Entrance Slip for 10/7

 The article by Moshe Renert was very interesting to me. The three quotes that stuck out were:

"The Rethinking Schools movement, for instance, has been instrumental in raising awareness about the ways in which mathematics pedagogy is implicated, both culturally and ethically, in issues of social justice, such as racism, equity, gender, and democracy"

This reminds me of what we have been learning in EDST 401. We don't teach in a vacuum. However "pure" your content and subject may be we are not clean slates. In EDST 401 we drew a diagram of concentric circles similar to a target. While your content may be in the middle, we can never escape the fact that everything we do in encompassed in our community, our neighborhood, our province, our country. Everything, science and math included, is being taught within the framework that we have established and must be cognizant of.

"But humans' inability to feel large numbers is very problematic in our dealings with ecology and the environment"

I could not agree more with this statement. It's true, it is extremely hard to even begin to conceptualize the type of numbers we are talking about. And at the same time we think of ourselves as individuals occupying our own little portion of the planet. What does it matter if I recycle, it's only one plastic bottle right? This type of mindset becomes problematic if it is held by 7,000,000,000 people on the Earth. This type of number is incomprehensible for us.

"Even though sustainable mathematics education is motivated by urgent issues of survival, it need not adopt the pessimistic tone of many writings on ecology"

I like that Renert included this idea. I agree with what was said about the value of hope and optimism. Pessimism or cynicism when discussing this types of topics is "neither helpful nor constructive". 

Based on the reading, and these quotes specifically, I have already learned a little about how I would like to address the climate crisis with my students. In order to make it meaningful we must help them to understand the numbers that we are dealing with and teach them that their actions are meaningful. We must be optimistic and hopeful. We must not shy aware from difficult topics and societal issues just to maintain peace of mind. 

Exit Slip for 9/23

We wrote a sit spot poem. I sat in the field looking toward the totem park buildings and wrote about what my senses detected.

I found this exercise very peaceful. I enjoyed being able to sit and think and really focus in on what my senses were telling me. The sounds and movement that would normally be a distraction from whatever I was doing became the subject of my attention. It felt very peaceful.

Afterwards, we learned some rope making techniques. I enjoyed working with my hands, feeling the tension in the leaves as I turned and wrapped them. It was a very different experience than the poem. At first it required my full attention. Twisting the leaves I had to focus on every turn and carefully move my hands so as not to ruin the work I had done. My hands were able to quickly learn the pattern and I could let them work on their own. After some time I looked down to see a length of rope, brought into existence by my own effort, using only the leaves of a corn husk. The ability to create something, from something we might assume is waste, is a powerful tool. The ropes we made were strong, stronger than I expected from being made of corn husks, and much stronger than any individual corn husk by itself. I never did quite figure out how to splice in a new husk properly to continue my rope so in the end I just tied the ends together to make a loop.