&utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare. (Accessed February 26, 2019).