Hey everyone, welcome back to the blog! A few days ago, we had our third class for EDBE 8F83. During that class we discussed the curriculum expectations for Geometry and Measurement for grades 7-12 and how they change and span the grades, reviewed the grade 7 and 8 curriculum and briefly touched upon lesson planning. In this post, I will reflect upon this lesson by using different prompts and supplementing with images and resources.
What struck you during the session?
During the session, I was struck by how the grade 7 and 8 curriculum has a section advising educators on how to set up their courses by giving long-range plans. These long-range plans can be sorted by questions (different guiding prompts that correlate with other topics in the grade 7 or 8 curriculum) or by topics (ideas and concepts that correlate with the curriculum). I have attached photos of a small section of both for your viewing and a link to where you can find these documents! I prefer the long-range plan arranged by topic; I find that is more specific as the target dates are smaller than by question and that it is more logical to organize your planning by particular topics instead of general ideas. I was also shocked to see that the majority of my class agreed. I thought that it would be more of an even split but everyone seemed to be on the same page preferring it being organized by topics. I think that there are pros and cons to both and that it may be beneficial to look at both when constructing your planning, but that comes down to the discretion of the educator and what they think is best!
What were the dominant emotions evoked? (affect)?
I think the most dominant emotion that was evoked in me was confidence. I have always been very against the idea of teaching grades 7 and 8 as it is not something that I feel comfortable doing and I do not think that I would enjoy it as much as teaching high school. I also think the amount of content that you have to cover for all subjects is overwhelming to me. However, by viewing the long-range plans I mentioned prior, I felt a little more confident with the idea of teaching these grades. Alsol, I was feeling quite fearful about my partner presentation, but by observing the two groups, it seems to be not as scary as I was anticipating and am hoping that will go great! Finally, I felt reassured in my understanding of concepts when discussing learning goals and success criteria which boosted my confidence as well!
What for you were the main points (cognition)?
The following three points summarize what was discussed in our lesson:
As you cross the curriculum for a specific strand in the Big Ideas section, the skills progress but the general idea stays constant. My group and I analyzed Geometry and Measurement from grades 7-12 to view this trend. I have attached our work for your viewing!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h-jpvoKs4vhtRCLDhPiJ-TvjgSWm0wfmIU266k-Mjo4/edit?usp=sharing
As explained earlier, the math curriculum for grades 7 and 8 provides a long-term plan for teachers that is beneficial for planning how you will cover the curriculum in your classroom.
Learning Goals and Success Criterias are given to students to show what they are learning and how they will be successful. An effective learning goal is manageable, meaningful and identifies key knowledge and skills and an effective success criteria describes how this learning will occur.
What actions might you want to pursue further? (Awareness)
When reflecting on what I accomplished in this class, I have one key takeaway that I would like to pursue further; in my future, I will look at the Big Ideas for grades 7-12 for all strands of math and see how they progress throughout. I found the progression of knowledge and skills quite fascinating and I think that not only is it interesting to me, I think that it is beneficial as a future educator to know and understand where my student’s knowledge came from and how they are going to progress.
That's all from me today! I hope you enjoyed reading my post and I hope you will be here for the next one!
Maya
Excellent post! You had lots of ah ha's and captured your thinking quiet nicely! Do we see grade 7&8 in your future? Maybe try emergency supplying this May when you are all done and see how it feels.
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