Unfortunately, shortly after the previous posting, Mrs. Mills had to stop teaching for the semester for personal reasons. While the change does affect the students, it’s not a devastating loss to the Algebra Project classroom because several other teachers went through the AP training and have been working in the classroom on a nearly daily basis. These teachers, primarily Mrs. Garcia and Dr. Blair – neither from Ypsi High, have stepped up to become the instructors. Initially when Mrs. Mills left it was unknown whether she would return and the class went through several substitutes (for administrative purposes) while Mrs. Garcia and Dr. Blair continued teaching. While progress was being made during the last two weeks, the students asked when Mrs. Mills would be back every class period and some would refuse to listen to the teachers. Today, the students were told that their teacher would not be returning and Mrs. Garcia and Dr. Blair would be the teachers for the rest of the semester. The students took the announcement better than I expected and after a few questions they were able to move on and have a productive class period.
While I’ve talked about my research, given the students math puzzles, and helped during class periods I hadn’t given an engineering presentation to the class. Last Friday I gave my first engineering presentation about energy and wind turbines. I led them through the presentation by asking them specific questions about energy and then wind power. They could answer most of my questions and came up with several questions of their own. At the end of the presentation I showed them a picture of William Katawamba – who, when he was just 14, built a light bulb and radio-powering windmill in his front yard in Malawi with items from a junkyard just by looking at a picture in a text book he got from the local library. The students found the more personal aspect of this story very interesting and wanted to know all about the materials he used, how and why he built it, and what the windmill could power. While most questions were positive and most of the students were amazed at his accomplishments one student made it clear that he thought all people in Africa were richer than we are in the US and that the homemade houses, hunger, and lack of education were made up to suck more money out of the US. I wasn’t really sure how to respond to his statements – they weren’t even close to the questions/comments I thought would be asked – but I told him that it was true that there are rich people in Africa and even rich countries within Africa but there are also areas that are very poor and the people in those large areas live with far less than we do. He found my response mildly satisfying; I think he was more interested in making a scene than having a discussion because he moved on to talking to some of his classmates about an unrelated topic.
While things went a little off track at the end of my presentation, the majority of the class and my presentation went well. I now know that I need to make sure I hit on engineering stories the students can relate to during my presentations to allow them to take the most away from the experience. The class as a whole is getting used to this drastically different educational approach and I think they are going to start learning a lot more than they realize.
While I’ve talked about my research, given the students math puzzles, and helped during class periods I hadn’t given an engineering presentation to the class. Last Friday I gave my first engineering presentation about energy and wind turbines. I led them through the presentation by asking them specific questions about energy and then wind power. They could answer most of my questions and came up with several questions of their own. At the end of the presentation I showed them a picture of William Katawamba – who, when he was just 14, built a light bulb and radio-powering windmill in his front yard in Malawi with items from a junkyard just by looking at a picture in a text book he got from the local library. The students found the more personal aspect of this story very interesting and wanted to know all about the materials he used, how and why he built it, and what the windmill could power. While most questions were positive and most of the students were amazed at his accomplishments one student made it clear that he thought all people in Africa were richer than we are in the US and that the homemade houses, hunger, and lack of education were made up to suck more money out of the US. I wasn’t really sure how to respond to his statements – they weren’t even close to the questions/comments I thought would be asked – but I told him that it was true that there are rich people in Africa and even rich countries within Africa but there are also areas that are very poor and the people in those large areas live with far less than we do. He found my response mildly satisfying; I think he was more interested in making a scene than having a discussion because he moved on to talking to some of his classmates about an unrelated topic.
While things went a little off track at the end of my presentation, the majority of the class and my presentation went well. I now know that I need to make sure I hit on engineering stories the students can relate to during my presentations to allow them to take the most away from the experience. The class as a whole is getting used to this drastically different educational approach and I think they are going to start learning a lot more than they realize.
Julie,
ReplyDeleteI am glad to read that learning is progressing in the Algebra Project class. I think "getting used to" is key for these students to begin to process, construct, take ownership and learn math.
I like the way you personalized your engineering lesson with information about the young person who built his own wind mill in Malawi. This is a great way to engage students. I think the student who brought up to Africa/poverty/USA information was either seeking attention or testing your knowledge. I think you did a good job of providing information in an open manner. I would try to get to know this person by noticing books, interests or merely talking to the person as he or she enters class. Over time this should give you insight.
Keep up the good work!
Carol Cramer