Inquiry Project Reflection

 

Reflecting on the research process for my presentation has been a profoundly enriching experience, offering both challenges and invaluable insights into classroom management and motivational strategies. Diving deep into scholarly articles and practical resources, I learned how integral both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators are to fostering an engaging learning environment. This exploration highlighted the delicate balance teachers must maintain between fostering independence and providing necessary structure. During the activity as well, I liked low my peers liked the challenge of being a uncomfortable and coming up with things that they deem important for the opposite of the style of motivation that they had originally picked.

Through this project, I became more adept at synthesizing diverse educational theories and applying them to real-world classroom settings. Analyzing different approaches—from Peter Liljedahl’s innovative classroom practices to the psychological insights offered by motivational research—allowed me to see the multifaceted nature of teaching strategies. It was particularly enlightening to link theoretical concepts with practical applications, making the research relevant and actionable.

Compiling the annotated bibliography was challenging yet rewarding, as it forced me to critically evaluate sources and distill complex ideas into concise, insightful summaries. This not only sharpened my analytical skills but also improved my ability to communicate complex information clearly and effectively.

Ultimately, this project reinforced my belief in the power of education as a dynamic and transformative field. It has made me more reflective about my pedagogical approaches and more committed to continuing my professional development as an educator. The research process has been a journey of growth, pushing me to question, adapt, and innovate my teaching practices for the betterment of my students' learning experiences.

My Inquiry Slides

 

Here is the link to the google slides for my inquiry project. Excited to share my findings with the class!

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1gE6aPX3t4b4IsKmOcdaCf-q3vX1R5DAZCRE6GojssMg/edit?usp=sharing

Nov 28 - Exit Slip on making the Wurzelschnecke

 During today's online class via Zoom, it was a lot of fun to participate in the Wurzelschnecke making workshop. When I first looked at the image of this spiral on the class blog, I wasn't too confident that I could make it by myself and I wished I were in our physical classroom with everybody. But to my surprise, it wasn't a hard process at all. I was able to fit 14 triangles on my paper and the making of these triangles was so engaging and I was in a state of flow. I appreciated my classmates' mathematical insights in the chat section of zoom. There was also some wondering about where on the page is the best place to start and I appreciated Teij's explanation. It was very restorative to step away from all the final assignments and projects even for a little while and just do simple and beautiful mathematical activity.

After this, I exited zoom and worked on my own on the various assignments I needed to finish.

Annotated Bibliography

 For my inquiry topic, Effective classroom management strategies that engage students and motivate them intrinsically and extrinsically, here is the link to the annotated bibliography.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IP9NZ2kpOy8Fn8qgSF75IyVj9u6Gm5PzYJEpoye-ha4/edit?usp=sharing

Nov 14 Exit Slip - Dr. Ricketts

 I enjoyed our class with Dr. Ricketts. I came into class motivated to work hard to link her strategies and teaching styles to a math classroom but I was surprised to find out that I did not have to work hard at all. When we talk about integrating art into math, or learning math through art, it is as simple as working creatively. I loved her use of Dixit cards and embodying a character to express emotions. I learned that something as simple and cheap as popsicle sticks can be so powerful to get students to think a little out of the box and encourage collaboration.

For the activity performed in class, my group with Madison and Caris were given popsicle sticks and the task was to come up with curricular suggestions that we and our peers can use in our future classrooms. My idea was to use the popsicle sticks to play a modified Jeopardy game. In this game, each colour of the popsicle stick would represent a chapter of the curriculum, Student will be given a preset number of sticks that they have to use. This will ensure that the students play all the chapters rather than just the one they are most comfortable with.

Madison also had a great idea of using these sticks for feedback for the teacher. At the end of class, students would put coded popsicle sticks into a cup and that would tell the teacher how they feel about the content they were taught. Student can also have fun with this idea by pretending they were voting in an election. Madison's other beautiful idea was to use the coloured sticks in an old school Kahoot game where different colours would represent different options in a multiple choice question. Caris also had an excellent idea to visually learn about rational and irrational numbers by using colours of the sticks to represent patterns. She said that if the students can see a repeating pattern, they can conclude that the number is rational or not.

Nov 14 - Entrance Slip (Dr. Ricketts)

 Reading The Butterfly Catcher was an intense journey into the ways personal experience and art can intertwine to redefine one’s approach to life and creativity. One point that really stopped me in my tracks was Ricketts’ reflection on her initial self-centeredness as a dancer, focused on physical virtuosity rather than the deeper meaning behind the stories she portrayed. Her honesty in admitting this made me think about how easy it can be to become absorbed in technique or achievement, overlooking the emotional or communal aspects that could give our work more depth. This reflection made me question where I might have similar blind spots, and how I could cultivate a more mindful approach to my own teachings, passions and pursuits.

Another part that resonated deeply was her description of the “terrible beauty” in being a creative channel for her friend as he faced the end of his life. This idea of “intermingling souls” gave me a new perspective on the potential intimacy in collaborative work. It made me consider how art, and even simple acts of witnessing or storytelling, can hold and convey another person’s spirit and experiences, especially during difficult times. It left me wondering about the boundaries between our own narratives and those of the people who impact us.

Overall, this article left me with a renewed sense of how powerful it can be to see art as a shared journey rather than a solitary endeavour. Ricketts’ story encouraged me to approach creative expression as an act of empathy and shared humanity, a way to give voice to others as much as ourselves. It made me think not just about the art itself but the process and the people who shape it alongside us. And seeing the state of math classrooms today, we could use some of this in there!

Nov 7 - Exit Slip on choosing Inquiry project topic

 During my short practicum, I observed a bunch of different classes with different grade levels and something I was actively seeking out was a hard to manage classroom. I went to a few Workplace classes and Math and Science cores and one thing they all had in common was a "cool" teacher. It got me thinking about relationship building as a strategy to manage a difficult classroom. In one of the Math 9 classes, however, the teacher employed the use of "pride points" to get students to hand in their homework on time and behave a certain acceptable way adhering to her classrooms policy. This seemed to work really well for her; her students were the best behaved students, they would listen to her, hand in their work and be generally "good kids". It is important to note that the only reward these kids were getting was "points". When I was suddenly put in charge of another Math 9 class because their teacher wasn't feeling well and asked me to cover for her for 20 minutes, the kids saw this as an opportunity to cause chaos and i mentioned the pride points system to them as an extrinsic reward to get them to work on the assigned questions. Unanimously, the kids decided that this was a silly because there is no real reward at the end. Then I went around talking to teachers at this school trying to understand why this strategy worked for one set of grade 9's but it did not work for another set of grade 9's. I could be so that these kids had not yet experienced what it was like to get a pride point so they did not want to work for it, or it could be any other reason that I don't understand yet. So, for my inquiry project, I would like to research about effective classroom management strategies in a secondary math classroom with a focus on intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivators.