March 26, 2026 – EDUC 421 & EDUC 376

There was a slight delay on the weekly blog reflection. The teacher candidates are back and Mondays are a big day for teaching. Thus, Sunday is left to prepping for Monday’s class. It’s been a pretty full month and weekends have been slowly eroded to work. I have strived over the last two years to have Saturdays as “be a person day.” Sometimes, this day is filled with work, which does not lend kindly to the work/life balance mantra. Nonetheless, there was work that had to be done on Friday and Saturday. Timelines and just getting things done are of top priority, even though there still remains a large pile to do.

One of the things I love about what I do for a living is “meeting where the students are.” This way of being is central to educators and essential to equity based, inclusive learning environments. I teach “Assessment and Motivation” in the morning and “Foundations in Numeracy in the Elementary Years” in the afternoon. It makes for a VERY LONG instructional day. Sometimes you have to make adaptations so that students can remain on-task and interested in what’s happening in class. So, planning on Sundays is critical. Of course, I am planning for the big picture, and the daily/small picture and often I find myself totally engaged in the planning process. Videos, resources, sequencing… are all fun!!

I just blogged about this week in my other WordPress blog about reigniting my JAM in mathematics. I just find it so fun… but I also find assessment and motivation also super interesting, especially in the context of teaching and learning. Both math (or numeracy) and assessment are so central to who I am as a teacher and learner. I am so curious about how to design learning so that students are engaged with the learning experience, but also finding resources, methodology, and timing… it’s like a big puzzle that I need to put together. If anything, I’m enjoying the learning process as I am trying to design the lesson.

Is this weird?

Anyway, what inspired me to write about this topic is the joy of having the students return to campus from practicum, the super engaging conversations they engaged in regarding Assessment & Motivation during practicum in terms of what they learned, what they noticed, and why it mattered, and having the opportunity to teach a topic of personal interested (i.e., assessment and math) which were so important to me when I was teaching high school mathematics. Moreover, my interest in these topics lend itself to other topics I am interested in such as efficacy, identity, equity, and leadership. I love noticing these things about my practice as it deeply informs who I am and what research I pursue.

I am often left wondering if I could return back to the K-12 classroom. It seems like a big idea. I left teaching 15 years ago (holy moly) for various reasons and in that time span, that’s about how long I taught in schools. Yes… I am of that age (if you are doing the math). I will admit, I loved teaching mathematics and I have learned a tonne about teaching, learning, and assessment as a school trustee, independent consultant, researcher, and teacher educator. I would like to believe that I would be a different teacher, but as I look at my practice now in teacher education and undergraduate/graduate studies, I am the same teacher.

So… who knows? Life is filled with opportunities and I am making the most of them as they come my way. I am super happy with how things are going and I am learning lots. I am so grateful to see the teacher candidates back on campus and I am loving that I am enjoying teaching about assessment and numeracy. It’s so wonderful to teach something that is not only of personal/professional interest, but also of something that I have an expertise in. Yes, teaching out-of-field (which is the premise of my doctoral work with respect ot secondary math) offers an opportunity to learn something new, but admittedly, it does take some time to find the LOVE and the goods internal to the practice (McIntyre, 1981).