Think about a flip-flop... what does it look like? What does it sound like? What does it feel like? I LOVE flip-flops and in this moment, I am reminded of an embarrassing moment in middle school band. I played the flute so I had a front row seat in class, right in front of the band director, Mrs. Wis. There was one day when I wore my new cheerleading spirit flip-flops. Are these things making a comeback? Next thing I know, Mrs. Wis tells me in front of the class, how much she likes my thongs. Cue middle school immaturity and chaos. I got the "best thongs award" that banquet... fun times. The name comes from the sound they make (Why Are They Called “Flip-Flops”? | Wonderopolis, n.d.), how clever and practical! Yet, last night during my nightly insomniac pondering sessions, I wondered why do the straps have to connect between the big and second toe? Flip-flops actually date back to Ancient Greek and Roman times (Smith et al., 1891) but became popular in the United States after World War II (Why Are They Called “Flip-Flops”? | Wonderopolis, n.d.). For over 2,000 years we have just accepted the design of the straps, and doing so has caused myself and countless others the pain and agony of bunions and hammer toe. We seek relief to a problem that comes from lack of innovation. I have mentioned before that I was going to call this ePortfolio "Math CreativeLee" (ePortfolios - GenuineLee Me Pt. 2) but no amount of Project Runway or Next in Fashion could help me design an innovative flip-flop that puts the strap between any other toes. My theory as to why the strap has always seemed to go between the big and second toe is that's where the largest gap is... but our body compensates for such a large space to grip a small strap, thus creating the afflictions! We counter this pain by going to the doctor and getting all of these other crazy contraptions to reset our feet's natural positions so we can continue to enjoy the glorious freedom of breathing feet. Why don't we actually get to the root of the problem and change the design at its sole? Imagine a world now where flip-flops broke the norm and we started to be fashion forward by designing and wearing straps between our other toes... Why does education have to stick with continuing to place that strap in a space where we think we are hitting a large audience but really we are squeezing the life out of our bodies and soul. We are contorting our bodies to attempt and meet all of these criteria others have set years ago while suffering aches and discomfort and mediating these with other resources rather than just looking to change the norm. What if we addressed the problem at its soul? References blewis. (2020, June 14). DIY Rag Flip Flops. The Shabby Tree. https://theshabbytree.com/diy-rag-flip-flops/
Smith, W., Marindin, G. E., & Wayte, W. (1891). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (3rd ed.). https://ia600309.us.archive.org/8/items/adictionarygree01smitgoog/adictionarygree01smitgoog.pdf Why Are They Called “Flip-Flops”? | Wonderopolis. (n.d.). https://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/why-are-they-called-flip-flops/
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My Learning Reasonableness post first introduced this picture from 2016: First, I'd like to address the teacher's response and perspective. There have been too many times when I have been so overwhelmingly exhausted from teaching and life that I rely on pre-existing resources that have a key. Whether these resources are my own or district curriculum or textbook resources, it doesn't usually matter because my goal has honestly shifted from student engagement to student compliance. Burnout is real and there are a variety of ways individuals cope. That's a post for another day. This teacher response looks like one pulled from a pre-existing key, a textbook question with a textbook answer. This image generated a lot of hate online from people blaming the teacher but few looked at the teacher's perspective. Has this teacher learned about a growth mindset? Has this teacher learned about how to address creative problem solving and counter the response with other questioning? Has this teacher given problems like this to the students prior to this assessment to gauge their thinking and focus their attention to not making assumptions in standardized testing questions? These are things we can only speculate and my hope is that the teacher was able to positively reflect after this got out to the internet. As educators, we should support each other and give benefit of the doubt unless we have clear evidence otherwise. What I have learned from this particular teacher response is when facing the choice of accepting answers as given to me, I should intentionally seek other perspectives and consider other possibilities. When looking for those other creative responses and maybe finding them in myself or others, it is more impactful when those new fresh ideas can be articulated in such a way that others can gain the different perspective and accept it as equally valid and correct. A lot of times in mathematics, there is not one right way and all of the other ways are wrong. Now, there are more efficient ways than others but that does not make the efficient way the right way (although that is what teachers tend to accept so we can finish up and move on to the next topic out of a million). Now, let's address the student's response and perspective. Saying Marty's pizza is bigger than Luis' pizza is downright clever. It made me think of this meme (which I find HILARIOUS, but that's my strange humor): This question could have easily gauged different student perspectives.
I think about how this student might have felt when reading the question and how quickly they came up with the response. What life experiences did this student have to lead them to this idea? How could we provide glimpses of these experiences in our classrooms? I also consider the student's spirit after seeing their response was marked wrong. The teacher was attempting to give feedback in writing but how did this change the student's view of answers in a math class? I would expect this student would limit their thinking, trying to provide the response they believe the teacher would expect as opposed to an answer that rings true to them. Teaching at the high school level gives me the privilege of trying to break the subconscious actions of appeasement and lead students more into creative thinking. In order to do this, we must be intentional about the questioning strategies we use and how to address student responses that are correct but different than anything we had considered as correct or even possible. We also need to be considerate of providing students opportunities to express their thinking in a variety of ways. The big takeaway for me is perspective. We all have a unique view of the world around us and we can bring other people into that by explaining the lens of our approach. As we learn and grow from other perspectives, our personal stances shift and open to bigger possibilities. References helth | /r/Stonks | Meme Man Wurds / Stonks Edits. (n.d.). Know Your Meme. https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/2432562-meme-man-wurds-stonks-edits
xtreme1461. (2016, March 23). The American education system. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/4bl7fu/the_american_education_system/ Browsing aimlessly through my phone, I stumbled across a picture from 2016: Let's break it down. Based on the Reasonableness heading, it seems as though this question is attempting to assess if a student can analyze someone else's thinking and determine its, shocker, reasonableness. This, in isolation, is an amazing skill to have, but how do we teach this to students? While I do not remember all of the details of this next story, I remember the feelings I had. In Mr. Lines' physics class, we were doing some lab pertaining to temperature and we had to convert our measurements from Kelvin to Fahrenheit. I knew I had to subtract 273 at some point and use the Fahrenheit to Celsius formula at some point. For the sake of this post, let's say the temperature we got was 300 Kelvin and after doing my calculations, I got a final temperature of 299 degrees Fahrenheit. Looking over my work, I knew my calculations were SOLID. When I got my lab report grade back for the temperature experiment, my final results were marked as incorrect. Being the "how can I get my average from a 95 to a 100" student (The Yet In Me - My Mindset Experience as a Student), I was enraged and immediately questioned his markings. He asked me to consider the reasonableness of my answer; does 299 degrees Fahrenheit make sense? Well, Mr. Lines, when you put it like that, the simple answer is no. The complicated answer is how could you let me fail by not giving me a hint or clue that I did the calculations out of order? The answer is clearly 80.6 degrees Fahrenheit, not the preheat temperature of an oven! At the time, physics was one of my most stressful classes. Our "teacher" would require us to complete the homework before he taught the lesson, expect us to come up with our own lab steps and what aspects of our experiments to put in the lab reports, and assess us with open-ended questions on tests. As my junior and senior years of high school pressed on, I came to realize that his methods were truer to being an actual teacher than I understood before. Mr. Lines is one of the teachers who inspired me to study mechanical engineering but ultimately get into education and into a classroom (Masters in Education Does Not Mean Administration...). My high school education experience taught me so much more than the academics. I learned 21st Century Skills through Experiences and reasonableness comes from curiosity, problem solving, and reflection. Would I have deeply understood this had Mr. Lines simply told me in the middle of my initial calculations that my order of operations was incorrect? Probably not. I'll save my thoughts on the student's response and teacher's rebuttal to the pizza problem for another day, but if we want our students to truly learn these other skills that make people positive contributors to society (and not ignorant oblivious members), then we need to step back and understand that what one might perceive as a failure or incorrect can actually lead to true authentic learning. References Pizza Size Chart - How many slices of pizza per person? (2022, May 9). My Slice of Pizza. https://mysliceofpizza.com/pizza-size-chart/
xtreme1461. (2016, March 23). The American education system. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/4bl7fu/the_american_education_system/ I have developed a reputation at my campus that when faced with a problem, Ashley has a plan with all the details identified and addressed, along with a back-up plan and a back-up to the back-up. Honestly, this is something I do because it is one way I cope with my anxiety. When I attempt to predict and plan for all scenarios, there's a comfort in the perception of control. The fight or flight response anxiety is less likely to happen because the "threats" have already been consciously addressed in a plan and either prevented through the plan or solved by preparing a response. We cannot control everything that happens around us, but we can control how we respond. Being intentional about a plan that focuses on not always having a plan or leaving things open-ended actually develops more creative thinking and innovation. This mindset has encouraged me to continue to try new things in my classroom and share what I am doing with others to get feedback. I am ready to learn and adapt along the way. I start with a vision and direction, but am aware that the path, direction, and even at times destination might change based on the real-time feedback from the "experiment" of trying something new. Education is very much like the trips I take, like I discussed in ePortfolios - GenuineLee Me Part 2, but I am learning that when I look outside my window and peer into other worlds, I expand my viewpoint and learn from other perspectives, taking inspiration to try a new path or visit a new destination. Here are some key ideas I have learned so far when exploring ePortfolios: Too many options overwhelm me. When choosing a platform for my ePortfolio, less was more. If you were to search "ePortfolios platforms", lists will appear and blog posts on particular platforms also address other platforms. A number of my peers are using Wix or WordPress but I have found Weebly to limit my choices in the overall structure of my ePortfolio in such a way that I don't shut down. It takes care of some of the choice for me so that I can make choices on things that matter. Our ePortfolio expressions vary, but they are all equally valid. The number of ePortfolios I have seen where graphics, animation, and color are used to enhance ideas is intimidating. I initially thought that my ideas expressed in black and white with an occasional picture or embedded video was too boring, too cold. There have been times when I could not continue to scroll through a ePortfolio because it did not resonate with me. Does that make those less valid than my perspective? No. Will others feel the same way about my ePortfolio? Yes. Our opinions and viewpoints vary, but they are all equally valuable and help to create a more comprehensive world. Voice and ownership are clear. Reading through other ePortfolios, it is painfully obvious who is articulating their voice and taking ownership of their ePortfolio and who is putting on a character for their audience. The character may be pieces of their true self but when the voice and ownership are authentic to the author, there is more impact for me to remain true to myself too. I have to branch out even more. Part of signing up for the master's program I am in was about me getting outside of my subject area and my campus to grow even more than I can currently imagine. Browsing ePortfolios expands the voices I did not realize were out there and they encourage me to think outside of the high school mathematics box into more connections with the world. What is your ePortfolio world? What other worlds have you explored? Take me to your world and let's go together and explore the worlds of others.
In my previous post, ePortfolios - GenuineLee Me, I try to address why an ePortfolio is valuable and important to me, but something I realized is that it is necessary to identify who actually owns the ePortfolio. I was going to originally call this ePortfolio "Math CreativeLee" because my Innovation Proposal starts with the idea that mathematics is considered very static and stagnant, limited only by the processes and solutions of others. In reality, math is creative. The more I sat on this name, the more I realized it was an attempt to try and force a feeling onto my audience that did not truly encompass my full perspective. Time revealed that it is not about just being creative in math, it's about how math is holistic and a part of the holistic experience of life. Analogies, similes, metaphors, all are ways I try to articulate my understanding and comprehension. They are, after all, connections to prior knowledge and understanding, right? The idea of a map and having access to the full map when getting from point A to point B connects to my love of travelling. There are SO MANY WAYS to get to a destination. Sure, the most efficient way to get there is usually what we take, especially if we are operating on someone else's schedule, but think about people's different priorities and how that might impact their mode of transportation, the path they take to get there, the time and stops along the way. While a lot of aspects of my life require planning to ease my anxiety, I usually do not have a plan for my vacations other than the main city I am visiting (usually with a beach nearby), when I leave home, and when I come back. Otherwise, it's all open. I tend to have a list of places I would like to see or eat at, but the time of day, the order of events, all up to my mood and inspiration that day. If there is a local event or coffee shop I did not find in my internet search, I will detour. It is freeing for my mind, body, and soul to just move with the ebb and flow of the day, seeing where it pushes or pulls me. I get the chance to be another side of myself, liberated from the worries of daily life and often times reconnecting with nature. Here are a few pictures of my more recent trips (see how this connects to me more in About). ePortfolios are almost like an itinerary for a trip that you bring people alongside you to enjoy. As obstacles or opportunities arise, the itinerary might change (timing, order, etc.), but you still stay the ultimate course. It can be whatever you want. Going through my master's program, I am creating collaborative communities through discussion posts with other passionate educators. We share a lot in common but the different backgrounds bring different perspectives, equally as valid as mine. Here is some of what they have to say about ownership in the language I identify with... analogies, similes, metaphors:
Our ePortfolios are true to us, being VOCAL about our experiences and reflections, and not letting the expectations of others limit our impact. They are holistic, incorporating all aspects of our world that make us the educators and people we are.
My husband Scott and I have been married for almost seven years now, together for almost fourteen years, been friends for seventeen years, and known of each other's existence for twenty-two years. If you look at my About, you will see he is a big part of my life.
We have seen each other grow up and mature as people. Words cannot adequately express how blessed I feel daily for him in my life. Even though we have been married for a while, I just recently changed my last name to Lee. There are a plethora of reasons I did not change my name before and another plethora of why I did now. My identity has evolved from one that doubts and criticizes myself to one that believes and encourages myself, and that is reflected in my new, but very true, last name. Scott has also seen my transformation in education as a student and as a teacher. When I reflected on this, I also recognize how much I have grown. How can I convey this growth to those who have not seen or known me for this long? How can I show people who I genuinely am? ePortfolios are snapshots of the present moment to look back on when the future comes and reflect on the past. They create a documented timeline where others can see the journey and the author of the ePortfolio can build connections between the past, present, and future. ePortfolios are the digital representation of the learning we have done, are doing, and will do, and the connections between them. It is a continuous process so there's no waiting until the project is complete to share the final product but rather share the process to being better every day. For some reason, this makes me think of the TV show, Community, and the episode of the different timelines: There are so many paths our journey can take, so many different timelines that could exist, but ePortfolios provide an opportunity for us to express our perception of our timeline to others. It leaves a little to the audience's imagination but ultimately paints the picture for others to learn from and connect with. We reflect on how our words and actions positively (or negatively) impact others and ourselves. It's our reflection in the mirror but also a photograph of the world around us. Rolling the dice to other timelines would be scary, because only this timeline got me to this point. Starting my career and calling in the classroom over ten years ago, there were moments documented sporadically in documents or conversations that I wish I had recorded in one spot. Shifting from middle school to high school, a way I chose to portray my teaching philosophy and structure was in the form of a binder, where I had collected student artifacts, professional development certificates, and administrative evaluations, but it was a small handful of the mountains of progress I made. ePortfolios allow us to create a living, breathing record of our journey and connect with ourselves and each other in the community to share where our past selves lived, where our presents selves reside, and where our future selves are possibly headed. I can be genuinely me to the world, not just Scott, and we can all discover where this journey will take us together.
References
The Darkest Timeline: The ’1’ Timeline | Community. (2020, March 2). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POT3plx0vBs&t=2s
At the beginning of the summer, I set an open personal goal: to read more. I restarted the Harry Potter series as I do every summer and had my queue of recommendations ready to go to expand my horizons outside light-hearted romantic comedies or science fiction/fantasy novels. I had not anticipated that setting this goal would include the tens of thousands of pages I would be reading as part of my masters. My professor co-authored a book about the educational environment that positively impacts student learning called COVA (request free access to the book here): Choice, Ownership, Voice, Authentic Learning. As I reflect on what I have read, it makes more sense for me to consider these ideas as VOCAL. |
My husband lovingly teases me when I reflect on my day with him and say "I learned something new today!" because he would be surprised if I didn't learn something new.
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