Post #6- January 11th, 2021!
Hi there and Happy New Year!
This week we were introduced to and had to explore the Ministry of Education website and find resources that would be helpful for mathematics with grade 7 and 8.
I thought this was a really interesting activity, as it has helped me realize where I can look for resources for my class and students. Something that I found was the Kahn Academy videos (https://www.khanacademy.org/math). I absolutely love this resource! Not only is it awesome for my visual learners, but it caters to audio learners as well! While exploring this website, I noticed that there are lessons for a wide arrange of the curriculum, and a wide range of grades. I love that this resource is also available to students, because if they are at home, doing homework, and are stuck, these videos can be a great source for them to problem solve and learn more independently.
Another thing we did in class today, was watch a TedTalk called “Math is the Hidden Secret to Understanding the World". Something that stood out to me was at the beginning of the video. The man who was speaking was showing different equations and numbers, and the different ways that they can be represented, as he spoke about perspective. This stuck out to me, because it’s so true! Equations and numbers are and can be represented quite differently, because it shows a different perspective, and someone really shows they understand if they can see one thing from multiple perspectives. As a teacher, this is so important for me to recognize! As a teacher, I should be challenging my students to see things from different perspectives, to enable their understanding. Not only can I do this with my math classes, but my French classes as well! In my math class, I can do this by doing gallery walks and allowing students to see how different solutions look, and offer different perspectives to a question or a problem. Roger also talked about providing analogies, metaphors, etc. Every time students engage with these concepts, their level of understanding increases!
I wanted to learn more about the above TedTalk, so I did a bit of research! I found a website (https://casioeducation.wordpress.com/2016/11/30/understanding-math-its-all-about-perspective/) that explained some of the ideas from this TedTalk, while also listing some possible strategies to use in the classroom. The author explained that to help develop this different perspective and understanding, students can; look at problems from multiple entry points, reason abstractly, model with mathematics and represent their solutions in a variety of ways, look for and make sense of structure, and finally, look for patterns. This is a great resource that I am going to refer back to once I am in a classroom, and wanting to show my students how to think about different perspectives and show a great understanding in mathematics.
Overall, this week has provided me lots to think about when it comes to resources and offering different perspectives to students!
Thank you so much for reading!
Until next time!
-Sydney
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