HumaneMaths

“Culture refers to a group or community with which we share common experiences that shape the way we understand the world. it includes groups that we are born into, such as gender, race, national origin, class or religion. It can also include groups we join or become part of”, ( Axner, n.d.). The group I was born into As an Indian woman of a Hindu origin I am tailored by a combination of the cultural group that I was born into and the group that I moved to. They seemed incongruous. A world view can be “…a personal-subjective endeavor  or a communal-collective enterprise…” (Abi-Hashem, 2014). I was born with an individual tendency into a very highly collectivist culture. This was a traditional set up where a girl was considered as someone who will ‘get married and join another family’. Hence my upbringing was focused on being a good wife as a goal. My mother pushed me to bend to circumstances, develop house work skills, study and be self-sufficient. The skills were pr...

Concrete Experience: “what I did” section Giving children autonomy and agency in how they approach problems and explore potential solutions with others improves executive functioning (NAEYC, n.d.). Based on this, I organized a class where I gave the kids – who had laptops and wi fi – a website to self learn a topic from. I was quite pleased thinking that everyone will learn on their own and cultivate independence. This was my version of flipped classroom (Camiling, 2017) and used technology to redirect learning from large groups to individualized learning. Reflective Observations: “what I wonder” section As the class proceeded and I looked forward to a focused class where I would be mostly redundant, I found one kid very unsettled and crying. When asked, he said, “I do not wish to learn alone. I miss my friends and you. I am also unable to understand anything from the screen as the there is too much text and the yellow is hard to read from!” This stopped me in my tracks, as my careful...

  The two principles that I have selected are both different yet connected. They are very close to my way of teaching math where I focus on developing an eco system using variety of representations to differentiate it enough for each child to find a space in it. I vary content process and product depending on learning styles and student readiness (Teachings in Education, 2017). 1.      All domains of child development—physical development, cognitive development, social and emotional development, and linguistic development (including bilingual or multilingual development), as well as approaches to learning—are important; each domain both supports and is supported by the others (NAEYC, n.d.). When I was teaching middle school kids (now I work with a corporate in education), I often found that there were kids frightened of math. I discovered again and again that no matter how hard we tried, they would not learn math or learn it mechanically. So I realized that ...

  Active Learning Strategies  Active learning is defined as “instructional activities involving students in doing things and thinking about what they are doing” (Brame, 2016, pp.1.). The areas of active learning that interest me are thinking and exploring attitudes and values. (Brame, 2016). For this, the two strategies that I find most useful are: Problem based learning A bunch of students are huddled around a notebook with their pens deep into discussion. The problem given to them is a story based problem from Probability where they need to predict something. It is language heavy. The group is a mix of students good in maths and language. The language strong are explaining the story and the math strong are solving the problem simultaneously. Finally, the group leader ensures that everyone has grasped the solution for when they present the solution, anyone can be asked to explain a detail. “In problem-based learning, students work in small groups to investigate meaningful pr...

My Experience of ‘Primary Source’ My school was a traditional national curriculum school with rote learning as the base. Hence, I do not remember ever being exposed to primary sources. That primary sources can be used as an integration in the subject and there are bodies exploring PSP or Primary Source Project ( White, 2015) for such a work is an eye opener for me! From my experiences hence I will draw upon heritage walks that I took around New Delhi exploring Mughal and Hindu monuments with reputed Historians (Editors, L). I started when I moved to Delhi and wanted to explore the culture. When I did that, I discovered some stunning pieces of Mughal architecture that were totally based on geometrical perfection ( Treebo.com )! I wondered why Mughal architecture was so Geometrical with high arches and octagonal structures (Treebo.com) and went into History of it. I discovered that in Islamic buildings, surfaces are covered with art forms that are geometrical. For them, geometry is spir...

The search for any ‘one best way’ to teach children is doomed to fail  because it is a search for the impossible.   Hence I believe that we need to approach our professional role from a theory base. Have a theory, test it in the class, reflect on it and the refine it further. The cycle continues (Allen, 2005). The theory for me was formed by ( Robinson , 2008) when I heard ‘teacher is a gardener’. The pieces fell into place for me. Since then all that I learn is marked as another tool in my tool belt in order to have a set of handy tools to be used depending on the situation, here needs of the students. this set of units have added a lot to my belt. Discipline Literacy ( Chauvin, & Theodore, 2015) gave me the validation that the intuitive methods bringing in vocabulary of maths and journal writing with colours have merit. I also have a structure to bank upon now for further use. Common Core’s focus on literacy in education ( Caim , 2012) gave me the clarity on the basic...

Introduction  This is an IBMYP maths class. I am covering the chapter on Symmetry for grade 6 (IBMYP 1). For this topic, I want us to go outdoors as we have a huge school campus filled with flowery plants. I would like us to observe the flora and fauna from the perspective of design. Students are aware of the definition of symmetry and would choose symmetric and non-symmetric flowers or leaves. They would then come back to the class, pick colour paper and develop an individual or small group mural on it. We will wind up by them writing an individual note on the whole experience, covering their feelings and the understanding of symmetry driven by some questions. The assessment would be inter-disciplinary, covering art, team work, organisation, self-regulation, reflection and mathematical accuracy. Materials needed  (a) The students would need something to keep the collections in. I would get old newspapers for them from the library that they can use to press the flowers or le...

Why am I in the field of education? I am in the field of education as this is where I can make a difference. My forte is middle school and to make a difference at this transitory age where the foundation for the life is placed is deeply satisfying. It is my calling. My eternal search has been for a way of organizing or designing a classroom experience that allows the native intelligence in the students to bloom. I believe that it is not something that can be pre –determined. Like a gardener, we can create the right ingredients for the learners to grow naturally towards their originality but not force them. “Teachers are like gardeners”, ( Robinson , 2010) hence, is my personal philosophy. This is what brings me to constructivism, “an approach to learning that holds that people actively construct or make their own knowledge and that reality is determined by the experiences of the learner’ ( McLeod, 2019).” For it is my work to design a learning environment through judicious use of bes...

Active Learning Active learning can be defined as learning that is centred around instructional activities that involve students in doing things as well as thinking about what they are doing. By its very nature, since it goes against the passive rote learning, it tends to place emphasis on students’ explorations of their attitudes and values. ( Brame , 2016). I need active learning approaches as my subject is maths, which universally evokes fear. ( Raghunathan , 2012). A passive class where students only memorize the rules and solve problems does not lead to mathematical mind-sets in the students and they lose interest. The stress of building a mathematical mind-set in higher classes exacerbates the fear and the groove of phobia is created that stays lifelong unless corrected. My zone is also middle school students and this is where due to all the changes that they go through in the adolescent stage ( Blakemore , 2012), all the more necessary to have learning strategies that help them ...

Introduction ( Davis, 2010 ) examined two different instructional approaches in her own grade 2 classroom to check the influence on students’ reading capabilities. She employed several practices such as student choice, collaboration, and shared control of learning outcomes and has given ways in which teachers can organize reading instruction in such a way that it integrates literacy development with life skills. ( Davis , 2010) used socio cultural theory and judicious use of instructional tasks to assist her in her action research. In socio cultural context, students make meanings based on exchanges with a number of social factors in the environment. As per literacy tasks, students experience and make sense of literacy instruction based on the organization of learning activities. She also used several methods, out of which choice and collaboration stood out for me. While the research was limited to a single classroom only, the impact was quite concrete. Student engagement was more and...