Unit Plan & Lesson Plan
Pari loves to learn
Sunday 20 December 2015
Friday 18 December 2015
Battleground Schools
I found the
history of mathematics education discussed in the article very informative. Although
I knew that teaching biology and history is usually influenced by ideologies, I
have never thought that the politics and ideologies, especially in countries
that have democratic governments, could influence the mathematical education
policies. It was very interesting to
learn that the politics of the cold war was responsible for the New Math program;
a program that continued in Iran even during the years that I was a high school
student despite the fact that its ineffectiveness had become clear long before
that time and the program had been changed in the States where it had been originated.
I found the
progressive/conservative dichotomy used to categorize the conflicting views on
mathematical education useful. But what I really liked was the author’s
awareness of the danger of oversimplification and the discussion of the shared
views of these parties.
When I think
about the math textbooks that are currently used in Canadian high school, I am
reminded of the description of pre-reform math textbooks in the article.
Unfortunately, the math that is taught is reduced to a series of algorithm to
solve artificially created problems. Students are expected to master these
rules and use them to solve problems that they are given in their homework and
tests. Neither are they taught why these algorithms work nor the importance or
the beauty of the problems that they are used to solve. I only can hope that
the next reform pays more attention to the progressive views and incorporates more
of Dewey’s ideas.
Saturday 5 December 2015
John Mason on questioning in math class
I found Mason’s ideas interesting and
applicable to inquiry-based learning. In particular, I think they provide
useful insights in conducting p4c-style method of teaching that I’m especially
interested in. The role of the facilitator in community of inquiry is to help
the learners to ask themselves questions
that lead them to the solution to the problem, rather to lead them to solutions
by asking them questions that lead to
answer. I found the distinction between “asking as telling” and “asking as asking” which is based on the distinction
between “listening-for an expected response and listening-to what students are
saying (and watching what students are doing)(p. 515)” insightful. This idea
can help the facilitator in community of inquiry
to find ways to engage the learners in such a manner that they lead to ask
useful questions and in the course of answering those questions learn the
subject that they are supposed to learn. Another interesting idea discussed in
Mason’s paper is asking students “to construct examples of mathematical objects meeting various
constraints. By carefully choosing the constraints so as to force students to
think beyond the first (usually rather simple) example that comes to mind”(p. 516).
I will try to come up with ways to use the method of
formulating questions by students and constructing examples when I plan my
lesson for the long practicum.
Based on self-reflection and the feedback,
I think there purpose of our activity wasn’t clear and made students a bit
confusing. We also could have allocated more time for the activity and engaging
students in learning so that they could have had enough time to express their
ideas and solution methods.
Sunday 29 November 2015
Lesson Plan for Micro Teaching
Shan, Amandeep, and Pari
Subject:
Probability of independent event Lesson Number: 1 of 1
Grade: Grade 8
Time: 15 minutes
Big Idea for the
Lesson: Finding probability of independent event.
PLOs: Student would be able to learn about the
following topics:
- Data Analysis - critique ways in which data is presented
- Chance and Uncertainty –To solve problems involving the probability of independent events
Objectives: Students are expected to learn about how
to find the probability of an event by using the definition of probability.
Materials: paper,
pencils, and laptops or tablets.
Hook: (about 1
min)
Showing the 1-die situation using MIT Scratch
Introducing the pattern that all numbers increased together.
Development: (about
13 min)
·
Teacher-led:
(about min 4)
*Demonstrate sample space, outcome, event, probability,
experiment, and trial. (2min)
Demonstrate the MIT Scratch
simulation and the EXCEL simulation (2 min)
·
Class
activity: (about 9 min)
* Inviting students to explore the 2-die situation and share their
solutions. (4 min)
More questions: (5 min)
Toss a coin, toss two
coins, and 3-die situation and their sample space.
Assessment: Students would be assessed on their participation and work
throughout the lesson (Fist of five).
Closing: (about 1
min): Students would be advised to write down key points of the lesson on their
notebook.
Wednesday 25 November 2015
Exit slip: Hewitt’s
video reflection
The video we watched during the class
showed me an interesting way of teaching math: a balance between the
teacher-centered approach and the student-centered approach. By asking questions
Hewitt engaged all students in learning math and by asking the whole class to answer at
the same time made the class active and enjoyable. This way also allows the teachers to
assess their students’ understanding as well. Long wait times and repetition help
the teachers to make sure all students are on the same page.
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