Video Response

Sir Ken Robinson - Do Schools Kill Creativity?

After being introduced this video a few classes ago, I have altered my opinion of the educational system along with my role as a teacher. Sir Ken Robinson analyzes society today, along with the changing educational system in such a unique, yet humorous way that really made me question and analyze the system myself. I'm going to highlight a few of Robinson's points about the educational system that really made me think about my role as a future teacher.  

All kids have tremendous talent and we squander them. 

Children are frightened of being wrong.

Mistakes are becoming stigmatized

If your not prepared to be wrong you'll never come up with anything original. 

Educating people out of their creativity

All children are born artists, the problem is to remain an artist when we grow up

All of these quotes speak about the existing educational system today and what is valued and what isn't. Sir Robinson explains that children come to school ready to explore and experiment but quickly they realize that its not acceptable to stray from the crowd and it is humiliating to be wrong. This means that most students are not going to publicly think or act outside of the norm, therefore a lot of people will not follow their passions and we won't produce creative thinkers.

Sir Ken Robinson made me ponder my future role as a teacher and how I will interact with my students. The video made me think about how children learn in so many ways and how I must be prepared to attend to children of all different needs, abilities and talents and to not punish those who don't respond to traditional teaching methods.

There is a lot to consider when creating a nourishing, enriching and supportive classroom environment. I think a good way to start creating such an environment is by incorporating this quote into your teaching philosophies:

Math Autobiography

I really don't remember much about math in the K to 6 classroom. I can remember having  word problems wrote on the board, having to memorize times tables (which I still remember today), and doing work from the text book. There always seemed to be a standard way when it came to learning mathematics. 

One of my not so fond memories was during a problem solving exercise in grade two. I can remember feeling hopeless when the word problems were wrote on the board. I had a lot of trouble understanding how to solve the problems and we had to work individually and weren't able to ask for help. We were told that we had to figure out the problems on our own. I remember feeling an overwhelming feeling of helplessness and embarrassment when I couldn't figure them out. My teacher would call us up to the board to answer the questions and it was a horrible feeling when you didn't know how to solve it. I still have negative feelings towards word problems to this day. 

Overall, I was average at math. I wasn't good at geometry but I really enjoyed algebra. In high school I had to get extra help throughout the three years. I did get good grades in math but I did have to work hard to get those grades. I really enjoyed doing math that I could understand and once I figured out topics I struggled with, I formed a more positive outlook when it came to that topic.  

I remember in junior high and high school, students would always comment on how they felt like the mathematics we were doing was pointless and we would never have to use things like cos, sin, and tan in real life. I can remember one teacher in particular agreeing with us but they claimed they had to teach it because we would be tested on the CRT's on the topic. The teacher seemed to enjoy teaching mathematics but seemed to also believe that some of what we were learning wasn't relevant to our lives and future. Assessment in math was always formal testing. I don't have any memories about math assessment in any other form than a written math test.  

Math in high school was okay. I had the same teacher for each year and my teacher had a degree in mathematics and you could tell that it was his passion. In university, I did math 1050/1051. I really enjoyed the type of Mathematics that was covered in Math 1050 since it was different than any Math that I had done before. However, I didn't enjoy math 1051 as much because there was a geometry section. I haven't taken any math electives and I don't engage with mathematics in any major way in my life.     

I feel okay about mathematics now. However, I don't feel like i'm strong overall with the subject and I feel like I need to feel more confident in the subject matter. I hope that this course boosts my confidence when it comes to teaching mathematics.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog! This blog's is a requirement for an Education Mathematics course that I am taking. I'm hoping this blog can help me with my future experiences in teaching Mathematics to Primary and Elementary students.
:)
Sherry

(Entirely unrelated...but this is my bunny, Muffin in her Christmas sweater :) !!)