Day 76My colleague has a fifth grade daughter. She was at the elementary school in their town last year. Her principal was the WORST! He actually left in late August to take another job. Yikes! He won't be missed, but still!
We were discussing all this when the conversation took a slight detour. Someone asked, what made this principal the worst? My colleague elaborated. All the while, I wished we were talking about what makes a principal the BEST. I'm lucky. I've had the honor of working for some really stellar principals over the course of my tenure. Just like no teacher is perfect, no principal is either. If I could build the perfect principal I'd take attributes from each and combine them into one SUPER-PRINCIPAL. A girl can dream, right? So here is some unsolicited advice for educators who think they might want to become a principal or for principals just starting out. Heck, this could be advice for any principal wanting to improve, too. My suggestions are in no particular order.
The job of principal is a really big one and I'm thankful that some are willing to do this important work. My calling, for the time being, is in the classroom. I'm not sure what is next for me but I'm super clear that I'll never be a principal. But I'll be cheering you all on as we do this great work together.
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Day 76I am cautiously optimistic. By the beginning of October of the last school year I was feeling deeply discouraged with my students' ability to do math. It absolutely wasn't their content knowledge that was the most concerning for me. Although, thinking back, their content knowledge wasn't what I hoped it would be either. I was upset because my students did not seem to enjoy doing math. Given problems that I thought were engaging, they would look to me, with a deer-in-the-headlights look and wait for me to scaffold each problem. They were uninspired by seemingly any challenge. Given our new curriculum, I anticipated that they'd come in with a strength in procedural fluency and deficits when it came to conceptual understanding. Both were lacking. Even the brightest students who had command of some procedures could not explain why they work and certainly couldn't create their own math models to support their thinking. Over the course of the year, these kids made very good gains but man, it was hard work, for me, but especially for them. Given this experience, I was predicting the worst.
We're only two weeks in, actually only six days really, and I am very encouraged. Let's be clear, given the math we've done so far, I can't really speak to their content knowledge but they have come in with some pretty great attitudes. Quite a few have already told me that they like math. No one has come out and said that they're not good at math. I have already identified a few kids who are really struggling with number sense and have a difficult time figuring out how to get started. BUT, even these kids are willing to jump in and try. I've spent the last 6 days rolling out some of Jo Boaler's Week of Inspirational Maths activities and they have been well-received. These activities have a very low floor so most students could easily access the math. The activities emphasized collaboration, deep thinking, perseverance, etc. These kids are head and shoulders over last years class in terms of their willingness to participate and even struggle. We're heading into our first full week of school and we'll begin tackling the curriculum in a serious way. I'm trying not to get too excited but I'm already imagining what might be possible for these young mathematicians. I know that careful instructional choices and problems that will push their thinking paired with pedagogy that create a classroom culture where everyone takes risks and engages because they're supported by their classmates and their teachers will make all the difference. So, my next task is to tackle my plans and to seek out my own inspiration. It is going to be a great week. Day 75I've written about Mark Chubb (@MarkChubb3) before. His is a blog I definitely try to make time for. I love everything about what he shares. He clearly loves math and is invested in kids and their math learning. He is really invested in teachers and helping us to improve our craft. What I love most about his blog is that his writing is never judgmental and always pushes my thinking. His response to that pesky New York Times Opinion piece, by Barbara Oakley, is just what I've come to expect from Mark. (And yes, I know that I've posted about that silly opinion piece three times now!)
So, if you haven't already read the New York Times opinion, you can access it here. Mark Chubb's brilliant response is posted on his blog, "Thinking Mathematically" here. Mark didn't rant about the article (like I did) but instead, he took it as an opportunity to think deeply about what dynamic practice is and what it means to be mathematically proficient. While the Times Opinion made me all kinds of grumpy, Mark Chubb's post inspired me. Kids need practice. They don't need rote practice that sucks the joy out of math. Their practice doesn't always have to explicitly fun but it does have to be engaging. So many of the routines I've come across on Twitter provide excellent practice for my students. Many of them are really fun and many, even if not "fun", are engaging. These routines ensure that all kids are thinking, practicing skills and developing procedural fluency. They ensure that students are developing strategies. They cause students to reason and stretch until they have a deep understanding of the math The beautiful bi-product of using practice that is fun and/or engaging is that kids naturally want to persevere. Even when they don't meet immediate success, they become committed to the pursuit and keep on trying. Over time, they learn that they are capable when they don't give up. Do you want your students to enjoy some fun/engaging practice? Check out the amazing routines at the sites of some pretty incredible math educators found below. Splats and Fraction Splats and LOTS of other cool routines Fraction Talks Open Middle Which One Doesn't Belong Estimation 180 Personally, I'm off to think about how I can make the practice in my classroom more dynamic. Kids do need practice. I'll give Barbara Oakley that! Day 74Despite the fact that my classroom is an inclusion classroom, my students receive a ton of pull out services. Whether I believe in this approach is not important to the post. Some of these kids receive therapies etc. that their providers/parents/special ed. team believe are best provided in a separate setting.
Yesterday, one of my students came up to me and said that she was upset because a boy from her house (cooperative group), "was all up in my business asking where I go when I leave the classroom." Wow. How do you handle a situation like this? I knew I had a few options. If I've learned anything, it is to give my self a moment to think before responding in a situation like this. Any response would have consequences and I wanted the best possible outcome for this kid. Obviously, one of the options was to find out which kid was bothering her and reprimand him. The obvious consequence might be that the reprimanded child would get mad that he had been tattled on and this might be the beginning of a stressed relationship between these two students. I could tell her to ignore the behavior. How often do we give kids this advice? If I did this, the behavior may continue and this child might learn the lesson that her teacher isn't really interested in helping her to solve her problems. I'm not sure I did the right thing but here is what I did. I asked her why she thought the boy was asking this question. She shrugged. I gave her a couple of options. "Maybe he wants you to feel bad about being out of our room? Maybe he was just trying to be annoying? Maybe he wanted to know where you were because he was curious." I asked her to think for a moment. She did. She said she wasn't sure (and neither was I). I lead her to consider the option that he was curious. She really felt like it was still none of his business (and it really isn't). I gave her a few options. I told her that she could tell him where she goes and that his questioning would likely stop right away. I told her that she could tell him that it isn't his business and ask that he please drop the subject and that this may work. I told her that she could try ignoring him and he may stop. I offered to speak to him for her but I explained the consequence that may bring. I asked her how she wanted me to help. She wasn't sure. I asked her if she wanted to think about it overnight and we chat the next day. She shrugged and said, "sure." The one piece of information I had was the knowledge that the inquiring boy would begin his own pull-out services next week. This made me wonder if he was wanting to know if his classmate was a kid like him. My guess is that he was hoping to have a kid to relate to. I pulled this sweet girl aside today to follow up. I asked her how things were going with her classmate. She said they were going fine. I asked what she had decided to do about his questioning. She said that she had decided to let it go. This was kind of huge for her. At least on paper, this is a student who has historically had a tough time with other kids. She often feels like their target versus their friend. In the past, she was not a "let it go" girl. I'm still not sure I handled it perfectly but I know this kid knows two things; I am going to listen to her when she is upset and when she has a problem and I am going to invite her into the problem solving instead of taking over. I'll be watching these two students closely. I want to support their social (and academic) success. For the time being, I think we're good. Day 73I participate in #elemmathchat on Twitter as often as I'm able. There are so many reasons I love these experiences. First, they make my world bigger. I get to talk math with educators from around the globe. These opportunities expand my thinking. Having access to a global network of teachers who are mathematicians has made me think about both math and teaching math in different ways. These chats are held weekly from 9:00 to 10;00 PM EST. Each week is hosted by someone who pushes our thinking by asking questions. My favorite chats require that I do some math. Doing math with other educators and mathematicians enables me to participate in deep thinking and learning much like the learning opportunities I try to provide for my own students. This is beneficial on so many different levels. Having similar experiences enables me to be more empathetic. The chat is typically fast-paced and I get that it sort of has to be given the time constraints and the way that we participate. Sometimes, I get frustrated because I'm still working a problem when other participants are beginning to offer up solutions. I experience the same type of thoughts and emotions. I question my own ability to do math. I wonder if I am smart enough to even be in the conversation with the others. I get frustrated with myself and I fight the urge to quit once the answer is out there. So, in the classroom, I give kids an ridiculous amount of think time. Kids who solve quickly can develop proof that their solution works or can develop multiple strategies for solving the single problem while kids who process slower have the time they need to solve the question. When I open up the floor for sharing, all students have something to share. The other thing I can do is ask students how they started to think about the problem. This gives students a way to enter the conversation while not having everything figured out. Having the opportunity to do math in this setting gives me a close-up look at how other math educators solve the same kinds of problems I'm solving. Being able to examine the work of other mathematicians has really deepened my understanding of the math and has allowed me to acquire more strategies for doing math. What I've realized over time is that looking at student work or talking to students about math also deepens my own understanding and helps me to gain strategies. This is not only important for my math learning but it is critical that my mathematics thinking evolves so that I can be the best teacher for my students. The more strategies I can share, the more flexible my own thinking, the better prepared I am to move my students forward in their math thinking and learning. Tonight's host was Steve Wyborney (@SteveWyborney) who authors Math Splats found at the SPLAT section of his website. I loved this chat because Steve structured his lesson like all good teachers structure lessons. He provided a meaningful and important question for participants to consider at the beginning and then he provided us with experiences so that we could get a true sense of how our own students' learning might look and feel and then he asked us to synthesize the entire experience. These are three of his key tweets: This chat really was an example of excellent mathematics professional development because it focused on both pedagogy and math content. It was especially good because it was fun. Even teachers like their math learning to be fun.
Steve Wyborney's SPLATS are really fun for kids. My fourth graders beg for his Fractions Splats. That's right, nine and ten-year olds ASK to do fraction work! Their experience learning fractions in school is thankfully a lot different than mine was. Anyway, Steve Wyborney's SPLATS force kids to go deep with their thinking. Rote procedures will not be enough to guarantee success with these puzzles. The SPLATS require students to use a variety of strategies to solve each puzzle. This requires students to think deeply and to grow flexible in their thinking. The best way for students to accelerate their success is to listen to their classmates, to work hard to understand their strategies, and to practice applying these new strategies to novel puzzles. Naturally, a classroom culture where collaboration is front and center is one of the other welcomed bi-products of using SPLATS. Again, I find myself blessed to be teaching during a time when so many resources are available to me and so many experts make themselves readily available as teachers and mentors. If you haven't tried SPLATS with your kids get on it. You will have fun and so will they and you will be blown away by what you hear your students noticing and wondering. With very little prompting they will be thinking deeply and their learning will impress. During the course of the chat, I got a little retweet from Steve and a little love from those in the chat. It is a tiny thing but really, it is the tiny things that validate our thinking and keep us curious. Day 72Holy crap! Something cool happened in our math class today. I'm using Jo Boaler's "Week of Inspirational Maths" work. If you haven't checked out her site you really must. The lessons, videos, and activities/tasks are perfect for building a culture in the classroom where a one for all and all for one mindset is the rule and where students embrace struggle and don't get bogged down by their mistakes but, instead, learn from them. Anyway I was using a paper folding activity with my students. They were working with square pieces of origami paper. The directions were to fold the paper in such a way that the portion showing is a square and is exactly 1/4 the size of the original square. Most kids folded their squares in half and then in half again. The focus of the lesson was to teach kids to reason and to be convincing. After completing the task one student in each pair needed to work with his or her partner to convince him or her that a square was shown and that the square was exactly 1/4 the original. The second student acted as the skeptic and had to repeatedly ask follow up questions until the first student had proven him or herself. I only have 22 students this year and felt like I was doing a decent job circulating around the room while kids were at work. I was a little disappointed in myself because toward the end of the lesson, I noticed a kid who had constructed a "basket" out of his square and he was actually fixing to use his glue stick to glue the sides in place. I couldn't believe that I hadn't caught this off-task behavior sooner. This kid had wasted away the whole math class! At some point later in day I was sharing my failure with my colleagues. We we had a little chuckle when I told told them he was about to glue the whole thing together when I finally noticed him. One colleague suggested that maybe the kid's solution worked. I dismissed this with little thought as I didn't think she was serious and the idea of the solution working just seemed preposterous. This kid had just been playing around. I was back in my classrom prepping for the afternoon when my eyes fell upon this child's work. I couldn't believe what I saw once I opened up my eyes and really LOOKED at his work. It was a valid solution! From the outside looking in, there was nothing about the way that I treated this child today that left the impression that I didn't take the attempt seriously. I didn't reprimand him. I didn't verbally discount his work. The truth of the matter is, I didn't take the attempt seriously. Tomorrow, this kiddo gets the floor. This attempt is going front and center. I'll ask the kids in our room what they notice about it and what they wonder. This kid *legit* thinks outside the box. His work was AMAZING. He didn't give the simple solution. His solution was exquisite because it was full of creativity while still being mathematically accurate. The thing that REALLY blows me away now that I've had a chance to think about it is that this child was doing something very different than every kid sitting around him. He couldn't care less that his work didn't look like anyone else's work. I want to be more like him. Goal: Think out of the box more and celebrate kids who do too! Day 71I have a student who isn't transitioning all that well. It is hard. I wonder the root cause. It may be that this kid just doesn't do transitions well. It may be that it is nearly 90 degrees in my classroom everyday and, really, who wants to transition into that? Or, it may be something else. At any rate, I've got to get to the important business of figuring this out. I feel a sense of urgency because I really do want this kid to feel at home in our classroom and I want the entire class to develop a sense of community.
I think I'm going to need to call in some help. This really isn't what I do. I figure things out. I do think that I could benefit from some coaching here. When I mentioned this to my principal she shared that she is frustrated by the limited resources we have available when it comes to specialized personnel. I will make a plea to get the help that I need so that my student can thrive. I'll do whatever it takes. At the end of the day, if there is no person to help me, I'll do the research I need to do to make our classroom a welcoming place for all kids. It is frustrating when doing such things requires so much time and effort. It shouldn't be so much work. Still, it is hot. We're all ready to feel more comfortable in the classroom. Even though we're only three days in, I'm feeling the pressure to get this figured out. Day 70Today was Labor Day. The weather was perfect. In fact, this has been the best Labor Day weekend in recent memory. I enjoyed every last drop of summer on the Cape. As I look back on the weekend, one of the nicest things I did for myself was taking the time to read Joe Biden's book, Promise Me, Dad. Much of the book was incredibly inspirational but one page struck me.
Biden started to talk about celebrated MA politician, Tip O'Neal and his belief that "all politics are local" Joe countered that "all politics are personal." Immediately, I saw the connection to education. Education, if it is to be effective at all, must be personal. Education, like politics, is dependent on the establishment of trust. It, too, is about building personal relationships. It is about having goals and objectives and moving to achieve what you set out to achieve in the beginning. But more importantly, it is about welcoming a kid into a classroom and making that kid feel like he or she belongs. It is about working with that kid to create a space for learning and unearthing what is most important to him or her. Finally, it is about working with that kid to accomplish what is important to him or her. It is about trust and it is about building relationships. Education is personal. Day 69Still on the Cape for the long Labor Day weekend, we went to Nauset Light Beach. This National Seashore Beach is situated between Coastguard Beach in Eastham and Marconi Beach in Wellfleet. Lately we've been taking our pup Charlie to the beach. When my husband wanted to nap and the dog was acting a bit insane, I decided to take him for a walk. I often walk toward Coastguard which is only a mile or so down the beach. Today I walked toward Marconi which is quite a hike. Full disclosure, I didn't make it all the way there. Once I saw the surfers I figured I was close enough. Charlie and I turned around and ran the rest of the way back. While walking down the beach I took some time to consider being "fearless". I saw lots of swimmers and surfers in the shark infested waters which was what inspired this line of thought to begin with.
After some consideration, I decided that the swimmers and surfers were probably not fearless. Sure, they were risk-takers but maybe some were quite filled with fear. Then I saw very young children darting back and forth with the waves. Were they fearless? Likely not. I'm not sure you can be fearless when you are unaware of impending danger. Then I got to wondering, is it foolish to be fearless? Is fearless even thing we should aspire to be? What about students in the classroom? Are they ever fearless or should they ever be? I'm sure there are times when kids feel confident and they attack tasks without fear. Some students are so confident that they are unafraid of failure. They know that if their efforts don't yield success, they'll try other approaches, persevere, and eventually reach their goal. Because of their fearless nature, these kids will take bigger risks. When more is leveraged, the potential for significant learning is present. We all have had students who are the opposite of fearless. These students are consumed with the prospect of failure and are often afraid to try anything new or step outside their comfort zones. When this is the case, learning certainly happens at a slower pace. What I'm wondering about tonight is how to help the fearful student evolve into a student who is fearless. Are there specific teacher-moves that can set a student up for this transformation? Will a student who is fearful yet encouraged and nurtured in a supportive environment eventually grow confident enough to begin taking risk?. Are some students wired to live with reckless abandoned while others are cursed to be worry worts? As a teacher, I see the power of being, at the very least, willing to take calculated risks. Even as I say this I can't help but acknowledge that I've been something of a life-long worrier. What I'll focus on is providing all students with a classroom environment that is supportive and nurturing. I'll provide students with challenge so that they're always reaching and striving and the support necessary until they're thriving with independence. I'm not sure that fearlessness has a place in my classroom but confidence sure does!
"Homework, Oh Homework! I Hate You! You Stink" is the title of a popular poem by Jack Prelutsky. It is also the sentiment of countless students. At least that is the opinion held by students I've encountered. My district has wondered about the practice of assigning nightly homework. All too aware that there is a growing body of research that suggests that homework has made no positive impact on students' academic progress or success, my district and a committed committee of educators took a year to research and think about the topic deeply. Teachers, students, and parents were surveyed. The surveys yielded mixed feelings toward homework. Here it is, September first, and I'm wondering what to do about homework. I'm really wondering because in a little over a week I'll need to stand before families and tell them about my homework policy. I had hoped for some input from this committee. While survey results have been shared out, no formal recommendations have been made. I'll have to make some decisions by next week. Left to my own devices, I'l probably do what I did last year. Find the below excerpt from my classroom web page. Recent research is making educators around the world re-think homework. There is not a ton of research proving that this age-old practice of bringing school work into the home is beneficial for students. As a mom, the value I see in homework is that I get a glimpse of what is going on in the classroom However, I can't say that homework brings a lot of joy into our home. At times, just the opposite has been true. What will homework look like during your child's fourth-grade experience? Here is my current thinking: Meaningful practice is important. I haven't found too many worksheets or even tech based apps. that provide meaningful practice. So, let's agree to the following:
Have you been a proponent of reasonable homework for your child? Does your child miss written homework? Let's keep talking about this topic. I'd love to hear your thoughts. I will definitely be asking how fourth grade "homework" is going when we meet for conferences in November. In the meantime, thank you for trusting me as I continue to experiment with this homework policy. I take your child's education to heart. I am so grateful for your trust. I did ask parents about the homework experience last year at both November and March conferences. There was an overwhelmingly positive response. Most parents reported much less stress and arguing in the home. Most reported that their child's overall attitude toward school had improved. However, not all parents embraced this policy. Some felt that their fourth-grader felt left out because their siblings had homework. Some worried that my teaching was not rigorous enough to prepare their child for the next school year given that there was no homework. Some mentioned that work ethic was not developing as a result of the no-homework policy and one stated that her children had nothing to do after school as a result of no-homework.
I'm taking their feed back seriously. Except maybe that last one. That's not on me. I'm charged with filling 6..5 hours of a child's day with engaging learning experiences. Do I really have to prepare materials to keep them "entertained" at home too? I'll be interested to touch base with a couple of these parents this year. I'm curious about their child's transition into fifth grade. Like so may other educational issues, this one has me scratching my head. I don't have it all figured out. I'm trusting the research and leading with my heart.. |
Marie McManus BrighamA public school teacher who gets to wonder alongside fourth-graders. Archives
December 2018
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