Mackenzie's "Multicultural School Gardens" - Entrance Slip

Reading the article reminded of my school gardening experiences way back to elementary years. School food gardening is never a new trend especially in Asia. Unfortunately, school gardening had a very negative personal impact on me as an elementary pupil. I studied at a primary school in the Philippines, where school gardening is so common due to the wide areas of fertile land and perfect climate. The sound of the school bell after the day’s classes, signifies time to keep our books and prepare our bolos, gloves, and tiny stool as we’re going to head out to the gardens to water the plants, weed, sweep and burn dried fallen leaves and anything the teacher wanted us to do. As a child, I considered it as an impractical endeavor while I see it as child labor and exploitation. We did gardening to maintain the cleanliness of our school and at the same time beautify the school’s vacant spaces. The good thing with our gardening sessions was the opportunity it gave me to socialize and make bond with my classmates and friends. We came from different backgrounds and it was just amazing how we teach each other our own learned-style of weeding or making soil plots or paddies. Our gardens were one of the best assets our school had but how I wish they were used to create a space for learning.

http://www.agricultureph.com/2016/08/php20-million-allotted-by-da-for-school.html

The article of Amy-Cutter Mackenzie about “Multicultural School Gardens” left me with dreams… the ambition to bring back time and change our schooling system (very ambitious).

I really like the idea of creating school gardens as a learning space that supports cultural diversity. As Mackenzie emphasized in her paper, food gardening creates a positive atmosphere for learning especially for newcomer immigrants who are learning to adapt to the new language, culture, and environment. Last class we've tackled about introversion and extroversion, and I think multicultural school gardens can be a good strategy to help newcomers overcome their introversion, the mix feeling of social anxiety and exclusion.  Interestingly, BC has beautiful outdoors, which, I believe, are really great educational resource.

Teaching and learning process usually takes place inside the classroom, lab, or lecture halls, which most of the time makes students bored and sleepy. I am currently reading a very good picture book titled “Asap Science: Answers to World’s Weirdest Questions, Most Persistent Rumors, and Unexplained Phenomena” written by Mitchell Moffit & Greg Brown. In the chapter “What If You Stopped Going Outside?”, the author explained that being in nature can have mental and physical effect on the body and researchers saw that when people looked at scenes in nature, their brains exhibited more activity in the regions associated with stability, empathy, and love. In short, we shouldn't just spend the days of our lives sitting inside our huts, lets go out to smell the air breeze and feel the heat of the sun. I’ve always thought that curriculum and pedagogy are the most vital components of teaching. But there’s a missing link ---- the “place” where learning occurs is of equal importance.

Thoughts on Praise, Blame, Mindset, and Student Engagement - Exit Slip

Praises or recognition are one of the motivational factors that positively affects the teaching and learning process. However, it should be done with taking into account factors like the context, the purpose of doing it, and the consequences that may occur. In our group, we tackled about the importance of language in both giving praises and negative feedbacks. As teachers, we should be careful our choice of words: teachers should praise the accomplishment of the student and not give some affiliation to the student that could elevate the student’s status from his peers and classmates. There are other ways on giving effective praises/feedbacks such as employing qualitative assessment like written comments, giving indirect feedbacks than public direct feedback.  One more interesting idea shared in the class was the idea about of integrating multidimensional technique in teaching and learning math (also with other subject areas) as this creates an ambiance of equality, open-mindedness, and recognition and acceptance of each and everyone’s accomplishment and failure. Praises are given to students to increase their learning or performance but sometimes they create an atmosphere of injustice and discrimination. I believe that retributive approach to recognition, wherein students are recognized based on merits, is essential. We just have to be careful and watchful on our words and actions (pedagogical sensitivity) because ... as what my favorite high school teacher used to say, "the most difficult things in the world to fix is a heart that's broken because of words that's spoken". 

Max van Manen's Pedagogical Sensitivity and Teachers Practical Knowing-in-Action - Entrance Slip

1. “Why did I feel so stupid when I was supposed to feel smart?”

I remember during my practice teaching stint in the Philippines, one of the requirements was to make at least ten student incentives in form of badges, ribbons, tokens, and even stickers. Those incentives were given to students as a physical proof of recognition for doing a good job on a specific task. However, recognizing student’s good and bad performance must be done in a proper way as it may not serve its genuine purpose. In a classroom, feedbacks to students’ insights or outputs are naturally instantaneous; hence, a teacher, sometimes, has no ample time to think of the most appropriate words and action to use.  An appraisal may accidentally turn as an embarrassing thing for a student. Hence, teachers must be very sensitive on this kind of matter. As emphasized by Manen in his article, “practical understanding on this kind of situations lies in the very heart of teaching – “pedagogical sensitivity” (p. 4). In my opinion, although giving recognition is stronger when done publicly as it boosts self-esteem and confidence, it is better to recognize and communicate a student’s achievement or poor performance to the student and to his or her parents privately. This is the style used by my microbiology instructor in college: during exam results day, she would privately hand back our test papers privately. Most of the time she would inform me that I got the highest score through a whisper. It was one her ways for me "not to feel stupid even when I was supposed to feel smart" and so those who performed unsatisfactorily not to feel so down.... and for me, it was always a story not of humiliation but of gratification.

2. “There are some forty students in this class and you can't walk away from it, or turn your back and take a break. You must get on with what you are doing”

This statement was taken from one of the mini stories of the author. Max says that whenever he enters his classroom, he “purposefully adopts an attitude of tolerant forbearance” towards his students. To have self-control is very vital because in a classroom full of students with varying interests and needs, stress is inevitable which may result to impulsive and careless class bearing. The statement actually displays how huge and scary the responsibility of teaching is. The phrase “you…can’t take a break” suggests that there are lots of things that are instantly happening in a classroom and that these incidents require constant and immediate action. However, I believe that for a teacher to develop the attitude of forbearance and alertness, he or she must “take a break”, have a time for self, and be able to maintain his or her physical and psychological composure.

3. “My practical knowledge “is” my felt sense of the classroom, my feeling who I am as a teacher, my felt understanding of my students…”

Practical knowledge is acquired through experience. This statement fascinates me for it emphasizes that practical knowledge may even resides on the things that surround us. In an ecosystem, for a certain animal species to survive, it must adapt to its environment… its climate and resources. Likewise, in teaching, a teacher must feel confident and safe with his or her environment, which may include the classroom, school facilities and resources, students, and colleagues. The classroom and the school are where one develop practical knowledge and pedagogical sensitivity. The feeling of uneasiness with the learning space or ambiance could adversely affect one's “tact” in teaching. The more confident you are with your environment and the people and resources around it, the more alert, functional, and efficient you are as well. Therefore, it is important for educators to both establish good physical environment and maintain a positive relationship with the students, parents, co-teachers, and the community.

Flipped Classroom: A gift or a threat? - Exit Slip

Similar to everything, flipping a classroom has pros and cons and we should be critical about them. The idea of a flipped classroom is a good educational innovation. This type of learning environment is advantageous especially for the 21st century students as it creates a learner-centered environment which is explorative in nature, students learn at their own pace, and it uses educational technologies which are sensory-stimulating. However, I believe that personal interaction between the teacher-students and students-students is still important as we are all social-emotional beings. We can create lessons wherein we can integrate the use of video tutorials and establish self-paced learning.  In this type of learning setting, the role of a teacher isn't a commandant but a personal guide and facilitator of the learning process. We may think that technology is a threat for the teaching profession as there is an anxiety that computers might replace the teachers very soon. However, we shouldn't think this way but think of the positive side instead. As reflective teachers, we should be open-minded to new discoveries and be willing to experiment on their worth. We should acknowledge technological innovations as tools that we could use to make teaching and learning more interesting and meaningful. As of the moment, I wouldn't vouch on the wide implementation of flipped classrooms as I haven't personally experienced its effectiveness and efficiency. In my own perspective, creating an environment with a mix style of a teacher-facilitated  classroom and a flipped classroom promises a fruitful outcome.

Entrance Slip - Grant and Zeichner's "On Becoming a Reflective Teacher"

“Not all things devaluate as they age, some become treasures”: the article of Grant and Zeichner, On Becoming a Reflective Teacher”, attests to this saying. Although the article was written more than three decades ago, the meanings that it tries to convey are still important and useful for teachers, both professional and prospective teachers. I totally agree on the idea that there is no other way to become the best teacher that you can possibly be aside from being a reflective teacher. Also, the article emphasizes the characteristics of reflective thinking (teaching), which are open-mindedness, responsibility, and wholeheartedness, are still relevant and even more relevant to consider nowadays. As a prospective teacher, it is important to be willing to accept and learn new knowledge and skills or remodel existing beliefs and principles; to accept teaching as a moral obligation and be cognizant of the consequences of our actions; and to be willing to accept all students and embrace their differences or uniqueness. For me, these three features of reflective thinking are very applicable not only in the field of teaching but also in other academic fields. So to say, these are universal ideas that never die through ages. 

Grant and Zeichner suggests that we shouldn’t just accept the reality and follow what has been traditionally done in schools. As would be reflective teachers, it is our responsibility to investigate, for instance, ask why your cooperating teacher used a lecture discussion method for teaching a certain history lesson. We should learn how to ask the “whys” behind every day-to-day undertaking in school. We should know how to distinguish a principle or belief that is pure assumption from those ones that are backed up with evidences. To be able to improve ourselves as practicing teachers, we should be reflective. To look back on what has transpired, being able to acknowledge mistakes, and think of critical and creative ways on how to improve yourself, is a very vital activity for teachers. Everything changes: knowledge, types of students, school’s curricula and policies, space of learning, etc. All these are just few among the multitude of factors that should be taken into account by a reflective teacher in developing and constantly remodeling his or way of teaching, or should I say, his or her philosophy in teaching. Grant and Zeichner suggests that it is as well important not to conform with the school’s “bureaucratic norms”. Sometimes, in order to become critical in your decision-makings and creative in generating strategies, you have to move away from what have been traditionally done and search for newer and better options. However, the article says that teaching process is an interplay of choice and constraints. We all have the freedom but we also have limitations and hence, we should consider the consequences of our actions or choices. We live in a fast-changing world and as would be responsible educators, it is important for us to embrace and cope with these changes. However, we should be also critical in coping with these new ideas or knowledge as not all of them are worth-adopting. Similarly, not all things that have aged are worth-forgetting such as the Grant and Zeichner article on “On becoming a Reflective Teacher”. 

Exit Slip - Frank McCourt

Teacher inquiry for McCourt is a lifelong process. The teaching-learning process involves a symbiotic relationship between the teacher and the students. One key to build this relationship is by knowing more about your students. McCourt did this by listening and taking into consideration his students' wants; for example discoursing about "what makes them (students) hate" a particular topic or task. In the same way, aside from being fluid in terms of classroom management, sharing his unfortunate yet valuable life story creates, in some ways, motivation in the students. The idea of symbiont relationship means that the teacher has to learn the students, their interests, aptitudes even the source of their hatreds and anguish, in order to be able to actually teach them the things they need. Moreover, understanding the source of students  resistance against a topic or task provides the teacher the ideas to consider of choosing the best strategies he or she could use in teaching. Like McCourt, teachers should have a box full of variety of fun strategies to pull out from in case one strategy does not work out.

Entrance Slip - Inquiry Topic Possibilities

1. Does temperature affect the teaching-learning process? Should classrooms be air-conditioned? Should classrooms be warm?
2. Does colored diagrams and pictures in Physics textbooks increase the comprehension of students in terms of understanding concepts and solving word problems?
3. Is time-pressure advantageous to both teaching and learning process?

Question 1 is intriguing. The topographical location of the school must be considered. Is the question specific to Canadian setting only or to other countries as well like Africa which has a very high and humid atmosphere?

Question 2 should be rephrased: Does colored diagrams and pictures in Physics textbooks increase the comprehension of students in terms of understanding concepts and solving COMPLEX word problems?

Question 3 time-pressure has pros and cons. To determine the ideal time-allotment for a certain difficulty of task is challenging. This question could be answered by teachers who have been in the profession for a long time.

After the think-pair-share activity, I think that question 1 is the most interesting among the three. It is  a topic people would think for a second and disregard afterwards. I think this is a very interesting topic to explore on. My second choice is question 2 and question 3 as the least preferred.

Rafaela Borasi's Controversial Statements About (Mathematics) Education (Exit Slip)

Sixth Controversial Statement: “A good teacher should not confuse the students”. I disagree that mathematics is ambiguous. What is ambiguous are not the concepts of mathematics, but rather, the ways in which they are taught and the ways the learners acquire them. Students have different learning styles and level of cognition; therefore, a good teacher should provide multiple teaching strategies to address this issue. It is said that there are “many paths to the top of the mountain”; hence, the teacher should provide students a variety of solutions or problem-solving techniques to solve a math problem (for example) rather than conform to one standard solution. It is also plausible to encourage the students to explore and generate their own ways in solving a problem as long as they do it the right way. In this way, the students would be able to discover their learning strengths and enhance self-evaluation. Giving students multiple tips, ideas, or examples is not intended to introduce confusion but to offer a wide range of options which could aid them grasp the concepts effectively and meaningfully.

I always thought of effective and efficient way of teaching as being able to deliver a lesson in a limited amount of time and basically, being able carry out the objectives of the curriculum in the classroom religiously. However, today’s discussion left me the following worth-noting insights:

• we should let students think and develop learning strategies independently and not always adapt the preferred procedures or solutions provided by the teacher or the curriculum material. In this way, we will be able to stimulate their creative thinking skills.
• Time-constraint in both teaching and learning has a detrimental effect to the teaching-learning process. Time-management is an important part of classroom management but better things are achieved and done in the absence of time pressure.  
• For humans or any well-thinking animal species, learning from mistakes is essential for self-improvement. We learn most from trial and error, discovery learning, and “learning by doing” which involve learning from mistakes. We even can learn from the mistakes of others like our peers as well. 
• The value of formal mathematics or fundamental and theoretical principles behind formulas must be inculcated in the minds of students. This may be impractical at the first thought but understanding them may help minimize the stress of memorizing formulas. (the iceberg and remote control analogy were good examples)
• The importance of history and philosophy as being the backbone of knowledge must be acknowledged in teaching as well. The fact that the genesis of mathematics can be attributed to ancient Babylonians and Egyptians could make us appreciate the efforts of the ancient civilizations, of our ancestors (perhaps). Values formation and appreciation should be incorporated into teaching and thus, teachers shouldn’t emphasize the cognitive and psychomotor (skills) learning domains only. 

The discussion left me wondering, what is the true measurement or criteria of efficiency and effectiveness in teaching and learning? Is it good to say that your teaching is efficient if the students were able to solve math problems with the use of conventional procedure in short-given time? Or is it better if they’re given the freedom to explore on other possible solutions which they feel more comfortable of using though it requires an ample amount of time? 

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