Matthew's EDUC 450 Inquiry I Blog

"commercial shipping and oil exploration are becoming possible in the arctic ocean (IPCC, 2018). Whether to exploit these opportunities is not really a scientific question: such decisions depend on values" 1. What is our responsibility as educators as we help to raise and teach new generations to be leaders in our contemporary and future world? I think that community engagement is the most important factor in teaching students to be leaders in the world. Regardless of any values you espouse in your classroom, students will not become leaders in greater society if they don't see for themselves how social issues affect the people around them. The example from the article where students in Norway did a project demonstrating the ineffectiveness of safety barriers on the road near their school is a great example of this – someone died as a result of the barrier heaight being too low, so students conducted a mathematical analysis to show that the barriers were ineffective as sa...

 I enjoyed the crafts we did in today's class, especially the rope making, and I thought that they offered a great opportunity for interdisciplinary teaching. These activities could be done in many different classes because they have connections to art, math, physics and biology (that I can think of, you could probably connect them to other classes). I especially liked the rope making activity because it's a good example of how you can often make things using natural materials instead of buying them. The rope making also offers many opportunities for integrating material from multiple different subject areas. It would be a great activity for an art class, but there's also a lot of potential for discussion of the physics and biology of making ropes. You can discuss how the tension from twisting the material causes the strands of the leaf to wrap around themselves and stay twisted even if the ends are free. You can also discuss the biological properties of the plant leaves yo...

The book excerpt reminded me a lot of a book I'm currently reading called Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer that discusses similar themes around how people can repair their relationship with the land and have a positive relationship with it. One of the points that Kimmerer makes is that she thinks planting a garden is the best thing a person can do in order to begin building a positive relationship with the land, and this is nicely complemented by Kallis's discussion of the importance of. a garden to the health of a community. One of the points that I found the discussion about building communities focused on production rather than consumption really interesting and I definitely agree that the benefits would likely outweigh the downside of reduced convenience. It's unfortunate that most people don't consider the benefits of having a stronger sense of community and improved relationships with others and solely focus on convenience.

 I thought it was really nice to have class outside today and to be able to spend most of the class focusing on the garden. I think it's important to remember how much we can teach/learn from nature because getting kids outside during class is not only good for their health but will also likely get them more engaged in their schoolwork. I also think that showing students how much there is to learn from the natural world helps them develop a relationship with nature that will make them more inclined to be environmental stewards in their community, which is essential in a time when most people find themselves very disconnected from their environment. On a different note, I really liked the activity about calculating the angle of elevation of the sun because it can be adjusted to many different levels of difficulty depending on what class you're doing it with. If you have older students, you can go beyond calculating the angle with your arms to have students prove the formula for ...

 The beginning of the article, where the authors discuss the wide variety of approaches to teaching that exist, is definitely still relevant to today's teacher candidates. I think that as a teacher, it's important to use a teaching style that works for you, but it's also important to be able to modify your teaching methods to suit the needs of your students. I also think the idea of viewing your school's everyday reality through a critical lens is something that will always be relevant to teachers. The only way that school systems improve is when teachers want to improve their schools and accept the idea that the way their school currently operates isn't the only possible way for it to be run. In contrast, I think that many teachers today would argue with the stipulation made on page 2 that the question of what to teach always precedes the question of how to teach. While you do need to cover specific pieces of curriculum in every class, there is a bigger focus now o...

Exit Slip 07/09: Frank McCourt on Continuing Education I think my biggest takeaway from today's class was one part of the Frank McCourt video where he says that if you're not learning, you're not teaching. I think that this statement holds true in many different ways. Teaching methods are always changing, and it's important to keep up with these changes in order to teach effectively. In addition, every year you'll learn what does and doesn't work for the students you have that year, and over time you will learn more and more about general strategies for improving your teaching and classroom management skills. I also think the idea that you're always learning is important for life in general, because it's important to welcome growth in all areas of your life if you want to be the best person you can be.