Erika's Math Blog

Here is the lesson plan for Leah and I's group micro teaching! Class: Foundations and Pre-calc 10 Topic: Difference of Squares Erika Thompson and Leah Genge Subject: Foundations of Math 10: Difference of Squares Class: EDCP 342A Date: November 2, 2017 Duration: 15 min Class Profile Half the class (~10 students) Objectives This lesson will introduce the concept of factoring a difference of squares, equations of the form x^2 - y^2. Teachers will explain why equations of that form can always be factored into (x + y)(x-y), and students will have some time to practice factoring equations of that form. Curriculum Components 4.2: Relate the multiplication of two binomial expressions to an area model 5.2: Factor a polynomial that is a difference of squares, and explain why it is a special case of trinomial factoring where b =0 5.6: Explain, using examples, the relationship between multiplication and factoring of polynomials. 5.8: Express a polynom...

Thinking about math in connection with social justice issues is interesting, and not something I've done very much in the past. I feel very passionate about social justice issues, but I've always felt that these issues can more seamlessly be worked into an English classroom then a math classroom. In fact, that's one of the reasons I want to teach English - to have the chance to explore and interrogate important issues with the young people who will shape the future. This article really made me think about how social justice issues could have a place in the math classroom as well. I was particularly struck by the stated goal of "helping people to have the cognitive skill to protect themselves from deception." However, I felt some of the social justice math projects described seemed a little trivial in places. It seems like a difficult task to design a project that really gets at the heart of a social justice issue, but also addresses the math curriculum, especial...

 Thanks to Peter, Jing, Niloo and Brianna for their feedback on my microteaching! If I were to do this activity again either I would need more time, or I would need to make adjustments. To make it shorter to fit in the 10 minutes I could take out the background information on origami, or start with paper that already had the first four basic folds done. I think people really enjoyed the origami though, and it is a fun skill to learn, so overall I was quite happy with my microteaching. I just need to work on being better at estimating how long things take!

Here is the lesson plan for my micro-teaching on making an origami tulip! Subject: Origami Tulip Class: EDCP 342A Date: October 18, 2017 Duration: 10 min Class Profile Table of 6 students Objectives The objective of this lesson is to teach students how to create their own origami tulip from a square piece of paper. If there is extra time, students will also have the opportunity to make a stem for their tulip. Materials & Equipment Needed Origami paper - 2 pieces for every student (one for the tulip, and one for either a stem or an extra piece if they want to start again. Lesson Stages Learning Activities Time 1 Hook & Introduction The teacher will present show the students an example of the flower the students will be folding, and go over a bit of information about the history of origami: Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding, coming from the Japanese word “Ori” (folding) and “Kami” (paper). There are lots of differ...

The biggest 'stop' I had while reading this chapter, was a realization of just how many of the conservative views of mathematics I experienced in my own schooling, and how I myself still subconsciously hold some of these views. The article encouraged me to interrogate my own views on things like the role of testing in mathematics education. I thought the table near the beginning of the article did an incredible job of elucidating the differences between a conservative and progressive view of teaching mathematics. The contrasts between eliciting/presenting and the different loci of mathematical knowing really helped me grasp this distinction. A second 'stop' I had while reading this article was a realization the many different ways that the legacy of how math used to be taught influences how math is taught today. The article discussed math phobia that is passed through generations, as well as math conservatism transmitted through teachers who excelled at math taught in...

As I was reading Eisner's article about the three curricula that all schools teach, the first thing that struck me was the significance of the Implicit Curriculum. Specifically the line: "After all, the westward movement is studied for only a few weeks in the fall of the fifth grade, but the impact of school structure does not cease until one leaves graduate school" (95). It seems crucial to think about how the places we teach in and the way we structure our teaching might affect students learning as much as the content and skills we are teaching. This implicit curriculum is often somewhat unintentional in schools. It's easy to accept the structure of the classroom and the school as something that has always existed, without interrogating what effect it is having on our students and our curriculum. However, it seems that if attention is paid to these implicit structures, they could become a useful tool. If we are explicit about what are school systems structure is tea...

These are my results from the TPI survey. When I took the survey I was thinking mostly about how I would teach a math class, rather than an English class (my other teachable subject).  The first thing I notice is that the difference between my five perspectives is pretty small. This seems very accurate to me - I believe that different students in different situations need different teachers. A successful teacher should be able to adapt their teaching to match their students needs. So therefore, it makes sense to me that all five of the perspectives would be fairly equally represented.  The most recessive perspectives for me were Transmission and Apprenticeship. This seems to align with how I see myself as a teacher. I think that the ideas and aspects of teaching associated with transmission and apprenticeship are important in teaching, but not the necessarily thing to focus on. Rather, they are the necessary baseline from which you can build a teaching practice. To...