Reflection for Week 3 - Dancing Teachers Into Being With a Garden, or How to Swing or Parkour the Strict Grid of Schooling

Summary
In this paper, our professor Susan and her collaborator Julia discuss about the strict "grids" of schooling in the Western education system. A majority of the education experiences of teachers are confined to their boxes of classrooms, which are an example of grids. According to Davis and Sumara, the conceptual and temporal components of education are also formed into a grid, in addition to physical components like desks, chairs, windows, and boards. For example, the daily school timetable, the yearly calendar, report cards, and worksheets are also formed into grids. This paper questions if teachers can 'swing' or 'parkour' the strict grid-like structures of education. It also discusses if a teacher can be both inside and outside the grid. There is also a metaphor about dancing teachers, so that they are being with a garden.

First stop
On page 173, it is mentioned that a grid has been used a tool for colonialism since the 15th century, when European colonisers made gridded maps for claiming their territories. In today's era, the analogue of this practice is how an imaginary grid is laid on our whole planet through GPS. I was very intrigued and shocked about the use of grids to divide the whole Earth or some geographical region into colonies, and claim ownership of things. In the next paragraph, it is mentioned that grids are also used to makes claims of ownership of intellectual properties. The categorization of various things like languages and animals also utilizes grids or structures similar to grids. This paper made me realize how I don't acknowledge the use of grids in categorizing and controlling almost everything in this world, even though it has negative elements like colonialism and rigid patterns of thinking.

Second stop
On page 179, there is a story of student teachers doing a movement on conflict between teacher control and student freedom in a gridded flax garden. This movement ended when a teacher looked at her watch, and announced that the class was finished. This is an example of how some new teachers can have a tendency to control their students, and seek their attention. The paper mentions that we are "simultaneously within and beside ourselves" as teachers. I could not figure out what this phrase means, and I am curious about how it is related to the story of student teachers that precedes it. 

Questions
- How can teachers become more ecological?
- What are some cons/disadvantages of a non-grid eduction system for students' learning? 
- What are some connections between this paper's ideas and effective teaching strategies in mathematics education?

Comments

  1. February 5, 2024 at 9:49 AM

    Your post made me think about the potential and limitations of working off the grid in the current school system. On one hand, I love and agree with the idea of designing educational settings that allow students to experience new ways of learning. On the other hand, given the conditions of our current system (many students, few teachers, and most families without time and/ or money to dedicate to their children's education, among other restrictions), I wonder if going off the grid will only bring benefits for the most privileged kids and increase inequalities.

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  2. AnitaFebruary 9, 2024 at 6:24 PM

    After reading the summary and the stops you got in reading the article, I wonder how the grids are everywhere in the education system and various other aspects of society. Recognizing the historical use of grids as tools of colonialism systems aligns with today's technologies like the GPS, highlighting how grids assert ownership and control over geographical regions and intellectual properties. The teacher's behaviour in the gridded flax garden also made me wonder how she imposed a time constraint controlling student freedom. Overall, it compels me to think about the pervasive influence of grids in current education and society, thereby prompting critical reflection on the possibilities for creativity and liberation within structured environments.
    -Teachers can be more ecological by incorporating sustainability principles into the curriculum. We as educators need to promote outdoor and experiential learning, which will foster a sense of stewardship of the environment and ecology in the students. We had the idea as an example when we went outside and made sketches of living and man-made things and tried to figure out the concepts of lines and angles through these sketches. Experiential and outdoor learning are ways to be more ecological and foster a more profound understanding of the environment in the students.
    -We are not entirely against the grid education system but want a mix of grid and non-grid education systems. We want to take students outdoors to make the learning more meaningful, connecting them to real-life situations, but we also want them to be part of the classroom structure. Some disadvantages of a non-grid education system could include potential challenges in providing structure and consistency, difficulty in tracking progress, organization, time management and assessment, and the need for more flexible teaching methods to accommodate diverse learning styles.
    -In my last semester, in EDCP 552, we learned how the innovative strategies and experiential learning of place-based education, which involves all the aspects of place, whether outdoors, in gardens, with using literature books, thereby making mathematics education more relatable to real-life issues, the culture of the students and family and many more strategies to make the student feel that he is a part of the curriculum and can learn the abstract concepts of maths in many creative and innovative and engaging way. This reading also advocates breaking the traditional barriers of grid systems like classrooms, desks, chairs, and files and connecting the students to more real-life outdoor activities, like garden and searching for more innovative ways to involve students in the environment around them so that students feel freedom to identify the concepts, apply their creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving skills and develop deeper understanding and appreciation for the subject.

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