The Function(al) Teacher

Tasks are usually associated with a negative connotation. When given a task, we usually groan and hear something like "uuugghhhhh" and try to procrastinate to avoid doing it. People aren't usually excited about tasks.  When I look at the word task through an educational lens, it almost seems as though the words "teacher" and "ask" got married and became "one"; task. (This was not scientifically proven, it was just an epiphany I had while trying to think of a clever name for this blog post)! But if you think about it, it makes sense right?! In school, tasks are basically teachers ask ing you to do something. Condense it by combining the two and voilà; task!  There are several different kinds of tasks. Liisa started the class by asking us to write down words that described math. Different groups interpreted this task differently. My group wrote words that we thought described math as a whole, whereas other groups wrote more tangible thin...

In the past, the words technology and classroom would never be found in the same sentence. I remember when I was in elementary school, cell phones were just starting to become the "thing". However, they were prohibited from the classroom. So instead of passing notes behind the teacher's back, we would try to stealthily send our friends text messages under our desks. Some of my teachers would actually collect all of our phones as we entered the classroom. Nowadays, technology is found in almost every classroom and schools encourage a "Bring Your Own Device" (BYOD) environment. I can see the value in both stances. Back in the day, teachers didn't allow phones in the classroom because they were seen as a distractor and a form of disrespect. But since phones and electronic devices are so prevalent now and most students have them, teachers can use them as a learning tool in the classroom. Since students feel the need to be connected to their phones 24/7 and g...

I've head this statement countless times: "I've never been good at math...I will never understand math. It just never came naturally to me". I think this statement is so interesting since it goes completely against what we learned in class. According to Jo Boaler, EVERYONE can learn math to the highest levels. In fact, that is number 1 on her list of positive norms to encourage in math class. There is such a strong stigma around math and many people think it is just black and white. The common belief is either you get math, or you don't. However, this is not the case. Mathematicians aren't born mathematicians are they? Absolutely not! It's something they work at and hone over time. As an educator, it's my goal to reverse this way of thinking. I know I will encounter many students who have had terrible experiences with math and will feel like giving up (or not even bother trying) because they have been fed this lie throughout their entire lives. Will ...

Being a prospective teacher, the word differentiation sounded very daunting at first. We are told that we must differentiate our instruction, our assessment and sometimes our environment to suit the specific needs of our students. When you have a class of 30 students, that's 30 times that you'll have to differentiate since each student will have their unique set of needs. That's 30 different lessons/activities that you'll have to come up with. However, this is not necessarily the case. There are times where you can use strategies that will cover several students' needs. As I learned in my other classes and as Liisa demonstrated in class, the goal is more of a universal design concept where the differentiation is a model that uses strategies to target some students but benefit most. In other words, it's meant for a specific group of students but the majority can also benefit from it. I also discovered that asking open questions is a great way to implement diffe...