Do you SEE Math?

I recently had the pleasure of attending a parent engagement session with Dr. Cathy Fosnot on parent engagement and numeracy. Dr. Cathy Fosnot's work in the area of Math is infamous and she raised really good points that has made me think about how I engage students in Mathematics with my math program.

Fosnot made an argument for engaging students in Mathematics by solving problems creatively and seeing the creativity in math. Reflecting on my practice, I have seen how effective it is to connect math with creativity and the Arts. For example, this year I students design a skyline of their choice and of any city of their choice; using shapes, polygons, irregular polygons and attributes we learned in Geometry. This activity allowed students to design a skyline and find beauty (in Math) within their architectural piece. The hands-on learning piece that comes with finding creativity in Math, also allows students to gain a deeper first hand experience of th
e math concepts.

Her connections about creativity and Math also reminded me on the recent focus on Spatial Sense as a predictor of success in Math. If we are able to foster students to think critically and visualize the creativity in Math, especially they are being spatial aware of math concepts.

Fosnot also made an excellent argument about teaching students to think deeply about numeracy and numbers so that they are able to apply a variety of mental math strategies in their real life. The deeper understanding of numeracy does not lie in plugging in the numbers in a calculator or even finding the answer.

A resource that popped into my mind is Jo Boaler's "Mathematical Mindsets" ; she too, makes an argument for seeing Math in creative and visual ways an important way for students to think and feel about Math.

"Do you SEE Math?" As an educator, I think it's a difficult question to answer, but one that I think I will pose more often when looking at the curriculum and mathematical concepts.... "How can we foster a love for math through a creative lens?"

Mindful Breaks - Collaborative Colouring / Colour Therapy

Taking mindful breaks throughout the school day is an important part of well-being. This year, I added a new station to my classroom. On the shelves, I placed "colour therapy colouring sheets" for students to use when they feel they need a break. Students love the station and have been using it often! 

I decided to have a few options on the shelf, students can take which ever colouring page they would like at that brea. We set the norm that the colouring pages are collaborative and we add onto each other's colouring; this has also created a respectful and collaborative culture. Consider adding a colouring station to your classroom :) 

Materials you will need to create a colouring station: 

- bristol board so that the pages stand up 

- foldback clips to clip the colouring pages

- colouring pages ( I bought a book that contained detachable sheets that have designs on the front and back) 

Growth Mindset Inspiration

Great video for Growth Mindset! ....First thing that came to mind when I saw the commercial on TV this summer break.

The Evolution of the Hardcopy Text?

It has been a great start to a new school year (Grade 6 has been awesome so far :) ) and as always, my resolution is to keep blogging as often as possible! :)

Over the summer break, I began delving into Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler. It is an insightful read indeed! As I was reading my hard copy, I realized I needed many tools. Not only did I want stickies, highlighters, pens to jot down and mark down my thoughts and important information, but I was also gravitating towards my laptop! This was an AHA moment for myself, I realized that I couldn't bring Mathematical Mindsets to the beach easily due to the amount of tools I felt I needed to lug with me! The nature of professional reading has changed.

There is a high need for technology use while interacting with hardcopy text. Boaler refers to many MANY wonderful links and online resource in their book. As I was reading, I felt a constant need to bookmark a page and also bookmark a web resource on my browser. There was a high level of interaction with the hardcopy text; no passive reading was happening here!

The 21st century hardcopy text is no longer just the information printed on the physical paper; but it is evolving to a physical space where the need to access online resources is increasingly becoming the norm. Therefore, students need to be taught the skills to decode the information in the black and white text in front of them, but also the online texts found in the hyperlinks as well. Students need to be able to interact with printed and online text simultaneously.

Some things I am wondering...... What tools do students need to help organize their information and for them to sift through the most important information from the wealth of information presented to them (print and online)? What are some effective strategies to help students develop these skills needed to interact with this "new 21st century hardcopy text"?

Poetry & Inquiry - How would you define/describe Canadian Identity?

Grade 6 students were asked to analyze and extract phrases/words from Shane Koyczan's poem "We are More" which was famously performed at the 2010 Winter Olympics. We watched the excerpt from the clip below: (Poem comes in at around 2:15:56)

Big Idea: Canadian Identity has many fundamental elements. Past and present communities have
shaped the development of Canada.

Inquiry question: How do we define Canadian Identity?

Highlighting and extracting phrases...

Students were asked to sort their extraction of ideas into categories....

Students were then to ask to graffiti how they would describe Canadian identity...

Students worked in groups to fill in sentence prompts/ create metaphors to describe Canadian Identity using their own ideas and taking inspiration from Shane Koyczan's poem.


Result.... creative class poem presented that allowed students to see what being Canadian means to us!

It was an engaging lesson where students were able to be creative and express some fundamental elements of Canadian Identity. The goal is to have students revisit our class poem at the end of the unit and see how their learning of Canada's past and present communities have shaped their perspective of Canadian Identity.

Lesson was inspired by TC2 resource

My Classroom Blog Links

Grade 6 (2016- present) - Grade 6 Homeroom Teacher Role
http://grade6chungstars.blogspot.ca/

Grade 6 (2015-2016) - Grade 6 Social Studies/ Science Teacher Role
http://grade6chungstarslearningspace.blogspot.ca/

Grade 4 (2014-2015) - Grade 4 Homeroom Teacher Role
http://mschungclassbulletin.blogspot.ca/

Reflections: Advocating for Student Voice - How do we teach students to advocate from themselves?

While doing course work to enhance my knowledge in the area of Special Education, I came across a fantastic article titled, "Why is This Cake on Fire?" by Jamie L. Van Dycke, James E. Martin and David L. Lovett, that really made me reflect on my own teaching practice and Special Education.

These authors use the analogy of planning a birthday party for a child who never actually part of the planning to display the importance of student advocating for themselves in Special Education. The child grows up and ends up not caring about the birthday party anymore, because they were never involved in the process to begin with. Why should the child care, if everything has always been talked around them or taken care of?

We talk about the importance of student voice in our classrooms all the time, but I think student voice in Special Education or IEP process is definitely lacking. The birthday party analogy made me reflect on meetings I have had in past about student progress. Honestly, not many times did I consider active participation or leading the meeting by the student in the meetings with family. I always consult students to discuss their progress and strategies that work for them; but not often do I have the student explain/present their strengths and needs to their families. It is so so important for students to learn the skill of advocating for themselves and their needs.

Furthermore, I think it's easy to say that student's need to advocate for themselves, but as educators we need to be able to support students to acquire the language to communicate what their needs are and how they feel.

How do you teach the skill of advocation? What can we do improve student's participating in IEP, growth plan, student progress areas?

Full Article can be accessed at this link:
http://www.nssed.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Why-is-this-cake-on-fire.pdf

Space Persuasive Letters

Should Space Programs continue be funded by the Canadian Government? 

Students evaluated the Pros and Cons of Space Exploration and how it impacts Canadian society and citizens. 

They were then asked to write a persuasive letter to the Canadian Space Agency expressing their opinion on the issue. 

This was a very engaging task, as it allowed for student voice and an authentic audience. We are sending out letters off to the Space Agency and hoping for a response back!! 

Reflections on Blogging Lunch and Learn Sessions

I have been hosting Blog Lunch and Learn sessions for colleagues at my new school this year and it has been a great success! Helping teachers set up a blog and sharing how a blog could be a useful platform and tool in the classroom has been an enriching experience for myself.

From these sessions, my gracious colleagues’ learning about blogs and blogging has allowed me to have the following reflections: 

• Life long learning truly is lifelong and ageless 
• Working with adults and seeing their excitement and spark at new ideas and concepts is very rewarding and just as rewarding as when I am teaching/helping students 
• Those that call themselves not “tech savvy” are able to setup a live blog and navigate through the settings (Growth Mindset!)
• Sharing knowledge and information allows for deeper thinking and strengthens my own practice
• Though I have been using the Blogger platform for a while, technology is always changing and within the session I get to learn a few new tidbits as well! 
• Being OK with discovering new things as the session is running - the idea of being a co-learner as well as a facilitator