![](\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/danabjornson\/files\/2017\/02\/800px-Ford_Pinto_runabout_1-300x225.jpg\")
Courtesy Joost J. Bakker from IJmuiden, Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n
What I have learned in my time at the wheel, is that it is OK to not know everything, but it is important to know enough. \u00a0And without question, it sure helps to have a solid grasp of at least one year above what you are teaching. Preparing students for their next course is very difficult, when you personally do not understand the material in the next level up! \u00a0So to answer my question, these days, I feel like I am driving a pretty solid BMW, although stick me with Junior Science and hello 1977 Ford Pinto.<\/p>\n
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One strategy that I have only recently used, is to teach\/review algebra with my FPC Math 10 (academic math) class, having the students sit in pairs of their choosing. Each pair has a table top whiteboard (London Drugs sometimes clears them out…), marker and eraser. \u00a0I review the basic “moves” and reinforce opposite operations and remind them that the order of the “moves” is important (“Reverse BEDMAS”, usually helps them remember). \u00a0Then, we do a series of increasingly difficult algebraic problems, WITHOUT variables. For example, rearrange “2 + 3= 5” for 3. \u00a0My approach is to reinforce that “if it works on the numbers, it will work on the letters.” \u00a0The students work in pairs and flash me their answers. \u00a0When students are struggling, I send other students to help, that have already shown me their work. The goal is to increase student interactions— Vygotskian social learning! \u00a0During which time, I am discussing proper notation (where to put the = sign, working vertically, using fraction bars for division, etc.). What I am finding is that is is a huge confidence boost for my low folks, because they can find their own mistakes (clearly, 3 doesn’t equal 5\/2, for example). When we leap into the variables, I can then attach the more abstract algebra to the concrete algebra. \u00a0Practically right away, we can then start throwing our symbols across the equal sign, completing multiple steps simultaneously.<\/p>\n
I chose this as my example because it exemplifies how important it is to have a knowledge base beyond your subject material. Being a physics teacher, I know how important it is to be comfortable with symbolic manipulation. \u00a0My colleagues without the physics, tend to not prioritize symbolic manipulation prior to substitution. What they don’t seem to understand, is that it is far more efficient to rearrange before substituting and it is critical to do so from Physics 12 onward.<\/p>\n
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Shulman, L.S. (1987). Knowledge and teaching. The foundations of a new reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57<\/em>(1)1-23.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In Shulman’s “Knowledge and Teaching: Foundations of New Reform” (1987), he provides readers with an analogy that implies that our subject matter is a vehicle that will\u00a0“service other goals” (p. 7). He continues to assert that at the secondary level, … Continue reading