Dec 17: Course Reflection

 The course was interesting in the sense that it was nothing that I thought it would be. What this course taught me was that math and physics are indeed all around us and it is up to the teachers to bring that out to the students. The shape of the leaves and the building are so obviously there but we often just overlook the mathematic attributes it has and never bothers to question or see the nature of it. It got me to look into all the small things in life that build up to be bigger than anyone would have imagined. 

What I liked about the course was how much time we spent outside earlier in the school year. We have talked about land-based learning and how to connect our subjects to indigenous people and their way of learning, but we were never told and shown what it might look like and were just left to be. I think this course really help me grasp the idea of learning from the land and the nature and how we could implement into my teaching. 

Sept 16th Entrance Slip (Catch Up)

"On Becoming A Reflective Teacher" reflection after going through the course.

Perhaps I already read this and forgot to do the entrance slip earlier in the year, but I would imagine what I have thought about as I was reading it this time would be different from how I might have felt a few months ago. It was interesting because at this point I have thought and reflected on what kind of teacher I want to be, especially through the "Teaching Philosophy" assignment I had to do for EPSE 308. 

I believe personal development is like a stream of water. A stream starts by going in one direction and will change course over time depending on the geographical feature of the path. The steam that gets stuck in a ditch will only be tainted as time passes while steam that is constantly moving will become something more.

I believe, we all have the idea as to what kind of person and teacher we want to be, but that may change as we learn more about the profession and actually practice it, so I think it is okay to drift from who or what we initially wanted to be. I do not think we have to force ourselves to be something that I once believe in just for sake of staying "true" to what we once were.

Although we may naturally change or get deformed as the time comes, I think it is also important to reflect to determine if the path we decided to take is in fact right or the best course of action and to determine if there is any better path forward. Because the last thing you want to be is this stubborn old teacher that does not care for those around you. 

Dec 9th: Presentation and Reflection

Title: Implementing Two-Stage Assessment into High-School Reflection: This topic has been on my mind for a while eversince I encountered this style of examination at UBC Physics department and when I decided to become an educator. The project gave me time to (forcefully) learn and talk about a topic I was interested in which I am grateful because I would have never researched this topic as deep as I did if I was left alone to study it on my own time. I was little dissapointed in the conclusion that I cam to, which was that Two-Stage Assessment does not have clear benefit in implementing it into a class. Although it seems to benefit middle-performing students clearly, it was not clear it was beneficial to the class as a whole. I thought this method of testing might be a gool method to turning tests as a great learning opportunity. I think this is still worth my time to investigate, because I have seen and experienced the benefit of this style of examination personally.

Exit Slip: Dec 2nd

Today's class on bell ringing gave me an interesting perspective on sound and music.

As a woodwind player, I only thought about playing notes in order that sounded good to me or made sense. I also only thought about sounds in terms of wave that is being bounced back through my clarinet and exiting at specific holes. 

Combining combinatorics and bells gave me an interesting insight into making music in ways that I never thought about. In a sense, this is a more creative way of making music compared to playing a particular combination of chords to make music.