Adam Rodrigues - EDUC 450B Blog

 I really enjoyed conversing with the other TC's in my group today and I thought that we generated some rich discussion. One thing that really resonated with me was what Jacob mentioned about allowing room for uncertainty in mathematics and science. Too often, we think that science is rigid and absolute, whereas, in reality, it is constantly evolving and improving. Similarly, mathematics is a an ever-developing field, and pedagogical approaches are constantly being improved upon. Embracing uncertainty, and also attempting to quantify or explain it, might be good ways to help ourselves and students become increasingly adaptable and resilient amidst the immense uncertainty of our collective future in light of global, multi-generational problems such as climate change and mass extinction. Fluidity in understanding also invites interpretation and subjectivity to our experience of math and science, which we agreed is important and need not be destructive to the objective developments of...

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...

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...

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...