Joel Math Inquiry Blog (EDUC 450)

I have decided to take a selection of the words written on the whiteboard and reflect on them in response to what was discussed in this class. "saved by technology," apocalypse, business as usual. "Business as usual:" A criticism that came up throughout discussion today and in the videos is that people continue to act as though everything is alright in the face of a climate crisis. Greta Thunberg phrased it as "playing the social game." It's a difficult topic to discuss, especially as a teacher, because something like the extinction of the human species challenges us to face very large and complex philosophical notions: what happens if humanity dies out? are humans inherently more valuable than other living species? what is our ideal for life in 50 years, 100 years, or 1000 years, if humans survive that long? These very questions become intertwined with religious and social values. Subconsciously people know what is valuable in their life, whether...

The paragraph that made me stop and think is:  "Integrating the environment into the discourse of the mathematics classroom signals the possibility of a more genuine mathematics education - one that is not so much about acquiring certain competencies but about noticing the world differently, seeing proportional reasoning in multiple contexts, making connections, and moving to ethical action as a result of increased awareness" It made me stop because it resonates strongly with my values and opinions about education. It is about noticing the world differently. Because of how rapidly the world is changing and how rapidly data is growing there is little use in learning "certain competencies." Who could ever predict what the best competencies would be for life 15 years from now? So the second part of the paragraph, "noticing the world differently... multiple contexts, making connections" becomes extremely valuable. This is written in the context of "e...

Jo Boaler's example of the two classroom styles was very useful, as it gives us a tangible example of what a more engaging and inquiry-based classroom might look like. From my own learning, I would definitely prefer the latter example where students are moving around and communicating. But what I felt was missing was the portion of that class where they went over the concepts necessary to solve the problem. It's great to see the students offer the suggestion to break the triangle into similar triangles, but I would like to see the class where they learned about similar triangles. Are the students expected to do readings in advance for each class, and then they just collaborate in the classroom? Or is there a dedicated time where the teacher gives them those fundamental building blocks? I would be interested in seeing the parts of the class lead by the teacher, as I am sure they are also engaging, and those would be strategies that I could apply to my own teaching.

In reading this article, the section on "How to Begin"   stands out to me, for the reason that reading the sections on Openmindedness, Responsibility, and Wholeheartedness give me the warm feeling of "hey, I do that, good for me." I am stimulated by this idea because I realize that being a teacher candidate requires me to be reflective, and that does not necessarily translate into being a reflective teacher. I am then challenged to find a way to continue being reflective once I have progressed from a teacher candidate to a working teacher. A lot of the examples in this article can relate to my experience and my life, but somewhat abstractly. Given when it is written, it leans toward saying "compare your beliefs with other beliefs" in a way that puts emphasis on cultural and racial understanding, but it is vague enough that this same mindset stands up in 2019 with the additional social issues that have become more prevalent in recent years, such as gender ...

It strikes me as unconventional that Frank McCourt would become a high school teacher without having ever attended a high school. Making Frank's career all the more confusing is the fact that my pre-conceived notions of what a teacher should be are mostly pulled from my experience as a student. It is unlikely that I would have chosen this career if not for the positive influence of my teachers. Additionally, I still have anxiety stemming from the fear that I will not be fully prepared to teach by the time I enter a classroom. Learning that Frank McCourt found success paving his own path, and with so little precedent or role models, is reassuring to me. In the context of Teacher Education, Frank's story begs the further question: what new directions could teaching take which have yet to be discovered because we are too caught up in replicating and building on our limited lived experience? It is impossible to answer this question without going out and trying new things, but in b...

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