Reflecting on Block
My first placement block was quite the experience! I taught a grade 12 university preparation chemistry course, as well as a grade 9 locally developed science course. Now you might be thinking, why would I be talking about a science placement in a mathematics blog? However, many techniques that I learned in EDBE 8F83 ended up being incorporating in both of my classes in my placement block.
Reflecting on last semester, a big component of 8F83 was about reflecting on solutions in a critical manner to ensure that students can think deeply about the mathematical solutions they have created. When I went to my first block, I made sure that many of my diagnostic and formative types of assessment were embedded in reflection and meta-cognitive practices to benefit student learning. Some examples of assessment tools I used in my placement block that stemmed from ideas that I learned last semester in 8F83 was a Carousel activity, where students wrote their solutions down on a section of the whiteboard, and then the students would do a gallery walk and discuss which solutions were ideal and why these solutions stood out from the others. I also utilized exit cards a lot in my placement which is a good meta-cognitive tool. Also, looking at the readings this week in the chapter of conjecturing in the Thinking Mathematically book made me question if these types of strategies could be used in other classrooms such as science, or other subject areas. When I sat in EDBE 8F83 for the last week and we learned about various assessment tools that we could utilize in our own classrooms, I was afraid that I would be too uncomfortable to implement some of these inquiry-based tools, and that I would struggle in my block. However, with time, I learned that a lot of the assessment tools I learned about in 8F83 were actually the highlights of my teaching block! Such as using learning logs, and various evaluation tools such as rating scales for inquiry purposes.
My favorite part of class was listening to my peers' placement experience, as it allowed me to reflect deeper on my own experiences in my placement block. I noticed that some of my peers had some classroom management issues in their block, and they shared various strategies to solve these issues. Since I had rare issues in classroom management, I learned different ways to approach different situations related to classroom management, and will remember to implement them into my own classroom in the future.
For the future, I would like to expand on the concept of conjecturing in class in hopes that I can understand how to implement this idea into my mathematics classroom and make assessment and evaluation tools in accordance to conjecturing. Thinking Mathematically emphasizes that conjecturing is making conclusions based on information that can be interpreted using logic and reasoning. I feel like this method of problem-solving is crucial for students, especially when they advance to post-secondary studies and are expected to extend on their learning using these critical thinking skills. It is my goal for this week to learn more about conjecturing as a whole.
Reflecting on last semester, a big component of 8F83 was about reflecting on solutions in a critical manner to ensure that students can think deeply about the mathematical solutions they have created. When I went to my first block, I made sure that many of my diagnostic and formative types of assessment were embedded in reflection and meta-cognitive practices to benefit student learning. Some examples of assessment tools I used in my placement block that stemmed from ideas that I learned last semester in 8F83 was a Carousel activity, where students wrote their solutions down on a section of the whiteboard, and then the students would do a gallery walk and discuss which solutions were ideal and why these solutions stood out from the others. I also utilized exit cards a lot in my placement which is a good meta-cognitive tool. Also, looking at the readings this week in the chapter of conjecturing in the Thinking Mathematically book made me question if these types of strategies could be used in other classrooms such as science, or other subject areas. When I sat in EDBE 8F83 for the last week and we learned about various assessment tools that we could utilize in our own classrooms, I was afraid that I would be too uncomfortable to implement some of these inquiry-based tools, and that I would struggle in my block. However, with time, I learned that a lot of the assessment tools I learned about in 8F83 were actually the highlights of my teaching block! Such as using learning logs, and various evaluation tools such as rating scales for inquiry purposes.
My favorite part of class was listening to my peers' placement experience, as it allowed me to reflect deeper on my own experiences in my placement block. I noticed that some of my peers had some classroom management issues in their block, and they shared various strategies to solve these issues. Since I had rare issues in classroom management, I learned different ways to approach different situations related to classroom management, and will remember to implement them into my own classroom in the future.
For the future, I would like to expand on the concept of conjecturing in class in hopes that I can understand how to implement this idea into my mathematics classroom and make assessment and evaluation tools in accordance to conjecturing. Thinking Mathematically emphasizes that conjecturing is making conclusions based on information that can be interpreted using logic and reasoning. I feel like this method of problem-solving is crucial for students, especially when they advance to post-secondary studies and are expected to extend on their learning using these critical thinking skills. It is my goal for this week to learn more about conjecturing as a whole.
References
Mason, J., Burton, L., Stacey, K. (2010). Thinking Mathematically. Pearson. New York, NY.
Disbelieve and Conjecturing Organization (2019). Antonyms of Conjecturing. Retrieved from https://thesaurus.plus/related/conjecturing/disbelieve
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