Everyday, I learn something new, and today, I learnt quite a few things! Last week, Dot mentioned that we can use books to teach mathematics to young children, and this week, I learnt that many books can be a great tool to teach mathematics – even Goldilocks and the Three Bears! I also learnt that it is not productive nor the most practical and reflective to “test” students’ understanding by using exams, rather, it is better to assess students by using task based learning; Students learn and function differently based on the environment, the time of the day, their emotions at that moment, and a whole lot of other internal and external variables. Hence, testing itself is not a practical way of assessing students. This leads me to touch on the subject of ways of teaching.

 

There are many different ways to teach – through technology, literature, oral stories, field trips, just to name a few. However, it is also important about what we teach children – it is not just the subjects like Mathematics and Social Studies that we have to teach, but the more important things like how to be a responsible global citizen in the 21st century. It is imperative that we teach children about the importance of empathy, acceptance, and how to be a good person overall. This begins with social justice education. There are a variety of ways that I can incorporate social justice into the students’ learning, but at the root of it all, it does not amount to much if there is a lack of class community. It is important to get all the kids involved constantly and on a daily basis from a young age, and not to just address it when the situation arrive; It is always better to prevent pre-emptively rather than to resolve after as damage will already have been done.

In order to achieve this, some of my peers have suggested the following:

• Asking key questions when trying to incorporate technology into the classroom, such as whether or not it will benefit young users’ learning
• Everyday, on-going conversations are important when teaching children about social justice (eg. everyone is unique – not different; language is important)
• Inviting Indigenous speakers to begin a conversation with the students, and double checking before using Indigenous materials for permission
• Incorporating literature while teaching math, such as reading books or singing songs (eg. Feist sings 1234 on Sesame Street) to make it more fun and playful
• Using manipulatives during play sessions, but also making sure that the children are having fun
• Assessing students based on their own developmental progress, not by their grade level or age as each child learns differently

Nevertheless, all of this will be difficult to achieve without assistance from others. It is vital to have an ongoing communication with the community (be it school, other teachers and staff, caregivers, and the community at large) for the benefit of the students’ learning and wellbeing. It does take a whole village to raise one child as the saying goes.

In order to engage with the whole community, some preparation and background knowledge must be gathered in my tool belt. What I learnt today in interacting with my fellow peers is that we are always learning on our feet and adapting to the culture of the school community.

Nonetheless, despite all the informative things I have learnt today, I still wish to gather more tools in my toolbox so I can best prepare myself in as many situations as possible. Some of the things that I am left wondering are:

• To what extent can we use play in a classroom? Is there a golden ratio of play and directed teaching?
• How do we get children to start teaching each other about social justice?
• How can we help parents become more involved in their children’s learning? Is it a feasible idea to provide “assignments” to the parents for those that want it? How effective will this be?
• What is the best way to utilize manipulatives? Just leaving it there for the children to find and discover, or to teach it to them through a quick lesson?

Note: All pictures retrieved from Pixabay.