Adam Rodrigues - EDUC 450B Blog

Dr. Kimmerer's words have been thoroughly thought-provoking for me. The chapter of her book that we read prompted some deep reflection which was then subsequently expanded upon by listening to her live at the Reconciling Ways of Knowing conference.  One really important detail that I took away from the conference is that I was thinking in an incomplete way. It is not authentic reconciliation if we simply use indigenous ways of knowing for specific, compartmentalized purposes; there is a wholistic essence that should not be broken apart for utility. I really liked Dr. Kimmerer's metaphor of the Three Sisters growing together with indigenous ways of knowing as the corn stalks that guiding science (the spiralling beans). At the same time, I have a hard time adopting this model without any reservation. Although I can appreciate the value of the indigenous cultures of these lands, I also recognize that there are other cultures present here in our shared society and that we exist in...

 One thing that made me stop while reading this article was the idea of using intractable problems to students in order to stimulate their interest and engagement. Although Renert was specifically referring to this as a possible technique to teach an intuition for large numbers for the purpose of sustainability education, I believe that this technique could be very broadly applicable. Another point that piqued my interest was Renert's proposal to move away from an algebraic and linear focus in secondary mathematics, to "qualitative visual reasoning and descriptive analysis" (as he puts it). Although this would be a difficult task, I think that there are great benefits to shifting focus, or at least extending our current curriculum to build other mathematical skills that are arguably more suited for modern application.  Personally, I think one small thing that we can do as math educators is to help students recognize the critical role that advanced mathematical methods pla...

Wow! There are no words in English that can fully describe my feelings upon reading this beautiful reflection. Yes, the words through which the ideas were conveyed to me were English words, but the ideas themselves—the experiences of being in the world around us—described by Dr. Kimmerer were real, vivid, and universal. I love to slow down and listen to my surroundings when I'm outdoors, and I find it fascinating that Potawatomi has words to directly describe the experience of life and connectedness that are truly natural. In some sense, one could say that the language is both precise and accurate in this particular ability. My thoughts on mathematical/scientific terminology in the classroom and beyond: I think the importance of precision and accuracy are the fundamental reasons why we have developed such rigorous mathematical and scientific terminology. When teaching mathematics and science, we must be precise so that definitions, propositions, procedures, and results can be repro...

The video of Jo Boaler's presentation generated very productive discussion in our breakout group. We all agreed with a number of points made in the presentation and found similar points interesting, but we also had some discussion about the limitations of the examples presented. Firstly, we all admitted that it was surprising to learn that math was know to be the subject with greatest disparity between educational research recommendations and common pedagogical practice. Furthermore, nobody debated the call for math teachers to focus less on calculation and more on interpretation and conceptual understanding. Similarly, nobody questioned the compounding effects of a growth mindset or positive mathematics strategies. Rather, we spent most of our time discussing the appropriateness and effectiveness of direct instruction versus inquiry (and collaborative) approaches.  Like most of the discussions we have looked at so far in pedagogy, we agreed that a lens of absolute dichotomy w...

  My kind of reflection ...     Despite the fact that "On Becoming a Reflective a Teacher" was written in the 1980's, it still speaks to me in 2020, in what I would consider a personally profound way. The style in which Grant and Zeichner write their article challenges the reader explicitly, and it is clearly targeted at new teacher candidates, such as myself. Moreover, many of the ideas presented in the article are concerned with the cores principles of teaching (which I don't think have changed drastically over the years, even if methods have) and they cut through to me in a personally meaningful way. For example, the proposal of  wholeheartedness   as an essential characteristic of reflective thinking in teaching particularly resonates with me for several reasons. For one thing, I intuitively agree with the idea that teachers must be fully committed to critically analyzing and improving their practice in order to become more effective teachers. I have al...

Today, after setting up the logistics of our class blog, we had the privilege of listening to about 25 minutes of conversation with teacher and write Frank McCourt. His words struck a very personal chord with me in a number of ways.  Firstly, I resonated with his call to personal authenticity. Standing in front of a new class of students, whether literally or virtually, can be an intimidating situation. However, McCourt suggests that the teacher needs to remove "the teacher mask" and make an "admission of ignorance" which ultimately will help to inspire the trust of the students. I have experienced this to be true, both as a student and as a teacher (while co-teaching units for a Science 10 class). I firmly believe that an appropriate amount of vulnerability leads to a stronger foundational relationship between student and teacher. This idea naturally proceeds to the second point that stood out to me from the interviews with McCourt: that a teacher must strive to un...

 Here are a couple of my favourite places. In Ontario, I grew up camping among the white quartzite hills and clear blue lakes of Killarney In BC, I've enjoyed exploring the mountains on skis, especially in the Duffey Lake area