Blog Post #3

 Hi! I cannot believe we have hit the halfway mark for this course. It is going by so quickly

During the last 2 weeks, there were many activities and learning opportunities to complete. I have viewed many videos (ex: turkey time assignment) about instructional practices, which helped me prepare for my FLA in week 6. However, an element that was present in both weeks 5 and 6 was teaching elements of mathematics that are newer/more predominantly found in the curriculum today. These are coding and financial literacy.

                                                                  Campbell, Willa. (2019)

In week 5 we had the opportunity to look into coding and how it is more applicable in the curriculum today compared to what I had seen of it in my own practice. For me, the most coding I did was participate in ‘the hour of code’ in high school which had us sit at a computer for 1 period and investigate said website. However, that was all we did relating to coding. When I got to university I took a calculus course which had us use Maple, a math program, which I spent more time learning than actually doing the math I was supposed to. In today’s electronically advanced society, coding should be a focus in our teaching, not only because of how relevant it has become but because it is the backbone of a lot of elements we use on daily. C2 wants students to be able to use coding across the math curriculum to solve problems and represent concepts and relationships (Susin, week 5, slide 3). What I like about this addition is that we are looking to apply this understanding outside just knowing to code, this allows for teaching to happen in more domains while still hitting several expectations. An example we talked about in class was coding emojis (Susin, week 5). I think this is something I would look into further because it encompasses elements that students know while being able to connect math concepts, creating meaningful math discussions. 

                                                                       Trout CPA (2021)

Financial literacy is not new, but it has been given a bigger focus in our curriculum. Although I do remember spending time working with monetary manipulatives and creating a fake life for myself, I wish they would have taught more of an extension and real-life application to it. For example, understanding what a debit v. credit card is, what a loan is, international currency, investing, there are so many elements that I have faced in the past few years that could have been teachable moments in my education. The curriculum now states “Because making informed decisions about economic and financial matters has become an increasingly complex undertaking in the modern world, students need to build knowledge and skills in a wide variety of areas” (MoE, 2020, p.29). In week 6 I was amazed at how many different ways we can approach teaching such an important skill. For example, I might not feel so comfortable teaching about finances, whereas someone who works at a bank would, and can come in the class to facilitate this learning. We know that bringing in experts is important, and that students greatly enjoy hearing from a guest (Susin, week 6). 

Works Cited 

Campbell, Willa. (June 21, 2019). "10 Resources for Learning to Code at Any Age" (online image). [https://images.app.goo.gl/dTkVKrTvHutNct2o9].

Ministry of Education. (2020). The Ontario Curriculum grades 1-8: Mathematics. https://www.dcp.edu.gov.on.ca/en/curriculum/elementary-mathematics 

Susin, C. (2021). Strand C: Algebra, Patterning, and Coding [Personal Communications]. 

Susin, C. (2021). Strand C: Algebra, Patterning, and Coding [PowerPoint]. Retrieved From https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1K0th_xKMXR3kp7G8guncpwnF486WL0GKJrRd4xJqHqw/edit#slide=id.ge99f3e96a0_0_1796 

Susin, C. (2021). Strand F: Financial Literacy [Personal Communication].

Trout CPA (April 20, 2021). "Top 3 Reasons Families Should FOcus on Financial Literacy". (online image). [https://images.app.goo.gl/cQSZ9FbBYcYVd6Cu8].