Course Reflection (From My End of Things)
Marsha....This was originally a comment on your previous post, but please believe me when I say I've started writing it about 5 times in the last couple of days and left it in frustration, because frankly, well, this is difficult....I decided to make it a post of it's own, maybe a few more of our class might end up reading it. Here goes...
1. First and foremost, Marsha, Thank You. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You. For your attitude. For your courage. For your ability to say things and share things in this format that may be strange or uncomfortable if we were speaking face to face. For your ability to scribe meaningfully for your classmates. For your honesty. For taking a fairly significant risk by posting on a blog like this in a terribly constructive way, AFTER the course is over, when the only stakeholders gaining from your words are my future students. For caring about what happens to others. For making the world a little better than when we began this journey 5 or so months ago. Regardless of the future and our respective roles therein, you will always have my gratitude and my respect.
2. On the technical side of things, I read your ideas with a lot of interest. I'm going to work on everything you suggested, and I'm going to try to go one better...namely, I'm going to try something like this (soliciting constructive criticism from students) on a regular basis with my Senior 4 classes where they can feel comfortable trying to help me 'steer the boat', so to speak. I do what I do in my classroom, at least for the most part, because I believe that what I'm doing helps my students learn. If I can convince myself that something I could do would ensure some greater measure of success for my students, count me in. I have no misconceptions, and by nature, I get bored quick, so if I can improve, I'd like to. Just so you know, there will certainly be a lot more in the way of 'guidelines' for second semester, as far as what goes into a scribe post. I really think that will help a lot. The screen shots thing is a great idea, and I'll certainly be aware of trying to add that to notes in class. Thanks...
3. I'm still struggling with Accelerated Math myself...I'm pretty sure that I foresee a time in the not-t0-distant future where it may not be used much if at all (especially at the S4 level). I'd really be interested in reading more thoughts from the class, or if you'd prefer to just stop by and chat, it'll help me decide what to do. The wiki was, if I do say so myself, a great step in the right direction, but I'm not sure in the end that it's the right way to go for students to acquire significant numbers of marks in the course. Time will tell.
4. I'll keep reviewing and prepping for the exam like I have, and like you mentioned, losing 5 days of the semester to weather was really quite significant. I wish I'd had more time, but under the circumstances, I suppose that we all did the best that we could. This was the first semester that I specifically DIDN'T print hard-copies of old exams for students, in lieu of the .pdf copies, and the ability to print from school...Maybe I should have, but with Accelerated Math, I think our class definitely uses its share of paper, so I thought that I'd save a few trees.
5. I was really proud of you guys and the progress you made with respect to Mental Math. I'm definitely doing it again next semester, albeit with a few minor changes. In a course like this, where a lot of people look over our shoulders and criticize because "my kid doesn't even know their times tables!!" or whatever the pot-shot du jour is, I think we have to work extra-hard on the credibility side to ensure that students leave high school with at the very least the ability to appreciate some of what our machines are doing simply as calculations. Mental Math is important, I personally believe in it, and it will remain part of the course evaluation in any course I teach (and especially in Applied Math)...
I'm sure curious about what everyone else thought, although at this point it's likely safe to say some of you will never again read this blog (sniff, sniff...) Just kidding, I actually think that that's the good news. If you never look here again, what it means is that you're one step closer to graduation and the rest of your life.
For the record, I wish each of you the best of what life has to offer. ...and it has a lot to offer.
RM
1. First and foremost, Marsha, Thank You. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You. For your attitude. For your courage. For your ability to say things and share things in this format that may be strange or uncomfortable if we were speaking face to face. For your ability to scribe meaningfully for your classmates. For your honesty. For taking a fairly significant risk by posting on a blog like this in a terribly constructive way, AFTER the course is over, when the only stakeholders gaining from your words are my future students. For caring about what happens to others. For making the world a little better than when we began this journey 5 or so months ago. Regardless of the future and our respective roles therein, you will always have my gratitude and my respect.
2. On the technical side of things, I read your ideas with a lot of interest. I'm going to work on everything you suggested, and I'm going to try to go one better...namely, I'm going to try something like this (soliciting constructive criticism from students) on a regular basis with my Senior 4 classes where they can feel comfortable trying to help me 'steer the boat', so to speak. I do what I do in my classroom, at least for the most part, because I believe that what I'm doing helps my students learn. If I can convince myself that something I could do would ensure some greater measure of success for my students, count me in. I have no misconceptions, and by nature, I get bored quick, so if I can improve, I'd like to. Just so you know, there will certainly be a lot more in the way of 'guidelines' for second semester, as far as what goes into a scribe post. I really think that will help a lot. The screen shots thing is a great idea, and I'll certainly be aware of trying to add that to notes in class. Thanks...
3. I'm still struggling with Accelerated Math myself...I'm pretty sure that I foresee a time in the not-t0-distant future where it may not be used much if at all (especially at the S4 level). I'd really be interested in reading more thoughts from the class, or if you'd prefer to just stop by and chat, it'll help me decide what to do. The wiki was, if I do say so myself, a great step in the right direction, but I'm not sure in the end that it's the right way to go for students to acquire significant numbers of marks in the course. Time will tell.
4. I'll keep reviewing and prepping for the exam like I have, and like you mentioned, losing 5 days of the semester to weather was really quite significant. I wish I'd had more time, but under the circumstances, I suppose that we all did the best that we could. This was the first semester that I specifically DIDN'T print hard-copies of old exams for students, in lieu of the .pdf copies, and the ability to print from school...Maybe I should have, but with Accelerated Math, I think our class definitely uses its share of paper, so I thought that I'd save a few trees.
5. I was really proud of you guys and the progress you made with respect to Mental Math. I'm definitely doing it again next semester, albeit with a few minor changes. In a course like this, where a lot of people look over our shoulders and criticize because "my kid doesn't even know their times tables!!" or whatever the pot-shot du jour is, I think we have to work extra-hard on the credibility side to ensure that students leave high school with at the very least the ability to appreciate some of what our machines are doing simply as calculations. Mental Math is important, I personally believe in it, and it will remain part of the course evaluation in any course I teach (and especially in Applied Math)...
I'm sure curious about what everyone else thought, although at this point it's likely safe to say some of you will never again read this blog (sniff, sniff...) Just kidding, I actually think that that's the good news. If you never look here again, what it means is that you're one step closer to graduation and the rest of your life.
For the record, I wish each of you the best of what life has to offer. ...and it has a lot to offer.
RM
posted by Ryan Maksymchuk at 7:04 PM
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