Reflecting on Online Mathematical Conferencing
Hey everyone, and welcome to my final blog post of the year!
This semester, I have focused my reflections on the leading learning activities that were presented throughout the EDBE 8F83 class, and how these resources were applicable to my own teaching. My last blog will focus on looking at online webinars that look at teaching mathematics in an academic and professional context. I watched a variety of videos including a webinar dealing with assessment in mathematics, Teaching as Professional Work, and Building Thinking Classrooms. This blog entry will be focused on the webinar Building Thinking Classrooms which was conducted by Dr. Peter Liljedhal.
Dr. Liljedhal is a professor who specializes in the discipline of mathematics education. He emphasized that is research interests and main focus is related to problem-based learning in the classroom. I chose this video specifically because in the earlier months of the semester, many of our lectures were based on inquiry-based, investigative learning strategies that used a wide range of mathematical processes. I feel like these topics are directly related to problem-based learning and has ultimately allowed me to critically analyze this webinar more in depth than the other videos.
Dr. Liljedhal introduces the webinar by posing the following question:
This question has no direct solution that many mathematics students strive to find. However, Dr. Liljedhal's approach to finding a solution to this question is derived solely on critical thinking skills and obtaining logic through attempting these types of problems. Dr. Liljedhal noticed that when a grade 7/8 mathematics teacher wanted to incorporate problem-solving learning into her mathematical pedagogy, that it was very difficult for her to 'teach' to the solution of the question. According to Dr. Liljedhal, the teacher seemed very uncomfortable with explaining the material, stating that she did not explain the best to her students. Liljedhal also noted that many students became flustered and confused with the question. The interesting thing about this question is that it relates to a multitude of overall and specific expectations outlined in both the elementary school and high school curriculum (i.e., grade 6,7,8, MFM 1P, MPM 1D, MFM 2P). So, the fact that students were confused shows that perhaps our modern way of teaching mathematics is not the most succinct and appropriate way to be teaching as we are not teaching our students to become well-rounded problem solvers. I would personally ask this question as a formative assessment strategy to gauge student understanding of the content (e.g., Carousel activity, group activity). I will always incorporate problem-solving questions into my teaching, so using a formative assessment strategy like the ones I mentioned above will help me gauge the aptitude of problem-solving that my students have in general.
I also liked the ideas that Dr. Liljedhal had to reinforce problem-solving based learning in mathematics classroom. Dr. Liljedhal emphasizes the importance of using vertical classrooms. I can attest to the importance of using vertical classrooms as I used it in my first placement with my senior chemistry course. The vertical classroom gives students the opportunity to write their solutions on the whiteboard next to their peers and reflect on their own solutions, as well as their peers. This also allows for diagnostic assessment for teachers so that they can give feedback and record anecdotal notes accordingly. Some other strategies that Dr. Liljedhal discussed was to keep students 'on their feet'. Dr. Liljedhal was discussing how many students get left behind due to the fact they are kinesthetic learners, and are usually expected to sit in the same spot for over an hour per class and write notes. Reflecting on this statement made by Dr. Liljedhal, I made many of my students do activities that kept students on their feet, such as Jigsaw activities, relay races as a culminating review and think pair share activities with students that sat far away from them. I can see how these activities did not only keep these students more engaged, it also allowed for students to be collaborative in nature which is imperative to maximize student learning. Dr. Liljedhal also states a variety of 'variables' that makes for a successful mathematics lesson, and describes the positive effects of each variable when discussing lessons that are grounded in problem-solving learning.
Overall, Dr. Liljedhal gave me so many strategies that are applicable to any mathematics classroom. He challenges the traditional way of teaching and ensures that we as educators are instilling mathematical problem solving strategies into our students so that they become authentic, logical mathematical learners. I believe that experimenting with these new inquiry-based strategies is a good stepping stone into the new way of teaching mathematics that will give our students transferable skills in their everyday lives.
I want to leave my blog with a few quotes that reflect my teaching philosophy related to mathematics as a whole. I am glad that EDBE 8F83 has taught me how to be a reflective educator and utilize a variety of strategies to maximize the potential of student learning!
“Life is a math equation. In order to gain the most, you have to know how to convert negatives into positives.”
“Mathematics is not about numbers, equations, computations, or algorithms: it is about understanding.”
“Success in math does not depend on how many answers you know, but by what you do when you don’t know the answer.”
References
Liljedhal, P. (2017). Building Thinking Classrooms. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc0hp0d15-4&feature=youtu.be
Melinda, M. (2017). 17 Inspirational Quotes for Math in the Classroom. Retrieved from https://topnotchteaching.com/math/inspirational-quotes-about-math/
This semester, I have focused my reflections on the leading learning activities that were presented throughout the EDBE 8F83 class, and how these resources were applicable to my own teaching. My last blog will focus on looking at online webinars that look at teaching mathematics in an academic and professional context. I watched a variety of videos including a webinar dealing with assessment in mathematics, Teaching as Professional Work, and Building Thinking Classrooms. This blog entry will be focused on the webinar Building Thinking Classrooms which was conducted by Dr. Peter Liljedhal.
Dr. Liljedhal is a professor who specializes in the discipline of mathematics education. He emphasized that is research interests and main focus is related to problem-based learning in the classroom. I chose this video specifically because in the earlier months of the semester, many of our lectures were based on inquiry-based, investigative learning strategies that used a wide range of mathematical processes. I feel like these topics are directly related to problem-based learning and has ultimately allowed me to critically analyze this webinar more in depth than the other videos.
Dr. Liljedhal introduces the webinar by posing the following question:
I also liked the ideas that Dr. Liljedhal had to reinforce problem-solving based learning in mathematics classroom. Dr. Liljedhal emphasizes the importance of using vertical classrooms. I can attest to the importance of using vertical classrooms as I used it in my first placement with my senior chemistry course. The vertical classroom gives students the opportunity to write their solutions on the whiteboard next to their peers and reflect on their own solutions, as well as their peers. This also allows for diagnostic assessment for teachers so that they can give feedback and record anecdotal notes accordingly. Some other strategies that Dr. Liljedhal discussed was to keep students 'on their feet'. Dr. Liljedhal was discussing how many students get left behind due to the fact they are kinesthetic learners, and are usually expected to sit in the same spot for over an hour per class and write notes. Reflecting on this statement made by Dr. Liljedhal, I made many of my students do activities that kept students on their feet, such as Jigsaw activities, relay races as a culminating review and think pair share activities with students that sat far away from them. I can see how these activities did not only keep these students more engaged, it also allowed for students to be collaborative in nature which is imperative to maximize student learning. Dr. Liljedhal also states a variety of 'variables' that makes for a successful mathematics lesson, and describes the positive effects of each variable when discussing lessons that are grounded in problem-solving learning.
Overall, Dr. Liljedhal gave me so many strategies that are applicable to any mathematics classroom. He challenges the traditional way of teaching and ensures that we as educators are instilling mathematical problem solving strategies into our students so that they become authentic, logical mathematical learners. I believe that experimenting with these new inquiry-based strategies is a good stepping stone into the new way of teaching mathematics that will give our students transferable skills in their everyday lives.
I want to leave my blog with a few quotes that reflect my teaching philosophy related to mathematics as a whole. I am glad that EDBE 8F83 has taught me how to be a reflective educator and utilize a variety of strategies to maximize the potential of student learning!
“Life is a math equation. In order to gain the most, you have to know how to convert negatives into positives.”
“Mathematics is not about numbers, equations, computations, or algorithms: it is about understanding.”
“Success in math does not depend on how many answers you know, but by what you do when you don’t know the answer.”
References
Liljedhal, P. (2017). Building Thinking Classrooms. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc0hp0d15-4&feature=youtu.be
Melinda, M. (2017). 17 Inspirational Quotes for Math in the Classroom. Retrieved from https://topnotchteaching.com/math/inspirational-quotes-about-math/
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