Day 47So it would appear that I'm perseverating a little. I do this. This is not at all uncommon. I'm still back on the NY Times opinion piece that insinuated that teachers focus too much on making math fun and helping students to understand concepts. The author insisted that we should be more focused on allowing students to practice, practice, practice. While I would LOVE to ask Graham Fletcher and Brian Bushart how they feel about fun in math class, I know what they'd say. The best mathematicians have made major discoveries in math due to their playfulness. They'd both assert that game-play and having fun in the math class contribute to long term dedication to mathematics learning.
I continue to pursue endeavors that I find fun. Skiing, cooking, gardening, paddle-boarding, doing math, playing chess, etc. are all things I have fun doing. I'm not an expert at any. However, I have fun doing all and as a result I want to practice each more. Regardless of Barbara Oakley's opinion, there will be playfulness and fun in my math class. It seems like some of Twitter's biggest math heroes have got my back on this one!
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Day 46Teachers have the potential to earn incredible power. It is earned. Over the course of a a school year, we have the opportunity to build meaningful relationships with our students. It doesn't happen all at once. Little by little, day by day, we earn our students' respect. When it all comes together, the end product actually isn't power, it is influence. A teacher can move through a whole year, working to build trust and camaraderie, unaware of the moment when we earn a place in a student's heart.
There are times, however, when we receive a sign that we've made it. Today I received a message from the parent of a boy I had this past year. He was a serious and sometimes intense student who made his learning a priority. He was both bright and hard working. He was an extraordinarily kind boy but he had a hard time handling the occasional struggle or the mistake-making that is a natural part of learning. He could be hard on himself. Asking for help when he struggled was simply something he didn't do. Then, in May, he did just that! He had been working to use an area model to represent his thinking when solving a division problem. His frustration was building as he attempted to make sense of the math. I stopped by his desk and told him that I admired his determination and that I'd be happy to work with him if he'd like a little help. He shook me off. This kid was a pitcher. It seemed like he was well practiced at the shake off. I let him be. A few days passed and I checked in again. I asked him if I could help and I got a shrug! A shrug meant "sure". We worked together for all of two minutes and then his understanding seemed to be intact. During the whole class debriefing, we talked about productive struggle and knowing when to accept help. This guy had a twinkle in his eye. I knew we had a great relationship but today I received a message from his mom. He wanted me to recommend some biographies for his summer reading. This kiddo knows that I know him and he trusts me to help him make a good choice. My teacher power is the positive influence I have in this boy's life. Sometimes it is easily earned. Sometimes it takes 180 days. It is always worth the effort! Day 45I feel fairly passionate about mathematics and what instruction should look like in our elementary classrooms. I just read an opinion article titled, "Make Your Daughter Practice Math. She'll Thank You Later" and I'm fairly sure that I disagree with the author's opinion. The author, Barbara Oakley, asserts that boys and girls are equally talented at mathematics. She said that girls, on the one hand, have an edge in English Language Arts and that due to this edge, they begin to think that their math is weak. This is not the case. It is just that ELA comes easily and math requires a little more work. Boys, on the other hand, feel that their math is the stronger of their two subjects and they are willing to work hard at it because they feel confident in their abilities. I'm okay with all of this. Fine.
I begin to disagree when she writes that, "Unfortunately, the way math is generally taught in the United States — which often downplays practice in favor of emphasizing conceptual understanding — can make this vicious circle even worse for girls." I truly believe that deep conceptual understanding is at the core of all learning. To suggest that girls should practice, practice, practice in the absence of understanding rubs me the wrong way. Now I know, she didn't quite say it that way. I inferred that she thinks understanding concepts should be downplayed more and practice should be emphasized more. Hmmm. I believe an education that emphasizes drill and practice does not respect a student's ability to make sense of math. This is insulting because it implies that students should simply memorize facts and procedures and that understanding the concepts is less important. I value a student's ability to think. Developing this ability is a priority in my classroom. In addition, why should I spend their precious learning time teaching them to memorize procedures that can be easily carried out by using the tech tools. that are intuitive to them? This author also criticizes a focus on fun. Fun in math class is not frivolous. It can come from solving meaningful problems, struggling in a way that is productive, and enjoying the satisfaction that comes with sticking to it and making meaning. Also, game play can achieve the same results as drill without the nasty side effect...loathing math. Fact fluency, which is different than memorization, is the goal I hold for my students. I want my students to be able to quickly and efficiently access their facts. I want them to have a conceptual understanding. I want them to be able to decompose numbers and to recognize relationships in mathematics. I want them to represent their thinking with models and to be able to make connections between their models and other effective models. This is a loftier goal than memorization. I'm happy that Barbara Oakley found a path to success and that she is enjoying a career in engineering. I just don't think that her path is what is best for most students and I certainly don't think that it is best for girls. Girls are capable. Girls are smart. Girls can make sense of math. Girls deserve better. But you should form your own opinion. Read Barbara Oakley's opinion here. Day 44Being a teacher has many perks. Most people are quick to point out that we have our summers off. How lucky. Without getting into it, I'll just say...not really. Not totally off. Nope. However, we are not showing up to work on any kind of schedule except for the one we set for ourselves. My husband, who completely respects what I do, mistakenly let on, when we first bought our little cottage on the Cape, that I was SO fortunate to be on the Cape all summer. I quickly reminded him that a day at the beach is no day at the beach. What? All I meant for him to understand is that while we are blessed to spend the summer on the Cape, being a single mom (during the week) of children who were, at the time, 7 and 8, providing 3 meals a day, lugging crap to and from the beach (including these darling little sea kayaks that my sister and aunt bought for them), keeping them lubed up with sun screen, and remembering cash for the ice cream truck, all while keeping up with regular chores including yard work, laundry, grocery shopping, house cleaning, and prepping for weekend entertaining could sometimes be LESS than relaxing. Sometimes. But let's be clear. I am blessed and I've always know it. Today, friends from home visited us for a day at the bay. High tide was early this morning so we got a quick start so we could get some swimming and paddle-boarding in. Once the water receded, the plan was to go quahogging. The mudflats are the perfect place to dig for shellfish, however, some days are more productive than others. Today, we found quahogs aplenty with great ease. In addition, we found a handful of scallops, which I never find. We also went home with half a dozen or so oysters which isn't all that uncommon. When we were finally heading in with our loot, one of the kids we were spending the day with stumbled upon a horseshoe crab. She was VERY curious about it. I tried to quickly retrieve everything I knew about horseshoe crabs. I shared what I could remember with her. I pointed out some of the eyes. I told her that they molt. I taught her how to pick them up. Some of what I'd learned had gone a little fuzzy. For example, I knew their blood was used in science. It was super important medically but I couldn't remember the details. So tonight, I sat down to research horseshoe crabs. I did this because I was curious and I had questions I wanted answered. Here are just a few of the things I learned or relearned.
I had an experience on the beach today and I couldn't wait to come home and do a little research. I had questions I wanted answered. For example, I wanted to know why I sometimes see a bunch of horseshoe crabs floating dead in the water when I'm paddle boarding and I wanted to confirm some of the information I thought I knew. I was pretty motivated (not by this blog) by the experience I had and the questions that lingered. I am going to remind myself of this deep, personal, learning experience as I ready myself to learn about PBL next week. I want to be able to design projects alongside my colleagues that will afford our students the opportunity to wonder about those things that actually interest them. Ideally, they'll then do the work necessary to satisfy their curiosity. I want more of the truly deep, hands-on, student-initiated, authentic, stuff! Day 43I have biases. I can easily identify many of them. Still, I OFTEN let them interfere with my ability to keep an open mind and learn.
Today I needed to take a break from the physical work I was doing. I received an email inviting me to check into EdmodoCon 2018. I started watching a presentation on Project Based Learning. Right off the bat, I need to admit, when it comes to PD, I have this voice in my head that goes like this: "if the presenter has spent less than a decade in the classroom, their opinions and knowledge are...less than." I won't name this presenter but I'll tell you that she was young-ish. Maybe she was about my age. She briefly highlighted a little time spent in the classroom and went on to explain how she then worked as a principal. She lost me. How can you have spent little time in the classroom and then become an administrator? There is my bias. You need to do your time in the trenches before telling others how it is done. One the one hand, you might agree with me. Seems logical. You shouldn't be guiding teachers and managing their evaluations when you haven't really spent a ton of time doing the work masterfully yourself. But, here is the problem....because I have this bias, I sometimes (often) disadvantage myself by tuning educators like today's speaker right out. (Even though she is REALLY acclaimed.) Once I judge them as too inexperienced, I close the door on the possibility that I can learn from them. This is my loss. Another bias I have: Innovation, although creative and exciting, can't sound too "other world". There has to be a structured approach with a foundation set firmly in the standards. When today's speaker started talking about design process I gave her another chance. I have some background knowledge here. Maybe she would have something meaningful to share with me after all. Then she started talking about design squiggles. And I was gone again. Squiggles? Really? I am so Type A and I couldn't move beyond the squiggle. I shut the video down. I chose weeding in 90 degree humid weather over learning. When reading a book or watching movie, I can suspend my disbelief. I can check that voice in my head that wants to start every sentence with the word "but". I need to be able to do this when I'm learning new things and when new ideas are presented to me. It is hard. I just know I need to do it. So, tonight I watched the video. I watched the whole video. And I got a lot out of it. I really did. In the end, the presenter closed with this quotation: "For me, and I am sure, for most of you, to be human is to be always in the process of becoming, to be in quest of openings, of possibilities, always" -Maxine Greene It was perfect. It resonated. I am in the process of becoming: aware of my biases open-minded receptive to "other world" ideas forgiving of myself when I don't have it all figured out less judgmental of myself when stuff gets hard more open to possibilities Day 42We visited Race Point Beach in Provincetown today. Simply stunning. There was actually a heat advisory on the Cape today (which almost never happens) but it was breezy and comfortable under the shade of my beach umbrella at Race Point. Old Harbor Life-Saving Station Museum is adjacent to the beach. Once we finished lunch, I noticed my son check his watch every so often. When I asked him why, wondering if he'd had enough of the beach, he explained that he had noticed a sign on the trek down to the beach that said that the museum was open daily at 2:00. He wanted to go find out what it was all about. He did just that. My son is curious.
Later that night, over burgers in Wellfleet, Owen explained all about the Old Harbor Life-Saving Station. He took so much in during his short visit. He told us that the museum predated the Cape Cod Canal during a time when shipwrecks were all too commonplace. This particular station had been moved to its new location in Provincetown in the 1970s. Previously it was located in Chatham and was moved by barge. It was home to the U.S. Life Saving Service, precursor to the U.S. Coast Guard. He was impressed by the efforts to preserve it just as it once was. Tonight I wondered for a bit about curiosity. What makes some humans more curious than others? I wondered why my son seemed more curious than my daughter. He has always been rather bookish and seeks out opportunities to learn new things. He is a regular visitor of the Cape Cod Visitor's Center at Salt Marsh which is the Gateway to the National Seashore. He says he learns something new every time he visits. He used to attend camp at the National Audubon Society and LOVED it. He really does love to learn. After reflecting on my daughter's curiosity, I felt guilty. I shortchanged her. Caroline is curious too. She is just into different things. For example, she has been making braided bracelets all summer long by weaving colored strings together. Today she wanted to learn a new weave or pattern. She went to YouTube to check out a demonstration video and then worked her own strings as she played, rewound, played, etc. the video again and again. Caroline is often curious about how to "do" things and will often do the research necessary to figure things out. While her interests seem less academic, because she is curious about jewelry making, hairstyling, and dance moves, I know that she has the skills to figure out any practical question she may have as she gets older. I won't be surprised if she becomes a master DIY-type of adult. The important thing is that we allow ourselves time to be curious and explore those things that interest us. On a somewhat unrelated note: I found out what is in Wicked Mud Flats! You might be wondering how I found out. I did what I do when I'm curious. I asked someone who might know the answer or at least have the resources to find out. I asked the cashier at Sweet Escape in Truro where they make this ice cream homemade. I always assumed that this guy was the owner. He has stone gray hair which he wears under a baseball hat, worn backwards (always), and tied in a tiny and tidy pony tail. He is salty looking and handsome at the same time. You can imagine my surprise when he said he had no idea. BUT he looked it up for me. It is the most amazing ice cream flavor ever! Here are the ingredients: Base flavor: Espresso! Mixed in: Chocolate chips, heath bar, brownie, fudge swirl. It is ridiculous. I'm glad I was curious enough to ask. I'm glad I now know. We three Brighams are all curious. It just looks different in each of us. When I'm back in the classroom in just a few short weeks I'm going to seek out all the different ways that fourth graders get curious and how they satisfy their curiosity. I'll work to acknowledge and celebrate each and every one. (Even watching YouTube videos to get better at Fortnite.) Day 41This was in my Twitter feed last night. I don't know these teachers. I actually don't follow any of them. But I KNOW this struggle. It is REAL. (I know this expression is overused. but in this instance it felt necessary.)
I see a few things going on here. Bill, Emily, and Mari are all educators who are in the throws of post -school-year or pre-school-year self-reflection. Like so many of us, it is not pretty! Bill has "cemented some bleak perspectives" in writing his self-reflection and he is still trying to get to a place where he is ready to begin again. Emily says "I am just really, really, really down on myself at the end of every school year." As I read through the thread I thought for sure that Mari was going to be the positive voice of reason and then she admitted, "Last year was horrible for me." I may be 100% wrong but given that these educators are tweeting out about self-reflection and their practice in the middle of the summer, I'm inclined to believe that they're not so bad. Yet they are all, in one way or another feeling pretty crappy about the year they just had. I hear this a lot when I talk to teachers. I'm not talking solely about the ones in my school either. I spend a good deal of time with teachers from other districts and even other states over the summer and the sentiment is always sort of the same. The general idea is: "I didn't quite measure up again." or "I kind of sucked it again this year." One thing I notice when I listen in to these conversations or I read threads like the one above is that teachers almost always blame themselves. It is never the kids and seldom the administration or parents. Teachers take the full brunt of responsibility on their shoulders. I've also noticed that this is one profession where, long before SMART goals and teacher evaluation systems were in play, teachers were reflective and demanding of themselves. Teachers have held themselves to a very personal list of exceedingly high standards forever. And generally, we've fallen short. I really do believe in goal setting and self-reflection. I mean, honestly, I'm 41 days into a blog written for the sole purpose of self-reflection. But, what I'm wondering about is whether this brand of self-reflection is truly good for teachers and our students. Since when did self-reflection become an exercise in identifying each and every weakness while losing sight of the daily victories and successes? I never hear teachers say, "Wow, I just had a truly brilliant year!" or "Listen while I outline all the ways I shined." When teachers DO have a positive self-reflection all the credit is typically attributed to the students. How often have I heard, "Well, I had a really great class and they worked really hard to make these gains." What I'm wondering about is the "WHY"? Is this just the nature of teachers? Are we sort of just wired to engage in this kind of uber-critical self-reflection? Or, is this the result of a culture where there are impossibly high standards for teaching and learning compounded by an evaluation processes with emphasis on student test scores and the labeling teachers? I'm also wondering about the long term impact? Surely this is not the type of self-reflection that leads to inspired teaching. Doesn't inspired teaching involve risk-taking? Aren't we most apt to take risks when we're feeling good about ourselves? (I'm not suggesting that evaluators artificially puff us up so we'll take risks.) I'm wondering how long teachers can sustain a positive effort when they're feeling like this. How long will @rebelmusicteach, A.K.A. "Emily Goes Pop" be teaching music if year after year she feels terrible about her practice? What about burnout? How many of us will give up and leave teaching altogether? I'm wondering what is leading teachers to this type of self-reflection. I'm wondering if it is productive. I'm wondering what evaluators, ed. leaders, and teachers can do to change this cycle of negative self-reflection followed by another disappointing year? Would I want one of my own children in a class with any of these teachers? If I'm being honest, probably not. Yet, if you just scroll back, you'll see that I am exactly like these three. I have analyzed my last year and come to the very same conclusion. I was not my best. I know that we can't truly control the things that evaluators will say about us but as teachers we can control the things we say about ourselves when we evaluate our practice. I'm going to make a real effort to allow myself to see all the things I do well and to set some reasonable goals for improving my practice. Then, I'm going to work hard to lift up my colleagues too. That'll be easy. They are amazing! I'm hoping that this positive energy will help me to take risks, to believe in myself, and to take time to notice the things I'm doing well. I'm hoping positivity will fuel a year marked by inspired teaching and learning! Day 40My understanding of a formative assessment is that it is some sort of assessment that gives the teacher information. The student's writing (think: short quiz, 3-2-1 exit ticket, response to a prompt, solution to a problem, etc) or oral response (think: response to a question, information the teacher overhears as the student has a conversation with his/her partner/group, information gained from a 1-1 interview, etc) helps any teacher to gain insight so that she/he has a better understanding of what has been learned. This information gathered helps to inform our decision making. Formative assessments are a sort of progress monitoring that help us to plan instruction for specific students or the whole class based on what the child/class has demonstrated he/she/they is/are able to do.
Boy is that wordy! The key for me is that the information you get by listening closely or evaluating student work samples informs instruction. The reason we want to use formative instruction is because our goal is to take all learners to that next level. Right? I was just reading a thread on Twitter. The question posed was: What are your favorite formative assessments? Go! There were some exit ticket responses, student journal entries, etc. but mixed in were a couple of responses that have me wondering. I saw "thumbs up/thumbs down" as a response and it got a little love from the folks participating in the thread. Then, someone offered, "green cup, yellow cup, red cup". Thank goodness someone else asked what that was all about so that I didn't have to. Essentially, kids or groups are given a set of cups. The cups are stacked. If all is going well the green cup is visible on the outside of the stack. If the child/group is beginning to struggle but can still forge on, for the time being, with independence, the yellow cup is shown. A red cup showing signals that learning has come to a halt and teacher intervention is required. What I'm wondering is, are these two strategies really formative assessments in the truest sense? In both instances, the students are self-evaluating. This gives me pause because, I have found that self-evaluation cannot always be trusted. First, my expectations around learning almost always go deeper than my ten year-old students' expectations. Some students will shoot me a thumbs up or would likely keep a green cup showing because he or she just wants to stay the heck off my radar. Less attention from me is better! This is especially true at the beginning of the year before relationships are well established. Some kids wouldn't show the honest thumb or cup in fear that their peers would think them smart or dumb. Teaching fourth graders is tricky business. Let's imagine that I got nearly all thumbs up when I asked the students if they understood how to round any number (1 to 1,000,000) to the thousands place. What would be my next move with the thumbs up crowd? What would be my next more with the thumbs down kids? Would glancing around the room at a sea of green cups help to inform my instruction? Tracy Johnston Zager says, "the only way to know is to go talk to the kid". One of my goals this year is to be a better listener and observer of kids. There is something so respectful about stopping, taking a knee, getting on their level, making eye contact, and really listening. And, when we really want to treat our kids right, we take in what has been said and ask a thoughtful question that will push his or her thinking and propel learning. A question is far more respectful than a superlative. (I read a lot of Alfie Kohn in my 20s and his voice is still in my head! I also follow him on Twitter - @alfiekohn.) So, I'll use fewer quick surveys that are efficient but not necessarily effective. I'll avoid strategies that create embarrassment or marginalize my students. I'll listen and look closely to see what my students are able to do and we'll take the next step together. I'm really getting excited to meet these kids! Day 39Today was my daughter's 14th birthday. She is sassy and smart. She is determined and kind. She is sweet and hysterical and like many teens, she is sometimes moody. So, in a nutshell, I think she is pretty stinking perfect. I am giddy when I think of what the future may hold for her. She is far more adventurous than I ever was. It will be so much fun watching her journey.
Long before her journey started, I began my own. I started teaching in my district in 1995. I was 22 years old. Our district is a small regional school district in the suburbs. When I first began my career in the district, there was not enough diversity. There still isn't. There is some socioeconomic diversity but that is it. One of the towns in our district was voted the most boring town in our state in recent years. I drive by barns and at least one farm on my way to school. There has been some change. For example, my town now has TWO traffic lights (up from zero when I first started) and the towns are definitely more affluent. Our communities were once blue-collar and farming communities. Now, many of the parents in these towns commute into Boston and her suburbs or work in one of the tech companies along 495. Kids in our district have lots of opportunity. They travel with their families, play on multiple sports teams, play musical instruments, learn a foreign language as early as Kindergarten, and have opportunities through school to travel in and outside the country. Their world is a lot bigger than mine was. In many respects, they are blessed. But something is going terribly wrong. My first class (1995-1996) was a class of 29 fifth graders. They were ten and eleven year-olds and like any class I've had in this district since then, they were curious. One thing I remember about this particular class was taking them up to our library where they would patiently sit on the floor around a single Macintosh computer waiting, through lots of static and whistles and other hard to explain noises while we connected to the World Wide Web. We were receiving emails from a scientist working in Antarctica and we were typing up questions and sending them out with hopes that we'd get the answers we hungered for. My students were wondering about animal adaptation and how anyone or anything could survive in Antarctica. It sounds silly and simple now but it was cutting edge excitement in 1996! These kids were happy kids. They loved their friends, sports, and music. They loved singing all the words to "Gangsta's Paradise" which seemed kind of funny because they were far from gangstas. They were fairly sheltered growing up in our tiny towns. There were days I'd go home humming that song. It is funny the things you remember. The point is, these kids were precious. They were just as sassy and smart, determined and kind, sweet and hysterical as the little girl my family celebrated today. Only I just found out last night that a third student from this class has died as a result of addiction. Two are boys, and one was a girl. All knew love and were well cared for as far as I could tell. All three had struggles too. Some were family struggles and some were learning struggles. For one child, it was both. I knew that these three would have to be resilient and overcome some challenges if they were going to thrive. But death at 27, 28 and 32 years of age is never what I would have predicted for any of them. It is unthinkable. It is heartbreaking. It makes me feel sad and desperate and angry and scared all at the same time. It also makes me wonder. How can we as parents and we as teachers prevent this drug epidemic from robbing us of our young people? How can I shield my own children? How can I keep them safe? I used to teach with an amazing teacher. She was faith-filled and had a beautiful family. She buried her 30 year-old son after a battle with addiction. She was truly awesome and she was not spared the heartache of saying goodbye to her son so why should any of us feel safe? I am a strong person. I am not strong enough to lose one of my children. I am hardly strong enough to lose these students. We need to help our young people and I'm frustrated and heart sick tonight because I just don't know how. Day 38This is the second summer in a row that I've taken advantage of the FREE Virtual Math Summit #BuildMathMinds18. It is really awesome. Over the course of 3 days, participants can listen to any number of experts in the field of math education. MANY of my math heroes present webinars. It is like attending the KISS108 or Iheartmusic concert packed with front liners. You can participate live or you can watch the webinars at your own convenience. I'm sure there is some financial incentive for presenters (memberships can be purchased so that you can have access to the webinars for a year.) but I can't imagine that any of them walk away with money equal to the hours and hours they must put into preparing their webinars. I've heard many of these presenters before and so far, I can honestly say, what is being presented is new stuff. What I love most is that the first offering (7 days of access) is made absolutely free to teachers. FREE. These math educators could be making A LOT more money if they charged each participant a small fee...even 20 bucks. We'd all happily pay. But it is FREE. These math educators truly care about student math learning, teacher math learning, and their own math learning. I feel really blessed to be teaching during a time when educators, despite their country or state, are banning together to provide professional learning experiences for one another. The high expectations placed on the shoulders of today's teachers are unreasonable and overwhelming but the resources made available to educators are like never before in the history of education. This support inspires me. Graham Fletcher @gfletchy must be quoted again: "All of us are smarter than one of us." I'm so grateful I've wandered into this math ed village. You should check out the #Buildmathminds18 site. You will be blown away by the caliber of the presenters. Mark your calendar for the first week of August next year!
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Marie McManus BrighamA public school teacher who gets to wonder alongside fourth-graders. Archives
December 2018
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