Learning Language on the Side.
2018-Present
One of the things I am currently pursuing is Language Acquisition: currently, it is Chinese. I am spending time learning Mandarin and writing out the Chinese characters. I am also currently enrolled in a Mandarin course at the University of Windsor. My motivation for learning Chinese is two-fold and I believe strongly ties into my teaching practice.
First, Chinese characters are akin to Latin: it was a universal written language in the midst of the varying spoken ones. Although the Chinese characters have been simplified by the Chinese government in recent years, I decided to spend time learning as I believe it will help me to better understand my Korean roots (as the language has strong ties to the written one).
Second, I believe that individuals that come from different cultures (insofar as languages, beliefs, food, and so on), the best way to connect with them is to immerse oneself in it. I choose to do so in language. I believe individuals interact with one another in a much more meaningful way. Through learning other languages, one can understand expressions, comedy, and beliefs. I wish to learn other languages to better connect with others.
In learning my own roots (even in a remote fashion), I can come to appreciate where my family comes from and their journey into a country completely different. If I understand this, I believe that this understanding can be translated into my teaching practice in a diverse classroom. When I learn about other cultures, I can understand how ELL learners are translating their English from their own language and better communicate myself when teaching.
Coding
2019-Present
Coming from a background in Mathematics, pursuing the acquisition of coding language was a no brainer. A few years ago I spent some of my spare time learning Python. Learning to decode problems and find solutions was the most exhilarating aspect of Math, which I am learning is quite similar to computer science.
As the new math curriculum was implemented last summer (2020) and includes teaching coding, I found it prudent to start attending webinars on teaching code. The webinars I attended during TeacherCon 2020 hosted by Canada Learning Code included using micro:bits, Scratch, talking about machine learning, coding Virtual Reality, and even coding in Minecraft.
During the winter, I spent time investigating coding in Minecraft. It was quite fascinating how it reminded me of very basic multivariable calculus as it dealt with the x, y, and z axes. When students make codes for buildings, they need to have an understanding of the coordinates that the building takes up: for example, to cover a plot of 10 by 12 by 7, a code that fills from vertex (0, 50, 0) to vertex (10, 50, 7). Students can easily find the coordinates of vertices by using coding, even if they do not understand the distance between the two.
In a lesson plan that I made with my colleagues, our goal was for students to build their own town on a Canadian physical region. They can use a variety of platforms (whether it’d be cardboard and paper, clay, popsicle sticks, or Minecraft). Preset codes would come in to scaffold the learning process for students who may find difficulty in learning the code itself. The artifact demonstrates a model of using coding to design a town.
