Henry Ho EDUC450

  Exit Slip One stopping point for me in this excerpt was the introduction of the term backsourcing . I found it interesting that the author defines it as the process of re-claiming what we outsource when factories took over the production of goods, especially food. However, I think the motivation behind backsourcing feels a bit dated, even though the excerpt is only about a decade old. The author highlights that as oil becomes too scarce or expensive, we will be forced to rethink how we meet our needs. While this was a strong concern at the time, today electric cars and renewable energy are becoming more common, meaning gas prices may not be the same limiting factor the author suggests. Still, I think the core idea of backsourcing and   taking responsibility for some of our own production remains valuable similar to still learning how to do math without a calculator. In terms of the videos, I was particularly intrigued by the rope-making one, since I work with ropes all the...

Today’s sit spot felt surprisingly different compared to the last time despite them being both being drawings from the same spot. When I was focused on drawing my surroundings before, it seemed almost silent.  Similar to tunnel vision in first-person video games—being so focused on what’s right in front of you that you never look around and then end up getting snuck up on from behind.  But with my eyes closed this time, I realized there were so many sounds I had missed such as cars, a helicopter, people playing tennis, the hoses in the garden, though I would definitely not miss a bee buzzing right by my ear.  For my drawing, I tried to sketch all the things I heard, but looking at other people’s work, I think it might have been more interesting to draw the “sound signatures” instead like lines and shapes showing which noises were constant, low-pitched, high, or less frequent. Next time, I’d like to experiment with that more abstract approach.

While reading the article, I stopped at the idea of the garden and living ecosystems as co-teacher. To be honest, I haven’t really thought much about teaching outside a classroom before. Despite not explaining things out loud, the living ecosystem still “teaches, inspires and speaks” (p.109). We are “ observers at all times, learning from the garden itself ” (p.110). This really clicked for me when I thought back to our class the other day during the sit spot drawing activity. During our discussions I noticed the birds chirping, ants crawling, and bees moving from flower to flower. None of those things were “teaching” in the traditional sense, but they made me more aware, more curious, and more attentive. If I were to teach science in a high school garden, the first activity that comes to mind would involve microscopes and drawing (Science 8), inspired by our sit-spot drawing exercise. Students would create detailed scientific sketches of a specimen of their choice—potentially produci...

Today’s class in the garden was definitely a change of scenery for someone like me, who usually prefers the comfort of indoors. I found a bush that looked almost exactly like the one that used to grow fruit in my old backyard—it was a bit of a nostalgic moment, so I decided to draw it for the sit spot activity. Now, I will be the first to admit that my drawing skills won’t be winning any awards anytime soon. Even though I took some drawing classes as a kid, my artistic skills never really made it past the stick figure stage.  Despite taking some drawing classes when I was little, I never got good at it. I originally avoided the charcoal (because it looked messy) and stuck with pencil. But once I started coloring in the fruit with charcoal, I have to say... it was actually really cool. It added this nice depth and contrast I did not expect. I would definitely try adding some shadows next time with it too. Also, shoutout to the bees for keeping me on high alert the entire tim...

Despite being written decades ago in a different place, the article makes some valid points in developing my ideas about teacher inquiry. Dewey’s three attitudes of open-mindedness, responsibility, and wholeheartedness remind me that my inquiries should not only ask “what works” but also “for whom, and at what cost?” In physics, this could mean questioning why I often default to cannonballs when teaching projectile motion. What message does that choice send? A more thoughtful approach would be to draw on the sidearm “whip” shot in lacrosse, a sport with cultural significance for many First Nations. Shifting from a generic cannonball to a culturally specific example reflects open-mindedness, acknowledges responsibility for the hidden curriculum, and shows wholehearted dedication to teaching all students. It also requires me to seek out resources beyond the standard curriculum. What feels dated is the article’s framing of the reflective teacher as a lone actor resisting a uniformly trad...

One of the key questions that came up in our breakout group was how teachers can show students that what they are learning is both useful and important. We recognized that while real-life applications help, it is often even more meaningful to connect the material to students’ personal interests or hobbies. Here, I was reminded of the manga  Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It , where a student who loved playing dating-sims became motivated after his professor connected computer science research to finding the optimal path in said dating sim. While it might sound trivial, if a game has 10 scenes with 3 choses each, there would have to be 3^10 ≈ 60000 different ways to play it which would be difficult even for a computer to find the 1 right path. This made me think about the power of motivation and how I, as a teacher, can design lesson plans that tap into the interests or hobbies of students while still meeting curricular goals. In physics, I could connect sports such ...

 Today is Thursday!