It has been a rewarding experience to have gone through this program, amidst all the chaos over the course of the year.
I think that one of the quotes from Skemp’s article, “there are two effectively different subjects being taught under the same name, ‘mathematics’,” struck a strong interest in how I would like to go about teaching. For instance, I would never want to ask a student in a mathematics class whether they can ‘see’ what I can ‘see’, but can’t explain. So I have taken a strong interest in finding visual ways of learning and teaching mathematics.
I went through what learners of new content/concept go through during our mathematics art project. The art project initially looked straightforward, but turned out to be a little more complex. Even though we had an extensive background in mathematics, surprisingly, at times, we were frustrated and thought of finding another project. When I think about the art project now, it was an experience that we had to go through in order to remind ourselves what learners go through day-in and day-out when they are struggling to learn mathematics. It was a reminder to me that by putting ourselves in our students’ shoes, we can better understand and engage with everyone to make a meaningful learning experience.
My observations of numerous classrooms reminded me about Eisner’s Three Curricula article. Especially, in relation to the quote, “… learning is a humble thing compared with teaching. To teach puts one in a superordinate position, to learn in the position of a subordinate.” I think that Eisner would be quite surprised if he were to observe one of the many classes that I have observed. I didn’t feel like students were in a subordinate position at all, at any point in time, in the classrooms. To the contrary, students exercised their superior position in the class by deciding to tune in or out. In fact, students were actively searching for better explanations of concepts, seeking more information, learning from each other, and interacting with their gadgets quite frequently.
As I am planning for the next phase of my life, I am hoping to design my lessons, activities, projects, and units in such a way that would allow my students to seek more information, interact with each other, manipulate mathematical objects using their gadgets, and communicate their mathematical understanding so that everyone in the class benefits from their misunderstandings, understandings, or new insights.
Thank you for designing this program in such a way that I could experience what it means to be curious about learning and teaching mathematics.