Math Part 2- Post #6: The End?? Nay!

Retrieved from farwellcards

And so we have reached my final weekly post! Overall, I have been very pleased with my progress in the battle against my negative math mindset! I feared that I had done such a good job making my posts so positive and hopeful this year that I may not have created an accurate picture of how deeply anxious math makes me. But then I went back and looked at my posts from last year and decided that I had made my feelings towards math very clear through the tone of my posts. 

Looking back at my posts from last year, and even the beginning of this year, gave me the idea to revisit my two goals for this course that I outlined in my very first post and see how I did. A little self assessment, a selfsessment if you will. 






1) Giving myself the time I need to fully understand a concept so I can explain it well.

Surprisingly, there was little opportunity for me to build this skill in the face to face class, we generally spent our time working through strategies or exploring resources, but I did reflect on this skill a lot in our weekly forum posts. Here are some strategies I picked up:

Retrieved from quotebook.com

The power of five minutes- Five minutes seems like SUCH a long time when you are working through a math question in your head, especially if others are figuring things out in two or less. But take the five minutes, or at least take more time than you normally would, for me that's five minutes but I don't know what it is for you! I will be the first to admit its not a great feeling, it's kind of like how you feel in the middle of a long run, you may initially question your capacity for sane judgement and have the urge to just run the next 2 km, but you will burn out or get lost in some weird side street and have to take the long way home. Point being, I have been giving myself more processing time and it has REALLY helped me actually think through problems and freak out less. 

Ask a homie - Even it may feel weird to do, ask someone who you feel comfortable with to explain a concept to you. There are two major benefits to this: one, you may understand the concept better (you also might not, sometimes you have to find the right homie!)  and two, you now have a new way to explain that concept which may come in handy when relaying that information to someone else. 







2) Asking for help even when I feel that I might be judged for it 

I can safely give myself a 10/10 for this one because this year I've made a pact with myself that I would work even harder than last year and ask more questions. And so far I've stayed true to that promise, at some cost to my pride. Last year I came to know my weakness and strengths as a teacher and one of my great weaknesses was not asking for help for things that I thought I ought to already know. I had been consumed by the idea that asking for direction and guidance could be seen as a lack of drive and instinct. I know that I can seem young and even silly at times because of my Bernadette-ness, and I was worried that asking simple questions might reinforce that image. My wonderful associate teacher greatly lessened that fear for me through her kind and patient guidance and I've tried my best to keep helping myself grow in this way. Math is such a big area where I have been so disinclined to ask for help and I feel I've made steps towards shrinking that fear. 


I am really going to be calling on these skills during my placement this fall which is in a Grade 8 class! 

Am I nervous? OF COURSE. Goodness of course I am. 

But this is just the challenge I've been praying for, and so I will go forth and fear no darkness because I know I have more growing do to!

Math Blog Part 2 - Post #5: "Mathemagical" Resources from a Wonderful PD

A few weeks ago my fellow teacher candidates and I attended a PD called Mathemagical Ideas led by Cathy Chaput and it was SO GREAT.

So practical! So engaging! So many resources! 10/10 Bernadettes would recommend. 

I am very excited to share the resources I gathered from this PD so get ready for....

Resource Round-up!

Educational Books 

Cathy mentioned many educational books, but I wanted to highlight these two because I found them particularly interesting.

One is a Snail, Ten is a Crab by April Pulley Sayre and Jeff Sayre

Retrieved from walkerbooks.com

This book uses the number of legs a creature has to demonstrate how different combinations of steps can combine to make a certain number. For example a human is two, because we have two feet, and a crab is 10, so 30 could be three crabs or ten people and two crabs. This book could be introduced in any elementary grade depending on how it is used because it activates number sense skills. (Plus how cute is the illustration??) 

Six-Dinner Sid by Inga Moore

Retrieved from weebly.com

Six Dinner Sid is a great math resource that teachers wouldn't necessarily hear about because there is actually no specific mathematical focus in this book, it's simply a fun story about a very naughty cat. Sid has six different owners who all think he is their cat, which eventually lands him in trouble when he gets sick and is brought into the vet six different times. There are several connections that can be made from this story, and you can flexible about the level of entry. A teacher could ask questions that are directly mathematical: if Sid has six owners how many meals does he get a day if each owner feeds him three times? Or questions that are more hypothetical: If Sid gets one meal from one owner each day but moves to a new street that has four houses, how many meals is he getting now? Can we estimate?



Educational Websites 

Again, many resources were shared, but I would like to focus on these two in particular!

https://www.youcubed.org - Jo Boaler website

We've been watching a lot of Jo Boaler videos for our math modules so I thought it would be useful to explore the website connected to her research. Boaler focuses on math mindsets, particularly how we as educators can fight the negative mindsets that often come with math and the website has many videos and resources specifically directed towards educators. 

https://gfletchy.com Three-Act Lessons, Cookie Monster Video

Graham Fletcher has a bunch of these Three-Act Lesson videos where students can employ various math skills (in this video it is estimation) in fun life-based situations. 

After watching this first video the students are given this picture:

Retrieved from gfletchy.com

How many cookies did the Cookie Monster eat?? 

Estimate.

What is a number that is too high? Too low? 

These kinds of little activities are very open and moldable. Students could work on the question on their own or in groups depending on the needs of your classroom and the website provides possible modifications for different levels of readiness. 

It feels good to have concrete resources to share and I hope to continue to fill my blog with them!

Only one more week of math blogs! It's strange how quickly the time has gone by, and how thoroughly I have enjoyed the process! But, stranger things have happened! 

(on another note, VERY much excited for Season 2 of Stranger Things !!! ) 

Until next week, 

"Forth and fear no darkness"

Bernadette 

Math Blog Part 2 - Post #4: Webinar Worries: A Cautionary Tale

Well, we presented our webinar today. Though we were both nervous I think we were able to convey our information accurately and we were blessed with very active and ready participants.

But I still have many worries, and I will tell you why.

Several times during these blogs I have mentioned the benefits of using digital tools, and I still stand by what I said. Digitizing math gives students access to websites, games, and resources that allow them to build their problem solving skills in engaging ways and I have personally seen how much students enjoy the opportunity to work with digital tools. But let me share with you a cautionary tale.

Retrieved from makeameme.org

I was extremely stressed to work with Youtube livestreams because its a platform I am unfamiliar with, but we were given instructions to follow and I knew my fellow teacher candidates would help me in any way they could. So my partner and I created a test webinar link and every seemed to be ready for the big day. And yet, the day of the webinar came and brought many unexpected challenges. We had to resend links and worry about the quality of the internet, the lag time, the possibility that one of our observers would choke on a pizza crust and have to miss our webinar because they were rushed to the professional pizza uncloggers like in the dream I had last night.

You know, normal worries.

But at the end of the day our webinar "Differentiated Instruction: Universal Design for Awesomeness" was complete without a single pizza related incident and we were able to share our resources and knowledge with our fellow classmates using a new platform that we might not have otherwise used, so I have to admit there is some good in that.

My word of caution to you, dear blog buddy, is that when you feel nervous about working with new technology make sure you make use of all the resources available to you to get acquainted with it. Because, as great of a resource as it is, technology is as fickle as the weather we have been having so it's always best to be prepared!

Retrieved from http://now-here-this.timeout.com

Resource Round-up

Lastly, speaking of resources, I'd like to share some of ours here! The first link DI Resources goes to a page on Edutopia, an educational company created by George Lucas (yes that George Lucas), and there are over 20 resources gathered on that link alone that deal with Universal Design for Learning in several different contexts. The second is an EduGains document that focuses on differentiation for intermediate/senior students specifically, it even goes up university level!

Hopefully these are of some help!

Speaking of help, remember to ask for it when you need it! I didn't as much as I could have this week and I am kicking myself for it.

This week has been a difficult one but I have learned a few lessons I sorely needed reminding of and I am glad for it. So until next time:

"Forth and fear no darkness"

Bernadette