Reflective Journal for Module 2: Success for All

Junior ABQ
Lakehead University
Written by: Tianna Barnes

Learning can be a challenging endeavor for all parties involved. Support is the key

for each and every person and each and every person is different in their own rights. This

means that a wide range of supports is the best way to reach everyone involved.

When talking about learning, people often focus on what the students need. I agree

that this is the most important considerations. However, without the teachers the students

will be at a loss. When teachers collaborate and help each other, it creates “a dramatic

improvement in the culture itself that builds teaching capacity and improves student

achievement” (2014). This can be lost if us teachers do not act on the intended information.

I have experienced in my own short career teaching how beneficial collaboration between

staff can be for the students. While I was still in University, I worked for an organization run

called Superior Science, that was run through Lakehead University. The main goal of the

summer camp was to involve students in science in an active and hands on manner and to

engage the children’s minds into an inquiry mindset. The staff was small and collaboration

was crucial. If each and every one of us did not support the others, we would not have

succeeded in supporting science in the minds of young learners. We would not have been

able to be prepared for the quick paced summer camps. This was my first great experience

in sharing resources and ideas and mental/emotional support. More recently, I have moved

to Germany where there is a bit of a barrier between the teachers who speak English and

those who speak German. This is not necessarily any one person’s fault, but it causes

tension. Last teaching year, there was one staff member in particular who would not

collaborate with anyone and would not listen to the advice of more experienced teachers

claiming that he knew everything that he needed to know. He decided not return this year. I
fully believe that he chose not to return because he was not receiving crucial support that

could have helped him through his first year of teaching.

With that being said, many of the staff here in Germany are amazing. I have had the

opportunity to collaborate with the Geography teacher and integrate mapping into a

geometry unit in mathematics. While it is a lot of work to integrate properly, so that

assessment can occur in both classes (when the school runs with subject specific teachers),

the outcomes are much more rewarding. Seeing the minds of the students spark into action

is thrilling. By making math more real-world oriented, I got to witness firsthand what the

Capacity Building Series meant by saying “Research tells us that students become involved

in learning when tasks enable them to answer their own questions and explore their own

interests” (2010). While the project may not have been everyone’s main interest, maps are

much more interesting to math students than drills worksheets and textbooks. Sometimes

the unexpected is enough to park the interest. In the same text, there were two points

together that were of particular interest. The ideas the in all activities we need to create

“entry points for all learners”(2010) and “opportunities to extend and challenge student

thinking”(2010). One of my professors at Lakehead University, Ann Kajander, explained this

as low floor and high ceiling and stressed that each activity should have this concept. While

implementing this idea is difficult, I think it is very important. The most efficient way that I

have been able to implement this concept is by creating activities that are based in the

real-world. When students are creating their own probability based games or containers of a

certain volume to hold a liquid, students can start as simple and go as difficult as they see fit

for their own learning. They often do and most will challenge themselves. It is amazing to

watch.

Creating projects like the ones stated above also gives some freedom of the

presentation of the work and information gathered. Some students will choose to analyse

number and do the creating later where some will choose to create first and analyse as they
go or after they finish and then make adjustments as they need to. Some will use

technology to organize information and some will go straight to pencil and paper. Other

interests will show as well as some grade 6 students will create games based on their

hobbies and some grade 9 students will present perfume bottles based on current issues

that they are learning about in ethics class. Learning in a project based environment can

seem messy and many people always question how effective the learning can be (especially

in math) when the procedure is learned through the discovered information of projects.

However, there are studies that show that “when students learn conceptually, they actually

develop the procedural skills along the way” (A.Kajander, T.Boland, 2014, pp. 5).

By using the above practice in the classroom, I also found that students were

automatically using their strengths. After reading Edward Garcia Fierros’ paper on Multiple

Intelligences, I saw some patterns. The students who just start to build probably have

strengths as Kinesthetic learning and those who start to analyse are mathematical/logical

learners. Even without meaning to, I was reaching some students’ strengths in learning. I

see now that I am missing focusing on some other intelligences and want to work to include

as many possibilities for differences in strengths as I can because as Fierros says “it is

important to consider the different intelligences in the creation of a learning curriculum” but,

“it is also important to remember that addressing all the different intelligences in one lesson

or unit is not the ultimate goal”(2004. I think I will make it my goal to reach them all in one

year. This will be a good starting point that I believe to be achievable and then I can grow

from there.

The one other thing that I need to improve on is including parents throughout the in

class process of learning. I actively send materials and suggestions home to parents to help

support students at home, but rarely bring parents into the math classroom. I know that I

have a wealth of parents at my school who interact with math on a daily basis. I believe I

could use them as a unit introduction to relate the upcoming topic to the real world. This
may increase student engagement as a way for them to see why the math can be useful. It

will also support the idea that “student learning and achievement improve when parents play

and active role in their education” (Parents in Partnership, 2010). Students seeing their

parents at school will see that they care about their education.

References

Ontario Government. (2014). Promoting Collaborative Learning Cultures: Putting the

Promise into Practice. ​Ideas Into Action.​ Kingston, Ontario.
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/policyfunding/leadership/ideasintoactionbulletin3.pdf

Ontario Government. (2010). Integrated Learning in the Classroom. Capacity Building

Series. #14.
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/CBS_integrated_learning.p
df

A.Kajander, T.Boland. (2014). ​Mathematical Models for Teaching: Reasoning Without

Memorization​ (1st ed). Toronto, Ontario. Canadian Scholars’ Press Inc.

Edward Garcia Fierros. (2004). How Multiple Intelligences Theory Can Guide Teachers’
Practices. Arizona.
http://www.niusileadscape.org/docs/FINAL_PRODUCTS/LearningCarousel/How_Multiple_Int
elligences_Theory_Can_Guide_Teachers_Practices.pdf

Parents in Partnership. (2010). A Parent Engagement Policy for Ontario Schools.

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/parents/involvement/PE_Policy2010.pdf