Key Concepts: Engaging with Learning; Observing Where Knowledge Comes From; Learning Through Inquiry; Becoming Adaptive Experts in Education; Three-part problem solving; How to Learn Math with Jo Boaler

 

“It is important for them to struggle a bit at first.” This was something my Associate Teacher shared with myself and the second year Teacher Candidate, and it is a concept that I have grappled with for many years. It really is a balancing effect that we develop over time, that allows for students (for anyone) to ‘struggle,’ and then with enough guidance and support they can experience improvement and expansion in their learning. Without this ‘struggle’, students rely on their teachers (and other adults) to do the thinking for them. We see this all the time (even during my practicum block), where kids are doing something, like playing a game of chess and the parent is in the background coaching them. We as adults, fear mistakes and ‘failure’ as a symbol of not being successful, when our role is the opposite; to allow students to sit in discomfort long enough that they develop their own learning through inquiry. When I was growing up, my teachers hated when I would ask why we were learning something, but in-fact, this was the one question that has carried me through so much schooling and learning (a three year diploma, a degree and now a teaching degree). I have learned more about so many things I have been curious about, through asking Why my entire life, than I might have if I never asked why. We are evolving into an education system of more inquiry now, and this is simultaneously intimidating and a gift.

Students need to ask their questions, but they also need to mull over potential answers on their own. I have been observing this and some of the strategies (check out Jo Boaler’s online How to Learn Math course) that have unfolded in teaching mathematics including mathematical reasoning, number flexibility and making connections to real life while working on problems together. The three-part-problem solving process has also been utilized a little differently in the currently running OTF (Ontario Teacher Federation) 10-part Mathematics webinar series with hosts Kyle Pearce and Jon Orr. I had such a positive experience in the live sessions leading up to my Practicum, as we were posed a problem as a group and then we would share everything that we were observing about the problem first; no matter how silly, irrelevant or seemingly insignificant these observations were. Then we would talk about the problem out loud together and explore potential answers, including a range of answers. This learning through inquiry meant that there was not a lot of focus on incorrect responses, but learning through questions, observations, potential answers, connections to the real world. I learned so much more by going through it together too, because if I had been working it out on my own, based on my personal experience of growing up and learning mathematics, my anxiety would have risen, and I would have been less-likely to share any of my observations for fear that it was ‘wrong’. I learned so much more through going over the problem as a group, because it helped me realize, I was not the only one who had a lot of these observations and questions. Students are the same way. We seem to think that going over the problem together will somehow take away from what they will learn about it (take away the competition in learning), when in-fact, they will learn so much more from each other, because where one question comes up, perhaps it is replaced by another and so on and so forth. This might also be helpful for students who struggle with sequencing; doing something in order and potentially being able to visualize a new order from a set of instructions, by doing it out loud together.

In order to actively and effectively engage in these different learning strategies and more, especially for our younger students, in-class learning is essential. My practicum is entirely virtual and having young students sit in front of a computer all day and expecting them to remain focused and engaged, is like providing kids with an entire buffet with fatty foods, desserts and all the carbs you could eat and instructing them to only eat vegetables. The fact that this is a Covid year, is irrelevant to how young students respond to virtual learning. We know that learning is important, our students know that learning is important, but when we take them ‘out’ of the learning environment and expect that they still perform to these higher standards, it is setting them up to do poorly and expecting them to do well. Students until the age of 12, do not have the skills to self-regulate and few of our students have guardians who can sit with them to make sure they are focused and engaged. Half of the enjoyment of learning, and capacity to focus, is in the ability to consciously engage with our peers. We draw from each other’s energies and this is not easy to do through a screen.

We have an opportunity to teach our students how to develop their own community of inquiry. However, as current educators, we need to be willing to move away from existing teaching practices of rote teaching and teaching for convenience. If we are engaged in the material as educators, our students are better engaged. If we are engaged in learning and inquiry in front of our students, they are better engaged with learning and inquiry themselves. I have been observing this in my practicum classroom and throughout the school. Between myself and the year two student, we facilitated a coding workshop for 5 different grade 4-6 classrooms across three Fridays, and the one classroom we visited, where the teacher was disengaged with our material, was the only classroom that had the least amount of student engagement with the material. I recognize that 5 classrooms is an insufficient sample size in order to show validity, however, it is important for me in moving forward with my own teaching pedagogy and style.

As in the book ‘Is Everyone Really Equal’, we draw our knowledge from mimicry; especially our young. We not only need to be skeptical about the knowledge our students are mimicking, we need to be skeptical about the knowledge we acquire and where it is coming from. This comes from introspection and engagement with what we think we know.

These are but a few of my observations in building my own community of inquiry and some personal experiences of developing my Adaptive Expert, teaching/learning style, by learning what techniques and strategies I want to mimic and which ones I want to adapt to better support my students and engage the material.

I have learned over time that ideology must be grounded in reality and in certain situations, the opposite must be true as well. We need to remember to go back to why we are teaching our students and what the end goal is for them; that they are provided a significant foundation for how to learn and a developing sense for creating their own community of inquiry, that they can go off and lead their peers in pursuing whatever they wish. The ideology is that our students come, they are focused and engaged, we know all the right questions to ask, they talk amongst each other and learn how to learn well by asking questions and building upon ideas; student families are stable and thriving, they get a proper breakfast and lunch (or multiple snacks) every day. In reality, our students are unfocused and tired from so much screen time and little sleep; meals and snacks are inconsistent and high in sugar; and some families are just surviving (creating even more inconsistency and instability in some student lives). I appreciate the ideology, the dream of what our education system and our teaching ability could look like, however, we have to be careful that this ideology does not become discouraging when the reality is sometimes working with students experiencing poverty, limited technology access, family separation etc. We need to be equipped to serve, not the hypothetical ‘dream’ student, but the students in front of us, because they are the future.

 

Resources Mentioned to Check Out:

Boaler, J. (2020-2021). How to learn math: For students. edX. https://www.edx.org/course/how-to-learn-math-for-students-2

Dauncey, S., & Dempsey, M. (2020-2021). Syllabus; PED3150cc: Becoming a teacher through inquiry into teaching; Communities of inquiry & adaptive expert models. Teacher Education, University of Ottawa.

Pearce, K., & Orr, J. (2020, November 19). Using math moments to multiply math skills, episode 1 [Webinar]. OTF Connects. https://www.otffeo.on.ca/en/news/otf-connects-is-back-in-november-and-december/

Sensoy, O., & DiAngelo, R. (2017). Is everyone really equal? An introduction to key concepts in social justice education (2nd ed.). Teachers College Press, Columbia University.