Draft unit plan and lesson plans

Below is the link to my unit plan:


https://drive.google.com/file/d/165DAdZr1mx2MOtG5bQbKKXTZzIh3pySE/view?usp=sharing

Thinking about math textbooks

As a former student, I loved to use textbooks. My teachers taught me according to the textbooks. It was very easy for me to follow the structure of the textbooks. I read the definitions given in the starting of the lesson, then I looked at the examples to understand the use of formula to solve the questions. It was very easy for me to solve the worksheet questions by following these two steps. Although I was not able to solve all the question, I needed help of my teachers to understand certain questions. As a teacher, I noticed that it is not easy for each students to understand mathematics by just seeing the definitions and examples given in the textbooks. Moreover, the textbooks usually have 2-3 examples those are not enough for students to understand the whole concept. Linguistic used in textbooks also sometimes confuse students. Moreover, sometimes examples are given as the perspective of others, and students don't feel connected to them.
Previously I thought that textbooks are important for students as they get to know what they are doing, but now my perception has been changed. Now I think that when teachers follow everything given in the textbooks they become so dependent on them. They don't want to try different activities those increase the critical thinking of students. The school, I went for my short practicum doesn't use textbooks. The teachers only get the idea from textbook about the topic, then they plan their own activities, and worksheets suitable for that topic. The activities they choose are connected to the real life situations, and students like to discuss those activities with their peers and teachers. I observed that students learn better in this way. I think this is the reason schools nowadays trying to adapt new techniques of learning  instead of making students text-books dependent.

The Scales Problem

A market vendor sells dried cooking herbs in whole-number amounts from 1 to 40 grams. The vendor has an old fashioned two pan weigh scale, and has exactly four weights of different amounts that allow them to weight out any of these amounts of herbs--without using the herb or any other object as an auxiliary weight.
According to me the values for 4 weights should be 1,2,5,10. When I saw this problem, it reminds me of Indian weight system. Most of the vendors in small cities use two pan weight scale to sell their fruits and vegetables. Although they have more weights, and their weights usually include 1,2,3,5,10,20,50,100. According to me suitable weights those add up to the numbers from 1 to 40 are 1,2,5 and 10. I didn't take 3 because to get 3 we can add 1 and 2 together.
1,2,5 and 10 can add to get any value up to 40. For instance
1gm= 1gm                                                                                                    
2gm=2gm
3gm=1+2
4gm= 1+2=3 and again plus 1gm
5gm=5gm
6gm= 5+1
7gm= 5+2
8gm= 5+2+1
9gm= 5+2+1=8 plus 1gm more
10gm= 10gm
11gm= 10+1
12gm=10+2
13gm= 10+2+1
14gm= 10+2+1 plus 1gm more
15gm= 10+5
it would continue like 10 more than as from 1 to 10
we have to add 10 twice to the calculations from 1 to 10 to get the numbers between 20 and 30, and thrice for numbers from 30 to 40. For instance, 37=10+5+7 once and again add 10 two more times. It is possible to get any number between 1 to 40 by using these four numbers.
Are there several correct solutions?
Yes, there might be several correct solutions to this problem. The other numbers should be 1,3,5 and 10 or 1, 2, 10, and 20. But according to me one number must be 1 and the second number must be either 2 or 3.
Extension to this problem
What should be the 4 weights if the vendor wants to sell dried cooking herbs in whole numbers amount from 1 to 100 grams? Could you use the same weights as you used for 1 to 40 grams? why or why not?

How to promote flow in classrooms

It is very important to maintain flow in our classrooms. It plays a vital role in the development of growth mindset, which is very important for every student to be successful in life. Flow means to completely involve someone in what he or she is doing. To create such an environment for students so that they just fully concentrate on their work instead of keeping track of time, which students usually do when they feel bored in the classrooms. Now the question here is how we can promote flow in classrooms. 

Open ended questions: As I learned in our problem solving class, always give students an open ended questions. Don't tell them that the question has only one particular answer. Let students try different methods to solve the problem. Be ready to extend the problems. Students feel excited in solving these type of problems.

Check prior knowledge: Before giving any question always check the prior knowledge of the students. Challenge them according to their skills, because if we will give hard tasks to the students they will feel anxious and bored. The question should not be too easy or too tough. 

Not tell too much: Feel free to share the relevant information as long as the question remains problematic for the students. Do not share too much information with them.

Clear instructions: Always give clear instructions to the students such as how they will solve the problem; in groups or individually. What the question is. What strategies they need to follow to solve the problem.

Connect problems with their daily lives: Always try to make problems relevant to their daily lives. In this way they feel more connected to the problem and try to solve it with more enjoy and curiosity. 

Personal interest: Check the personal interest of students and allow them to choose activity of their own interest. Always make your students feel comfortable in your classrooms, so that they don't hesitate to share their problem with you.

Moreover, involve them in hand on activities because students learn more by visualizing things. Last but not the least take them to the gardens to teach which would be very helpful to maintain the flow.

Reflection: Elliot Eisner on three curricula all schools teach

I learn something new from every reading. From this reading I got to know the functions of three curriculums those are explicit curriculum, implicit curriculum and null curriculum. These are my three stops.

Explicit curriculum refers to the plan for learning that the school offers to the students. It includes subjects that are offered by school. It has goals and objectives for each subject. These goals include what topics are to be learned, which lesson plan is to be followed, curriculum guides and textbooks, what materials to be used, and what is taught by the teachers Not only this, the schools offer to the community an educational menu of shorts; students can choose subjects of their choice. 

Implicit curriculum is the hidden curriculum which consists of unspoken and unintended decision those are made according to the present situations of the classrooms; for example physical set up of the classrooms, expectations of teachers. After reading the article I came to know that there are both positive and negative results of implicit curriculum. The positive results are that "implicit curriculum of school can teach a host of intellectual and social virtues: punctuality, a willingness to work hard on tasks that are not immediately enjoyable, and the ability to defer immediate gratification in order to work for distant goals can legitimately be viewed as positive attributes of schooling." Although these are not part of formal curriculum, but they are taught in the schools. Some of the negatives of implicit curriculum are when students are given rewards for completing the tasks, they become dependent on rewards. As I studied in the Human development class it is called positive reinforcement, when students are given something as a reward to do something. But as a result of this students start looking for rewards for each activity. If the awards are not given, they are less likely to engage even in an inherently enjoyable activity. Students becomes too compliant. Additionally, Competitiveness through grading system and differentiation of classes into ability groups could have both positive and negative impacts on students. It might be good for some students, but it can also cause others feel less valuable  because students in difficult level classes are more valued by community.

In the end, the null curriculum consists of what is not taught in the schools because it simply has not been traditionally taught.  It has two major dimensions intellectual processes that school emphasis and neglect and the other one is subject areas and contents. The curriculum more emphases on math, English, science, history, and physical education, but other subjects like law, dance, psychology, music are frequently not offered or are not required parts of secondary school program. The null curriculum limits the mind of the students and their ability to achieve intellectual discovery.

Reflection on micro teaching

Through this curriculum micro teaching, I got the chance to learn things which were new for me. I and Jashan decided to do our micro-teaching on factoring trinomials by using algebraic tiles, which is the grade 10 topic in B.C. math curriculum. It was a whole new concept for me. I only knew product sum method for factoring polynomials. I saw few videos to check how we can use algebraic tiles to find out the factors, and I found it very interesting. I realised that students will also find this method very interesting, and it will help them to engage with maths and improve their critical thinking. 

Previously, I thought that our peers would have known the use of algebraic tiles, but it was also new concept for them. I believe we managed to explain the use of algebraic tiles very well as they were able to solve few problems. Jashan connected this topic with physics which was also very interesting and new concept for students. The problem we faced was the time management. We thought that we will manage to explain everything in 15 minutes, but during presentation our introduction went a bit long, so we were not able to explain them the zero pair as we decided to explain. Overall it was very good. I find micro teaching very helpful for me because through micro-teaching I got the chance to teach and reflect on myself. The reflections of others are also valuable for me as those help me to improve my weaknesses.

Group micro teaching lesson plan: Karmdeep & Jashan

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fJ1WK1Lve0qjCyyguCis01WwdubvuL90VQhQBS4FbwY/edit