Sarah's Adventures in Inquiry

Annotated Bibliography Shelley Hymel ,  Angela Low ,  Lindsay Starosta ,  Randip Gill , and  Kimberly Schonert-Reichl . Promoting Mental      Well-Being Through Social-Emotional Learning in Schools: Examples from British Columbia.  Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health .  36 (4): 97-107.  https://doi.org/10.7870/cjcmh-2017-029 How social emotional learning is incorporated in BC's curriculum through the core competencies.  Williamson, A. A., Modecki, K. L., & Guerra, N. G. (2015).  SEL programs in high school.  In J. A. Durlak, C. E. Domitrovich, R. P. Weissberg, & T. P. Gullotta (Eds.),  Handbook of social and emotional learning: Research and practice  (p. 181–196). The Guilford Press. Specific examples from classrooms in the United States about what SEL strategies work in secondary classrooms, and which were attempted, but did not work.  CDC Child Development Overview:  https://www.cdc.go...

November 19th | Exit Thoughts First things first, mask adventures. Immediately after class today I decided to go on a hunt for the perfect covid Christmas mask and one may say I was successful.  Secondly, inquiry fun! After a couple hours of scholarly article hunting and a very helpful chat with Susan I think I finally narrowed down the scope of my inquiry project. I am inquiring about the ways in which secondary math educators reflect social and emotional learning strategies in their curriculum.  I have lots of ideas to connect to the world of teaching & learning in the next couple weeks. In addition to connecting with teachers at my local high school, and my practicum school, I aim to connect with the education world in the following ways:  1) UBC Geering Up : This is the STEM outreach organization that I work for that aims to bring STEM to students K-12 across BC through workshops, camps, clubs, and more. We have spent over 20 years delivering STEM through han...

It all comes back to empathy...  Empathy is this interesting thing that I have found to be a common thread in many of our class discussions.  In yesterday's discussion regarding creativity in science, we talked a lot about how the world we live in is a very "us" vs. "them" mentality. In particular, Tyler brought forth some really interesting observations about "flat-earthers". We spent much of our conversation trying to uncover why people believe what they believe. We have seen a lot of this right now in the US election with democrats and republicans. Many of us do not understand how good, well-educated, people, can support the current US administration.  I think what is important to highlight here, is that it wasn't what people believe that matters. Regardless of our stance on a given topic, the more we attack, label, look down upon, and disregard those who don't support what we support, the more we foster the "us vs. them" mentality...

One thing that stood out to me in the beginning of the article is it describes what not to do when making observations. In doing so, the article almost instructs the reader how to be a child again. When we are children, oftentimes we do not have terminology, theories or scientific explanations for the things we observe. Part of the beauty of childhood minds is that they are curious, and observe things for what they are, rather than what they could or should be. As Bavelas put it, "'the subjects are always right', meaning people (or animals or phenomena) behave as they behave; it is our job to figure out how and why".  In the classroom, I think it's important for us as we're teaching scientific/technical subjects, to allow the time for our students to simply observe and notice. Additionally, when students are making observations, I think it's important to emphasize that there are no "wrong" answers, there are no wrong observations.  One of the sol...

Inquiry project (the beginning) Social Emotional Learning strategies in secondary schools!!! 

  I LOVE THE MATH GURU! Oh how I love the Math Guru!!! I came across Vanessa's page a year ago while searching for some friendly math content for my students. There are few things that she focuses on that truly resonate with me and the reasons why I wanted to be a math teacher.  "Can we let you in on a little secret? There's no such thing as a 'math person'. 'Math people' don't exist".  YES! The Math Guru says it, Jo Boaler says it, who else needs for us to say it to finally believe it! I remember from a young age being told that I was a "math person", and I was embarrassed because I knew I wasn't. I felt like a phoney.  She uses the word "super cool".  I love this because I think it is so important that we break down barriers with our language as much as our attitudes. Using relatable language helps students relate to us, even when it comes to learning mathematics.  Vanessa is a healthy reminder that we can be whomever we w...

Tact of Teaching “...developing certain qualities or traits of character such as open-mindedness or sincerity, whole-hearted or absorbed interests, responsibility, as well as the need for a habit of thinking in a reflective way...” I think this quote resonates strongly with my belief that teacher development and reflective teaching goes hand in hand with personal development. I think if the focus of our professional development programs and teacher education programs focus on mentoring and encouraging the development of good character traits, we have a better chance at creating good teachers.  “...instead of improving my reaching it worsens... Sometimes the result is that I grow more self-conscious and I become aware of the students looking at me and judging me.” This resonates with my current feelings towards the practicum. After all of the knowledge we have acquired about teaching, I am more nervous than ever before to step in front of a classroom. I have to keep reminding myself...