Braiding Sweetgrass Entrance Slip

Reading this article makes me feel arrogant somewhat, that I’ve never considered the scientific terminology from an indigenous perspective. I really like the way scientific terms name things, because as long as you know the root word, you can kinda guess what the term means. If it starts with “osteo-,” it would be bone related, if it starts with “octo-,” it would be something of 8. However, now thinking about it, English is a very dumb language. It is very hard to learn with so many different forms, conjugations, tenses, and all that. Being my second language and my third spoken language, it took be quite a while to learn English, so I can’t imagine someone who doesn’t understand English trying to break into such an English-dominated field. I enjoy using scientific terminology because it makes sense to me after being in the BC curriculum for so long, but honestly, it’s a lot of dead white men. Measuring temperature? We have Celsius. The forces that dedicate motion? We have Newton’s Laws. Some theorem that I still don't understand after learning number theory? We have Fermat’s Little Theorem (that is a cute name though). If I discover something, I would never name it the “Leon Theorem” or the “Chen Theorem,” because I didn’t make this up, I stood on the shoulders of giants to help me get to this point. I think that it is unfair to base a discover on one person, since it is a collaborative effort made by scientists through millennia. This is how I feel about our terminology, it’s very simple and straightforward to someone with background in it, but to an outside person, it’s confusing and hard to learn, with some White supremacy mixed in.

It’s sad to see that only 9 people could speak Potawatomi, and there are definitely many languages that were driven to extinction due to residential schools. So I want to subtly introduce those languages to my class. I want to work in the Coquitlam School District (I want to grow up away from my hometown White Rock, but can’t afford Vancouver), and that Land belongs to the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm people, who speaks the language of hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓. So, in the classroom, or in assessment, I will use questions in the lines of “in the land of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm People, which is where our school is resided, there sits 4 herons on a piece of land in səmiq̓ʷəʔelə, which is the land specifically used for roosting grounds for herons. Your task is to find the optimal area for each heron given the following restrictions:” I think it’s a way to normalize using indigenous knowledge, while assessing the students fairly in a math context. Again, I don’t know much about this Land, but I want to learn as much as the students do. And of course, tying back (haha) to the rope weaving activity, I want to encourage my students to make projects based on indigenous knowledge, while incorporating what we’ve learned in math. This would also be an excuse for me to learn from the students on indigenous knowledge and decorate my classroom. So both selfishly and out of curiosity, I see a great value of indigenizing my classroom.

Rope Exercise Exit Slip

That was so fun!! Too bad I didn’t take any pictures, but I had a lot of fun just weaving two strands of fibre back and forth. It’s very relaxing, but feels very productive since I am getting something out of it. Like I mentioned in class, I think that this is a very good activity for folks who have ADHD, or just fidgety in general. It helps them be productive while connecting with the indigenous practices in some ways. When I kept learning about how the new BC curriculum incorporates indigenous knowledge into the material, I didn’t know how to go about it. But it is very interesting to see weaving and knotting techniques still being passed down. In terms of learning math, I can see my students weaving patterns with different colours to visualize concepts like fractions, number theory, or even algorithms. I am so excited to see the creativity of my students, since math is definitely one of those subjects seen as the “boring” and “non-creative” ones. There is so much amazing indigenous art out there that students can use to engage in their creative brain, and to be honest, I want to learn more as well. I am personally not someone who connect with the indigenous culture, but by doing projects like those, I find myself getting more involved. The math art decorations in the classroom are super cute, makes me feel at home, yet in a professional classroom, so it would be very fun to have my classroom decked out like that too. So the main takeaway here is that even though I am still not very familiar with incorporating indigenous knowledge into math, this makes me excited to learn! :)

Common Threads Entrance Slip

Out of all the cities in Lower Mainland, Vancouver, especially the UBC campus, definitely feels like a very walkable cities. But as we go further out, to places such as White Rock or even the suburbs in the US, most of the infrastructural is built for cars. In White Rock, we have around 4 bus lines, while most of our commercial buildings are reserved for massive parking lots. Though convenient, it is worth pondering the fact that these cities are more so built for consumption than production. We have all accepted that that how society is run, but we forget the way that we want to live our lives. This leads me to the biggest stop of this article, that we have outsourced our survival to other people. We have grown reliant, and perhaps entitled, to have other people take care of us for us. We are losing what made us survive millions of years by giving this problem to other people, so I love the idea of backsourcing items that we need. I have made small crafts out of recyclable materials instead of buying what I needed, and it’s always been more satisfying. Saving the environment and other grand ambitions shouldn’t be the reason why we make other own products, it should come from a sense of self-fulfillment.

While making the seven-braid, it almost felt nostalgic. Despite my financial support from my parents, I have always found joy in frugality. If I don’t need it, then I don’t want it. So in terms of practicality, I have made many small crafts. Currently, I am working on making a cable management bin out of an unused shoebox, so I don’t have to worry about them tangling up anymore. The feeling of making something artistic yet practical brings joy to me since not only am I saving money, it’s also just very fun. There are plenty of old shirts I would like to make into a scarf or a tote bag, and there are plenty of possible things to make using traditional knowledge. It’s important to never forget what we have made since the beginning, because that is what makes us human, not the big metal boxes that we drive around.

Gardening and Sundials Exit Slip

I was not there for the gardening session with Madi, but it looked very fun! Just seeing those beautiful crops pulled out of the ground brings me a lot of joy, as someone with a green thumb myself. I have been taking care of houseplants, and my parents’ lawn for a while now, and it is always so satisfying to see the “fruits” of our labour. In terms of teaching in a garden, I think that no matter the subject, it’s important to help the students to wind down after a stressful day of school. It is very nerve-wrecking for teenagers to study for 6 hours a day, while getting only a small break during lunch. I feel that when I am in the garden, it is very zen, a little getaway from the noisiness of school.

And now, for the sun dial activity, it was so cool! It was very fun to learn about our sun and how solstices work. The most important part in this activity is really to just move around. It is very engaging to be able to stand up, wave our arms a bit, get loose, do some silly poses, while learning about the nature. Those exercises feel like a way to do Land Learning without all the reading and studying. It is a nice change of pace to get away from all the concrete, and to learn about the glowing yellow dot in the sky. I believe that learning math is all about understanding how to problem solve, so in activities like those, they give students opportunities to figure things out themselves, which is often the fun part. It is also a very low-stakes environment, where no marks are given out, they just get the time to be creative or to wind down. I would probably enforce a no-phone rule here to help them get the most out of this :)

Teaching & Learning Gardens

My first stop is a pretty small one… I never knew that learning gardens have been popping up all over universities over the past few years! This is the first time I’ve seen this concept, so I didn’t expect this to be so widespread (definitely glad that it is, and I wish I had this in high school). My biggest stop is the statement of showing respect for living ecosystems as co-teachers, which relates to my own beliefs and studies. Throughout my undergrad as a biology major (and math minor, that’s how I am here hahaha), I loved learning about ecology! I have always been fascinated by the relationships between organisms and nature, and how every creature on this planet can be interconnected somehow. Learning in a garden has made me appreciate nature way more than I have been in school. It is also interesting to see that the first thing that planners think of are the plastic chairs, metal sound systems, and rubber electrical wires. It feels like technology and human-made objects are so intertwined with our lives, and we are becoming more disconnected with nature. It is sad to see that land has become a motivation for profit rather than part of nature, but by connecting with our lands like this, I have high hopes of creating a future generation that understands the value of nature beyond corporate greed.

In terms of teaching math in the garden, I would love to do the “harder” topics, such as calculus and probability (it might be easy for other people, but I am VERY BAD at probability). The biggest value I see in the garden is the whole nature aspect, and how there are always things to look at in the garden. I remember getting so excited when we saw the hummingbird in the garden, so I want to have that experience as well with my students. I want to be able to share random animal facts while covering difficult topics, to loosen the stress that the students must be feeling. Garden learning will also be quite valuable to students with exceptionalities, since there are always things happening in nature, the more restless folks will get a chance to let off steam. The main struggle I see is to get all 30 students outside while keeping an eye on them. And of course, the weather and carrying out the supplies will be a huge hustle as well. However, I think it’ll be fun for the students to carry all of those things with me. This will be a small cooperative task for all of us, and make them feel included as well. Now, the only struggle is the Raincouver weather, so I will be enjoying the garden whenever I can!

Reflective Teacher Entrance Slip

This article definitely struck a chord when the authors brought up the idea of “routine action.” This doesn’t only apply to teaching, since I feel like there were definitely points in my life when I just didn’t feel fulfilled. I would do the same routine everyday, and lose a sense of purpose, so I very much resonated with the article when they addressed that non reflective teachers who perform routine action eventually forget the purposes of their work. The idea of “reflective action” and being a reflective teacher is still very relevant not just for teachers, but for living a fulfilling life in general. As a teacher candidate, I enjoy the idea of learning about teaching and continuously improving the way I teach through reflection and open-mindedness. I think that learning doesn’t stop when I become a teacher, I actually end up learning more and more. And the first step is to learn more about myself and the type of teacher I want to be, since the article also mentioned that me as a teacher will always be changing. It’s also interesting how the article mentioned reflection on the administrative side of teaching, since many teachers are said to be just follow along the school systems and not bothering to reflect on their own teaching. It is saddening to see the story of Mary Smith, where she refused to teach a class of students just because they are below the standardized grade level. I absolutely don’t want to be a teacher like that, so it is an eye-opening moment that encourages me to be more reflective. The most outdated information I can think of is the integration of modern technology in the classroom and in our daily routine. I believe the being reflective may have been harder now that technology and social media have been taking all the free time we have. Being bored is the primary way for me and many others to reflect on ourselves, but the addition of technology feels like it’s adding more unnecessary stimulation to an already fast-paced work environment. However, being connected to more educators around the world bring more good than harm I am able to read their stories from around the globe instead of just from my local educators. Overall though, I believe that technology does make the reflective teachers shine through more shared experiences and a more welcoming atmosphere for new teacher candidates like us.

It’s quite insightful to read about the three attitudes of reflective action, and motivates me to push myself to be a better teacher. I am looking forward to be humbled by my students and mentors, as I have so much more to learn despite being an educator for many years. I am curious to see how my responsibilities of a teacher will play out, since I already feel so different from the math teachers I had in my high school. And I am happy to reflect on myself to continuously improve wholeheartedly, since I chose this career to fulfill what I think is right for the future. This article is empowering, as it touches upon such a fundamental skill that I want to improve upon: self-reflection.

Class 1 (Sep. 5) Exit Slip

The idea that struck to me the most from McCourt’s interview was that the teacher is always learning. It is inspirational to think that just like the students, the teacher is always learning with them, just like any regular human would. I found the text interview with McCourt especially insightful, when he mentioned a little girl he taught told him to “chill out.” From my teaching experiences, I have always tried to not take things too seriously, and to let go of being overly controlling. So it is reassuring to see that even someone like McCourt learned that too. I agree that honesty is one of the most important qualities of a teacher, since students, like the ones that McCourt taught, can see right through us if we are wearing a mask. It’s also humbling to see that even role models like him had to start somewhere and learn from scratch, which makes our own teaching journey quite relatable. Of course, this leaves me with the question of how much chilling out is too much? I would want to be that “chill math teacher,” but the grey area of boundaries and authorities do worry me. That’s why I am here to learn like everyone else I guess :)