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Semester 2 - Blog 4

 Hey everyone, welcome back to the blog! Today, we had our eighteenth class for EDBE 8F83. In this post, I will reflect upon this lesson by using different prompts and supplementing them with images and resources. 


What struck you during this session?

Something that struck me during this session was how impactful a gallery walk can be as a viewer. When we were completing the problem, we were in a fixed mindset that the long sides of the rectangular prism would always be equal. This was because in a 1x84 cube, they would be the same. Our solution was incorrect, but walking around the room allowed me to see how we went wrong and how I should have approached it. I think it was very beneficial to partake in this when my solution was incorrect. It allowed me to consider different mindsets, critically think about my work and reflect on what I can do differently next time. 



What were the dominant emotions evoked (affect)?

One emotion that was evoked this week was reflection. I found a lot of similarities between my life and this lecture. I had the following realizations:

  • In our discussion, the strategies we presented about Proving and Justifying were how I tackled my problems growing up. I always understood something better if I taught my peers how to do it, which is a strategy we discussed. 

  • The typical US lesson is something I experienced as a student growing up in elementary school and the typical Japanese lesson is something I experienced as a student in my Grade 12 Advanced Functions classroom. 

  • The three-part lesson plan is prevalent in all of my courses. However, I found that looking through a math lens allowed me to understand it better than I have before.

  • We often used Gallery Walks in high school classrooms when we attempted things in smaller groups to get insight from our peers. This sometimes turned into a Math Congress.


What for you were the main points (cognition)?

The following three points summarize what was discussed in our lesson:

  1. There are different actions that learners can do. They can talk, write, move, listen, imagine and read. We need to focus on what they can do and how we can implement those into our lessons as teachers.

  2. The three-part lesson plan consists of a Minds On (getting students ready to learn), Action (working on the assigned task and developing their mathematical thinking) and Consolidation (sharing of the solutions using strategies such as a math congress or gallery walk). 

  3. The Japanese Bansho strategy is derived from the Japanese word that means blackboard. Everything is recorded on a blackboard or any flat surface and students' solutions are displayed. This can be easily implemented in the three-part lesson plan. 



What actions might you want to pursue further (awareness)?

One action that I might want to pursue further is looking into other countries’ and cultures' problem-solving strategies. I found the Japanese Bansho strategy very useful and in fact, is something that I use every time I am in this class. Every week, we solve solutions on the whiteboards and share our strategies with the class, which is the same method as the Japanese Bansho method. In high school, we used iPads that were connected to the projector. This is an example of a different flat surface where students can share their work. I wonder if there are any other strategies used in different countries that I either currently use or can implement in my classroom. I have provided some articles where I can investigate this further!

https://www.emc.school/bulletin-board/how-different-countries-approach-math-education

https://www.kidsinthehouse.com/blogs/kidsinthehouse2/how-math-is-taught-around-the-world-key-differences

https://thirdspacelearning.com/us/blog/asian-style-math-uk-schools-adopting-mastery-approach/


That's all from me today! I hope you enjoyed reading my post and I hope you will be here for the next one!


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