Sep 24th Class Exit Slip

 I really enjoyed our class in the garden today, the biggest reason being that I feel like the activities we did are incredibly applicable to our own classrooms. It made me appreciate how many different ways you can incorporate outdoor learning into a math curriculum that I haven’t even considered. It really felt like we had the garden/nature as a co-teacher today. 

I thought the measuring activity was really useful as it got me thinking creatively (in terms of how many ways to measure things with our bodies), so I can only imagine how fun it would be with high schoolers. It was also great that it required such little equipment (yourself and something to calibrate your measurements with), yet allowed you to make some pretty close estimates of really big areas! This could be a great way to get kids thinking outside the box, as well as give them the tools to keep trying this at home (since all they need is themselves!). Definitely a good tactic to get them moving their bodies and thinking critically. 

I also really loved the idea of creating a sun dial with a class (even though we were only able to look at an example at the end of class today, it got me quite excited). Not only is this a wonderful way to include some art in the classroom – while still centering math concepts as you work your way towards understanding and constructing a sun dial – it’s also a way to get kids thinking about learning from place since so much of what allows it to work is understanding how our positioning on earth will impact shadows/the sun’s trajectory in the sky. It’s an especially interesting intersection between math and science which I am really intrigued by (since those are my two teachables!). It would also be a great way to have a physical product of students' work that you can bring out again and again throughout the year to check back with. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the activities from class today because I feel like they are really directly translatable to our own classrooms, and I think there would be real excitement around them from high school students. It has a little something for everyone – some math, some science, and some history (since we’re looking at techniques they would have used thousands of years ago!). Definitely something I will be taking note of for my future classroom.

Sep 24th Entrance slip: teaching and learning gardens

The first thing that made me stop when reading this article was the idea of an alterglobal movement as I had never heard of this term before, but I really resonate with the idea of giving more agency to individuals and communities, especially with the goal of environmental justice. Particularly in today’s world that is filled increasingly with climate change doom, it can be incredibly hard for students (and really anybody) to feel a sense of hope. Doing something like incorporating a learning garden that employs collaboration and an appreciation for the outdoors can be a really great way of mitigating that helplessness. It is incredible what cooperation and seeing the fruits of your labour can do for morale. A second thing that made me stop was the mention of having the learning gardens be co-teachers, as I think this is a really excellent way to frame that. It’s easy to think about the location in which you are learning to be just that – a space. But it plays such a big role in how we learn, especially when it is an outdoor environment, that it definitely can be considered another instructor. I think this is incredibly relevant with how important it is that we focus on learning from place, and showing respect for the land we inhabit, especially since most of us are settlers here. It is an excellent opportunity to have some real hands-on experience with local environments and first peoples ways of knowing (depending on where you go and what you discuss with that). 

In terms of applying these concepts to my own subject areas at a high-school, I think Vancouver is the perfect place to do so. In my experience, there is such an emphasis on green spaces in this city, that no matter what school you teach at, there is a good chance that the school has access to a greenspace/garden, or is a short walk from a park or community garden. I think it would be really beneficial to incorporate that into teaching both biology and math. This can be through ways that we have done so in this class, with moving the learning space outdoors even if we don’t always discuss what is around us. I can say that my own experience has taught me that this can make a real difference in mood and appreciation for the environment without even really needing to discuss it. Even doing something like the sit spots activity we did last week can help centre students in the midst of what is undoubtedly a really busy time in their lives, making a big impact on their happiness and ability to focus on future tasks in the class. Moreover, especially for biology, it would be really cool to base your activities and content matter in the space you are in. For instance, running an experiment on different soil qualities impacts on plant growth in your learning garden as a way of exploring environmental science and its implications for agriculture. There is a lot of value in doing hands-on learning experiences with science, and having the opportunity to do so outdoors can be even more influential in having students understand the actual applications of the things they are studying. 

There are of course some challenges to this, the biggest one being if the school you are at does not have access to a garden. I think there are some ways you could try to work around this, possibly by working with like-minded colleagues to petition the school to use an empty space for a small garden, or some other little changes that could contribute to the same ideals of teaching in and with living organisms. Even if it is having a collection of plants along your windowsill, it's worthwhile. Of course, this needs to be within the bounds of your administration, but it is remarkable what can be accomplished when you work with people with the same goals. 

Ultimately, I think it is valuable to do what you can with what you have, as really any small step towards community cooperation and learning in a green space is a meaningful one. I am eager to see where I will be teaching to think of some actionable steps I can take to incorporate learning gardens into my classroom.

Sep 17th Class Exit Slip

I really enjoyed the idea of sit spots in today's class as this was something that I hadn’t heard of before. I am a really big fan of connecting with nature, especially with how deeply ingrained technology is in today's world. It feels like often times we can live entirely in our heads, or online, and never take any time to really feel like we are a part of the physical world. Getting the chance to sit in class and sketch – also something I really haven’t done before – was a real treat, and made me appreciate the difference in mood and happiness that just taking a couple minutes to truly notice your surroundings can make. I want to see how I can try and incorporate this into my own pedagogy to give my students these same benefits, and if this is not possible, I definitely want to continue doing it for myself. 

I was also intrigued by our conversation towards the end of class about the role that reflection plays in our pedagogies, and how we can build it into our day. Especially with how busy our lives are currently (and undoubtedly will be when we are teaching), it’s so important to find these little times to fit in reflection so that we can continually better ourselves. I really liked when some groups mentioned incorporating it into something that was already part of your routine (such as on the drive home/to work) because this seemed really practical. I also liked the idea of having a small notepad/way of taking quick notes as you go throughout the day to ensure you can recall everything that happened, and then spending more time properly debriefing it later, possibly over dinner that night or to avoid doomscrolling! I will definitely be considering what spaces I have in my routine to try and incorporate this.

Entrance Slip for Sep 17th (Being a Reflective Teacher)

 

Despite the fact that this article was written 40 years ago, I think there are still some really relevant points when it comes to my experience in teacher education in 2026. Notably, the article talks about how teaching candidates will be consistently bombarded with advice/suggestions for teaching practices by not only their professors, but also the teachers they work with. Even though we have yet to embark on our practicum, I believe this is still incredibly true nowadays, as it has felt like a big point of the program is to help us develop our own pedagogies and identities by offering a slew of different activities, philosophies etc. we can use. I can imagine this will only be furthered during our practicum when we are able to observe teaching in action and receive direct feedback instead of the more theoretical practice we get in our own education. Moreover, the article emphasized the importance of being reflective of your own teaching and in particular the educational, social, and political context in which our practice exists, something I feel has only gotten more relevant in recent years. Especially with how careful this program has been to urge us to seek out and consider differing view points, and help us understand that our actions exist within the context of a social institution and have far reaching consequences, this has clearly been a relevant topic for over four decades. I honestly felt that much of the larger sentiment in this article was still relevant for us as teaching candidates, especially the amount it highlighted being reflective as I agree that that is arguably the most important quality you can have as a teacher, particularily if you want to continuously improve. Apart from a few instances of examples that felt dated (such as when it asked us to question why “is math taught every day but science taught only once per week” which I do not believe to be the case anymore), I think much of the heart of this article has remained relevant since its release, and much of it speaking to my own intentions and goals within the program. 

I think this has furthered my ideas of teacher inquiry by further cementing the importance of reflective teaching in its development of open-minded, productive teachers, and how inquiry inherently rests in reflection. I think we have all been aware of this, especially since it has been mentioned several times over the past week, but this article has given us some of the terms and examples to further understand it. For instance, defining routine action versus reflective action and what these two types of action/teaching can lead to and thus how important it is to be a reflective teacher if we want to make a positive impact on education as a whole. And, how reflective teaching will lead us to question our actions, and of those around us, leading to further inquiry into what pedagogies and philosophies are personally worthwhile. I think it also offers a call to action to us as teaching candidates to enter this program already primed to be curious and critical of different practices and choices, helping us develop a sense of inquiry and reflection before we’ve even got into the meat of the matter, which I believe will help us be better teachers entering the field. 

September 10th (Class 1) Exit Slip

I found both the video we watched today as well as the subsequent discussion afterwards to be intriguing for a few reasons. My main takeaway was that I really enjoyed the concept of meeting the students where they’re at, and not forcing them to digest a lesson plan or content that they are adamantly against. Instead, use these strong feelings on the subject matter to follow them along on that emotional journey to still discuss what you sought out to teach, but maybe not in the way you thought. I imagine this will help quite a lot with our own energy and motivation as teachers, as it is takes much more effort to try and push students (especially teenagers) towards a desired goal that they have no desire to get to, than it is to follow them on their own journey and try to recontextualise it to suite our ‘hidden agenda’. I do wonder, however, what this sort of pedagogy would look like in a math course. It is easy to picture how you could apply it within an English class (as was discussed in the video), but I am struggling a bit on how one could do it if the students are vehemently against, say, trigonometry. Something to consider in the coming months. 

Another question that the video raised for me, was the idea of ‘dropping the act’ and showing a more personal side to your students in order to receive a similar amount of trust and truth back, and what that could imply in terms of the burnout of teachers. It is well known that there is a decently high burnout rate among educators, and I wonder whether deciding to take a more personal philosophy when it comes to your students aids or harms that. Specifically, whether it is more taxing to maintain a professional ‘act’ when you are teaching, or to share and give more personal parts of yourself to the job. I am honestly not sure of the answer. I do believe that the latter can offer a more genuine perspective and enable you to connect with your students more, but it is also important to maintain your own boundaries and only share/give what you are comfortable with. This is a question I would be eager to hear more thoughts on, as well as spend this year reflecting on for my own practice.

Hello World!

 Hi everyone! I'm super excited to be starting this year with you all!