Sarah's Adventures in Inquiry

To think of numbers as something that makes you feel, is a seemingly wild concept. This is one of the things that made me stop while reading Moshe Renert's article: "humans' inability to feel large numbers". This passage really resonated with me because I never felt of numbers having a feeling attached to them. I think this additionally ties in with what Jo Boaler & the Stephen Wolfram were trying to argue in their talks. In particular, their emphasis on that 75% of mathematics should be in real-world (25% in computation), whereas we often put more of an emphasis on the computation portion of mathematics. In this way, it makes more sense to me why  Renert's statement of feeling numbers felt like a weird concept.  Another thing that made me stop was honestly the title of the article, "Sustainable Mathematics Education". In reading the title, I had no idea what to expect from the article. Of course, I knew that mathematics and statistics play a vital i...

"Respect, Balance, Kindness". These are three of the values Robin Wall Kimmerer shared during the "Reconciling Ways of Knowing" seminar. In particular I feel that these values beautifully represent what it means to be an educator. I have a page in my notes full of quotes from Dr Kimmerer and approaches to life that I find align with who I want to be as an educator very closely. She definitely has sparked a curiosity in me which led to me googling the following prompts after the seminar, along with purchasing two of her books.  My Google Search Engine History After Class:  "Indigenous approaches to technology"  My second teachable is computer science - the world filled of human-made creations (it's) - how do I approach indigenizing a tech-focused classroom"   "Indigenous perspectives on skin care, makeup and clothing"  I have a passion for skin care, make-up and clothing, and I find it as a way to express myself. I wanted to see how I cou...

Scientific and Mathematical Language I will be honest, I do not like scientific and mathematical language. My philosophy has always been a focus on communication. If one is able to communicate ideas effectively, the words and terminology they use are less of a concern to me. I think that the purpose of scientific language is to aide in that communication, and if it is not beneficial to the communication of the idea, it is not serving its purpose.  Indigenizing the Classroom Reading this article only solidified my feelings towards indigenous teaching. Through the organization I work for, UBC Geering Up, we work with indigenous communities to combine STEM and indigenous ways of thinking and educating. We focus on how to incorporate STEM lessons within their own framework, rather than have them change their way of learning, thinking, and knowing. This is the approach I want to take to indigenize my classroom. I do not think "indigenizing" my classroom involves me telling their l...

Wow. Can I just start this blog entry with a huge round of applause for Jo Boaler who communicated so effectively all of the reasons why I am so passionate about becoming a math educator.  One of the things that really stood out to me when listening to her talk was her points about encouraging and praising a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset. The reason this stood out to me is because I am a direct product of the fixed mindset praise. She mainly focused on how saying “you’re so smart” affects the way students learn and engage in education, however, I additionally wanted to touch on the emotional stress that this sort of praise can have on a student. I remember since I was 10 and all through high school, I felt a pressure to perform because I had been labeled as smart since I was young and now that was who I was. That was my identity, and with that was a fear of making mistakes. I cannot wait to get to the classroom and celebrate students specific successes with a focus on g...

ME on Becoming A Reflective Teacher I think this article is able to be relevant across decades because the matter it discusses is not solely about the kind of educator student teachers want to be, but also the kind of people we want to be. When reading this article, I often found myself trading out the word "teacher" for "person". The characteristics that Grant & Zeichner outline for being a reflective teacher are intertwined with characteristics for being a member of a society.  Oh the irrelevance...  T he parts of the article which I highlighted in being more irrelevant/outdated were the paragraphs discussing the teacher education program. When discussing the program, Grant & Zeichner put an emphasis on the pressures student teachers would receive from professors to be a certain way, and hold specific views. They outlined "power relationships", and that our university professors will "emphasize, deemphasize and ignore difficult points of vie...

Humanizing a human, what a strange concept, but one of the major ones I took away from today's assigned videos.  Through the first passthrough of these interviews, I'll be honest I thought I had all the answers. Frank McCourt handing us the answer to being a perfect educator on our second day of teaching school, wow. However, after discussing with my peers, and having my second coffee of the day, I realized I am left with more questions than answers.  Should I have students call me by my first name instead of "Ms. Reny"? Frank breaks society's constructs, I should too!!! How do we build bridges and relationships with students, yet still be able to maintain authority when it is required? "Hey students I've stole, and lied, and cheat, but I need you to not cheat on your tests!" How will I have enough time to incorporate thought provoking lessons in the classroom, while still delivering the required curriculum so that my students don't "fail...

 Hey Y'all!  This is my very first post on the blog so I thought I would interview myself so that you all could learn a bit more about ME! Two truths and a lie...can you guess which is the lie?  I lived in Hong Kong for 4 years! I absolutely love flying.  I hate seafood.  What is one of your passions you are excited to bring into the classroom?       I love love love clothing... One of my favourite things is expression through what I wear. I can't wait to have the most aesthetic classroom in the school! Catch me as the teacher that matches my scrunchy, to my mask, to the shoes I'm wearing! As you can see.. I love pink.  What do you like to do in your spare time?      When I am not working, or doing school things, I love to spend time with my family! My dad and I do all sorts of physical activity together from biking to running to swimming. Check out below a picture of my fun dad and I after the UBC triathlon!