What do we value?

Last week, I had arranged for a sub for a planned absence.  Two days before, the substitute stopped by to check in on what the day would look like so I gave her a rundown.  She then proceeded to give me (and my students) such a sweet compliment, that when she's subbed for me earlier in the year, students knew what to do and were great to sub for.  At this point in the year, students are ready to engage in the work. AND, coming off a year of distance learning where they were independent learners EVERY DAY, many students are ready and able to work independently for an hour here and there. Are they perfect? Absolutely not. BUT, they do pretty darn great for 15 year olds. 

Students do well when the know what it looks like to do well and when we create routines and structures in our classrooms (and school) that lead to success.  Teaching is hard because we have to be "on" all the time.  We have to pay attention and be alert to our classroom, continuously reinforcing the routines, behaviors and such that will ensure students will be successful.  My students don't do well because I just make tests easy or help them through questions during a test.  They do well because they know what is expected of them and they rise to the occasion.  My expectations are HIGH, and they reach them.  This doesn't mean I'm constantly nit-picking every small act/mistake/misbehavior, but that I capitalize on routines and habits and reinforce them. The goal is not to never look at your phone, for instance; the goal is to be able to look at your phone for a moment, then get back to work.  You might have a bad/off day, but the goal is to do your best that day and keep striving to do better.  Conversely, when I see routine behaviors by a student that are not in line with what leads to success in my class, I follow up, reaching out, trying to remedy the problem.  

This is true for entire school systems.  We need to be "on" reinforcing good behaviors and keeping our expectations high.  It's ok to be tardy here and there, but are you tardy ALL the time? Then we've got a break down in the adults in the system and missed out on creating structures that reinforce behaviors we hope to see.  

Do we value students being in class? Then we need to show that value by creating expectations of being in class, creating accountability when the expectations are not reached repeatedly.  Students are ready to rise to the expectations we place upon them with the proper support, but if we don't reinforce our expectations, then what? 

Additionally, reinforcement can't just be stating the expectations over and over again.  We need to walk the walk, and model the way.  We also need to talk to individuals, instead of just hollering into the void.  Not every kid needs to be reminded of being to class on time.  One-on-one conversations are so important and 100% necessary.

When I was Dean of Students and would talk to students who were sent out of class, I always had to weigh the rights of the student with that of the class as a whole.  That student's right to an education is important, but so are the rights of the other 29 students in that class.  I called it maintaining the integrity of the classroom.  We valued the ability for the whole class to learn on any given day.  If a student was impeding the right of others to learn, it might require them to miss an opportunity for them to learn that day.  Additionally if the student is getting in their own way to learn, that also warrants a pause.  This cannot be 100% on the teacher to do that work because, again, you are now pulling them away from the other 29 students. 

If we value ALL students learning, we need to show that and start expecting all students to be in class, expecting all students to put their phones away so they can engage in the learning, AND recognizing when this isn't happening and do something about it. 

This year, I don't see us doing something about it. I don't see us expecting all students to be in class. I feel like a frazzled teacher who doesn't have support in keeping expectations high.  I feel like kids are slipping fast and there's no one there to catch them.  It's slowly breaking me. 

For my country and my school, I pray...

I pray for systems that support people; that are thoughtful, comprehensive and have foresight for people's long term needs.

I pray for policies that not only keep in mind those directly impacted, but also those who have to implement them.

I pray for people's voices to be heard; for their questions to be answered.

I pray for courageous leaders who aren't afraid to make mistakes and stand for what's right, but who also aren't afraid of dissent and tough conversations. 

I pray that leaders trust the experts in their field and treat them like the valued professionals that they are, whether that be scientists or teachers. 

I pray that we can all stay optimistic through all of this, while fighting for what's important; we need that strength now more than ever.  

I pray that actions match the words of an elected or hired leader.  It is not enough to know what to say.  It is more important that your actions fit what you claim to value. 

Put me in, Coach!

When I was a junior in high school, an assistant volleyball coach, Aaron, pulled me aside one day, made me look him in the eyes as he said "You will be a starting middle this year". At that point I was not on the starting line up.  I was seemingly always a step behind my peers on the volleyball court and this was my first year on Varsity. I wasn't getting playing time during games at that point and felt a bit defeated, but he believed in me.  I was a strong blocker, an important part of defense, but not the skill everyone seemingly values.  At that level of volleyball people love to see a strong ace serve or powerful kill, both offensive skills.  I'm more of a behind the scenes person getting necessary work done in effective ways. 

A few games into my junior season, I'll never forget the gym or my coach Aaron, I was put in the game to fill in for a teammate who was struggling that night.  My coach never took me out.  My blocking game was on point and put me near the top of the section by the time I was a senior.  I was a valued asset to the team, but it took a bit longer to be recognized.  Ironically as I watch Big Ten volleyball when I cheer on my Minnesota Gophers the crowd goes wild with every block. At the elite levels of volleyball blocks are just as sacred and essential to the game. 

This is a pattern that holds true for me to this day.  There are many people around me who believe in me and my skills behind the scenes.  I'm blessed with colleagues who tell me they appreciate my voice when I speak up at meetings, who remind me I'm qualified for leadership positions, and encourage me to apply.  My skills haven't been valued yet to earn that promotion, but I know my time is coming and when it does I'll be ready and they won't ever want to take me out of the game. 

For now, I'll embrace the opportunities to lead that don't involve a promotion and believe that being in the classroom is the exact spot I'm meant to be right now.  Supporting a student teacher.  Creating structures for success in this online environment. Sending a letter to a student who just lost a family member to COVID-19.  Leading my PLC through building cohesive, supportive, online curriculum. Writing an MOU to ensure our union members are safe when they reenter the classroom.  These things are important too and I am exactly where I need to be....for now. 

What might we learn?

These are weird times.  In a normal year I'm teaching math to teenagers, but this year I find myself spending so much time teaching technology.  I have a love - hate relationship with technology.  I appreciate what it can be and how it creates spaces we've never had before, but I hate how it feels like we can't function without it.  This has always been the case with me and technology.

I'm grateful because I've had a knack for making sense of things and learning on my own, especially in the tech world. I don't actually know how to code, but I am darn good at stealing code and making it do what I want. I can teach online and I can do it quite well, but I don't really want to.

Now I find myself in this situation where I am so hyper dependent on my internet, computer, apps, the list goes on and on.... I don't like feeling like this.  I miss the days where the things I remember from class were the goofy kid who made me laugh. Instead I find myself leaving each day deflated that the technology let me down again and I couldn't even enter the breakout room to interact with the goofy kids. I know I'm not alone, but it's hard not to feel so heavy and wonder what's the point of it all. 

I'm thrust in this world of trying to save all my colleagues and trying to save myself and now I find myself trying to save my students as they've entered this black hole of technology with us this school year.

I'm so excited to connect with students in synchronous learning (Why in all things great and wonderful did the education world decide  ASYNCHRONOUS AND SYNCHRONOUS were better than LITERALLY anything else?!) but I find myself trudging through the mud of tech challenges.  That might never go away, but we'll find a way to connect anyway.  It won't be easy, but it will be worth it. 

This year will be HARD. But we can do hard things.  We can learn right along with our students.  We can find gratitude for what was and make way for new learning to happen. 

Blow it all up

Let's face it, we'll be in distance learning soon. It's a terrible way to teach and learn.  We lose all the wonderful parts of school, the human interaction, and replace it with screen time. 

We need courageous leaders now more than ever.  They need to be willing to blow up the traditional model to best support the needs of students and staff.  

How about this.

Right now, trimesters are 12 weeks with 6 classes.  What if we spend two weeks with each class and create courses that teach the essentials. We'd have to commit to a full trimester of this. We could do this distance based AND in a hybrid model.

WHY?

Kids and families would only have to focus on ONE class, ONE teacher at a time. We'd get to know our students and build strong relationships. 

Yes, it would be weird to not have an established "prep", but if we put our best into our two weeks of teacher workshop creating lessons and building out our courses, think of all the time we would free up to work and be with students. Let's say a teacher with period 1 prep teaches intermediate algebra, they could support the team in building out coursework online for our courses.  We could make wonderful, magical things happen in two weeks of learning with one group of 30 students.

What would that look like?

In my math class, I could have math talks every day with my class of 30 students, get them started on a desmos investigation and have them watch a video on their own. Then after lunch we'd come back for a group assignment instructions and I would let them get together to dig deeper in teams while I was on standby to support various teams.  

In an Art class, the teacher could hold class at school on occasion so the students could spend the day spinning pottery.

In Auto class, students could come to school and build an entire engine as a class after spending a part of each day learning about different components.

Science could have a few experiments each week in the classroom, in small teams, for the teacher to support them.

This most certainly would revolutionize how we teach and learn, but wouldn't it be great if a student who did get sick with COVID-19 only had miss a credit or two as they joined back up when it made sense for them? (Instead of the alternative of making up weeks of work for 6 classes.)

Now is the time to transform what we do.  

Why are we trying to fit a square peg in a round hole?  

Now is the time to blow it all up and make amazing things happen.  Let's seize this opportunity to be creative. 

Why this teacher has considered leaving the profession

When I can look around with gratitude at all the students doing math in my classroom I know I am exactly where I need to be.

Then there are times when the kids aren't around and I wonder what am I doing here?  Does this make me happy?   Is it all worth it?  Can I function in this environment for another year, another month, another day?

When we consider why good, great and even mediocre teachers leave the profession what the data reveals doesn't surprise me.  It's exactly the reasons I've considered leaving the profession. 

It isn't pay. None of us went into this profession looking to make lots of money. (29% of the teacher surveyed said pay was one of the factors they left)

It isn't the students.  Teenagers are weird, exhausting, wonderful, creative, sad, lovely people.  I adore them and all the complexities they bring to the table day in and out. (What percent?)

It isn't what teaching is.  It's what it isn't.

It hasn't been a place where teachers are considered professionals.  Look at the conversations around school board nominees in the last election.  I read countless posts on social media where people expressed their belief that teachers shouldn't be on a school board. One poster even stated that not having kids should make you less effective at being on a school board even if you are a teacher?  In what other profession do we not want the professionals at the table making the decisions?  A medical board should not be filled with just business people and patients.  It needs to include (and should primarily consist of) the professionals on the ground doing the work and seeing where there are issues.

Unfortunately good teachers learn to hunker down in their classrooms and focus on what they can control. They spend their energy on their group of students and ignore the rest. These good teachers are capable of doing so much more.  They can help build equitable schools, districts and communities.  They witness first hand the negative impact policies have on their students and are creative in thinking up solutions. 

Here's the irony.  This post (above) was drafted in November 2019.  We now find ourselves in the midst of the most challenging times in school planning, how to reopen schools during a global pandemic. And guess who is not at the table?  The teachers.  

Hunkering down in our classrooms isn't an option. Our health and the health of our students is on the line.  A committee of 20 with only 4 teachers just isn't adequate.  Conversations that talk about how to schedule our students with out looking at how to keep people safe first is completely backwards.  Typically when there is a policy that we don't agree with, we can make it work and work within the policy.  We can't do that now.  We can't hunker down in our classrooms and focus on what we can control without feeling like we are risking our lives. 

In normal times, teachers don't feel valued.  Right now, August 1st, 2020, it's especially hard to feel valued.

The Struggle is Real

How do I help students see that by struggling they are learning?  That you don't need to know everything. That in the game of life you don't have the answers you'll make lots of mistakes and you will forever have to learn something new.  That even when you feel like you've got it, life throws you a curve ball and you've got to regroup and start over.  That's what the best mathematicians do.  There are seldom easy answers if you are continually choosing to learn or branching out.  I used to wonder why weird things always happen to me.  My mom made a keen observation that it's because I'm constantly putting myself out there.  Whether it be through taking on a new job/role, trying a new workout or speaking up for something that matters to me, I find myself having to clear lots of hurdles.  It's tiring, but looking back, I wouldn't have it any other way. 

This year I've had a few case managers reach out to me about their students feeling lost or worried about math class.  One such email detailed a student feeling like she wasn't doing well and that students around her were working at a faster pace, making her anxious she wasn't getting it.  Here's how I ended up responding. (The student's name has been changed.)

Thanks for touching base.  A couple things about class.  I create teams of students with a variety of levels so there will definitely be a mix at each table/team.  Often when all teams are putting their heads together on a single problem it is meant to be difficult for all students and that might be when Jenny really feels like she doesn't get it.  It is when they work in partners or solo that Jenny should use as a gage on whether or not she is keeping up in class. Homework is another good gage. I've learned this year that I need to be more explicit about this and have tried to reiterate that when they are working as a team on one problem that they will never see that difficult of a problem on an individual test, but that sort of problem is meant to stretch their abilities and get them talking about their thinking.  If Jenny feels better listening versus sharing her thinking, that is ok.  The only thing I'd encourage her to do is use the "question of the week" to ask her peers to better explain themselves.  Students are asked to use that question two times a week during class.  This is an easy in for her to hear more of her peers explain, in effect creating more teachers in the classroom and helping a student like Jenny learn more.  It won't seem weird when she asks the question because it is expected of them for credit during the week. (Granted, I am having difficulty getting kids to ask the questions so I am going to create a better incentive to do so this coming week).  

Also, I do grade classwork at the end of class based on "completion" I haven't noticed Jenny not being able to finish in time, but if that happens and she was working and it was an ability limitation versus a result of being off task during class, I make my best judgement and still give kids credit.  Jenny is rarely off task, but she doesn't often ask me questions when she doesn't get something.  So my only advice, if it is time in class that she is worried about to finish something, is to not be afraid to ask me a question.  I am constantly circulating during work time so it's not like she needs to ask it in front of the whole class or walk up to my desk.  

I hope that helps and I'll be sure to stop by Jenny's desk more often to encourage and steer her in the right direction if she gets stuck. 

 This email and the other conversation with a case manager made me realize the fear some students have about struggling.  Struggling is seen as bad.  How do we change this tide? I can say: "Confusion is part of learning." I can say: "productive struggle is part of learning" but that doesn't mean the students feel ok struggling.  Trauma informed educator training has taught me that some of this might just have to do with their lives outside of school.  I, personally, can handle struggle because my life, all in all, is good, stable and not to mention the success I've seen through struggle.  Students who have had trauma might shut down when it's difficult.  I equate it to being hit where you already have a bruise. It hurts twice as much making you steer clear of that struggle for fear of perpetuating the bruise that already exists.   While knowing this might create compassion and empathy, it doesn't help me create a culture of valuing struggle.  How do I do that?

For now I'll keep focusing on living the values of struggle = good in class and ensuring they see success through the struggle. Because by finding success through something hard they will be more willing to struggle another day and push through the difficult times to find the success on the other side.

Integrating Norms Into the Classroom

Last year I discovered these norms from Sarah at MathEqualsLove.blogspot.com that I did a mediocre job of teaching and reinforcing throughout the school year.  I appreciate that they reinforce what makes a good mathematician and what makes a good math class.  This year I made an early commitment to properly introduce each one and let them be a part of my language in class.  Week two I chose the following norms to reinforce and thread throughout the week.

Confusion is part of learning.
This one was a welcome surprise to reinforce.  The name tents each day during week one gave space for students to reflect on the activities we did each day.  Naturally, students in each class made a remark saying something to the effect of: "the class was confusing today, but our team got it".   Jackpot!  I started Monday discussing this observation and introducing the three norms for week 2.  Be ok with confusion, I told them. It means there's something to learn.

No one is done until everyone is done.
On most Wednesdays and Thursdays we only see three of the six classes, making our classes 86 minutes long instead of the regular 57 minutes.  I often utilize this time in smaller chunks to keep the kids on task and give us all a breather during what feels like a longer school day.  This week I took the time to introduce a structure called "Find Someone Who".  We played structure in a fun way at first.  The instructions were to get a bingo, 5 in a row, by finding classmates who fit the characteristics.  Once you had a bingo, go back to your seat.  What was wonderful, was that the norm came out naturally in this activity.  One student finished quite quickly and took a seat.  Other students kept coming up to him to ask him a question and he participated.  After time was up, I debriefed with the students highlighting how no one is done until everyone is done.  Even though you might finish, you still contribute to your classmates.  We followed up the fun icebreaker by doing the same structure with solving equations which led us into the final norm for the week.

Helping is not the same as giving answers.

For the equation round of Find Someone Who, students got a card with an equation on it. (I made 12 different equations that resulted in one of six solutions).

Step 1: students had to find someone who had the same card as them and solve that equation together.  They then became the expert of the card they had and could lend support to their classmates.

Step 2: Find all six answers on their paper and solve the equation that matched the answers they were missing.  Get help from the person with the card if you are stuck.


The key here was to discuss how counterproductive it would be to just give the full solution.  Helping is not the same as giving answers. There were a few kids who were copying, but I just redirected them and reminded them that they would never cheat on a test so they shouldn't do this on a day of practice either. It was so fun to walk around and hear them explaining to their classmates a difficult step.  I effectively had each student become another teacher in the room for their problem.

While I'm proud of how the week turned out, let's not pretend it was all sunshine and roses.  I literally forgot to plan a lesson after having to be out Tuesday and no prep Wednesday and I had to scramble during my lunch period.  I had to be honest with kids that Wednesday that I just wasn't myself and forgive me for mediocre work. Not surprisingly, they rolled with the punches, so to speak, and we survived the afternoon.

New School Year: 2019-2020

Here we are...another school year.  This marks year 16 in education for me.  I'm excited; I'm terrified; I'm happy; I'm exhausted; I'm exhilarated.  I'm ready, I think.

Today I went to a TERRIBLE training provided by our district.  I can honestly say it was the worst training I've ever witnessed in the last 15 years of my career.  All secondary teachers spent two hours of our lives in an auditorium attempting to learn.  The content may have been valuable (it's hard to tell), but the execution and delivery of the content was bad.  Thankfully during the training I read the Marshall Memo and completed some housekeeping.

Books continue to provide such an inspiration for me and open me up to changing my teaching practice.  I've been reading Necessary Conditions by Geoff Krall and Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You Had by Tracy Johnston Zager over the last year and they get me excited to add on to my skills, to expand what I do with students to become even better year after year. I don't need a training when I have amazing books to improve my practice.

Commitments for this year  

None of them will be easy. They don't happen naturally, but I'll do my best!

1. Students will talk more than me in class (about math, of course!)
2. Students will truly work together on difficult math. 
3. I will reflect here, on the blog, monthly (at least).

Relationships and Expectations

Week one of school I will use the Name Tents and 1-100 activity as detailed on Sara VanDerWerf's blog to start the year off on the right foot.  The goal is to show students I care about a relationship with them and we will learn to work together and talk in this classroom. I want to actively care, not passively care as described in the book, Necessary Conditions. Geoff Krall thankfully explains the difference here if you don't have access to the book.

If I want students to talk I need to make opportunities to do so and teach them how. A quote that stood out in Necessary Conditions was a teacher reflecting on doing arithmetic Number Talks in an algebra class.  She stated "...I certainly find a through-line between the Number Talks we have regularly and the conversations that occurs while students are working on a more complex problem or in groups" (page 73)  By Friday we'll do our first round of number talks to make it a weekly tradition at the very least, with more occurring in the beginning of the year.

Each week I will introduce a few more norms that I adopted last year from Sarah Hagan's blog, Math Equals Love.  I want to build upon expectations (not dump them all on the students in a day) and reinforce them as I go.  I've learned that reinforcing quality group work and teaching expectations does wonders in the classroom.  I'll bring out the sticks by week two to reinforce the norms and create accountability as a team.

So there it is, my commitment to start the school year.  Onward! ~Sawubona~

Why people can't be replaced with computers....unless we let them.

Recently I ordered pantry items from a new company.  I was excited to have my favorite items delivered and at a 25% discount.  Woohoo!  Oh, wait, the discount maxes out at $20, darn!  Nonetheless I purchased $118.58 worth of items and saved $20.  I'm thrifty because I have expensive taste but on a teacher's budget.  You do what you've got to do when you care about what food you put in your body.  

When the package arrived I did something unheard of (for me at least), I compared the packing list to the items in the box and I was missing a $3.95 tube of toothpaste.  I checked again and sure enough, no toothpaste.  Darn!  

I signed into my account online and proceeded to chat with the customer service rep.  He was great and quickly issued me a refund of $3.52.

$3.95 Subtotal-$0.67 Discount (Extra 25% off, cap at $20)$0.24 Tax$3.52 Grand Total

Hmmm, that didn't seem right.  Thankfully I figured out that I really only saved 16.9% (not 25%) per item and $0.67 is 16.9% of $3.95, but wait a second, why was I missing out on the full $20 savings that I should have earned?  That seems unfair since I wasn't returning something, but rather they were correcting a mistake.  

I wasn't satisfied and I made that clear to the customer service rep.  It is silly to argue for a $0.67 refund, but to me it was the precedent being set.  The rep blamed it on the system automating the refund and stated he understood what I was saying and would pass it on to his supervisors, but there was nothing else he could do.

Why have a customer service representative available if they can't actually reason and make matters right?  Since when do we let the system be in control.

There isn't a one size fits all recipe for refunds when discounts are capped like this. The system isn't trained to adjust when a special case arises.

Context also matters. 

This was their mistake, completely.  I shouldn't lose out on a simple $0.67 savings because the system automated the refund.   What if the item that didn't ship was worth $17.99? Now I'd be missing out on $3.04 of my original capped savings of $20.  

Perhaps the people should do some thinking and be able to override the system and make it right, taking into account context and special circumstances.

If I automated how I did things as a dean of students or a teacher (like the system) then I wouldn't care that the reason a student misses school so often is to take care of a mentally ill father who she fears will hurt himself in her absence.  The system would tell me to revoke her open enrollment status because she missed x number of days (insert sarcasm).   Never mind that she has adults in the building that are helping her work through some insanely heavy stuff that has happened to her as a young girl, on top of caring for a sick parent. That would be context.  

But, context does matter.  The student who is gone so often demands us to do better and consider her situation before throwing the system (aka the book) at her.   

A simpler case is why kids wear their hoods over their heads despite the no hoods rule.  Context matters.  Are they wearing a hood to shield their identity or their inebriated state?  Or are they wearing a hood to cover their nappy hair so their peers don't give them grief?   Yes, I want their hoods off so I know who they are and can keep intruders out and the school safe.  But, how we approach them about this rule: "TAKE OFF YOUR HOOD" versus "Please, take off your hood so I can see who you are" can make a world of difference.  The former can result in power struggles.  The latter might enlighten us to when they need a little compassion.  

The bottom line is that one size doesn't fit all.  We can't have the exact same response for every student.  We need to know the context if we are really interested in their success.  Computers can't always make sense of context.  Could we train the computer to take into account multiple factors like capped discounts, probably.  In my experience, however, we rarely do.  We need people to do that work.  Real, thinking people.

Back to School

I ♡ MY JOB.

I love getting to know all types of students. I started the year conversing with all 125 of my students, back and forth with each of them over the first 5 days via name tents and the structure that Sarah Van Der Werf shared on her blog.  I learned that one student doesn't like to be touched, another has a sci-fi book he has been writing.  Some shared their fear of math or their enjoyment of how class was going so far in the first five days.  One said they lived with their grandmother. So naturally I tried to find out more information and learned of their struggles with their mom being out of the picture.  That first week quickly opened the door to understanding my students and who they are so we can get right into learning and trusting one another. 

I love being creative. I get to write lessons again.  I get to dig into amazing tools like Desmos and the treasure trove that is #MTBOS. 

Gosh I love seeing kids learn. Listening to them talk about math and noticing who gets it and who is listening intently to learn is so rewarding.  It's a bit magical when you think about it.  Does knowing whether something is a function or not really impact a kids capacity to succeed after high school?  No. But witnessing students recognizing patterns and coming to conclusions reminds me of what does matter and I get to be a part of that. How awesome is that?!

Collaboration is my jam. Having such a great group of colleagues to work with made it such a no brainer to want to teach again. They are insightful, supportive, smart, creative and truly care about kids. 

I get a 30 minute lunch every day! I get to sit around a table with many other teachers and take an actual break and eat sitting down. This is a big deal to me. I have done this more in the last two weeks than I had in the last three years of work. A big thank you to my union for the 30 minute duty free lunch.  It sure does a lot to improve one's sanity.

After three years as a dean of students and two years supporting teachers at the district level, I couldn't be happier to be back in the classroom where all the magic happens. My colleagues regularly say I look happier.  I always wonder how to take that but I know it's a direct reflection of being exactly where I need to be. Is it easy?  No. The first week I had to remind myself that I'm rusty and it won't always take so long to get all the work done.  (I seriously spent an hour on seating charts after school the first day and worked nearly 12 hour days the first week!) It might not be easy, but it sure is worth it. 

Why I sit at the table.

Regularly I find myself saying that if you told me five years I'd be in the position I am in today, I'd have laughed at you.

Negotiating for the Bloomington Federation of Teachers (BFT) - HA! 

Dean of Students - HA! 

Five years ago, I was hitting my stride as teacher.  I was constantly finding ways to innovate and ensure ALL kids learned.  I was digging deep into standards based grading, technology, interventions, formative assessments. I even think I was still coaching 9th grade volleyball and playing in tournaments every other Saturday.  But, like any go-getter, I found myself being tapped into more and more to participate in committees.  This brought me to the district as a curriculum coordinator four years ago where I really fell in love with supporting teachers.  My love of learning and supporting were married in that role and it felt good.  I felt compelled to go back to school and get my administrative license so that I might be ready to take whatever roles life held in store for me.

Then bad leadership led to the dissipation of the entire team that was built in my first year at the district.  We lovingly called ourselves the dream team as we watched all that we had believed in and work for crumble.  It was then that I turned to my union leaders for guidance.  Should my emails be getting screened, I asked. No. Does she have a right to demand I "repeat after her",  I asked.  No.  I knew through all of the chaos that I was going to be ok.  I had a job at Kennedy after the dissolution of the department and the backing of the union to ensure I wasn't wrongfully terminated or discriminated against for simply having a dissenting opinion. It was then that I realized I wanted to give back and get involved in the BFT.  

So I joined the Negotiations Advisory Committee (NAC) just over two years ago to help gather the necessary information from our members and create contract language for the team to bring to the table.  Being the go-getter that I am, I quickly found my niche building agendas and keeping the team focused (no offense guys, but we are really good at tangents--myself included). I felt purpose once again.  I love my teacher colleagues.  They do amazing work.  Not unlike the children we teach, they are doing the best they can day in and day out and deserve hardworking people sitting at the table ensuring they won't be anymore overworked then they already are.  They deserve a voice who listens in order to speak for them.  I learned quickly I had something to offer as we went to the negotiating table.  A fresh perspective, a knack for numbers and the audacity to not only listen but to also speak up and ask the tough questions.

Over twenty years ago I ran off to my bedroom crying.  My sister and her friend were making fun of  the deaf Miss Alabama and her voice as she competed for the Miss America title.  I was outraged, but they just kept laughing.  I stood up for this person I didn't even know because it's what I do.  I stand up.  I speak up.

Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised I am in the position I am in today after all.

Parallel

This morning as I watch the news regarding the firing of the Attorney General I can't help but see the parallels of our current leadership with that of my previous job. I was told in the second meeting with two new supervisors "I encourage you to not say that you disagree". I called the meeting to share my discontent with how my work was rapidly changing and I didn't agree with (understand) the direction of the work. I'm a creative thinker, not a blind follower. I have a strong sense of what I believe is right.  Sally Yates has an obligation to uphold the CONSTITUTION not executive orders. While Attorney Generals are appointed by our President, they do not report to the President. They report to the constitution; they defend the Constitution.

The situation in my former job had no Constitution. My personal constitution is to hold true to my word. If I say I'm going to do something, I do it. I made a commitment to support a site in great work around standards and swiftly I was told no, you won't be doing that. Of course I am going to disagree with you when you tell me I cannot be me and hold true to my word. Then on top of that I wasn't allowed to email ANYONE without getting approval by my boss. 

 
Sadly our president is taking our nation on a path similar to the one my team experienced. If our boss was made to look bad we were reprimanded and cast aside even more. I guarantee you I would have been fired rapidly if it wasn't for the fact I have due process as a tenured teacher. I don't sit idly by when I am cast aside for disagreeing. 

 
Hopefully the president will help us unify as a nation.  The road will be rough, there is no doubt about it.  People will be (in fact they already are) hurt in the process, but we will get a better sense of who we are and what we stand for in the process.  

 
I say this because of what I know now, two school years later about myself.

Year One

I must have been a mess last year. No, I WAS a mess last year. This isn't news to me. Coming off a terrible year in my previous role with threats of reprimand letters in my file, canceling all the committees and professional development I was in charge of, and getting my emails screened I started the year excited to begin teaching in 2015. The Dream Team that was in 2014 dismantled in a year. (By the way, these people who made my year miserable were asked to move on from our district.)

Then it all changed in October 2015. I get this new job and I literally had no clue what I was doing. A packet of three pages is not enough to help a person deal with the complexities of student discipline. I always felt like I was inadequate and people were talking about my inadequacies, not to me, but to people around me. My previous year of paranoia seemed to roll over a year and infiltrate into another year. It was the toughest two years of my life. I kept asking what the hell am I doing here?

Year Two

Then this new year happened. I had a summer that included two weeks of true time off. I prepped my house to be sold, unloading one of the sources of anxiety I harbored for years. I took a class that reignited my passion for doing this work. I attended professional development, essentially surrounding myself with people who are passionate about doing this great work in education. My team here at school shifted and was redesigned. We settled our teacher contract after 15 months of negotiations.


I actually like my job now.

The reason I am realizing I was a mess is because of what people are saying to me this year. (But again, let's be honest, I knew last year I was a mess. I just didn't know how to clean myself up.)

"Jes, I'll be honest, I thought you were stuck up. But now I know you are one of the good ones." 

"Jes, you've really grown into the position this year." 

"You're definitely happier this year."

I hate that I got into such rut so as to lose who I am. I'm a person who smiles at people. I'm someone who can laugh at themselves. Someone who has fire and passion behind what I am doing and saying. Someone who doesn't whine when things get hard, but who buckles down and makes it happen.

This feels like the year I get to be my imperfect self. The work is hard, but worthwhile and rewarding. My team is supportive and they challenge me to be better. Our results prove our effectiveness. Referrals are down 10% in trimester one alone. Individual students are getting 12% fewer referrals than they were last year in trimester one.  IT IS WORKING and I couldn't be more thrilled to be doing this work. 

Artwork below by fidgeting students in my office.

Thanksgiving Blessing

This thanksgiving I feel blessed to be surrounded by a team who strives to create capable students.  Students who not only feel like they can do the math in geometry class, but who also feel as if they can handle girl drama, family tragedies, or no food for dinner.  Resilient students who rise above their circumstances and learn to navigate this unpredictable world. Students who understand how to learn despite all the noise of life around them.

Recently, out of anger, a student put another student in a headlock during class.  This came on the heals of the student teasing the other and taking it too far.  A common playfulness between two boys went awry when one student just snapped.  Upon talking to the student who placed the headlock, he shares that he had a terrible night.  You see, he has no record of any sort of aggression.  He doesn't get sent out of class for being defiant and gets good grades.  The night before, however, his father was arrested.  He witnessed the whole ordeal.  I could have simply yelled at this student and sent him off with his consequence, but I have found that simply asking questions creates a much better learning opportunity.  This is true for any person.  We can either jump to conclusions, reprimand and redirect without ever learning why or we can ask questions and get to the heart of what is going on.

So many students have cried in my office.  It has honestly shocked me.  When one on one, these hard, disengaged students reveal their true colors.  They are hurting.  They are lost.  They feel forgotten.  They feel misheard.  They feel beaten down by stereotypes and discrimination.  They feel in over their head.  I seriously wonder whether I know what I am doing and how I got into this position.  Where did I learn to console a student who finally confided that he is simply sad and too depressed to go to class?  Where did I learn how to talk to the girl known as a bully to remind her that she is better than that, that I believe in her?  Where did I learn how to listen intently and how to seek help as a student talks about harming themselves?  These are not things I was taught formally in school and I fear daily that I might mess it up.  But when we know better, we do better.

This weekend a student passed away abruptly from a medical condition.  When anyone passes away people often revert back to their last interaction with that person.  What were my last words?  How did the student feel leaving my office? Did they feel belittled, hopeless, and angry, or did they feel capable, reflective, heard and optimistic?  I hope it was the latter.  I know in my heart that the team I work with always strives to ensure the latter.  I am blessed with a team that seeks to understand and educate versus harm and belittle.  A team that doesn't want to show their power and dominance over students, but seeks instead to help the students know better and do better.

Somebody's child

As I go about my work as a Dean of Students it could be easy to lay down the law and assume all students have to abide by a particular set of rules.  That is simply not the case.  These are somebody's children.  My mom learned early in my life that I have to have more meals in the day or I would become a whiny baby.  She didn't know that when I arrived, she learned that through trial and error because, as my mom, she made it her mission to figure out what I needed. Our students have a unique set of needs we need to consider as well.  We mustn't assume they are just being bad to be bad.   We have to get to the root of the problem because, after all, they are somebody's child.  What would you want if  it were your child?

This isn't something I knew going into teaching.  The rules of school worked for me.  I lettered in academics, had opportunities to be challenged and opportunities to be successful.  But what didn't work for me was three big meals a day as a child.  I needed snacks, and that's ok. Nobody wants a hangry Jessi!  The same is true for students in our classrooms, hallways and communities.  As a Dean, my line gets drawn at safety and the integrity of the classroom; I make that known to students.  If you are making a class unsafe, making classmates feel unsafe, or if you are inhibiting the learning of others and compromising the integrity of the classroom, then something needs to change.  Additionally, it behooves me to ensure that while demanding safety and the integrity of the classroom that I find a way to educate the student.  They deserve an education too.  What would you want if it were your child?

So, when constantly thrust into the world of a couple of students who I find myself interacting with daily, I remind myself that they are somebody's child.  Somebody loves them and wants the world for them (and if that is not the case then it is my duty to show them I want the world for them).  As their educator, I have a duty to find a way to educate them and prepare them to have a prosperous life despite their need for an extra meal (or two) in a day.  What would you want if it were your child?

Privilege

Yellowstone River

I live a privileged life. I spent two weeks and 4600 miles on a road trip to Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. I didn’t feel unsafe traveling and camping alone, as a white woman, until an old white guy started flirting with me while I pumped my last tank of gas in South Dakota.  I am truly blessed. It was the perfect trip after my first year as a dean of students at a high school. A year where I was thrust into the realities of our students’ lives and the challenges they face for decisions outside of their control. It was a lot for me to handle; I realized how sensitive I really am. I don’t want to see 18 students get arrested in a year. But I also don’t want a boy to manhandle a girl into leaving school for the day when they are fighting. I want to see these students get the help they need now and an education so they can live happy, prosperous lives. Sadly, I’ve turned to stating “you will be arrested for this if I was a police officer” when a student blatantly disregards my request to call home when tardy or to simply take off their hat, because that is actually what I have seen happen. Disregard law enforcement, then you will get arrested. I want to teach them before they are released as adults with their diploma in hand. 

Delicate Arch, Utah

But then I opened up social media when I returned home yesterday and saw the news of Alton Sterling and I am thrust back into reality. Hours later, I found myself on twitter and see a new hashtag #FalconHeightsShooting, a town just down the road. I proceed to watch a 9 minute video of Philando Castile’s last few breaths on Facebook Live. We must start recognizing our own privilege. I can travel across 8 states without fear, yet a black man gets shot after being pulled over for a broken taillight. Now a four year old might live in fear every time she is pulled over after witnessing a man get shot. We must train our law enforcement to balance force with reason. We must train them to better assess the danger or lack thereof in a situation. Based on this police officer’s expletive’s after having shot this man, it is clear he is not a bad man, but he did a bad thing. The same is true of so many people who get shot or are the shooters in police shootings. We cannot execute people in this way. We need non-violent interventions and we need to value human life above all else, including our irrational fears.

I do not want to say to my students that they should listen to authority figures in school or they’ll get arrested outside in the “real world”, but now I fear I might have to say they could be shot and killed for not abiding by a simple request of law enforcement. Why has it come to this? It has to stop.

And it starts with us, white people, recognizing privilege.  Here is one of my favorite depictions of privilege.  This article by the Washington Post describes white privilege "tends to be unintentional, unconscious, uncomfortable to recognize but easy to take for granted."  We need to start with recognizing our privileges and leveraging them for the greater good.  We can't be ashamed of what we have or who we are, unless we chose not to speak up and demand better.

9th graders

I really like my 9th grade class.  They are full of energy and truly are nice students.  But man are they busy.  They just love to talk and get up out of their seat. They keep me on my toes to make a stellar lesson that keeps them engaged.  There is no 'work time' if it doesn't involve some sort of reason to stay engaged in the work.  A review lesson on a Thursday, a block day, where classes are 90 minutes, started out as a carousel.  In a carousel, students typically rotate in teams around the room solving problems.  The goal is to review tough problems as a team before a test and get a chance moving while doing so.  This lesson could easily take 55 minutes, equivalent to a regular day's schedule, but I knew keeping them engaged in this work for 55 minutes is a large stretch.  Additionally, they need to do these problems and I needed to harness the intelligence of the top students to support the low students in better understanding the concepts we were reviewing.  But there was no way just having them do the problems standing and rotating would be enough of a motivator to stay on task...until the magical popsicle sticks.

I don't know where I learned this strategy, but I'd be wise to never forget it's power.  Each team started out with a yellow, three point stick.  The instructions were simple.  Work together on the problems for 30 minutes.  When you finish a problem, check your answer and ask for another problem.  While the teams worked, I would swap out their sticks to move them up or down based on how well they were working as a team.  As a team their goal was to get up to a five point, blue stick. I must never forget the power of the sticks...

And, yes, this is a short post.  I created it weeks ago.  Life gets busy when you are passing on the classes you're teaching and starting a new role.  I'm going to miss teaching these 9th graders.  More on that later.

Finding Balance

Today I am struggling with finding balance.  I adore digging into a standard and determining how to teach it.  Being creative and thoughtful in my lessons is something I get excited about.  But I am presently struggling with a fine balance between using the structure of a curriculum and going it alone with only standards and resources.

The structure of a curriculum: Algebra 2

This course is my PLC and the bulk of the classes I teach.  I feel really stuck in doing what my colleagues are doing.  A student in my class should receive a comparable education to that of a student in the classroom next door.  Yes, the route there can look different, but the destination, the learning, must be the same.  This is at the heart of why we have standards to begin with.  But, I find the book all over the place with concepts.  I am constantly asking myself, why is the book doing this?  Knowing this curriculum often has a big build up to the key concepts, I want to give it credit, but if I can't see the connections, the why, then where does that leave my students?  Not following the book, however, could have dire consequences.  Well, dire might be a bit of an exaggeration! But, there will be consequences when a curriculum teaches in a spiral fashion often surprising a person with the why later on.  For instance, I taught diamond problems for two years before I finally understood their connection to factoring with an area model.  I had simply been doing the diamond problems because they were a good way to practice integer multiplication and addition, not to mention some number sense as students would find the missing value.  My mind was blown the day students learned how to factor using their diamond problems to complete the area model.

Today I am struggling with how to finish the current unit that has been all over the place in Algebra 2.  I know where students need to be, but I don't like how the book is presenting the learning experiences for these standards.  How do I pick up the pieces of a disjointed curriculum with one week left of the unit?    How can I prevent this from happening again?

Standards and resources: Probability and Statistics

I purposefully chose to teach this class because it lacked a good curriculum.  Yes, there is a textbook, but I'd hardly call the typical math examples and practice problems of a traditional textbook a curriculum.  This course allows me to be creative and teach the standards with inhibition.  This comes with problems.

1. Time:  Where can I find the time to build a course from the ground up while teaching it?  
2. Priorities:  If I want to spend more time on one concept over another, is that ok?  What are my priorities and what I am bound to?  
• I spent more time on the first two standards than I thought I would need to.  Without having the whole course planned, how will I know if I can get teach what students must learn?
3. Rigor:  Am I teaching this course to the right level of rigor?  How can I be sure?
• I am the only teacher teaching this course at my school which makes determining expectations for learning difficult.   There is no data to compare, no common assessments.
4. Obligations: To what extent can I let my personal beliefs play into what and how I teach?  
• I believe in creating informed citizens armed with the skills necessary for life outside of school.  This elective course seems like the perfect place for me to build those skills with students.  Collaborating, digging through information, using the internet in all it's glory to analyze data seems like a no brainer in this course, but it is against the norm of the closed book, device powered off assessments students, teachers and the community have come to expect in schools.  What are my obligations as a teacher?

I can't decide which dilemma I am struggling with more.  Being completely free in Probability and Statistics (while being completely fearful I am not doing what is best for these kids), or being bound by a curriculum (while being completely fearful I am not doing what is best for these kids).  

This is my 10th year of teaching.  I just keep thinking I shouldn't have to work so hard/put in so many hours, but I don't know how to do my job any other way.  

My biggest question is this:

What can school systems do to fully equip teachers to teach their classes?  

This question is completely loaded and pretty much impossible.  I know school systems are bound by funding, time and people, not to mention countless expectations of the use of those three resources.  

So maybe I should ask: 

How can school systems better equip teachers to teach their classes?  


I still hate that I am asking what the school system should do, since I have no power to change it, but after my years as a curriculum coordinator, I can't help but ask this question.  For two years I worked outside of the classroom seeking to do just that, better equip teachers, but I know my work fell short.  So, now that I am back in the classroom, I can't help but wonder what an effective school system/school/department could do to ensure teachers are prepared to teach their classes.  Spending an average of 12 hours a school day during the school year preparing, teaching, assessing, grading, etc. just isn't sustainable and that is what our best teachers are doing each and every school year.

Until they burn out.

Let's pray they don't burn out.

Feedback

I had the best time this week.  Well, let's be honest.  Monday and Tuesday were rough, but man, by Wednesday, I felt on a roll, making the magic happen. And then there's Friday where I overslept by two hours, but man I felt well rested!

We're at that point in the year where students can start demonstrating they are learning which gets me thinking: how am I going to give feedback to all 150 of my students? I mean, seriously!  I know feedback not attached to grades is powerful.  I know feedback is one of the best ways to improve student learning (duh!).  But what type of feedback is sustainable?   Sustainable implies I don't spend 12+hours at school each day to give them meaningful feedback.

Itechnology 

I understand that too often technology gets in the way of learning.  Sometimes teachers spend so much time trying to figure out how to use some piece of technology that they forget what the students should be learning.  My love of technology isn't regularly clouded with such cloudiness.  Technology represents an outstanding way to give feedback swiftly and more regularly.  Here are three different ways I used technology in my three courses to provide feedback to students. And, trust me, I didn't spend inordinate amounts of time prepping these things, but I am very up to speed on tools available to me and I am relentless when figuring them out.

9th Grade Intermediate Algebra

Seriously, look how adorable they are talking to each other about math!
Aren't they the best!

The two units we start the year with are review of concepts they have seen in 8th grade algebra.  I've been grappling with how to get them engaged and recognizing their common mistakes and misconceptions yet also learning to work together in pairs and teams.  Today we were working on simplifying expressions where students need to distribute a -1 to all the terms inside of the parentheses.  To get them talking about the math and working together, one student had a marker and one pulled up a "Unicorn Race" on Socrative.  The game had 10 questions with multiple choice answers (not ideal), but the goal was to accurately solve your problem and your unicorn would move across the screen.  If you were incorrect your unicorn would stay put.  It was the perfect mixture of competition and collaboration to get them talking about how to simplify the expressions.    What I found the most powerful was the learning that happened between the day of the Unicorn Race and when I asked the same question the next day, this time without the answer choices.

Here's the original question. When I posed the question on day two, I didn't reveal the answer choices.

The graph below shows the results on day one when they worked with a partner.

As you can see, over half of the students selected the same wrong answer on day one.  But the next day, in a quick show of hands and after visually scanning student's papers, ALL of my students got it right.  I mean c'mon!  How awesome is that!  We celebrated and moved on to good old pencil and paper for our next concept of solving equations with distributive property. 

If you aren't familiar with Socrative.com, it is worth your while.  It has four options for creating your own assessments, you can share them with colleagues and get spreadsheets and item analyses of the results.  The interface is very user friendly and it is quick to get your students to the site and enrolled in your class for an assessment.  Next on the list to explore feedback in this class: PLICKERS!  

Algebra 2 and the Google Add-On AutoCrat

As I investigate ways to give students feedback on their homework without grading each homework, this week I gave a Homework Check on google forms.  This worked well because the questions were around evaluating functions and describing a domain.  I asked three simple questions from their homework a few nights prior.  I can't say they did very well on the problems, but the goal was to give them feedback on their learning meaning the assessment was formative.

There are some strong misconceptions formed when our high school went to gradebooks that were required to have 80% of grade be Summative Assessments (commonly thought of as tests and quizzes) and 20% of the grade be Formative Assessments (commonly thought of as homework, classwork).  Many people assumed that meant the Formative was less important since it represents less in the gradebook.  I cannot stress enough that formative only equals 20% because we are bound to make mistakes when we are learning something.  Formative assessments aren't worth less, they represent less in our gradebooks because we don't want to penalize students for not knowing something early on in the learning.  Instead their grade will represent what they know and can do once a summative assessment appears.  If I had it my way, the grade would be 100% Summative and we would find a way to get students to do the daily work (formative work) necessary to be successful on the summative rather than enticing them with points in a gradebook.  

OK. Rant over.

Back to the homework check.  I asked three questions and the spreadsheet looked like this after students submitted their solutions:

Conditional formatting is one of my favorite quick tools.  I set it up to automatically highlight many of the correct answers so I could do a quick scan and see how students were doing with the concepts. This gives me, as the teacher a pulse on the class.  I now know in general how well the students understand the concepts.  

But, formative assessment shouldn't stop at the teachers.  Using the google add-on Autocrat, I sent the results back to the students in a google document.  The document populates itself with the students' responses and had the correct answers already written up.  Each student received an email and they were instructed to reflect on how they did.  Here is a sample of the student work:

Bam!  Student Self Reflection sheet created with the click of a few buttons!

The documents also organize themselves into a folder in my google drive account so I can follow up and leave additional comments for students if necessary.  

I can't stress enough how easy this all was.  Yes, I am good at technology and I persisted even when the documents didn't send out the first time, but after getting over those initial bumps, the benefits far outweigh the little bits of extra work and headaches encountered.

Probability and Statistics and Google Classroom

Google Apps for Education is, perhaps, my favorite little piece of amazingness that has rocked my teaching world.  I'm not talking about the fact that it rocked my world when it began and I've been in love ever since.  I'm saying it rocks my teaching world regularly.  Most recently, I have fallen in love with Google Classroom.  What a phenomenal tool that I cannot begin to imagine what it will become.  I've been using this tool extensively in my Probability and Statistics course.  As a first period class with mostly seniors, we had our first Hybrid day on Thursday.  Students were able to log into their google classroom, see the assignment and begin the work.  On Thursday morning, I peaked at my google drive folder with the assignments and could see who had started the assignment:

Because, you know, google is awesome like that, I can see all the assignments I've assigned in a nice little folder.  Anyone that knows me knows that I am a scatter brain.  In fact, I think my close family wonders how I successfully create lessons each day without forgetting something.  Google Classroom is making my organization so peaceful and painless.  All I have to do is create the learning opportunities and Google Classroom keeps it all in order.  Thank you google.  From the bottom of my heart, for being so darn amazing and making FREE tools for education that simplify our lives and let us focus on the learning and the teaching.

Week 1

First of all, it was a LONG short first week with the kiddos.  We were on a special schedule that put us at only 4 minutes of passing time for our three days with students.  I have prep last hour, and let me tell you, not having a moment to breath from 7:50a.m. to roughly 1:30pm each day was rough.  Not to mention the only time I sat down was for a thirty minute lunch.  Whew!  It was a doozie.  With a pep fest on day one that highlighted academic clubs (outstanding work KHS Student Government!) and chromebooks being distributed to each and every student on day two, the week felt a bit too out of my control.  But it reminds me of the advice from my mentor teacher, Sharon, who encouraged me during my first year of teaching to never for get the f-word... flexibility.  Flexibilty was key this week because I had no power to change the circumstances.  I needed to just go with the flow.  Regardless, here is how I spent my first week with students and how the MathTwitterBlogoshpere shaped this week.

Day 1

First of all, freshman are so adorable (and quiet) on day one.  I mean, seriously!  They were so attentive, curious, and just downright cute.  I need to remember this when they don't appear so cute in the future!  I've got one section of Intermediate Algebra and I'm glad I do.  In the past,  taught a support class at this level for many years and it will be nice to be their primary teacher for a change.

I also teach three sections of Algebra 2, 11th graders.  This is a course entirely new to me.  I've taught the two courses before and the Honors course that comes after, but never Algebra 2.   My PLC had come up with "about you" questions to get students sharing who they are on day one.  This proved to be a great success.  The best two questions were "What did you have for dinner and who did you eat with?" and "What is one thing I should know about you?".  The insights into these students backgrounds from these questions was perfect.  I loved being able to get a glimpse into their lives so early in the year.

In all of my classes, the students completed the "Broken Circles" team builder from the book Designing Groupwork: Strategies for the Heterogenous Classroom. Dane on his Math Happens Blog describes it very well.  A colleague and I participated in this team builder last May at MCTM's Spring Conference and were excited to try it out with students.  I will admit, I appreciate the moral of the activity, but it was just too easy.  The students were done with the circles so darn fast!  This was true for all my classes and a few of my colleagues as well.  Before I feel comfortable capitalizing on the moral of the activity, I believe I need to have the students complete a more challenging 'broken circles' activity. More pieces, maybe squares instead of circles, but definitely something that takes more than a minute or two.  I still was able to get them to make conclusions like "We needed to pay attention to what other people needed" and I was able to determine who my talkers were because they were the first to pipe up with "I hated not talking!" but I feel there was more that could have been accomplished from the activity.

Ironically, the night before school started, while half asleep, I realized I didn't prepare any "rules" for my classes.  I am quite a planner, but I am also quite easy going, so I couldn't believe I hadn't thought through setting up "norms" for the class! Ironically, while falling asleep it came to me: Be Kind, Be Present, Be Appropriate.  These 3 Principles seemed very fitting for a high school math class.  Student: Can I go to the bathroom? Me: Is now the appropriate time?  Student: fiddling with phone scrolling through twitter while team is working at the boards. Me: Are you being present right now?  I didn't call them rules, just principles and introduced them with examples similar to the examples stated above.  I'm no longer that teacher who decides to rip a phone away from a kid because the rule is no phone.  We have to find a way to teach students appropriate use of all tools so they are truly prepared.  Being present is also a common, day-to-day challenge for many adults.  I promised my students that if we can be present in class and learn what we need, we won't have the obligatory homework.  And being kind is sort of like a Duh!  We don't have to love everyone we meet, but we need to be kind.

What a great 1st day!! #EaglePride Go directly to your advisor in the morning tomorrow for your chrome book! 💙💛💻

— JFKEagles (@JFKEagles) September 1, 2015

DAY 2

This day felt really out of my hands.  Each period was assigned a 10-15 minute Chromebook lesson, a bootcamp for day one going 1 to 1 at the High School.  Chopping into a 55 minute class with a 10-15 minute video/activity made it difficult to get much done in class.  

MTBoS to the rescue!  

While I had what I thought were adequately long lessons planned, I didn't have nearly enough to fill the time.  So I tapped into a resource I have been dying to use from the MTBoS.  I had students play "Which One Doesn't Belong?" If you haven't seen this resource, it is definitely worth your while.  The beauty lies in the simplicity of the question.  The challenge is in creating a situation where all four choices have a chance at being the outcast of the group.  We did the Shape #2 from the website and it was truly eye opening to see students all navigate to the pentagon corner.  

Shape 2 from wodb.ca

 I was flabbergasted by how they were all searching for that right answer.  (I even attempted a photo of my fifth our all standing in a single corner, but darn blurry iPhone made a photo not worth sharing) In turn I asked, "Why might someone go to the corner of the shape in the top right?"  "Or the bottom left?" They had great arguments for going to these corners, but they weren't comfortable being the person to chose that corner.  It was fascinating.  After doing a few from the shapes page, students became more comfortable choosing out of the ordinary corners and creating arguments for doing so.  I look forward to continuing this activity with all my classes throughout the year to not only build their ability to 'construct viable arguments' but to reinforce math concepts we will be learning.  

Day 3

Finally, a bit of normalcy.  In Algebra 2 students were tasked with a very team-worthy task of stacking functions so that when you input a given number into the first function, you then use the output as the input for the next function, repeating the process until all four functions have been used and you end up with a given output.  This created the ideal situation to put the team whiteboards to good use.  VNPS here I come! Each team had images of four function machines created by the CPM (College Preparatory Mathematics) curriculum.  Teams set off to complete the function machines after giving each team member a role and some general expectations for working at the boards.  Very quickly some teams fell into some old habits: working solo on their notebooks, disengaging from their teams, or taking over on the whiteboard and not explaining to their team what they were doing.  Thankfully, my first two sections are a bit smaller and I was able to get to these teams to remind them of the expectations and support them in doing the math.  The fun part was that this struggle wasn't true of every team.  Some teams fell into a groove with all team members finding some way to support and engage in the work and boy was that fun to watch.  I can't wait to do more with the whiteboards, but I know I need to ensure the problems are truly team-worthy and warrant the interaction of all members.  Additionally, the more opportunities I can give them to build their communication skills, the better, so I hope to incorporate some strategies from Powerful Problem Solving in the near future.

Next week

First I need to dig into the Probability and Statistics Course!  I am excited to have freedom in this class, but it comes with a lot of pressure I put on myself to do great things.  So, while I need to and want to dig in, it's important I do so realistically!
Additionally I need to find a way to build some challenge into the Intermediate Algebra course.  Units 1 and 2 are mostly review.  There's this weird balancing act of giving students a low enough entry point, but also not making it seem as though they've already done all of this.  I'm not quite sure what that will look like, but I know I've got to find a way to challenge them without scaring them off!