Exit Slip #4: Discussion questions for Renert article

Image source: https://www.nuenergy.org/uploads/environmental-sustainability-examples.jpeg

I think there were a lot of useful and thought-provoking discussions in our class today. It was interesting to see how there seem to be differences of opinions emerging from the topic of sustainability and how it relates to the classroom. Some thought it was vital to make that a major focus, or at least that bringing deeper real life examples should be a priority. Others believed it was an important topic but maybe not necessarily a huge focus for a math classroom and should maybe be introduced as a mini lesson, for example. One comment I found particularly compelling was that someone in the group chat said there is a place for escapist art and also a place for social commentary art and that they believe it's the same case for math. I thought that was an interesting thought - that we don't have to pick one or the other.

Another idea that I would like to remember emerged from our breakout group's discussion of learning with students. While I was reading the article, that thought scared me because I thought I would be too inexperienced to handle it (which will probably be true for the initial years). However, as we discussed potential strategies to handle this, the idea of exit slips or a question box was one I really liked. Engaging the students by covering material they want to know about as well as showing them how they can get their answers through research and resources they might not have encountered would likely help their learning in general. It would also help the transition to future math activities with more open-ended answers that required them to search harder if they were continuously exposed to that research process throughout the course.