Creative Ending

    As the course winds down to an end, I have lots to discuss and even more to think about as I move forward onto my future endeavors.  This course has developed my perspective on classrooms, teaching and the entire education system as a whole.  The newest topic brought to my knowledge is the idea of "Genius Hour".  Working off the idea of flipped classrooms, which we previously discussed as the students being in control of the learning and the teacher being there as a guide to help answer questions or direct the students in the right path, I was able to fully engage myself in my preparation for Genius Hour.

    Genius hour to me is almost as if I am in an informal education system where I chose my own concepts to learn and discover my own findings.  It is as if I am a part of an alternative education system, where I am all aspects of the learner and instructor.  Looking back on my educational past, however, nothing I have experienced supports the idea that alternative schooling is beneficial to my future.  All my learning has come, solely, from teacher instructing the student.  Education has always been standardized to me, with tests, assignments and little room for exploration.  The following video gives a good description of how genius hour is created:

   For my genius hour, I decided to instruct the class about the field of Mathematical Biology and how the two concepts can be combined into one field of study.   In particular, I showed the students how to I intend to explore Tumors in the human body for cancer research and how mathematics can play an important role in the simulation and presentation of biological systems.  Genius Hour let me show my interest to others as well as allow me to further my own understanding on the topic as it gives me time to explore more on the topic.  Bio-Math is an exciting topic for me due to my strong interest in Mathematics as well as my curiosity to explore the human body and find new discoveries.  Below is another short video that exemplifies just one small advancement in Bio-Math.

   However, Genius Hour was more to me than just a time for me to explore personal interests.  Genius Hour brought to my attention new concepts of teaching and a means of motivating students in my future classrooms.  If schools allow students the freedom to explore properties of subjects with their own interests, they might begin to find further connections between them that they might not have been aware of before.  Throughout my studies I have encountered many situations where students can not find the connection of mathematics, or many other subjects, with jobs or topics they'd work with in the future.  I think Genius Hour allows students to find these connections and hopefully encourage them to want to pursue their education and further their understanding as a beneficial member of society.

   I hope to be able to transfer my knowledge of mathematics across many disciplines to be able to help students find interests in mathematics based on their other life interests.  I think all educators should be able to make connections between other disciplines and I encourage them to do so as a way of bring back the motivation to learn in students.  It is time students attitudes about school are changed from being 'forced' to learn to 'wanting' to learn.  Genius Hour opened my opinions up to this new way of educating, as well as the combination of learning interdisciplinary education.  This education course has become more insightful to me than I expected and I am very happy to have taken part in this course.

  On to the next chapter in my life.
  Cheers,


  MG








   

The Possibilities Are Endless!

   It is my 4th year at Brock University in a Con-Current Education stream majoring in Mathematics for Intermediate/Senior teaching.  Through out my journey I have learned more concepts than I could have ever thought imaginable.  I can derive mathematical equations to find rates of change on specific tasks, such as throwing a ball.  I can create matrix equations to find solutions to multiple equations at a time.  I can even create computer based dynamical systems to model any situation in the universe.  However, one question continues to pick away at my brain and that is, "Can I teach?"  

   There are thousands of concerns and more questions that arise from that simple idea of can I actually teach someone else new concepts.  What if they don't understand it the way I teach it?  What if they aren't engaged or just don't care about my teaching?  I could go on about the concerns I have when it comes to teaching.

   For the first time in university, I have actually begun the process of creating my own version of a curriculum and a way to teach it to students.  The test is finally out there of whether or not my knowledge can be passed down to learning students.  Whether or not I am capable of inspiring them to want to learn further as I have chosen to.  This group project has opened my eyes to the capabilities we as future teachers have.  The idea of combining subjects together to find similarities and bridge the gap between them so students can explore the many relationships our world has within itself or teaching through exploration and allowing students to find discoveries.  Even the background knowledge required to be able to create a lesson that is both informative and interesting for students.  All of these ideas are being discussed in my group and they are all new and beneficial ways students can learn.

   I think my worry of, "Can I teach," is an extreme thought and I should take a step back and re-evaluate myself.  I have the knowledge, the passion, the creativity and inspiration to be a great teacher.  Nothing is holding myself back and this blended curriculum project is allowing me to see that the possibilities are endless.  Teaching is a tough job, but it does not have to be.  If I allow myself the freedom to be the great teacher I know I can be, then I am sure success is just a step away.  I need to take the extra steps towards the unknown.  Failure is just a word, but the lessons that come from it are invaluable.  I leave my post this week with an inspiring metaphor.

"By striving to do the impossible, man has always achieved what is possible. Those who have cautiously done no more than they believed possible have never taken a single step forward."

Mikhail Bakunin

MG

The Process Vs. The Product

   As a Mathematics major my entire education career has always comprised of achieving the correct answer and striving for the 100% on each of my tests, quizzes and assignments.  As I have proceeded through an education degree in hopes to become an educator myself, this style of assessment seems to no longer connect with the majority of students.  Students en route to being educators have opened my eyes to the dramatic arts, for example, and the ways they assess students.  Tests and quizzes are virtually nonexistent in their classrooms.  At first this confused me as I was never educated this way.  However, it has opened my eyes to the whole idea of learning and assessment of learning.  In the book Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment, assessment of learning (Aol) is described as the evaluation in a classroom (Drake, 16).  This does not directly apply to a numerical grade, although, it instead connects to the process of learning and the students personal development.  This resonated with me and has driven me to explore new ways to evaluate in a mathematics classroom, my subject of interest.  I began thinking of things such as engaging students in an analytic evaluation of a concept rather than a numerical evaluation of a question.  It dawned on me that the process of learning through exploration, examination of a concept was much more valuable to a student's development than attaining the correct numerical value.  As a future teacher I hope to fully grasp the difference between the Process Vs. the Product of learning and potentially even evaluate my students on this basis.  

I leave this week with a challenge to all future/current educators to guide students through the process of learning and assess them off this basis; off their progression.

Cheers,

MG

Out with the Old, In with the New!

   Another year of school kicks off this September 2014, but it seems different than the rest.  Since I first started my education path, there has been much change in all aspects of the classroom and school dynamics.  I tend to think back of my high school days, learning under some of the toughest teachers who believed in the idea that, "If you can manage to get by my tests and curriculum, then we will discuss an appropriate grade after."  My math teachers always believed in black and white knowledge and teaching the content as it stands.  For many of us in school today, we still agree with this because that is how we were taught originally.

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   Society has changed and so has education streams.  Technology has begun to over power our world, so why not incorporate it into our classrooms?  As a future teacher it is hard not to seek out new ways to educate and motivate students to learn.  The "old" method just won't cut it anymore.  It is time to blend in the alternative and explore the creative.  This 2014 school year excites me to the new possibilities and strategies we as future teachers will discover.  As discussed in our class, we need to dissect the old methods, to create the new method!

Here's to another year of ditching the 'old' and creating the 'new'!

MG