From our class today: Some of the things to learn about your new school

Generally, you will need to learn a lot about the culture and practices of the school community. I highly recommend taking time this week to study your school's website (just google the school's name and district online). Some of the specific things you'll need to learn are here, from our whiteboard notes in class today:

Here's to a great short practicum for everybody!

I will be seeing many of you in Thursday morning's class, where we will talk about these -- but for those in another section of EDUC 450B, here are some inspirational tips for you as you start your experience as a teacher.

All the best for a terrific experience, and see you back on campus in two weeks!


Inspirational tips 1

Inspirational tips 2

What else is in the curriculum besides the PLOs?

We will explore other sections of the curriculum documents in class today. The BC curriculum also includes topics like:

• the nature of mathematics
• Aboriginal approaches
• the role of emotion and affect
• alternative delivery of curriculum
• inclusion
• involving parents and guardians

...and much more!

This is all as important to the way you teach the mandated curriculum as are the PLOs.

How to find the BC Math curriculum if you don't have these links

• Google "BC Ministry of Education curriculum"
• Choose English (or French), grade level and subject
• Choose the exact IRPs you are looking for
• Click on "pdf" to get a copy of the full curriculum documents for that grade.

Grade 10 curriculum

Group members: Alice, Heijin, Amandeep, Jordan, Pacus, Iqra

Topics covered in Apprenticeship and workplace mathematics grade 10 include:

Measurement- convert SI units, solve and verify problems that involve SI
Geometry- angles, parallel, perpendicular and transversal lines
Number- understanding of income
Algebra - area, Pythagorean theorem, perimeter

Topics covered in Foundations of mathematics and Pre-Calculus grade 10 include:

Measurement- Solve problems that involve linear measurement, 3-D objects
Algebra and number- Factors, powers, polynomial expressions, irrational numbers

Relations and Functions- slope, linear relations, understanding of relations and functions, graph and equation of a linear relation.

We found that in the grade 10 Apprenticeship and workplace mathematics, the topics are more practical, related to the real world situations like converting units and currencies. The grade 10 Foundations of mathematics and Pre-Calculus is more abstract with more emphasis in equation solving, graphing systems and writing functions.

Math 8 & Math 9

Group member (Julie, Sissi, Shan, and Alison's group)

From the prescribed learning outcomes of the curriculum guide, we found that some Math 8 learning outcomes are implemented as a transition and preparation for Math 9. For instance,  Math 8 explores perfect squares, square roots and approximating square root of numbers that are not perfect squares which facilitates as a foundation for extending the concepts of imperfect squares roots into irrational numbers.

Math 8 topics include:

• Perfect squares and square roots
• percentage, rates, ratio
• multiplication and division of fractions, mixed numbers, and integers
• linear equations
• Pythagorean theorem
• Surface area and formulas of right prisms and cylinders
• top, front, and side view of 3-D object
• tessellations
• presentation of data
• Independent events

Math 9 topics include:

• Power
• rational numbers
• square root of positive rational numbers
• graph of linear relations
• interpolation and extrapolation
• single variable linear inequalities
• operations on polynomials
• circle properties
• surface area of composite 3-D objects
• similarity of polygons
• Scale diagrams of 2-D shapes
• line and rotational symmetry
• Data collection
• population and sample data
• project plan for collection, display, and analysis of data
• probability in society

Foundations 11 & 12

Group 3 (Rachel, Yingting, Deeya, Jacob, Jimmy)

Foundations 11 and 12 are courses that students wish to take if they want to pursue in arts and humanity courses. These courses include history, geography, psychology, etc.

Topics covered in Foundations 11 include:

- Velocity / rates
- Proportional reasoning
- Surface area/ volume
- Planar geometry (triangles, angles, sine law/cosine law)
- Proving
- Analyzing puzzles and games
- Statistics (normal distribution, confidence intervals, levels, margin of error)
- Linear inequalities
- Quadratics (graphs)
- Research project


Topics covered in Foundations 12 include:

- Finance like simple and compound interest; P = a (1+r)^n
- Renting/leasing/buying
- Logic/set theory, Ex: A = {1,2,3}, R, Q, A U B ,
- Probability theory
- Combinatorics
- Polynomials, exponential, log
- Trigonometric functions. Ex: sine, cosine, tangent, etc.
- Research project at the end of the course (summative assessment)

Pre-Calculus 11 and Pre-Calculus 12

• quadratic functions covered in grade 11
• some topics like absolute value, logarithms, and polynomial equations were covered at a basic level 
• grade 11 has few repetitions such as factorization and measuring angles
• both grades 11 and 12 cover trigonometry and relations and functions with increasing difficulty respectively
• graphing and analyzing transformation of exponential functions introduced in grade 11
• graphing and evaluating radical functions introduced in grade 12
• permutations, combinations and binomial distributions introduced in grade 12

Simran, Arshbir, Daniel, Ian, and Jessica

The BC Secondary Math Curriculum

Here are links to the BC IRPs for secondary school mathematics:

Math 8-9

Math 10-12

Calculus 12

You can also find these by googling "BC Ministry of Education" and following the links to curriculum --> subject areas --> mathematics.

These IRPs are part of the WNCP: the Western and Northern Canadian Protocol. This is a common curriculum shared by all the western provinces (Manitoba to BC) and the territories (Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon), and is designed to make smoother transitions for students moving from one jurisdiction to another. It was adopted in 2008 after several years of consultations.

A new curriculum in all subjects K-12 is being brought in...soon. At the Pacific NW Math Conference in Whistler last weekend, teachers and Ministry people working on the new curriculum gave us updates on what's happening. As you can see here, the Math 10-12 curriculum is NOT ready yet,but watch this space.

The first draft of the new curriculum is supposed to be ready by February 2016, and will be based on Big Ideas and Key Competencies as well as topics similar to the current IRPs. Mike Pruner, who is working on this, said that about 30% of the new curriculum would involve new material, and 70% would be similar to the current topics.

Organizing our micro teaching

EDCP 342A-15 micro teaching

Hallway:

Alison- basic steps, swing dancing
Amandeep – how to play cricket
Ian – popping: dance moves
Daniel – Rubic’s Cube or hockey ref
Deeya—basic French words


i) Arshbir—braiding hair
Jimmy—card trick
Pari – spices
Shan – how to play Go
Rachel—how to make kimchi

ii) Etienne—Greek alphabet
Iqra – Henna tattoo
Julie – solving Sudoku puzzles
Mandeep- ribbon & paper craft
Sissi – writing Chinese character

iii) Ying Ting—history of tea
Jessica – Saxton Freymann animals from fruits & veg
Jordan—Settlers of Catan
Nadereh—lenses
Simran—how to write your name in Punjabi or Hindi

iv) Gladis –how to make a rainbow in a glass
Heijin – first phrases in Korean
Jacob – Chinese chess
Pacus- magic trick
Alice—iPad apps

Battleground Schools reading for Monday Oct. 26, 9 AM

Our next reading is a short piece I published on the history of math education over the past 100 years in North America.

Battleground Schools: Mathematics education

It's from a very interesting book/ encyclopedia called Battleground Schools which is full of interesting short articles on contested areas of education in the past century -- highly recommended! Quite a few UBC Education profs have contributed to this two volume set, so you may find writing by some of your other instructors here too.

For this blog response, please comment on the fraught history of mathematics education in North America and the ways that you think this might affect your own situation as a math teacher.

The NCTM Standards & Common Core Curriculum

The US-based National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) has had an enormous effect on mathematics curricula worldwide -- including BC! Understanding the NCTM is essential for understanding our own curriculum.

Here is the link to the new NCTM Common Core executive summary,  a link to the Common Core State Standards (something like our IRPs) and a link to the executive summary of the  NCTM Principles and Standards from 2000. We will look at this today to get a sense of one of the biggest influences on our curricular reforms and understand where it is coming from.

Note that there are also standards for teachers, related to a neo-liberal climate of measurement, accountability and teacher testing in the US.

The general NCTM website is accessible at NCTM.org. It is well worth getting acquainted with the great lesson plans, puzzles, interactive activities and other resources included on this page too!

"Teaching Math to People Who Think They Hate It"

I came across this article. Just thought to share it with you all :) 

We need to have students make math at the secondary level or even younger!

Peer- and self-assessment criteria for Wednesday's micro teaching

Here is a form I've put together from our discussion of lesson planning in class today. Make sure to include all these elements in your lesson plan, to be posted to your blog by 9AM next Wednesday, October 21! You can experiment with a one-page format for lesson planning that suits you.

Peer- and self-assessment of 10-minute microteaching  EDCP 342A  Oct. 21, 2015

Name of person teaching:

Topic:                                                               Your name:

Please rate:  1=low, 2=moderate, 3=high,	1	2	3
Objectives & goals made clear
Opening: “hook” or interesting start
Materials well organized
Check-in on learners’ prior knowledge
Participatory activities included
Learning of ideas and skills developed
Timing well planned
Closing: finishing up, indicating closure
Assessment (formal and/or informal) of the learning
Indication of applications or future directions

Comments & suggestions:

Individual micro teaching for Wed. Oct. 21

Here are the instructions from the class whiteboards for your upcoming micro teaching assignment:

The Giant Soup Can of Hornby Island! A math puzzle for you to solve

A geometric puzzle with real-life connections:

On Hornby Island, BC, local artists were commissioned to paint the volunteer fire department's water tanks in a dozen different locations around the island. Pix Sutherland noticed that this tank was in exactly the same proportions as a Campbell's soup can and painted this (controversial) tribute to Andy Warhol's famous 1960s soup can pop art paintings.

Lots of math problems could come out of this story. Here's one: given the size of the actual Campbell's Soup can (of normal size) and the height of the bike in the photo, what are the dimensions of the volunteer fire department's water tank?

Our class outside with playing card polyhedra

A strong smell of gas in the hallways, leaving the building, a call to 911, and finally pulling the fire alarm ... it was an eventful class time on Monday! But our intrepid crew kept going, and we continued class outside and in, with great presentations of our math/art/learning projects! Here are some photos -- hope I got everyone in at least one photo here!

- Susan

Display More Posts On One Page

In case you are getting annoyed by having to click "Older Posts" to search for certain posts, and would like to have almost all the posts displayed on one page.
Save this link:

ourmathclassblog.blogspot.ca/search?
(or remember to add "/search?" at the end)

The page might load a tad slower.

Prime Number Pattern

I think that this website shows a good picture of Prime Number Patterns
Also, thought this would be interesting and can be used in our classrooms.

https://www.jasondavies.com/primos/

Let's do this in our UBC classroom -- in both degrees & radians!!

 I would really, really like to do this in our UBC classroom (in radians and degrees -- perhaps one on the ceiling, one on the floor?) I know that the door doesn't open all the way because it's blocked by a shelf -- so we might need to shift a bit of furniture too. But it is so worth it, don't you think?