Welcome back to the Algeblog! Another week of thought-provoking conversation and engaging learning. What stood out and what I learned In this class, we focused on grade 10 math courses and trigonometry. We started with a math question that we worked on in groups, and everyone struggled with it since we haven’t done grade 9 math in so long. This made me realize how difficult it is to do a problem when it isn’t accompanied by a lesson and how challenging it can be to recall prior knowledge when it hasn't been practiced in a while. As a future teacher, I think this reinforces the importance of becoming familiar with curriculum expectations when planning lessons and activities. Students need to be guided with the right tools and scaffolding so they can make meaningful connections, rather than guessing what is relevant. In my personal experience tutoring high school students, I sometimes overcomplicate the math work. I’ve been studying and practicing advanced university math for ...
Welcome back to the Alge-blog! This week's class was eventful! We explored the grade 7 and 8 math curricula and their connections to the secondary curricula, went over the difference between learning goals and success criteria, and what they should look like, and had our first presentation, where we led a learning activity. What stood out and what I learned At first, I didn’t think the grade 7 and 8 documents would be very relevant for me since I plan to teach secondary school. However, I quickly realized just how important they are. These years provide the foundations for secondary math courses, and if I am not familiar with the content students would have already learned, I risk reteaching content or jumping too far ahead and overwhelming students. By becoming familiar with the concepts covered in other grades I can: Make connections to content they already know and keep students engaged Set achievable and effective lea...