first peoples principles Archive - Mathematics and Science in SD#38 (Richmond)

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2019-2020 primary teachers study group: session one

Posted on: October 16th, 2019 by jnovakowski

This year’s primary teachers study group has chosen the focus of trans-disciplinary learning in outdoor settings, connecting to the land and to place. For our first session of the year we met at McNeely Elementary on October 3, hosted by Anna and Shannon. Teachers were able to choose a focus book from four selections that we will draw upon over our time together this year.

Jess Eguia framed our focus around thinking about planning through big ideas and concepts and shared some planning frameworks to support our work together.

Concept and planning handouts from Jess Eguia:

Change Concept Handout

Conceptual Teacher Tool

Anna and Shannon shared the planning they have been doing with Jess and the three questions that are framing their year of learning with their students.

We moved outside to the wooded area near McNeely. Teachers were asked to think about how the land inspired them to think about concepts. Some of us began with a concept and looked for where we made connections to that concept.

With thanks to Jessica Szeto of Anderson Elementary for sharing her knowledge of local mushroom species. “For Richmond/Vancouver specific mushrooms that are more urban, the ones in the list are the ones that come to mind. There are also some other mushrooms that have been spotted in Richmond, but they look quite similar to each other (ie. russulas, cone caps) and need some closer looks at the gills and spores to identify. But the ones above are the most memorable and easy to identify!”

Mushrroom pictures and list: Mushroom PDF

Our study group is in its seventeenth year and has endured because of the teachers involved and the participatory nature and the valued contributions within our group.

Looking forward to our next session together in November and how we might share our thinking.

~Janice

professional learning from the summer of 2019

Posted on: September 2nd, 2019 by jnovakowski

Hi there,

It was a full and fun summer. I had lots of time to work on projects, read books, spend time with family and friends, tend to the garden, learn some new things and enjoy being outside where we live. I was also fortunate to travel a bit for work and build in some exploration time in the places I visited. All things that I like and bring my joy.

I receive and purchase a LOT of professional books. Books are a weakness for me and I often don’t have the time to read every new professional book I get. Because I often am asked to recommend books to schools, districts, etc my reading process is that I read the summary on the back cover or inside, I read through the tables of contents and then I skim through the whole book to get a sense of the flow of the book and to see how images, infographics etc are used. Finally, I choose one section or chapter of interest to read through completely. I feel okay about recommending books based on this process. Over the summer, I enjoy taking the time to read a selection of professional books cover to cover, usually about one a week in combination with my other reading for enjoyment. I received a new work iPads in June with an Apple pencil and my commitment this summer was to practice sketchnoting. The following are the sketch notes summarizing the professional books I read this summer.

In July I was invited to contribute to the updating of FNESC’s First Peoples Mathematics teaching resource. The existing resource was focused on grades 8&9 and can be found on the FNESC website here. The updated resource will focus on grades 5-9 and include adaptations for senior grades and K-5. It will be sent out to teachers to review this fall and will likely be ready spring 2020.

I attended a conference about early mathematics research in Portland, Oregon. The conference focused on current research and sessions were led be researchers and educators from across the USA. I learned about the DREME network from Stanford and the resources they offer and I was also fortunate to attend a session led by educators from the Boulder Journey School.

My husband rode his bike down to Portland and met me there so we made a little holiday out of it. It was my first time attending this conference and I hope to go again next year. More info can be found here.

I had less then 12 hours at home from our trip to Portland before I flew off to Chicago. I was honoured to be invite to a Public Math Gathering organized by the Public Math group. More info about their initiatives can be found here. There were educators from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Washington and Chicago as well as artists and museum folk from the Chicago area. We participated in a neighbourhood event on the Friday evening and then visited the “famous” Mr. Bubble laundromat where we observed how math initiatives (form the group as well as provided by the Chelsea Clinton Foundation) were being used by families in the space. We then spent the afternoon designing and prototyping new math installations for the laundromat. We went back to the laundromat Sunday morning to observe how our installations engaged the public. It was such an inspiriting experience to work with such a diverse group of people around math.

The summer always gifts me some sustained time to devote to writing projects. For many summers it was my academic writing but the last few summer I have been working on a book with a colleague, Misty Paterson. We finished off our edits in early July and sent things off to the printers. We held a book launch for Pop-Up Studio in Vancouver on August 28 – so great to be able to finally hold a book that took on a life of its own. More information about the book can by found on MIsty’s website here.

I am one of the members of the BC Numeracy Network (if you aren’t familiar, the website is here) and a subgroup of us met this summer to begin work on a resource to support professional learning in mathematics teaching and learning. It is always great to be able to work with colleagues that have become good friends. Look for our project coming out this fall!

And my final writing project of the summer was the first issue of our BC Reggio-Inspired Mathematics Project magazine. The first issue is called Thinking About Mathematics through materials. Teachers from eight Coast Metro districts contributed to this magazine which captures our collaborative professional inquiry focus from the last school year. More information about the magazine, including ordering information, can be found on our website HERE.

For the last couple of years my curiosity has been piqued by images I have seen of beautiful geometry art shared on twitter. With some investigation I found an online Islamic Geometry course that many math teachers on twitter have taken and I signed up with a commitment to do the first introductory/basic course this summer. I learned a lot, made lots of connections (was excited to visit the Islamic Art wing in The Art Institute of Chicago) and am inspired to find ways to embed my new learning in math studio experiences. Information about the course I took can be found here. Thank you to Samira Mian for her detailed explanations and lovely videos.

Another highlight of a very mathy summer was visiting the Numbers in Nature exhibit at Science World where I got some great ideas for projects and having our district’s Math Play Space at Richmond’s annual Garlic Festival. You can read more about that here.

Wishing you all a wonderful September,

Janice

2018-2019 primary teachers study group: session six

Posted on: June 7th, 2019 by jnovakowski

Our final session of the year was hosted at Thompson Elementary on May 16. Inspired by our core resource, Messy Maths by Juliet Robertson, we created outdoor ten frames using pieces of cotton fabric and sharpies. These ten frame can be used to count quantities of found objects to ten as well as using for grouping smaller objects like pebbles or acorns. And they are washable and re-usable and can be used in the rain which makes them ideal for outdoor learning where we live!

We also used rubber mallets on cotton cloth to create leaf and flower prints to explore the shape, size and symmetry of local plants. This is the just right time of year to do this when the cells of plants and petals are full of moisture.

Teachers shared the different ways we have been using our focus picture book Flow, Spin, Grow by Patchen as we have found growing, swirling and branching patterns outdoors.

We also shared information about the Lost Ladybug Project – a fun way to engage students in looking closely for ladybug species, taking photographs and sharing the location of the find with the world through the website HERE

The Thompson team toured us through their outdoor learning space and showed us their student’s mapping project.

Thank you to Denise, Tanya and Danielle and their teacher candidates for hosting us!

We have surveyed the group and it looks like next year’s focus will be interdisciplinary learning outdoors. We will be able to connect our work around storytelling and math outdoors from the last two years as we move forward together in our professional learning.

~Janice

March thinking together: engage in problem-solving experiences connected with place, story and cultural practices and perspectives

Posted on: March 14th, 2019 by jnovakowski

This month’s curricular competency focus is engage in problem-solving experiences that are connected to place, story, cultural practices and perspectives relevant to local First Peoples communities, the local community, and other other cultures. This curricular competency is the same across grades K-12 and courses and falls under the organizer of “Understanding and Solving” which suggest the focus of using contextual and meaningful experiences to support mathematical understanding.

Elaborations are suggestions for educators to consider as they plan for developing this curricular competency:

in daily activities, local and traditional practices, the environment, popular media and news events cross-curricular integration
have students pose and solve problems or ask questions connected to place, stories and cultural practices

The focus and thinking behind this curricular competency are the ideas of authenticity, meaningfulness, engagement and connectedness. Not all mathematics learning needs be contextualized or connected to “real life” but for many students who may see math as something that they do at school between 9 and 10am and don’t yet see the relevance of the math they are learning, providing tasks and problems that connect to place, community and culture may support their mathematical thinking and learning and broaden their understanding and appreciation for what math is and how it can be experienced. Experiential and holistic learning are foundational to the First Peoples Principles of Learning and these are considerations for all learners. The First Peoples Principles of Learning also remind of us of the importance of connecting learning through place and story, working with others and developing a self of self, family, community and culture. This curricular competency is aligned with the Personal and Social Core Competency – positive personal and cultural identity, personal awareness and responsibility and social responsibility.

Some resources to consider:

Messy Maths by Juliet Robertson (elementary resource for taking math learning outdoors)

Tluuwaay ‘Waadluxan Mathematical Adventures edited by Dr. Cynthia Nicol and Joanne Yovanovich (mathematical adventures from Haida Gwaii developed by community members, elders and educators)

BC Numeracy Network – Connecting Community, Culture and Place

First Peoples Mathematics 8&9 developed by FNESC – this teacher-created resource is being revised to reflect the current BC mathematics curriculum and provide more learning experiences across grades and disciplines.

Blog posts from this site with related information:

Place-Based Mathematics

Place-Based Mathematical Inquiry

Primary Study Group 2018-2019 – Outdoors Math

Indigenous Content and Perspectives in Math

Some questions to consider as you plan for learning opportunities to develop the competency of engaging in problem-solving experiences connected to place, story and cultural practices and perspectives:

How does place/land/environment inspire mathematical thinking? What potential numeracy or problem-solving tasks emerge when we think about local land-based contexts?

What problems or issues are facing the local community? How might mathematics help us to think about and understand these problems or issues? What information or data might be collected and shared? How can we use different tools to communicate mathematical information to create an opportunity for discussion and engaging in a problem-solving process?

How does Indigenous knowledge connect, intersect and support the curricular competencies and content in our mathematics curriculum? Who is a knowledge holder in your local First Nations community that you could learn from and with?

What are authentic resources? What stories and cultural practices are public and able to be shared? What doe it mean to use authentic resources, stories, and elements of culture in our mathematics teaching? How are resources specific to a local context? Who can we go to to find out more information and learn about local protocols?

What cultural practices in your community have mathematics embedded in them? How might we use the structure of “notice, name and nurture” to expand awareness of what mathematics is and how it can be experienced?

How can stories help us think about the passage of time, relationships, connections and mathematical structures, actions and models?

~Janice

2018-19 primary teachers study group: session 4

Posted on: March 11th, 2019 by jnovakowski

Our fourth session was held at Blair Elementary, hosted by Karen and Tanyia. They shared the development of their outdoor learning space and how it and the gardens are being used by teachers and students in the school.

We walked around the school grounds, looking for inspiration for mathematical thinking. At this time of year, you can really see the structure of the deciduous trees and it is an opportunity to notice lines, shapes and angles. With moss and lichen growing on some trees and on fences, there are lots of math-inspired questions that can be investigated around the life cycle, size and growth of these unique living things.

We noticed many trees with some interesting growth patterns and markings (some caused by pruning according to our master gardener Megan). What stories live in these trees? What might a timeline of a tree’s life look like? Seasons, years, decades – such an interesting lens to explore concepts of time through.

Sarah Regan and Megan Zeni were awarded this year’s June Chiba Sabbatical and used their release time to visit several outdoor/nature focused schools across southern BC. We were happy to host them and have them share some of their experiences.

Our next study group book is the Canadian children’s book Flow Spin Grow: Looking for Patterns in Nature. It connects really well with our focus this year of finding and investigating mathematics outdoors. After sharing our focus on twitter, the author shared his website where he has curated some resources to complement the book HERE.

I know my eyes will be open for all sorts of patterns – branching, spiralling, spinning – as spring emerges around us.

Have a lovely spring break!

~Janice

2018-19 primary teachers study group: session 3

Posted on: March 11th, 2019 by jnovakowski

Our third session was hosted by Jessica, Lisa, Laura and Sasha at Anderson Elementary. A couple of the teachers are particularly knowledgable about mushrooms and shared information about the fungi in the neighbourhood.

We walked through Garden City Park and the Anderson teachers shared how they use the space over the school year to observe and document seasonal changes. The students were also very observant of how the windstorms this fall/winter affected the park and the changes created by the storms. The City of Richmond has created an arboretum area on the west side of the park, with plaques identifying and describing the trees. There is also the opportunity to observe birds and other urban wildlife in the park.

A focus of some of the teachers has been on the human impact on the local environment. Some questions for teachers and students to consider:

How can mathematics help us to understand this issue?

What data/information could be collected and how could it be shared?

What information could be collected?

How might different ways of sharing information have an impact on understanding of the issue?

What actions could we take?

Looking forward to seeing how different schools and classes make connections between mathematics and their outdoor environment.

~Janice

2018-19 primary teachers study group: session 2

Posted on: December 12th, 2018 by jnovakowski

Our second session of this year’s primary teachers study group was hosted by Anna and Shannon at McNeely Elementary. Anna shared the book about mushrooms that her students researched and wrote after finding and investigating the mushrooms they found in their mini-forest near the school.

The class was also inspired by one of our study group books, Anywhere Artist, and went out into their mini-forest to create art with found materials.

The land art of UK artist James Brunt (on twitter at @RFJamesUK) also inspired us to take on the #100LeavesChallenge.

Anna and Shannon toured us through McNeely’s new outdoor learning space and through their mini-forest, adjacent to the school.

Together we shared ideas for how different plants, trees and animals could inspire mathematical thinking or questions to investigate.

Thank you to Anna and Shannon for hosting us!

~Janice

2018-19 primary teachers study group: session 1

Posted on: December 12th, 2018 by jnovakowski

Beginning our sixteenth year, the Richmond Primary Teachers Study Group met for the first time this school year on October 11 at Diefenbaker Elementary. As agreed upon by study group participants, this year’s focus is on the teaching and learning of mathematics in places and spaces outdoors, considering both how to take mathematics outdoors but also how the outdoors can inspire mathematical thinking.

Our three study groups books that we are going to draw inspiration from this year are:

Messy Maths by Juliet Robertson

50 Fantastic Ideas for Maths Outdoors by Kristine Beeley

Anywhere Artist by Nikki Slade Robinson

There are so many books and resources available to support our professional inquiry together this year.

We spent some time exploring the Diefenbaker garden, playground and new outdoor learning area and considering what math we could find in these spaces.

One of the tasks we did was using materials or referents to estimate and create the length of one metre. We followed this up by each making our own “Sammy the Snake” – a one metre length of rope (idea from the Messy Maths book). This length of rope can be part of a “go bag” to take outside for measuring lengths, perimeter, circumference of trees and to think about fractions (by folding the length of rope). It is a flexible tool to support students’ developing understanding of comparing, ordering and constructing concepts of measurement and number.

Thanks to the Diefenbaker team for hosting us!

~Janice

September thinking together: mathematics curricular competencies

Posted on: September 28th, 2018 by jnovakowski

For the 2018-19 school year, the “thinking together” series of blog posts will focus on the curricular competencies in the mathematics curriculum. The “thinking together” series is meant to support professional learning and provoke discussion and thinking. This month will provide an overview of the curricular competenecies and then each month we will zoom in and focus on one curricular competency and examine connections to K-12 curricular content, possible learning experiences and assessment.

The curricular competencies are the “do” part of the know-do-understand (KDU) model of learning from BC’s redesigned curriculum.

The curricular competencies are intended to reflect the discipline of mathematics and highlight the practices, processes and competencies of mathematicians such as justifying, estimating, visualizing and explaining

The curricular competencies are connected the the Core Competencies of Communication, Thinking and Personal & Social. More information about the Core Competencies can be found HERE.

The curricular competencies along with the curricular content comprise the legally mandated part of the curriculum, now called learning standards. This means these competencies are required to be taught, assessed and learning achievement for these competencies is communicated to students and parents.

Something unique about the mathematics curricular competencies is that they are essentially the same from K-12. K-5 competencies are exactly the same with some slight additions in grades 6-9 and then building on what was created in K-9 for the grades 10-12 courses. Because they are the same at each grade level, to be assessed at “grade level” they need to be connected to curricular content. For example, one of the curricular competencies is “estimate reasonably” – for Kindergarten that will mean with quantities to 10, for grade 4 that could mean for quantities to 10 000 or for the measurement of perimeter using standard units and for grade 8 estimating reasonably could be practiced when operating with fractions or considering best buys when learning about financial literacy.

The new classroom assessment framework developed by BC teachers and the Ministry of Education focuses on assessing curricular competencies and can be found HERE. A document outlining criteria categories, criteria and sample applications specific to K-9 Mathematics can be found HERE. The new four-point proficiency scale provides language to support teachers and students as they engage in classroom assessment.

As we are begin a new school year and are thinking about year plans and overviews we might consider the following questions:

What opportunities do students have to learn about what it means to be a mathematician and what mathematicians do?
What opportunities can be created over the school year for students to name, be aware of, practice, develop and reflect on the core and curricular competencies in mathematics?
How can we make the core competencies and curricular competencies in mathematics visible in our classrooms and schools?
As we are planning for instruction and assessment, how are we being intentional about weaving together both curricular competencies and content? What curricular content areas complement and are linking to specific curricular competencies?

~Janice

school-based collaborative professional inquiry projects

Posted on: June 14th, 2018 by jnovakowski 1 Comment

One of the professional learning structures used in our district is collaborative professional inquiry based in schools. I collaborate with school teams that come together with a focused area of professional inquiry in the area of mathematical teaching and learning. I support the school teams through developing curricular and pedagogical content knowledge through mini-sessions and providing resources as well as planning together and engaging in adapted lesson study including time each visit to debrief and plan next steps. This year, all school teams involved included at least one teacher in the district’s mentoring program as we focus on supporting teachers new to our district and to the profession.

General Currie (term 1)

The three kindergarten teachers at Currie (two new to teaching K) chose to focus on core concepts and inclusive instructional routines related to these concepts. Inclusive routines are those that provide access points for all students in the class and are used regularly over time to develop mathematical thinking and ideas. The routines focus on developing the mathematical curricular competencies and content in our curriculum. Over several sessions in the kindergarten classrooms we engaged in routines such as counting collections, clothesline, decomposing and number provocations. The three teachers and their classes followed up this project with a field trip to The Studio at Grauer.

Garden City (terms 1 & 2)

Three small groups of kindergarten through Grade 5 teachers came together with a combined focus of “connecting the dots” of the redesigned curriculum – weaving together key elements such as inquiry, teaching and learning through big ideas, new content areas like financial literacy and a focus on First Peoples Principles of Learning and connecting math to place. I spent several sessions in classrooms co-teaching with teachers and having lunch hour meetings.

Tomsett (term 2)

A large group of kindergarten through grade 6 teachers chose to focus on supporting student learning of number concepts through a guided math approach. This approach to teaching math was new to all of the teachers involved. A guided math session (often done once or twice a week) has a focus of a core math concept as the focus. A whole group mini-lesson or routine begins the session followed by opportunities for students to practice in small groups or independently. This practice may involve working with materials, math games, an open task or problem or using an app with visual tools that support mathematical understanding. The teachers works with small groups of 2-5 students round this core math concept for about 5-8 minutes, designing and structuring a mini-lesson for them at their “just right” math level of understanding. The is an opportunity for the teacher to collect assessment evidence of students’ understanding. The end of the session involves connecting the dots between the practice opportunities and consolidating students’ thinking through sharing and discourse.

I spent several in-class sessions with student and teachers as well as lunch hour debriefs, sharing and planning with the teachers. In between my visits, the teachers collaborated and shared resources and ideas amongst themselves. At the end of the term the grades 5&6 teacher reflected on how the project had transformed her teaching and commented that she will never go back to teaching math the way she used to. All of the teachers commented on how much better they knew each of the students’ mathematical understanding through this approach.

Steves (terms 2 &3)

A team of four grades 2-5 teachers chose to focus on structures that support differentiation in mathematics teaching and learning. In-class co-teaching sessions and lunch hour meetings focused on inclusive instructional routines, rich open tasks and providing choice with a lens to addressing the range of learners in each classroom. In the grades 2&3 class routines such as number talks and Which One Doesn’t Belong? and games were introduced and extended through work with materials. In the grades 3&4 and 4&5 classes, some of the structures we focused on were choice – choice of materials and choice of ways to represent thinking. We also used open questions and contextual problems that focused on big ideas and core concepts and considered how these tasks provided access points for all learners.

I always enjoy being immersed in classrooms and schools, learning together with teachers and students!

~Janice