Class 7 (Oct 16) Exit Slip

We drew leaves with a straight edge and compass today. I saw the maple leaves on my way to class and thought it was so pretty. So when we were introduced to the activity, I immediately thought of those leaves. I thought it would be hard to draw the maple with a ruler and a compass because of how complex the leaf looked, but it turns out that using the compass was the hardest part. I found it frustrating to use the compass in the kit because it kept on slipping and because it was challenging to make the compass draw the circle without changing the radius midway. So instead, I made my own compass with my hair tie, a pencil, and a pencil crayon. I was really proud of the compass I made because it worked a lot better than the actual compass. During the process, I found it hard to remember how I drew each section of the leaf, as they all turned out differently than what I expected even though I thought I used the same procedure, but eventually, I figured out what I was doing wrong and I am pretty proud of the end result. I liked how mathy this art activity was. When I was little, when I drew with my sister, she would always tease me for how many measurements and calculations I make to do my drawing. It felt nice to be able to have fun with my measurements and calculations in my drawing process with other people without being judged. :)

Class 7 (Oct 16) Entrance Slip - Experiential Learning

1. Define your topic: Experiential Learning

2. Analyze your topic into concepts

        a. Demonstrations 

            - Have students make predictions and discuss observations to spark curiosity about the concepts

        b. Simulations

            - Give students the time to play around with simulations to experiment and observe the concepts

        c. Project-based Learning

            - Students can learn through creating and building projects 

I chose this topic because when I think back to my physics classes in high school, I mainly remember all the fun experiments and demonstrations my teachers showed us, and the concepts associated with them. And I realized that I learn best when I can see the concept and play with it myself. I enjoyed the bridge-making project I did in physics 11, and I found the catapult project that the physics 11s were building at one of my school visits so fun and fascinating that I wanted to recreate the same kind of experience for my own students. Simulations also interest me because they allow students to experience things that we can’t easily do in a classroom setting. By playing with simulations, students can learn the concepts at their own pace and focus on details that they are curious about. I also like the idea of introducing new concepts through a demonstration. I think that by doing it this way, letting students watch something surprising happen as the hook of the lesson, students would naturally be engaged in the topic, as they want to find out why it worked, which makes new ideas more exciting and sparks curiosity. With demonstrations, simulations, and project-based learning, physics concepts can feel more relatable and engaging for students, turning abstract ideas into something they can explore, feel, and remember. 

Class 6 (Oct 9) Exit Slip

WE MADE APPLE CIDER TODAY! 🍎It was so much fun, and the apple cider we made at the end was delicious! At first, I wondered how apple cider making was related to the course, as it was super fun, but not too closely related to math and physics. However, after our discussion about playtime with Esmie, I realized that the activity wasn’t just about making cider, but also about bonding, relationship building, and working towards a shared goal. 

We naturally split up the tasks like a conveyor belt, assigning roles to each of us. Some people were in charge of washing the apples, some were cutting the apples, some were mashing them, some were working with the cider press, and some were managing the whole situation, keeping it organized and smooth. I felt that by working together toward the same goal and contributing to the process, it really brought us closer and made our bond stronger like a community. I accidentally cut myself while chopping the apples, but I felt so thankful for Jimena, Danielle, and Susan for helping me treat the wound, and Yuki, for washing the bloody knife. I felt thankful and fortunate to be surrounded by people so caring and supportive in this class. 

Today’s activities also reminded me of the importance of experiencing physics when learning it. When students actually get to do things, to play around with concepts, make predictions, observe, and discuss with each other, they are experiencing them rather than just memorizing them like textbook facts. And by having time to play and explore ideas with peers, students can have a deeper connection to the concepts while feeling a sense of belonging, teamwork, and connection in the class. I think that by giving students time to play, they can learn so much more than just plugging in numbers into equations.

Class 6 (Oct 9) Entrance Slip - Refocusing Our Efforts: A Shift From Grading to an Emphasis on Learning

I had fun reading this article. The part about teachers focusing on engaging the students in learning, making learning fun and engaging for them, stood out to me. I have always considered sticking to the curriculum as a checklist, working to ensure that students master all the learning outcomes, and grading students’ understanding as one of my primary responsibilities as a teacher. But after reading the article, I started to feel that it is not the case. I think that students still should aim to understand and try to apply all the concepts in the curriculum, but they don’t necessarily have to achieve Extending in every area. I thought of the candy crush metaphor I learned in EPSE 317. Sometimes, it is ok to just get two stars out of three for some levels, and you have the freedom and option to challenge yourself for the third star only if you want to. I also thought about one of our discussions in LLED 361, on a proficiency scale rubric, do we read from the top down, where everyone is 100% perfect unless or until they make a mistake, from the bottom up, where everyone is a zero unless or until they earn their way up, or from the middle out, where everyone is given some credit for capability to start with. We also discussed the column rubric, as one of the TCs mentioned that if students don’t know what the ceiling is, they will produce higher-quality work. By leaving space for interpretation, giving students some freedom in the rubric so that the rubric is something students are also participating in, and adding unexpected, above expectation things that students did to the marking scheme, I feel would make grading less stressful and learning more meaningful for students, as they are focusing on what THEY can do, instead of what the TEACHER wants them to do. 

When I was in high school, I liked being assigned percentages for my work. I saw grades as a challenge for myself, which motivated me to study hard. I still remember in social studies 10, I set a goal for myself to get an A for the class, which meant that I needed to get Extending for almost all of my assignments. Because of this goal, even though I didn’t enjoy the class, I was motivated to pay attention in class and try my best on my assignments. I felt that because of this challenge, I learned more than I would have with my lack of interest in the class. For me, grades served as a way for me to gamify my learning journey, to make learning fun, and as an indicator of how well my understanding was. A negative aspect I thought of about grading and tests when I was in high school was how a careless mistake on a test would result in a deduction of marks, which made me feel that all my understanding and work done to understand the topic had gone to waste, and made me very frustrated at myself. Regarding the topic of tests, I also remember when studying for my midterms of finals in my university physics classes, I would always cram them last minute, and rely on my short-term memories during the tests. The results usually turn out well, but it was mostly “not knowledge”, as I was just “[blurting] out all the stuff [I] memorized” last minute. 

Thinking from a teacher’s perspective, assigning grades in assessments seems like one of the tasks teachers have to do to represent students’ understanding to universities, parents, and students, so that they can know where the student is without having to go through all the work that the student has done. With how the whole system works now, I feel that the teacher is not in control of whether to assign grades or not, but I think there are strategies teachers can use to lessen the emphasis on grades and encourage students to step out of their comfort zone to experiment and explore without worrying about their performance as they take risks. Below is a list of ideas I have summarized from my experience and from the reading, to shift the focus from grading to learning:

1. Allow students to "experience relatedness and connectedness"

    - Showing students a cool phenomenon, then explaining the concept, so that they are genuinely interested in how things work

    - Incorporate group work activities

    - "Encourage students to invent explanations for everyday observations related to [the] topics"

    - Incorporate students' personal interests and culture in the lessons

2. Let students experience "perceived competence"

    - Provide "completion mark" opportunities for some of the learning outcomes

        -> To not penalize weakness when students develop it, so that students can develop on skills and learn without worrying about their grades

    - Provide retest or alternate ways to show their understanding so that students feel more comfortable learning

    - Provide more than one opportunity for students to demonstrate their understanding

    - Reminding students that "their success did not have to be defined by a letter grade"

    - Having the lowest grade weighted less can decrease students' stress in their marks and motivate them to take risks

3. Make students “feel ‘freedom from excessive external pressure toward behaving or thinking a certain way” - Give students the freedom to choose what assignment to do, to show what they know for the same learning outcome. -> Firm goals, flexible means - Give students the freedom to choose “a topic that was of interest to them” - Have the class “discuss criteria and create a rubric for the project” - Have open-ended design projects where students can utilize their learning from the unit to apply to the projects

Class 5 (Oct 2) Exit Slip

In today’s class, we talked about conic sections and where we can find and feel them in our daily lives. I found the idea of circling, ellipsing, hyperbola(ing), parabola (ing) super cool. The process of doing the shapes, the process of experiencing the shapes, makes these concepts a lot more dynamic than just concepts in the textbook. When brainstorming, I noticed that we all chose different ways of expressing our ideas. Some groups were writing down equations and solving them, some groups were drawing them on the board, some groups were talking about their thoughts, some groups were acting the shapes out with their bodies, and some people visualized the shapes with paper. I was reminded that there are so many ways of expressing ourselves, our ideas, that it is not just limited to all the different languages we speak. Nature also expresses themselves in their own way, so we can also learn from their perspectives, learning to “listen” and discover how things function around us would make this world such a fun and less lonely place, like “a neighbourhood of nonhuman residents”, as the reading described. 

We also watched a video on indigenizing math, teaching calculus of finite differences through startblankets. I really liked how well the Indigenous culture was incorporated into the curriculum. I was reminded of the Science First People’s Teacher Resource Guide (https://www.fnesc.ca/sciencetrg/) that was introduced to us in our EDUC 440 class. This resource is similar to the Math First People’s Teacher Resource Guide in the class blog, but instead of math, the book includes a lot of resources for science teachers to integrate First People’s knowledge and perspective into secondary science classes. 

Class 5 (Oct 2) Entrance Slip - Learning the Grammar of Animacy

I was amazed by how beautifully written this reading was. I was reminded of the second sit spots activity we did when I was reading the part about “[turning] off the voice in my head until I can hear the voices outside it. I thought of how many random thoughts I had in my head during the activity in the beginning, and after I was aware of them, and put them aside, I was able to hear so much more that was around me. 

Teaching scientific terminology in the classroom, I really liked how the author talks about “to name and describe [a concept] you must first see”. I believe that learning physics can be a lot more fun and relatable if students are introduced to the knowledge by knowing what the concept looks like, before knowing what the concept is called. Just like when Jim Thunder in the reading started by telling a joke in Potawatomi, making the author wonder what he was talking about because they couldn’t understand the language, then spoke about “how lonely those [languages] will be, when their power is gone”, when no one could understand them anymore. By introducing the terminology associated with the concept after allowing students to observe the concept taking place, students can feel the concepts themselves before assigning them to a specific name, which can make the terminology more meaningful and personal. The author also wrote in the language they were learning on sticky notes. This way, the author puts themselves in an environment surrounded by the language, which can improve their mastery of the language. Similarly, in physics classrooms, like what we learned in the physics pedagogy class, having a vocabulary list on the wall for students to see all the time, and incorporating the terminology in discussions, can help students learn and get used to the terminology, which I feel is also a good way to teach scientific terminology in the classroom. 

One of the ways to Indigenize my own classroom and curriculum that I thought of when reading the chapter was to remind students to be aware of their surroundings, and respect all animate and inanimate things, just as they would treat other human beings, just like how the article said, “teaching them to know the world as a neighborhood of nonhuman residents”. This can include introducing examples of how physics takes place in nature, what the roles of physics in the life of other animals are, so that students can be invited to learn from other living beings. Moreover, encouraging students to learn from their peers, reminding them of “the capacity of others as our teachers, as holders of knowledge, as guides”. By inviting students to learn from different perspectives, reminding them that “there are intelligences other than our own, teachers all around us”, students can develop their abilities to interpret and learn from both the environment and their peers.