Hello everyone.
Hopefully I can refresh everyone about what we learned last week (Week 2), and the variety of different math aspects that I'm going to reflect on.
One concept that I am becoming more familiar with is the two strands of education for content expectations, which are overall expectations and specific expectations (OME, 2005, pg. 7). After attending some of my other classes I have noticed that overall expectations and specific expectations are used in a majority of subjects with very similar concepts. Additionally, in mathematics, there are strands of subgroups taught to students throughout the primary and junior grades. These strands include number sense and numeration, measurement, geometry and spatial sense, patterning and algebra, as well as data management and probability (OME, 2005, pgs. 8-10). The purposes of the strands are to help focus on specific aspects of knowledge and skills and are taught and assessed to help further develop the students learning. With this being said, students are expected to explain and show a high level of understanding concepts through problem-solving, reasoning and proving, reflecting, selecting tools and computational strategies, connecting, representing, and communicating (OME, 2005, pgs. 12-17).
When looking back to our first-class, professor Forbes discussed how students need to be proactive as opposed to reactive when it comes to learning new subjects, especially math. This is because students tend to view math negatively if they are having trouble learning a new concept or have been discouraged in the past. Also, professor Forbes addressed that everyone has certain strengths and weaknesses, which is okay. But that the most important aspect of learning is to have the courage to take on new challenges with an open mind and be adaptable.
In my opinion, my strength when it comes to mathematics is problem-solving. However, I know my greatest weakness is selecting tools and computational strategies, improving these would help me to become more successful in mathematics. During this course I will be keeping an open mind to develop a growth mindset, to improve my ability to learn computational strategies and use them in a future teaching setting.
As I reflect, I think about how excited I am for the entirety of this course. Math was a subject that I enjoyed learning in elementary and high school more than the other subjects that were taught. However, I found that my teachers also made it fun while incorporating ways to enhance student's learning. Moreover, during the last class, I was more engaged than in the first week due to the excitement of Jeopardy. I felt that utilizing this tool was informative and a clever way to teach some mathematics concepts. When I become a teacher I will look back at the enjoyable moments I had as a student during math and the array of feelings I had while participating in the different types of games. Therefore, I would like to use these ideas in future educational practices to teach students important mathematical concepts, while at the same time making learning meaningful and fun.
Resources:
Ontario Ministry of Education (2005). The Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8 Mathematics. Retrieved from: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/math18curr.pdf
Hello everyone!
Here is my first post for the welcoming week so that my you as my classmates can get to know me better.
My name is Mackenzie Robinson and I am a teacher candidate in the consecutive junior/intermediate stream at Brock University. I previously did my undergraduate degree at Laurentian University in the Bachelor of Sport and Physical Education program, receiving my Bachelor of Physical and Health Education. My first teachable is physical education and I have a second teachable in science.
I am from Collingwood, Ontario. I have a love for nature and spend a great deal of time outside hiking, traveling, and reading. Luckily, I am 10 minutes away from Blue Mountain where I participate in a lot of physical activity in both the summer and winter. Also, I have been playing many sports since I was young. I grew up playing basketball, baseball, volleyball, rugby, and swimming. While attending Laurentian I was grateful to be a member of the varsity women's basketball team for all four years of my undergrad and even winning the Pride and Tradition Award and Most Valuable Player, as well as the Ontario University Athletics- Tracy MacLeod award for perseverance, determination, and unwavering spirit.
As for the two blog posts that caught my attention, they are: Engineering a Better Engineering Student and How I went from High-school Slacker to Passionate College Student. These first blog was appealing for me because I learned that many high school students who dream of becoming engineers don't. According to the blog about a third of students who enter into the engineering program fail out. The major problem for failing is because those students have a limited knowledge of mathematics, specifically calculus, which is actually required for a majority of classes (Hopkins et al., 2016). Interestingly, when reading further in depth, the author talks about how he completed a scientific study using an experimental group vs. a control group in a precalculus class to determine if manipulating the spacing of quiz questions vs. massed over a 4 week period, will it influence a students learning capability? Overall, after reading this blog I was surprised at how testing methods can contribute to the performance of individuals and how many engineering students fail because they are unable to pass calculus. I am fascinated to know and possibly research more into how math subjects, such as calculus, algebra, and functions correlate with and are applied to science concepts.
The second blog was also appealing to me because I was curious to read more on how someone went from being unmotivated and slacking as a student to a hard working and determined "new" type of student. I connected with this article in a sense because of how one person can influence future decisions. Throughout my entire education from kindergarten till even now, I have had one individual in particular who was my teacher and coach, and has had a positive influence on my life, specifically as a student. It was interesting to read that the author of the blog started with a mindset of being a waitress, to working at a gym and deciding to apply to school, getting a scholarship for college and then applying to university for a bachelor degree and changing the course of her studies. This person never gave up and continued learning even when she could have just kept her regular job.
Finally, for this course I am really looking forward to re-learning new concepts that I will be able to teach my students in the future. Personally, I feel that this course will be the most intriguing course that I am taking because of the engagement that will take place for a majority of the projects. I am extremely interested in completing the learning activity presentation, where I will be choosing a strand in the mathematical curriculum and lead my peers through a 10 minute learning activity.
Good luck to everyone this semester and in their classes!
