New perspectives

A view from my window...

What an outstanding week I had at the beginning of May in Victoria!  The weather was been beyond beautiful, coupled with the fact that I took a float plane for the first time, and worked with some visionary mathematics educators to draft  new curriculum.  Although I missed Scott, the kids, and Buddy our dog, I didn't mind having a whole bed to myself for several nights without hearing or feeling any little children's feet pitter-pattering their way into my bed and wrapping about my legs.  I was glad for the good night's sleep as I needed to be well rested for the thinking required of me during the day.

Stunning islands...

I pulled on my word of the year 'strength' many times during this week.  First, I had to be brave on the float plane.  I like flying but get nervous when I feel turbulence and when we met a few bumps on the way over, I frantically looked for a handle to hold on to... which there wasn't!  Minus the minor movements over the gulf, the flight was breath taking!  

Second (and this occurred more many times during the week) as I sat in the presence of the team of math educators working with me on the Math Curriculum, I questioned my position among these vastly experienced teachers in the area of mathematics.  I have always been passionate about mathematics but have never been required to think deeply about the big ideas in mathematics, which are important and how they could be articulated in words.  As I sat, listened, learned and contributed to conversations,  I honestly marvelled at my team members' brillance and felt honoured to spend the week with these amazing educators.  It was an experience I will never forget.  It brought me to a deeper level of understanding of mathematical pedagogy and for this I will forever be grateful.

Later today I leave for the ConnectEd Canada Conference in Calgary and I look forward to coming together with other math educators who are interested in the powerful learning and understanding that can occur when teachers combine inquiry-based approaches with technology in mathematics.  I anticipate an intense but fun weekend of learning and seeing new perspectives!  And I am excited for a Saturday evening with my cousin and her kids!

The bridge to Westham Island!

Minoru park and downtown Richmond.

Confessions of a student

If someone were to have observed me from afar this week, it would have become quite evident that changes were occurring in my behaviour patterns.  Funny things started to happen including me cleaning areas in my house that had not been touched in awhile (or ever!) and items on my "to-do list" began to disappear rapidly.  One might call this productive, while others who know better could tell you that this was actually my unique way of procrastinating.   This week I began my final two Master's classes.

Below is a link to one of the Photobooks I finished this week of our fun Springbreak trip with Scott's family to Cancun, Mexico!

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Marvellous Mathematical Memories with Matthew

Moments of pride occur for parents when we are able to see our child shine ~ these become moments we truly cherish!  One that stood out for me occurred a couple of weeks ago at Delta’s Math Celebration held at Port Guichon Elementary School.

My son Matthew was invited to participate in this outstanding, well-organized math event held by Donna Bletcher, Delta’s Mathematics Consultant.  Students were grouped into teams that worked collaboratively to share, discuss strategies, and discover solutions to mathematical problems.  As a math educator, I loved that the focus went beyond simply getting the right answer and instead valued the process of learning.  An inquiry approach was used as the questions were open-ended and had multiple pathways to answers.  This promoted active learning requiring both a hands-on and minds-on approach.  Points were awarded for exploration, communication, risk taking, use of multiple strategies, and cooperative learning.  Students worked as communities of learners, helping and learning from each other. 

As I observed my son and the other students in the room, you could see the high levels of engagement, enjoyment and motivation, as evidenced by the smiles and laughter upon the faces of all of the participants and observers.   It was mathematics at its finest!

Not only was I proud to be Matthew’s mom, I was proud to be a parent in the Delta School District.  A huge thank you to Donna Bletcher and all of the other educators who took part in creating proud mathematical memories for students and parents of Delta schools.

Matt's close buddy Nolan doing some big math thinking!

Matthew and his team!  He is on the far right.

The Neilson Grove Students!