Assignment #2 Reflection

Hello twins.

Below are some thoughts on Assignment 2 and how the presentation went in class.

When I was researching coordinate systems, I initially didn't think I could cover enough information for a 10-minute presentation. However, once I read the story about how Descartes created the coordinate system based on a fly on his ceiling, I knew I had to proceed with my choice. I found that having different slides for Chinese, Islamic, and other perspectives was influenced by my BEd readings and our discussions in class. It can be so easy to simply reference that one historical figure who is the most well-known or who the idea is named after. It requires more work to look into its development in other places around the world which may have coincided with or often predate the work. It was definitely a learning experience for me as I hadn't made the connection between Descartes being the Latin root for Cartesian. I also found it really interesting to see how a French man named Oresme created the way of graphing that still makes up a good portion of our high school math curriculum. I certainly found some good anecdotes to share with my future students when introducing said topics. Lastly, I really enjoyed learning about Babylonians and the connections between the 12 months and the 30-degree segments of a circle. Horoscopes are another very popular topic in modern society and so to trace it back to its original roots was a valuable insight.

I thought the class presentation went pretty well. I decided to start with my activity because we had just listened to around 30 minutes of math history and thought the class could benefit from a change of pace. My fellow classmates seemed to like the activity as much as I did and I'm glad that we were able to have a collective moment of achievement on the last puzzle. It was a resource that I learned during one of my Whistler Pro-D workshops. I remember being excited on that day to implement it in my classes and so I'm really glad that it worked out well today. My presentation provided more of an overview of how different parties contributed to the modern coordinate system and what the applications might have looked like in that time period. I particularly enjoyed telling the Descartes story although whether or not it actually happened remains to be considered. Lastly, I always enjoy incorporating some of my own interests into my lessons with the fashion graphic I discussed at the end. During class presentations, I enjoy seeing how unique our teaching styles are and how our personalities manifest in how we teach. During my short practicum, I found that when teaching the lesson, I was most able to connect with the students as they got to see my personality a bit more. I have found that the less we have to pretend or put on a show as a teacher, the more rewarding and authentic the experience is.

Thanks for reading,

Josh

Thanks for reading,

Josh