Ladies and Gentlemen, This is Fredinho (pronounced fred-jeen-yo). I haven't known Fredinho for very long, but in the time we've known each other there has been a sense of mutual Respect. I love taking pictures, and he loves being in them! The pictures are not what's important, but what he shows in the pictures surely are.
The top picture shows Hamilton High School, where I teach Math. Typically, the students at Hamilton (Hami for short) come from all over Los Angeles. Our school is divided into 6 small learning communities: Music Academy, Humanities, Communication Arts Academy, Business Interactive Technology Academy, Math Science Medical, and Global Studies.
The average day for a student requires them to take 6 or 7 classes, depending on whether they are in the magnet problem or not. Classes meet every two days, with four classes a day at 90 minutes a period (there is also a 20 minute break for nutrition and a 30 minutes break for lunch).
The top picture shows Hamilton High School, where I teach Math. Typically, the students at Hamilton (Hami for short) come from all over Los Angeles. Our school is divided into 6 small learning communities: Music Academy, Humanities, Communication Arts Academy, Business Interactive Technology Academy, Math Science Medical, and Global Studies.
The average day for a student requires them to take 6 or 7 classes, depending on whether they are in the magnet problem or not. Classes meet every two days, with four classes a day at 90 minutes a period (there is also a 20 minute break for nutrition and a 30 minutes break for lunch).
Crazy right? I mean, can you imagine being 15 years old and having to spend 90 long minutes sitting in Math class?! Or even chemistry?! I feel for these kids... High school isn't what it used to be 10 years ago, let alone 20 years ago.
In the Los Angeles Unified School District, "we've" recently changed the graduation requirements to meet the A-G requirements for universities and colleges in California. When our students graduate, they will automatically be "qualified" to apply to a college or university. I've watched my students struggle through Math over the years, but I've never seen them struggle more with taking a language they don't want to learn or taking higher math classes they don't understand. To what end? Sure, math is beautiful, hypnotizing even...
In the Los Angeles Unified School District, "we've" recently changed the graduation requirements to meet the A-G requirements for universities and colleges in California. When our students graduate, they will automatically be "qualified" to apply to a college or university. I've watched my students struggle through Math over the years, but I've never seen them struggle more with taking a language they don't want to learn or taking higher math classes they don't understand. To what end? Sure, math is beautiful, hypnotizing even...
But students should learn what they want to learn! This is why programs like the Teachers for Global Classrooms is so important in our classrooms today. It gives students an opportunity to use mathematics as a way of understanding the world. After all, mathematics is the language that describes the universe and our physical reality. I am very excited to learn everything I possibly can about the Brazilian education system and I am hoping to bring back new ideas for my classroom and my students.
There is nothing more tragic than watching students struggle through traditional norms of a classroom. Just look at my students taking their final exam. What do you see?
There is nothing more tragic than watching students struggle through traditional norms of a classroom. Just look at my students taking their final exam. What do you see?
Rows...white walls...silence...individualism...and most of all STRESS.
Don't get me wrong, I am all for traditional methods that are proven to work well, but I don't want my classroom to always look like this any more than 20% of the time (just enough for assessments). I'm looking for answers to questions I haven't even formed yet; I'm looking for questions that challenge my norms. Will I find it in Brazil? Who knows, but I sure will keep you posted!
Don't get me wrong, I am all for traditional methods that are proven to work well, but I don't want my classroom to always look like this any more than 20% of the time (just enough for assessments). I'm looking for answers to questions I haven't even formed yet; I'm looking for questions that challenge my norms. Will I find it in Brazil? Who knows, but I sure will keep you posted!