ECS 210
Before this class and the required readings/ videos I had no idea that there was more than one type of mathematics. I thought everyone, every culture learnt the exact same math, and viewed math the same way. But this not the case "Mathematics as a universal language is being challenged (Poirier, 2016)". Every culture "has developed their own different mathematical tools according to their needs and environment (Poirier, 2016)". According to Poirier there are six domains of mathematics in every culture; counting, localization, measuring, design, games, and explanation. Typically in a Eurocentric mathematics classroom, these six domains are taught by children following along with problems on the board and then given the opportunity to try and solve similar ones on their own, or with a partner. This is the way that I thought everyone learnt math, but I was wrong, many other cultures challenge the Eurocentric ideas about the purpose of mathematics and the way we learn it.
Inuit people have other ideas surrounding the purpose of the mathematics and the way it is taught; they believe that "education and socialization are achieved through praise, reward, recognition, and renewal ceremonies, actual experience and storytelling (Little Bear, 2015)". They also believe that education is a collective responsibility and that teaching through actual experience is done by relatives (Little bear, 2015)". This challenges eurocentric ideas because typically see mathematics as "certain and free from relationships (Russell, 2020)". I believe students should be able to relate and understand what they are learning, which is typically not the case in mathematics which could be why I always struggled with it. Having students be able to relate to the topic brings in more ideas, and can give the students a better understanding. Going back to my point on students using pencil and paper for math, goes against the Inuit way of learning math as they teach through storytelling and explanation. Our language of the white settlers and the Inuit people are different, "with Inuit people learning schooling up until grade 3 in Inuit language but then in grade 3 they begin to learn in English or French the language of the white settlers (Poirier, 2016)". This would cause confusion for Inuit students, as they would need to learn a new language and way of looking at Mathematics. In Inuit mathematics oral numeration looks different than English or French language, with Inuk meaning one person and Inuuk means two people. This could lead to why Inuit children have lower school scores than white settlers, if white settlers were forced to change their way of thinking and use a foreign language to them they would also have lower test scores. In many white settler schools the teaching of mathematics was of teaching results, instead of teaching the living and doing. We are teaching many students to fail because people aren't being able to connect to the learning and they are being forced to learn math one way; with a paper and pencil. Many other subjects are interdisciplinary, meaning other subjects can tie into the main subject. This is not taught in mathematics, it is a class that is taught that we can only focus on math and that no other subject can help to teach the subject of math. This is not true students use math daily such as "Calculating how much you have to read, or how much you read, or that you read a quarter or even looking at patterns in poetry (Russell, 2020)". Using other class subjects may allow a student to understand mathematics easier and will lead to success with students. In my school I grew up with a white settler dominant English speaking community and school. All of my classes were taught in English, making it difficult for any students who's first language wasn't English. Even in French class instructions and communication with teacher was mostly English. Throughout all of my schooling I had one teacher that was able to speak French, the rest of the time we used computer apps to learn French. French is one of Canada's official languages, if it is hardly used in school think about how little other's are used in the classroom. I remember a few First Nation's in my classes but all I heard them speak was English and to be honest I figured that's what they spoke because the education system didn't teach us their language or their culture. When I first remembered First Nation curriculum appearing in my education it was in High school. The First Nation class was optional, and the students who took it only took it because it was easy, all they did was word searches. My biases and lenses were taught to me all through my education, and within my community. I was thought that only the white English settlers education was important. This isn't the case and this is something I will continue to learn and work on changing, throughout my career and within my daily life. I think it is important to learn, and become educated, so that we learn to fight against the biases and lenses we were given when we were young. Educated myself can allow me to educate my future students, to understand there is more ways of life then the white settlers way. Citizenship Education8/7/2020 I do not remember a ton from my education that revolved around citizenship education. After reading "What kind of Citizen?" by Joel Westheimer and Joseph Kahne, I learnt that there are three kinds of citizenship. Personally Responsible citizen, Participatory citizen and Justice Oriented citizen. The way the article explained the difference between the three was that "personally responsible were the ones that contribute cans of food for homeless, participatory would be the ones that organized the food drive and the justice oriented ones would be asking why people are hungry and then fixing the problem (Westheimer, 2004)".
From my own education I remember little details surrounding around citizenship, but I don't remember teachers putting a focus on helping to shape the students, we mostly just focused on what I assume is from the curriculum. "Schools should help shape citizens; not just about job training (Westheimer, 2015)". Schools tried to teach us to be kind and treat others how we want to be treated, which would fit into the personally responsible citizen. We would also be asked to bring in non-perishable food items for food drives the schools had. We had a small focus also on participatory citizenship when we learnt about how government and community based organizations work; but I do not remember a huge focus on citizenship education. My lack of citizenship education is most likely similar to others. This could lead to why there isn't a ton of people offering to volunteer or address social issues and injustices. The lack of education around it is showing people that social justice issues and injustices are not important, this is why many people are not fighting for injustices today. We did not receive the education for it and were not shown the importance. As a future teacher I know it is my job to teach students about the three types of citizens and help them act on movements they find important. It is also important to talk about current events in the classroom because students are not going to learn how to fight for change when they are taught to avoid it. I am going to support my students in standing up for things they believe in, that acts to lead are important such as student walk outs (Cappello, 2018)". I also know it is my duty to keep learning about social justice issues so that I am better educated to educate my students. From the OHASSTA talks I learnt that political correctness occurs when we acknowledge the land but don't learn and fix our ways. I am making the promise to my future students and community that I will keep learning so that I can educate the future leaders. AuthorFourth Year Education Student ArchivesCategories |