Symbolic Worlds in Time/Spaces of Practice Reflection

 

Local Matters Reflection

 One of the points that resonated with me was the "promising girls" idea. I had never really felt any explicit distinction between any gender in high school, however, during one of my on-call E.A. days last month, someone said to me, "You will enjoy that class - it's a bunch of girls." The implication here was that boys are harder to handle and girls are generally well-behaved. I actually noticed that at the elementary level in the city that I am in, there was a greater reference to/use of gender stereotypes in comparison to the high school. Phrases like, "boys and girls," splitting the class into boys and girls, and talking about student behaviour in terms of "The boys in this class are...." and "The girls in the class are..." were much more frequent. Part of the reason may have been the generation of the teachers who were teaching. For example, "Hey guys" is a phrase that was common when I was growing up and so I say it a lot. I've been trying to switch out "guys" with "folks" "class" "crew" (during hybrid lessons it was "online crew" and "in-person crew") but it is hard to break out of language that was deemed appropriate for the entirety of my life (I of course understand why it is necessary in terms of creating an environment where everyone feels included). Another part of it may have been because the high school has an active GLOW (Gay, Lesbian or Whatever) group, so the school environment as a whole may be more aware of these issues as a whole. I think these points, which may seem subtle to some, tie in well with the point "[we need to]... move beyond the moderinst habit of assuming that self/identity is separate from knowledge/learning" because there are non-binary students and students that don't fall under the stereotype of their gender that are being underrepresented or completely neglected in the environment in which they are meant to learn. If they are not seeing themselves reflected in the content or when they are excluded this way (e.g. "Boys and girls"), they aren't connecting with the content to the same degree and therefore their learning is negatively impacted. 

Although it is mentioned that race may or may not have been a contributing factor to these generalizations of "unpromising boys/promising girls," I was also reminded of biases in my own community and how this negatively impacts students - more specifically, the idea of "unpromising Indigenous students." Growing up, we did learn about Indigenous culture, but did not focus on Indigenous history or Truth and Reconciliation and I frequently heard racist or stereotypical descriptions of Indigenous peoples being said in everyday conversations. One of these stereotypes was that Indigenous children all came from unstable homes, apart from a few exceptions, and therefore they wouldn't be able to achieve academic success. Of course, this is a terrible outlook and negative stereotype which would have negatively impacted the self-image and self-esteem of Indigenous students and had a direct impact on student learning. This is why it is so important to be aware of these biases and to actively empower these students as well. Of course, the history of residential schools and Indigenous Peoples' relationship to school is an additional factor at play. However, even allowing the space for students to be themselves without predetermined assumptions being placed upon them based on something they can't control, such as gender and ethnicity, is a huge part of our jobs to ensure these negative stereotypes are not perpetuated and so that students aren't inhibited by what society/teachers view them to be.

Mathematics for Human Flourishing

1. One of the points that stood out to me was the idea of math typically being attributed to mathematicians or only a select few. I've found it unfortunate how, at least in my experience, there seems to be a fixed mindset assigned to math - as though someone either "has a math brain" or does not. Not only does it undermine the effort someone made to learn the material, but it also makes it seem like math is this exclusive club "math people" are born into and no one else stands a chance of entering. It's both lonely for those who love math and discouraging for those who have trouble problem-solving in the typically accepted way. However, I think it is important to frame problem-solving as a human activity, and therefore linking math to an everyday activity that everyone does, which there are strategies for that we can explore. 

The other point that made me stop was math as human flourishing. Francis Su claims "mathematics cultivates virtues that help people flourish" (p. 10), and while I appreciate and agree that math needs to be humanized and placed in real-life contexts to assist in framing math as something everyone can access and can improve their skills in, I find this description slightly unhelpful. In my opinion, every subject can arguably be framed as something that cultivates virtues that help people flourish. For example, art is interconnected with creativity, cooking (apart from directly helping our basic need to eat) requires patience, science can teach responsibility etc. So if everything feeds human flourishing, why would someone choose to focus on math, especially if they have had negative experiences with it, heard negative attitudes surrounding the subject, or been discouraged from pursuing it? I still agree with the solution lying within providing context for math so that it becomes in-reach, however, I personally don't see the point of linking math to virtues.

2. I think the phrase "Every being silently cries out to be read differently" means students don't want to be placed in the stereotypes that are attributed with them based on race, gender, reputation or something else beyond their control. I think students ultimately want to be seen. Parker J. Palmer says, "The human soul doesn’t want to be advised or fixed or saved. It simply wants to be witnessed — to be seen, heard and companioned exactly as it is," (https://onbeing.org/blog/the-gift-of-presence-the-perils-of-advice/). I believe this is what students want - to be able to explore freely without someone swooping in to impose their advice and judgements based on their own experiences and ideas of reality. Students want access to experiences that will help them achieve goals that speaks to their souls and for others to witness their success in doing so. 

I know that I have personally felt or directly been discouraged by university professors when trying to learn higher level math. I feel that there were other problems at play here - limited time to learn (3 months for an excess of knowledge covered in one course), problems with standardized testing/grading etc., and lack of formative feedback, but instructors were also at fault. There was this feeling that the professors were these experts way above us, which was true in terms of the knowledge they held; however, some acted as though the amount of knowledge they held entitled them to be gatekeepers to the subject. Even though office hours were there so we could go to professors for help, some would be very condescending or act as though our level of understanding was so low that it was a waste of time to even try to explain the concepts to us. Because of this atmosphere, I constantly felt scared to admit I didn't understand or acted like an explanation made sense when it really didn't. I have sensed that same feeling in my students based on their past experiences with math and I would always try to make it really clear that I was there to answer any question they had, and that the type of questions they asked had no bearing on how "smart" I thought they were.

Entrance Slip for July 12th - Inquiry Map

 

July 5th Blog Reflection Post

1. Name: Karishma Sharma

2. Teaching Specialization: Mathematics

3. Practicum Reflection:

a) One of the moments that made me smile was working with students who were initially struggling and watching their progress and eventual success. One student in particular hesitated with their questions in the beginning but slowly became unafraid to ask me to repeat explanations and try questions similar to those we went over and have me check them over. By the end, the student's questions became more specific and they were better at articulating exactly what they understood and where they were still confused. I think that was an amazing realization for me because that's exactly what I want students to be able to transfer outside the classroom as well.

b) One of the major challenges I found was attendance. Our school had a remote week -  in-person week rotation and students often skipped the remote lessons. When students skipped class, it became nearly impossible to catch them up and have them understand the content they were meant to cover on the current day. I quickly realized I needed to hold them accountable during the off-weeks as well so I began implementing "Homework checks" with feedback given back, which were solely formative assessment check-points (and I was transparent about this as well). I found that a higher number of students participated and were at least less behind than they would have otherwise been. I also found that this method benefited the students who were already on-track because they were able to receive feedback at more regular intervals.

c) I have two things in terms of what I would like to learn. First is my on-going journey of learning about Indigenous Perspectives and how to bring those to my classroom in a respectful and meaningful way. I was able to work with the Indigenous Education Department here in Prince Rupert and I feel like the deeper I get into this inquiry, the more I realize I really don't know much at all. I also realize it is not a subject where I can "study up and become an expert in" and that it is vitally important to listen to Indigenous voices and collaborate with Indigenous people in my community to properly represent Indigenous Perspectives.

The other thing I would like to learn more about is how to effectively keep parents/guardians in the loop with their child's progress - both problem-areas and successes. During the pandemic, we lost out on this outer community aspect and I anticipate having to put in some work while navigating this area of teaching (not because I think parents are against me, but more so being organized enough to keep parents updated/involved to an appropriate extent). 

4. I think the most important thing I would write to my future self would be to stay humble and to continue to learn from those around me. I find that most of the role models I have in my life are in love with learning and that in turn inspired me to be motivated and try new things myself, which I would argue fueled my creativity and passions. I would want to tell my future self to keep that energy going and to lead by example for the next generation of students in the same way my role models did for me. 

5. I have a (tentative - provided I complete the program!) TTOC job in School District 52 starting this fall.

Informal Interviews Summary

 Here are a list of suggestions/tips we obtained from our informal interviews:

General suggestions:

- Link learning targets with First Peoples Principles of Learning objectives

- Remember to slow down and teach at a speed that allows students to learn rather than rushing through content goals (in line with the FPP "Learning takes time and patience"). Emphasize content that is important and spend less time on content that would be nice to cover but won't effect the students' ability to succeed in the future.

- Build relationships with students (FPP and also SEL)

- Create an atmosphere where students are able to express and explore their identity (FPP and SEL)

- Show students tangible examples of roles in their community and tie those into class lessons (e.g. talking about astronauts feels far away but maybe a local job where they can actually see it’s doable would work better)

- Find the math in the Indigenous culture/history, avoid tokenism

- Don’t generalize
    - not all Indigenous students are comfortable sharing their culture or info about themselves  

- Bring in/attention to people in STEM who happen to be Indigenous.
    - we don’t refer to people as “the White biologist” so don’t do the same thing for Indigenous people

- Challenge 1D story of Indigenous people by introducing more contemporary and positive viewpoints
- Professional development - don’t be afraid to learn alongside the students

- This is an ongoing process so it's a good idea to keep learning about Indigenous culture and continue to build/maintain relationships with your Indigenous Education department (and Indigenous communities if possible)

Activity Examples:

- Talking circle activity: explain the significance of this Indigenous custom and implement it into your class as a regular/reoccurring element.

- Basket story example: Disclaimer: We do not own or have permission to use this story - we are simply using it to illustrate a point for the purposes of this class: One of the storytelling application problems we were told was about a cannibal woman who lived on a hill. In this story, they talk about this cannibal woman and how parents would warn their children that if they were bad (or maybe were out after dark? I can’t quite remember), that they would be taken by this woman. Sure enough, some children in this story ignore the warnings and are taken by the cannibal woman, who carries them up the hill in a cedar basket. There are say, six children of various ages who are placed in this basket and taken. The question is, how big would that basket have to be to carry all six children? This is a non-numeric question that requires students to research and figure out what they need to solve this problem.

- 3D/360˚ totem pole - classes came in and asked questions about the process and the artist was able to talk about his technique, which included a lot of mathematical concepts

    - be on a look out for local projects where you may be able to do this  

- patterns in weaving

- storybooks of local Indigenous stories with teaching guide (available at your local Indigenous Education Department)

Guest Speaker/Co-teachers:

- It's better to build up to Indigenous guest speaker co-teacher (i.e. mention Indigenous Perspectives in the classroom regularly and also prepare students by letting them know a guest speaker might be able to tell us more about whatever topic it is we're talking about)
    - check with speaker first if it’s okay to put your hand up for a teachable moment/making connections to previous class
    - etiquette is huge:
        - invite them like a guest to your house
        - prep students to be respectful
        - make sure students thank the guest afterwards
        - send a thank you gift - often a reflective card about what you learned
        - possibly invite them to your class again
    - kind of like meeting the mayor - give them the proper respect they deserve
- don’t isolate the Indigenous aspect

- Indigenous guest speakers and videos etc. not just for content goals, but also for representation for students

More Resources:

- Abbotsford website: curriculum.abbyschools.ca
- Suggested books: Dr. Martin Brokenleg Reclaiming Youth At Risk
- Dr. Joann Archibald Indigenous Storywork
- Encyclopedia of American Indian Contributions to the World: https://mexikaresistance.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/american-indian-contributions-to-the-world.pdf
- When looking for resources, it’s often helpful to look at things that are not necessarily targeted at math because you might be able to identify the math within those resources yourself (we were recommended the general FNESC website because it has a lot of content)

Course Reflection Post

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 A big theme of this class for me was moving away from the traditional "teacher lectures and students do homework" format of a math classroom to a more holistic approach and gaining strategies to do so. One of the pieces we looked at that was highly influential for me was the Jo Boaler video. It seemed like such an obvious concept - that our focus in math needs to switch from computational to real-world/meaningful problems - but she just presented all the information and research in such a clear way that it is still with me. Another very influential reading/presentation we watched was Dr. Robin Kimmerer's work. As I am still navigating and learning more about Indigenous Perspectives, I find myself referring back to her braid metaphor for ways of knowing quite frequently. Sustainability in math is still a little overwhelming for me, however, I have been able to gain some insights during other courses and also by tying it back to Indigenous Perspectives. Specifically, I found the idea of teaching math as a part of a whole, as opposed to an isolated subject helpful in finding a way to introduce sustainability, at least a little bit at a time, as I myself explore the topic. Other helpful methods of teaching we talked about were embodying math, the effects of marking, which we talked about in other classes as well so it was nice to have complementary material and gain a deeper understanding of these topics as well.

In terms of suggestions for next month, I'm not sure if this is really a topic or not, but I would be interested in finding out more about assigning less traditional assignments/projects to students. For example, we talked about Mike Naylor's math novel, and my SA had me read The Curious Case of the Dog at Nighttime in which the main character often described his thinking or events using mathematical puzzles or concepts. It would be interesting to hear from teachers who have assigned novels as readings, creative writing math pieces, or other things not typically assigned in math classrooms and how they explicitly tied that to the course or emphasized the mathematical importance along the way.