Molly Sarle sings a song called “Human”. (I’ll insert a link later. Note to self.) I thought of it when thinking about the writing #prompt5 issued last month on Mathstodon.xyz. I also thought of how my humanity shows daily in class as I unabashedly make errors. But the aspect of how I bring humanity into the classroom I’ve wrestled with is loving my learners. I’ve always loved learning and maths, but loving my learners takes more of myself than I was willing to give for many years.
I didn’t think love belonged in a classroom. I intentionally avoided the word itself in my room. Then, one day, I heard my most respected colleague talking with her class and she told them she loved them. I could not believe what I was hearing and feeling. I felt sincerity and calm. I longed for that very feeling in my space. My love of maths must extend to the humans all around me. I intentionally fell in love with my students and worked hard to show that love to them and my class changed. I changed.
It’s hard to be sad when I sing and it’s also hard to be sad when I love. My room becomes a much happier place. I am more relaxed and confident and so were my students. Everybody wins and nobody gets hurt. Well, that’s not exactly true. I get hurt sometimes, but that is the price of loving. Sometimes it hurts.
Students are human too and sometimes they do stupid things. They may be unkind, unwelcoming, and even unlovable. They do things that piss me off. They may break in half the new pencil I loaned them rather than returning it to me. They may interrupt learning for others with silly distractions. They may even cheat — which is what I despise most—but, it is much easier to forgive and move forward when I come from a position of love.
So, how do I go about loving in my classroom? I am patient. I know —me patient. It’s a new thing I’ve been working on. I smile, greet, help, forgive, and once I know my students, I even tell them I love them. Not too soon. I must know them, warts and all, first. Love is not a word I share lightly. It’s not fairy dust that makes my room a magical place. It is a word that conveys with sincerity I will do anything I can to help my learners learn. I treat them with the most precious human feeling of all. Love.
I’ve been in a slump for quite a while as far as teaching and learning go and it is now time to get out of it. Here’s what I’m doing to make that happen….
I signed up for an Immersion Math Circle camp that I will attend next week.
I signed up for the 2023 Math Summit hosted by NC State College of Education in August. I attended the conference virtually in the past and I am looking forward to being with fellow educators in three dimensions.
I joined a Twitter alternative. (Mathstodon) The wider online math community has been a source of inspiration and support in the past. A dedicated group of mathematics education professionals are working very hard to revive that community. Join and follow me @vaughn_trapped@mathstodon.xyz . Check out Julie Reulbach’s post HERE to figure out how to do that.
I am going to focus on the good in school (the building as well as the institution) and in people, be they child or adult.
I am going to dust off my blog and actually participate in active reflection about my teaching practices. That is a very affirming practice for me and I’ve felt the effects of neglecting that.
Last year I practiced more self-care than I ever have. I improved sleep patterns, started routine exercise, and took myself out of my comfort zone in the kitchen–trying new recipes and flavors. The changes made for a better personal year. Now it is time to address needed professional changes.
I began slightly veering away from the prescribed curriculum last year, especially toward the end when coverage necessitated speeding up. This year I plan to be more deliberate about what I keep and what I supplement in the curriculum. I have been an advocate for and faithful user of the Open Up Resources (OUR) mathematics curriculums since 2017. One supplement I use is www.MathBits.com; however, it requires money that neither the school nor the county will provide. It’s inexpensive for what it is, but too much for me to foot the bill each year. I supplement OUR with Infinite Algebra and all of its variations for which the school/parent organization pays. I also incorporate aspects of concepts formalized in Peter Liljedahl’s Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics as I have for years even before the book was published in 2021. [A friend (Lydia Kirkman @lydiakirkman) attended a session at Twitter Math Camp (#TMC15) presented by Alex Overwijk (@AlexOverwijk) on Vertical non-permanent surfaces (VNPS) (aka whiteboards) using the techniques he learned from Peter. Lydia shared the techniques for using VNPS with me and I immediately put them to work in 2015.] This year I am going to make deliberate efforts to marry aspects of Open Up Resources and Thinking Classroom as I prepare for each of my math courses.
The aspect of that marriage that excites me most is a part of the Thinking Classroom I’ve never pulled off. I want to grade/evaluate the Thinking Classroom way (Chapter 14). I plan to use the self-assessments from the Open Up Resources workbooks to build my instrument to record observances of concept progression for individual learners. I am weirdly excited about this. It should help me focus more on my struggling learners and give all students better regular feedback. This will also help me keep learning targets more clearly focused–something I’ve always struggled with.
Another thing I would like to do is use Thinking Classroom concepts to ensure all students have access to rich tasks. I plan to do this by incorporating more “Ready for More” problems from the Open Up Resources curriculums as tasks in my classroom. I hope to rewrite these as tasks for groups to work on before formalizing the math in the course of the lesson. The idea is to give challenging problems up-front so all students get a crack at them — an idea I learned from Fawn Nguyen (@fawnpnguyen).
I feel good about these decisions and I know there are more aspects to flesh out. I do not want to backslide on my self-care routines, but I need more joy and purpose in my professional life. Wish me luck!
If you thought the close of the 2019/2020 school year was unusual, just wait for the beginning, middle and end of the 2020/2021 year! No stakeholders are going to recognize their roles in regard to school this year. Parents are in the process of making decisions about their children’s educational environments without full information. Students are starved for face-to-face contact with peers, as they realize the limitations of social media. The US economy has come to the startling realization that academics are just one function of schools. And teachers. Teachers are going to reinvent teaching once again as we correct issues that were duct-taped together last spring.
Here is my outline of what must be better in schools this year along with my proposals for improvements.
Students need a reasonable number of classes. My 8thgraders had 7 to 8 classes to keep up with last spring. When I called students to find out how I could help them when I saw them falling behind, I discovered they were working on some classes at the expense of others. A student with three different technology classes could never get to his math or his English. I tried to meet with students in small groups to help them prioritize their workloads. They were overwhelmed and ill equipped to make decisions about how much time to spend on an assignment. They got behind and soon saw no point in working to catch up. This cannot happen this year. We, as the adults in the room, must make this process manageable for learners. Students should have only 4 to 5 classes. If a student wants an elective class, it should be just that – elective. This recommendation stands whether schools are online, face-to-face or a hybrid. This is a temporary measure. Not permanent. (I know we must have arts and technology and physical education, but right now, we need to get our students to read and write on grade-level, or at the very least, at pre-Covid-19 levels.)
You may question, if student have only 4 to 5 courses, will such a plan would lead to an excess of elective teachers? Certainly not. Those teachers have experiences and relationships with students that must be utilized in general core education classes if students are going to be able to make up for lost learning from last year and move forward with grade-level content. This is true regardless of the medium of education. We need all teachers focused the same goal, to get education back on track, not teachers fighting for one course to have priority over another.
In a face-to-face class situation, multiple teachers will be required for each core class as the class size will be too large to fit in a single classroom. A second teacher will be needed, not a monitor. A teacher—a trained, licensed educator. I do not worry about content knowledge. That can be acquired, or rather reacquired. These teachers are college educated. I am confident they can quickly grasp 8thgrade concepts. And, they can learn right along with the students if need be. Adults by their very nature can learn more quickly than middle-schoolers. Adults can share their sincere joy of learning with the students. The adults can also bring a perspective to the learning that can benefit the learning process in the class. Teachers by nature are lifelong learners. They love to learn and share that learning. That can benefit students in ways that I could never do by myself. This is a job I would only trust to my colleagues that are already in the building. I do not need an assistant. I need an equal partner.
The same holds if classes are held entirely online. Any teacher with experience from last spring will tell you that it takes much more time to prepare for online class than it does for face-to-face class. It also takes longer to provide students with individual, quality feedback. It takes longer to facilitate constructive discussions among learners. Having multiple teachers with varied areas of expertise in content and technology can bring the entire online educational experience to another level entirely. There will be a synergistic affect that will benefit teachers and students alike. Again, I do not need an assistant. I need a peer who has skin in the game to help bring our learners to where they need to be so they may move forward with deftness and alacrity.
And what if the classes are hybrid? The amount of work required on the part of teachers to conduct a hybrid model is a daunting thought. If half of the students are learning at home three days a week and in school two days a week and then the halves switch, a single teacher cannot prepare, conduct, and provide feedback under two entirely different educational mediums in a single day, let alone four out of five days. The amount of preparation, monitoring, support, feedback, assessing, grading, reteaching, follow-up, parent contact, documentation, research and planning required for one course is staggering. One adult simply cannot successfully sustain this any period of time. It will take a team of motivated, committed, trusted teachers to accomplish this. I know of no better teachers to rise to this challenge than the elective teachers with whom I have worked over the past 14 years. They are committed, intelligent, and trusted. All educators must be utilized to help our students at this time. This is when we must come together and show what we can do.
I heard a school board member say at last week’s meeting that elective teachers would not go for a model that put them in general education classrooms. I think the school board members expect that these teachers would be monitors rather than teachers. Teachers are teachers and want what is best for student learning. These specially, intentionally placed teachers are not being devalued. On the contrary, they are being revalued. They are what can help right this wronged situation in which education now finds itself. We would be doing our students a disservice if we placed monitors with them in annexed classrooms rather than driven, qualified, quality teachers. Motivated adults can acquire content knowledge quickly. The expertise that a qualified teacher brings to a class comes with experience.
There is not time, money or space to hold school safely to a pre-March 13th standard. Teachers must work together for the benefit of society to get the education ship righted sooner rather than later. The better our educational system is, the better the economy will be. We must remember that we are helping build the creators of this world who will go on to be great leaders, inventors, and scientists; great writers, problem solvers, artists, and thinkers. I get a sense from neighbors, the small town newspaper, local and national news broadcasts, Facebook “friends” and users of Twitter that teachers are being vilified for their concern about returning to a physical classroom. Teachers know what makes a classroom a successful place to learn. A classroom has students learning and working together. It has teachers challenging and scaffolding students as these learners construct their own knowledge and understandings. Putting students into classrooms, spaced six feet apart, under vigilant monitoring to keep learners from following their instincts to get close to one another; to share thinking as well as supplies; to be stuck in the same room all day long as teachers move from room to room, this sounds miserable for all parties. Nobody wants to be back in the classroom more than teachers. We want to do what we do as teachers and have students do what they do as learners, but the traditional look of that is not safe at this point in time. It will not be safe for quite a while. I do not like these facts, but I must accept them. I must be able to move forward productively for the benefit of my students. Posterity is counting on us.
As I was drafting this post, I ran across this Tweet from @MathDenisNJ. Thanks Denis.
“no one can deny the benefits of in-person learning”–everyone who wants to reopen schools.
“Taking kids, spreading them at least 6 feet apart, putting them behind masks and desk shields and not letting their teacher or peers go anywhere near them is NOT in person learning”–ME
Sitting in a MVP (Mathematics Vision Project) Integrated Math 1 professional development (PD) class early this week, minding my own business, probably checking Twitter for any knowledge nuggets or notifications leading to that dopamine rush, when I hear a teacher proclaim her recommitment to popsicle sticks as a means to improve participation in her class come fall. I winced. I remember being praised by my principal for having a cup of popsicle sticks on my desk and the nod of approval he gave me when I used this revolutionary technique to call randomly on unsuspecting students. About this time each summer I started eating popsicles with abandon hoping to have enough sticks saved by the end of August. Oh my goodness. How far we’ve come!
Kari Vaughn, now FCAS; former princess popsicle eater
A dominant theme from PD a couple summers ago was the practice of acting intentionally in instruction and planning and assessment and in each and every teacher move except in calling on students. We were still rolling the roulette wheel hoping fate would carry us the rest of the way. We were upping participation, but not steering the learning ship in any particular direction. At the close of many a class, we found ourselves on education’s version of Gilligan’s Island, floundering hopelessly for a solution to the wreck that just occurred in class. It never occurred to me there was a better way because fate served me well, much of the time. But not every time and my luck ran out.
How many times have you been burned by a student who boldly states the exact misconception you were saying to dispel; or a student who confidently states something totally and completely wrong? Having no idea what a student is going to say is a rookie mistake. What keeps sticking with me is a scene from L.A. Law (1986-1994) where Corbin Bernsen, starring as divorce attorney Arnie Becker, has a woman, claiming abuse, on the witness stand. He pushes her to the breaking point about why she did not seek help from a neighbor on a particular occasion when she had been locked out of her house. She explains that she could not seek help from a neighbor because she was naked. At that point, his whole case fell apart right before him. He was reminded that a divorce lawyer never asks a question to which he or she does not already know the answer. And so it is two decades into the 21stcentury in the mathematics classroom.
Now, at long last, the Five Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematical Discussions by Smith and Stein, affectionately referred to as “the five practices’’ is gaining traction and getting real. When we, as teachers, invite a student to share insights with the class, we already know what they are going to say. It’s still organic, it’s just that we are sorting and selecting student insights in a planned way. And when I say we, I assume every teacher is now doing this or at least striving to take steps toward orchestrating classroom discussions in such a way. Just when I think that, I over hear the popsicle stick comment and I know, the work here is just starting. I know I would not be where I am today if it weren’t for the training and experiences I have had using Open Up Resources 6-8 Math authored by Illustrative Mathematics.
At HIVE19 in Atlanta, Brooke Powers (@LBrookePowers) introduced us (Martin Joyce (@martinsean), Morgan Stipe (@mrsstipemath) and Jen Arberg (@JenArberg) to a video that we then showed during our Five Practices 6-8 breakout groups in session 3 in the Community Track. This video created by and starring Dr. K. Childs, set the stage nicely as we dug into a lesson specifically on the five practices. I am sharing it further by linking it here. I hope this makes an appearance in your back to school training sessions. I also hope this practice extends to other content areas because good practice is good practice.
Each summer I find myself signed up for professional development sessions. I am totally psyched about them in March, but come mid-June, I just want to sleep and sew and crawl into my personal quiet space where I can heal. Teaching is hard on the mind, body and soul. Luckily, having the attention span of a gnat, it doesn’t take long before I emerge and start reading and writing and reflecting and of course, attending professional development sessions. Through this cycle, I eventually come away with an area of focus for the next school year. For example, 2015’s focus was on student thinking. I worked on strengthening meaningful mathematical discourse among learners as my students built and rebuilt mathematics conceptually. The many algorithms installed by well-meaning parents and past teachers were eventually understood. In 2016, all of my professional development had the common thread of intentionality. Instinct and reaction were insufficient. Every assignment, activity, question and comment is to be crafted with intension. The theme heard loud and clear in 2017 was about being vulnerable as teachers. Just as I want my students to take risks as they explore and problem solve, I too must stretch outside my comfort zones and take risks in my teaching-practice. Also, both in and out of the classroom, be brave and talk openly about race, gender and inequities. None of my themes are ever perfected, but significant progress is made and now these themes are part of who I am.
I sensed early that this year’s theme is going to be about self-care. I got hints as I saw my friends on strike in West Virginia and Oklahoma as they advocated for themselves, their students and others. The Me Too movement is about self-care and advocacy. Students organize and march for stricter gun laws, advocating for themselves and safe schools. These were all early clues.
Then Julie Reulbachspokeat Twitter Math Camp 2018 (#TMC18) about being teacher-leaders, and, oh, so much more. The theme was sealed. Self-care it is. A big part of self-care is liking and respecting myself. I am good at some things and I work hard to improve what I am not yet good at. I am reliable, honest, caring and confident and it is not bragging to say so. I love my students and I love my job and it is time to love myself. I am enough. Everyday!
Realizing a theme for each year first came about by accident. I happened to notice ideas recurring over certain periods of time and I started making connections among what I was reading and hearing and noticing. Now, I actively look for the coming year’s theme without forcing it. Having a central focus helps me when I find myself flailing in the middle of October and when panic sets-in in March. These themes make me who I am: a work-in-process making progress. Discovering my new theme is how I prepare mentally for a new school year. I still have to set my room up, plan my first couple of weeks, rewrite my syllabi, and finish making my first-day-of-school outfit, but I have observed my custom.
I listened to an old podcast (September 2017) the other day on the topic of appropriate teacher dress. (Hack Learning episode 101) I was happy to see this topic being addressed, as it is important for teachers to dress professionally.
This topic stirs up ire among some educators, but I’m not talking about suits, ties, stockings and pumps verses polos, jeans, bare legs and deck-shoes. I am talking about my self-imposed rules on teacher-dress. It includes items that never make it to any official policy. The majority of these rules evolved over time, though my daughter, Kari, imposes a couple rules. She was in the eighth grade when I began teaching so she had more experience than I observing teacher dress. I listen to her because she is observant and reasonable. Besides, as a princess, her rules are nonnegotiable.
My rules:
Shoes: polished and no flip-flops ever. Sandals are ok if you feel safe in them, but not recommended. It is far better to have only one quality (probably expensive) pair of shoes that you wear everyday than it is to have several pairs of cheep shoes that hurt your feet.
Pants, skirts, dresses and shirts: cleaned and ironed with no missing buttons and hemmed to the appropriate length. It is just as bad for something to be too long as it is for it to be too short. It is perfectly fine to wear black pants every single day. That way, you can wear the same pair two days in a row and nobody notices. That is a pro-tip from a former guidance counselor.
Avoid clothing with advertising or political statements or Santa or pumpkins or flags.
Choose clothing that fits you well, in which you feel confident. If you have a single doubt about an article of clothing as you get dressed, obey that doubt. Wear it and it will bother you all day.
Now for Kari’s rules:
Undergarments—ladies, wear padded-bras; gentlemen, wear undershirts. We all need a bit of smoothing from time to time. Also, visible panty lines (vpl) are to be avoided. And nobody wants to see your thong or panties peeking out over your waistband. Ever.
Absolutely NO sweater sets. I think this rule stems from a bad experience with a chronic sweater-set wearer, but I honor it.
That’s it. Hope this is helpful or at least made you laugh and think.
If you know me personally, you know I like to wear clothing made with printed fabrics with math designs. I know this is super-tacky, but it’s part of my signature. And, I don’t dress like that every day, unless I am at a math conference! I am certain my choice of attire is against somebody else’s list of rules. I’m ok with that.
So, I’m here in Indiana at a family reunion. First of all, I love these people. I only see them at weddings or funerals and there haven’t been many of those. My cousins are quite a bit younger than I and live quite far away so I only know them superficially. Many of these Baumgardners have been or are educators, with the have “beens” far outweighing the “nows” especially by those in attendance. So I’ve been thinking about all of them this morning. I’ve also been thinking about going back to school and being around teachers whom I also love and haven’t seen in a while. My biggest dread being around either group is the one-ups-manship that is played out fairly constantly.
With family, someone asks you what you are up to and you tell her or him or at least you start. Not too far into the conversation the focus shifts off you and onto the person inquiring since she or he has done or seen something far worse or far better. With family, unless it’s a medical condition, they tend to favor the far better. And to be fair, it usually has to do with bragging about offspring rather than her or his self. By contrast, teachers one-ups are almost always downers. This makes talking to teachers rather depressing. So, what’s going on here? Why do teachers do this? Most importantly, what can I do to not be “that” teacher?
Multiple choice question:
I talk with a teacher about a situation that ends up being one-upped I am actually
A) venting so I don’t explode on a kid/parent/administrator/colleague
B) seeking support in the form of advice about how to handle a situation
C) trying to impress them with my mad skills
D) feeling sorry for myself and having a pity party
E) all of the above
Answer for yourself, but I choose E, if I am being totally honest. When I talk to another teacher I just want to talk to someone who speaks my language and understands.
I taught my husband to just listen and maybe get me a drink if I was sharing something particularly painful. Things at school, he cannot fix for me. I don’t want him to fix them. It’s not his world. I just want him to listen and know I had a rough day. I don’t usually want his advice either and if I do, I ask for it. Now, these behaviors, just listening and asking, did not come naturally for either of us. We have to think about what we are doing and “react intentionally.” Sounds like an oxymoron but it’s not.
Imagine if an administrator or counselor or pastor one-upped each thing I shared with them. I’d quit going to these people. Venting would never turn into conversation that would lead to solution or simply a shoulder on which to cry. These people had to learn how to react and so can teachers. Teachers need to be there for one another. So in 8.6 days when I go back to school, I want to be a better colleague. I want to be a supportive listener. I want to help where I can and lead the positive charge by example. I want to react intentionally.
As I go onto the very loud, highly competitive stage of the Baumgardner reunion today, I hope to also react with intension. I pray for inner calm and keen listening for myself. I will make certain the conversation is centered appropriately. I am going to do my very best not to interrupt. That’s just really hard when you have something funny to sprinkle onto the conversation. But I will try.
GOAL 1) I really wish I had blogged more and slept less last school year. I need to change that this year. My goal is to blog at least once a month.
GOAL 2) I will to become a better planner. I have my daily class structure ready. Once the dadgum pacing guides come out I will see how they stack up with what I have planned. It’s just two preps and I’ve taught both classes before, but this year is going to be very different in the most awesomest kinds of ways. I’m getting super excited. I am doing a self-study along with my language arts partner and that has already helped me plan and organize.
GOAL 3) I am going to do everything I can NOT to waist time at school as well as at home. Time wasters to keep my eye on are: doing jobs students can do, redoing things that don’t meet my standards but are certainly adequate, going down rabbit holes looking for lessons and tasks, starring into the refrigerator and pantry with no plan.
GOAL 4) I want higher quality resources and I want to come by them more efficiently. I’ve already gotten into some of this with my wade into Exeter. I need to get through their maths 1 & 2 materials since my smarty-pants Math 2 classes are a blend of some of both. I’m going to take my Math 8 kiddos into the Exeter world some as well by way of some of their math 1 problems. They can do it.
GOAL 5) I am going to enjoy time with my husband and myself daily. We will deliberately relax, exercise, talk or just sit there silently doing for at least fifteen minutes each day.
So that’s quite enough. Have a great week party people!
Let’s start with my very favorite thing in case you check out before the end or the tour.
My husband and I visited Boston two weeks ago and we toured Fenway Park. He took some pictures during the tour and I didn’t think much of it because that’s just what he does. I headed for the beach two days after we got home for one last hurrah before school. When I got home he had a present for me. It was this photo mounted on a canvas. He said it was for my classroom, because I’m a little different. Isn’t that the most romantic thing you’ve ever heard? I’ve been teaching ten years and he now gets it. What a guy! BTW, if you don’t know the story, the red seat marks the spot in right field where Ted Williams hit the longest recorded home run in Fenway.
This is my front door. See my Varsity Math sticker? Bottom right: #ObserveMe Notice.
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Look around and you’ll see lots of recycled items: jean pockets to hold calculators and whiteboard markers and odd socks as erasers; CDs to cover old filing cabinets that will hold commented and graded student work for return; carburetor lamp; type writers circa 1927 and 1941; rotary phone; old chair.
Can you spot #TMC16 inspirations? Birthday (function) wall; Varsity math badge;
MTBoS nods? Mind Set bulletin board; not yet; #ObserveMe feedback forms are on the clipboard on the middle bookcase
Vaughn originals: Pencil sharpener for the hallway secured with red duct tape; posters; bad artificial tree that says “Math, you can’t fake it”; shoulder partner buckets for supplies
Misc: Vertical work surfaces; standards for mathematical practice; 36 student desks (moving 4 more in tomorrow)
Well, that’s my first room tour ever. Hope you found it above average.
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