{"id":1173,"date":"2024-04-19T15:52:09","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T22:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/rileyrae\/?p=1173"},"modified":"2024-04-19T17:46:55","modified_gmt":"2024-04-20T00:46:55","slug":"reflection-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/rileyrae\/2024\/04\/19\/reflection-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflection 3: Theology of the Matrix"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Observations<\/strong><\/td>Reflections<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
He told me in his grade 10 English class they talk about AI at the beginning. He gets personal with these topics throughout the year. They think deeply about what they have taken for granted. His goal for Composition 12 is to help students see themselves as members of a society and agents of change. He also said that in grade 11 (which was last semester), they spoke about intellectual virtue. What does it mean to write, cite, and share in a virtuous way?<\/td>I like how he has major targets for each course that reach overall concepts. These Big Ideas connect to EDUC 321 because the enduring understanding he hopes for students informs all decisions for learning. He uses the backwards design method from our Understanding By Design test.<\/td><\/tr>
To gather the grade 10s’ attention, he counts down from 5.<\/td>I was wondering how to get attention in classes with older students because my field experiences have been with middle school and elementary so far. Most of the techniques for gathering elementary students’ attention would feel belittling in a high school student. I don’t want to treat high schoolers like young children, but I do need a way of calling them to attention when they are talking at the beginning of class. Counting down from five doesn’t feel perfect, but it is better than “1-2-3, eyes on me.” I noticed he also has a bell-like they had at my previous classroom experience.<\/td><\/tr>
They are doing a unit on The Matrix. A video about the “Theology of The Matrix” was watched. He talked about ways the movie can connect to Christianity, Buddhism, and possibly Daoism. He asked them to think about “Why are we studying this.” (movies) Students answered referring to how the movie could connect to their learning targets and various writing skills. He responded, saying, “But what does that do for you?” “Ultimately, why would this matter in your life ten years from now?” “It’s not just fun to watch movies.” He didn’t satisfy students with answers to these questions, but just left them wondering as we moved on to the next bit. He said to come to him later with an answer to this question to get a bonus mark for extending.

He has “fake money” bonus marks that students can staple onto an assignment to receive a bonus mark. He keeps track of them so they cannot be forged. <\/td>		He wants students to think for themselves about why they are learning what they are learning and how it can deeply matter for them.

I might consider using something like fake money, but I have hesitations about using extra credit. In EDUC 401, we talked about how this can distort grading. This is because the student who gains the bonus point might put the point on an assignment in which they have not met the learning target. The bonus point communicates that the student is closer to the target than they are.

If I used fake money, I might do this for something fun unrelated to grades. For example, I might have a class store with candy or small prizes they can buy once they have connected enough pieces of the money. I don’t think extra assignments or behaviour should be graded because it changes the reporting of a student’s true understanding of a given learning target. It was a fun idea though, and I would not have seen the problem in it before taking EDUC 403. (Another alternative would be that the fake money has to be attached to an already-proficient assignment in the same learning target area. This allows for extending rather than making something proficient that shouldn’t be proficient.
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For a brain break that involves movement and getting air to their brains, we played “Never Have I Ever” with a technique that involves switching chairs. It reminded me of musical chairs. The person who is too slow to get a seat is the next person to say something they have never done. Then, everyone who has done that thing has to get up and find a new seat. <\/td>I like this because it involves movement, engagement, fun, and bonding between students. Students get to know each other and find similarities with shared experiences they have had. I can see myself using this game in my future classroom.<\/td><\/tr>
Today students presented on archetypes. I noticed that a student in one group did not speak English while his partner was quite knowledgeable in their presentation. She helped him pronounce things through the presentation. The rest of the class zoned out while he spoke because it was slow and difficult to understand. I could tell he was nervous and wasn’t confident enough in the language to speak with expression and enthusiasm. <\/td>I wondered a few things. How does the teacher assess small groups for this? It would be difficult to know the amount of the work done by each student behind the scenes. Do they receive the same mark? I see how this is good for the struggling student to learn more from his partner, but I can see it being frustrating for the partner. She would have to put in more work than her other classmates for the assignment and support him through it all when she needs to focus on her own work. I also wonder: were the remainder able to understand and gain from this presentation? Could there have been a different role or accommodation for the language barrier of this student? Could he have been put in a group with students of a similar skill level so that grading and work put in could be more evenly balanced? Would there be an option for a totally different assignment for this student? Could an EA have worked in this group so the English-speaking student didn’t have to do more work on their project? In EDUC 401 we talked about putting students with similar work ethics in the same group so those who want to strive for extending will get it. This makes the group work more balanced. I know the ELL student might have a strong work ethic, but the situation is similar because he has a significant barrier in comparison to his peer. I remember often being the hard-working student in high school. I would carry a lot of the load in group assignments. I enjoyed groups with people who had a similar excitement around the project. I do see a struggle here in the fact that students may feel compared with each other on the day of the presentation. Students will notice that some presentations are much better than others. That might be a risk I have to take. Also, being in a group without hard-working students might get the lower-achieving students to step up when they realize they cannot coast through this presentation. Learning is increased for all.

In EDUC 401, the professor mentioned having discretion for this. I would not want to have all ELL students in the same group because that is unfair for them as well. They may work hard but just not understand. If I was teaching in the example observation I made, I might make this a group of three or require a smaller workload. I would talk with the group as they delegate to make sure each member has a balanced and realistic amount of work.<\/td><\/tr>
He called homework “homefun.”<\/td>That was funny. It also reframes the mindset around homework.<\/td><\/tr>
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Observations Reflections He told me in his grade 10 English class they talk about AI at the beginning. He gets personal with these topics throughout the year. They…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1490,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-educ-403"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/rileyrae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/rileyrae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/rileyrae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/rileyrae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1490"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/rileyrae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1173"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/rileyrae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1188,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/rileyrae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173\/revisions\/1188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/rileyrae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/rileyrae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/rileyrae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}