Entry Slip: 3 Quotes from Max van Manen's Article

Quote 1:


"If teaching is indeed caring profession then the caring involves helping, encouraging, admonishing, praising, prodding, and worrying about individual students and classes."


I think caring for students plays a huge role in students - not only in their learning, but also in how they socialize and interact with other students and teachers. As I can recall, even now as a BEd student, it really motivates me to learn something new because my teacher really cares about me and how I can possibly achieve greater things in life. If I see a teacher is trying to really get to know us, the students, and not just being a bossy teacher (a "robot") who just constantly dictate us on what to do all the time, it really motivates me, in turn, to get to know the teacher and the subject (content/materials) she or he is teaching. The "human" aspect of teaching is very important here. As long as students know that teachers are always there for them, to help and to encourage (even with a bit of constructive criticism), students do experience "positive experiences".


Quote 2:


"Recognition is inextricably intertwined with selfhood and personal identity. And self-identity is the realization of the tension between being of self and the becoming of self, between who we are and who and what we might become."


I recently read a book called "The True Diary of A Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie. It is about a young Native American adolescent from the Spokane Reservation. The struggles this young boy goes through, especially in an educational institution (such as his school), is just as troublesome and complicated as things that are happening in his home (and his social life). The young boy has big dreams - of making it big, whether it is in his personal life or in his academic/social life. Because he knew that attending a school on the Reservation is not going to get him anywhere, and his Reservation teacher knew that too, so his teacher told him to aim for his dream by leaving this school. It's a big step and a big commitment to leave this place and go somewhere different, foreign, new. However, the book ends with him "making it big" at his new school where he actually mattered to everyone - his classmates and his teachers. He made it big while being on the school's basketball team; he made it big and excelled in class by doing the things he likes. He was given the opportunity to be himself, to not be afraid to speak his mind. The message of "self identity" and "becoming of self" is so important here.


Quote 3:

"What distinguishes practice from theory is not that practice applies thought or concepts technically to some real thing in the world upon which it acts. Rather, the phenomenology of practice involves a different way of knowing the world. [...] Theory "thinks" the world, practice "grasps" the world."


This quote speaks volume! I am a strong believer in applying theories and what we learned into real life. Although not every student understands theory to their best abilities, some may struggle with theories - like me (it takes me longer to understand theory, but less time to apply the theories) - while others capture theories quickly. I think it is a good idea for students to understand theories behind certain concepts as they can apply the theory to many applicable areas. Theories are fundamental basis for many things that we study in life. Incorporating that into the class and be able to transition between theory and practice is important in the classroom. This engages students with critical thinking and learning skills, the teachers can gain new perspectives on how students think and reason, and parents may be surprised by their child's ability to comprehend advanced things - this maturation in their cognitive development may increase.

Exit slip: Jo Boaler, Beautiful Maths

The video by Jo Boaler is really interesting! She touches on a lot of points on methods to educate students. She proved this by examining and experimenting one-dimensional math vs. the multi-dimensional math. From my experience as a high school student, I think it was a mix of one- and multi-dimensional learning from my teachers. I think as our society is changing and growing rapidly, especially in education field, teachers are trying to find ways to engage with students and have students engage with the subject being taught. I do like the collaboration and debate on subject areas, even now at university, it helps me (and maybe others) to get my brain moving. It's this type of maturation in our critical thinking that helps us with our understanding.

Boaler has also touched on the concept of a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. I completely agree with this thinking. Actually, even now during my undergraduate studies, there are hard math courses that are particularly challenging to me, but for others, it's a piece of cake! I can see by their way of reasoning on questions and their way of grasping a concept so quickly, whereas it would take me a while to finally understand them. Maybe it's because of this sense of "hidden competition" in understanding concepts and finishing our assignments that makes me think I'm just not cut out for this course. I had a fixed mindset back then, and it is not a good thing. It really limited me in being involved with the homework questions (as I would often times delay doing questions or studying for the course), and it made me fear the course even more, knowing that others are way ahead of me.

However, over time, I developed a growth mindset, as discussed by Boaler. With a growth mindset, I would know that I may not be alone in having trouble understanding certain areas, and that it is better to seek help early than later. I had also worked in groups to study for tests or working on assignments together (we would discuss openly about various units). Sometimes, I may think that I really understood things in the course, but upon debating with others, I realized that there was a whole new spectrum of things that I did not know or may not have covered during my studying time! This kind of method of learning really helped me, as well as my group, to gain a better insight on the course.

Entry Slip: On Becoming a Reflective Teacher

1.

"On Becoming a Reflective Teacher" is certainly an interesting article that feels more personal than as if I'm reading from a textbook that is filled with facts. The article speaks to me because I feel that teaching is a profession that may be changing in the ways teachers teach over time. Although the fundamental goal of teaching remains fixed: to educate students and to provide support in their learning, but the ways to achieve this goal can vary from teacher to teacher, and in different academic settings. In fact, just by looking at our debate on relational vs. instrumental ways of learning among students, I can clearly see how teacher candidates like us are distinguished. As Grant and Zeichner first stated in the article, "teachers differ substantially according to their goals and priorities [...] that they employ." (103)

An insight that made me question myself as a teacher candidate is being mindful of the "teaching procedures and strategies" (106). It does seem easy to do, as teachers should be open-minded of students' learning, and it helps the teacher to be engaged with and care for his or her students. However, I'm just unsure when and how, if such opportunity rise, should I - a teacher candidate - should address issues that may be hidden from the "standard" or the teaching "tradition". Perhaps I don't have enough experience as a teacher in a classroom setting, and I can't say if it is ideal to question the standard way of teaching in the curriculum... Of course, one way of being open-minded is to be flexible and adapt to student learning styles.

As seen in the example in the article, I can't say if boys are registering in more science/math/technology classes than girls now since all genders are assigned the same class, so they are receiving equal amount of knowledge in those subject areas. In fact, we are now pushing more young people towards these field of study with the growing resources to fulfill our curiosity!

2.

The article's concept on being a reflective teacher has definitely made me open my eyes on ways to improve myself and what I do passionately. The fact that we are all in this teaching program together, a professional development program, makes us reflect on ourselves, our experiences, and our attitudes towards professionalism. As I was reading through this article, my mind was constantly thinking back of my examples when I was a student teacher and a tutor, and in what ways I could have done better or improved. For example, when I was volunteering as a teacher's assistant years back, I had always stuck to responsibilities and did things that were told by my homeroom teacher. I had also assumed that every student is paying attention and being engaged in the lessons. However, I should have been more open-minded to everyone in the class, and not just making assumptions. I needed to take active control as a student teacher by putting my mind and heart out there. As Grant and Zeichner points out, the reflective teacher is "dedicated and committed to teaching all students, not just certain students." (107)

Exit Slip 1 - Sept 17

Today in my EDUC450B workshop, we watched two videos on Frank McCourt. Both interview videos are really inspirational and provided a lot on teaching strategies. One of the most important take away from his interview is that we must "teach the students, not the subject". I cannot agree more on that. In his interview, he said that he taught at vocational schools, and one subject he taught was E.S.L. Of course, learning a new language is difficult, especially for adolescents. And the fact that teachers should accommodate student's learning is a great way to motivate and engage them. McCourt also explains the importance of getting to know the students better and knowing where they are coming from. Drawing from my personal experience, I immigrated to Canada from China when I was 9 years old. I was immediately put into E.S.L. class (not Language Arts or English class) until I was in Gr.9. When learning to read English, I remember writing down ways that I find was suitable for me to learn to read. To facilitate this, I would write "Pinyin" on top of the words that are difficult to read - for my own benefit, but my E.S.L. teacher suggested that I read using the dictionary (pronunciation) method with symbols I don't recognize, which was complicated. For this problem, I personally think that it would be better if my teacher appreciate my own learning method than doing something else that I don't find comfortable with learning.

In addition, as an immigrant myself, like McCourt, I can imagine the possible difficulties of teaching at Canadian or American classrooms. So there is still a lot for me to learn about the Canadian classroom cultures (even though I have attended Canadian institutions for many years). There are so much more to learn and explore when I do actually teach at a school, whether it is public, private or international!

Introduction

Hello everyone, this is my first blog for EDUC450B class at UBC.