Something that Tyler said today in our discussion that really stuck out to me. We were talking about interdisciplinary subjects with math & sustainability and how in integrating the two we were really bringing and leaning into emotion in our classrooms. At first, many of us were unsure at what grade level it would be suitable to introduce this - some felt that at younger ages the ability to “feel large numbers” wasn’t possible, but Tyler disagreed. He talked about how we need to change the numbers to something they know, something they can feel, something they can relate to. For example, when talking about 50 tonnes, think about how many of our classmates that would be equivalent to, or how many pairs of shoes that would be. I am so glad he brought this point up because I think it is so important that we don’t not address certain topics just because our students “are too young”. I think we would be surprised at how critically 13 year olds can think, if they are given the opportunity.
The other thing I wanted to briefly mention was our talk about spirituality and religion. The thing we didn’t mention when discussing this is was how traumatic this topic could be for some students. In the past, religion has been a source of trauma for some students and their parents. Additionally, within each religion there is a spectrum of different beliefs, making it so difficult for us to generalize. I think for me, how I would address this is by stating where I come from and recognizing that this is one perspective and one way of knowing. Part of what is so great about being in the classroom is having such a diverse room of voices, backgrounds, perspectives, all of which can contribute to furthering our education. Students are able to take what i teach, what their classmates teach/share and translate it to what makes sense for them.
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