Summer Reading

J, my rising eighth grader, has a summer reading assignment, as most kids do. I have a few stories to share about our summer reading experience. There's a tmwyk story* at the end, don't miss it just because you're not excited to read about reading!

At the beginning of the summer J had no interest in reading, it's hard for her and she just wanted to be on summer break. I offered her some choices for our daily reading time including: finding fun articles/blog posts, What If (from the creator of xkcd) and Charlotte's Web. She chose me reading her Charlotte's Web (yay! She wants to spend time with me!). I made the novice mistake of introducing it as a kids book which then made her question if she could use it for summer reading. Hey Tina, you know better than to tell your ninth graders that the worksheet is from a third grade math site, what matters is that it's interesting and appropriate. This applies to all things, even at home. Anyway, we recovered from that. As we read I was thrilled to find Charlotte using great vocabulary and Wilbur modeling excellent questioning techniques to understand. It had me wondering if there's a mathematical equivalent to a story with one character advanced and another character trying to learn. The EDC does great model conversations in their books, but what if we showed students an example of a new math technique and had them ask questions. Is this just another way to use notice and wonder?

We eventually finished Charlotte's Web and J picked out a graphic novel to read next (from the Lunch Ladies series). The summer assignment, by the way, was to read two books and submit reviews online. Any type of book they want! The reading specialist even said that research shows independent reading books should be a bit below the child's current reading level - the goal is to practice with something that is comfortable. J picked a book that was definitely easy for her, but I learned! I didn't say anything about it being a kids book, instead I was thrilled she'd picked out a book herself. She read it independently and was even willing to read before our usual scheduled reading time. While she read her book, I read my own. I was confused about what was happening in my book and J scolded me for interrupting her. She finished the whole book and was so proud of herself!

*TMWYK paragraph here

J wondered aloud how many pages the book she had just finished (in such a short time!) was. But the book didn't have any page numbers. I asked her to take a guess and she didn't have any idea. There was a 100 page book on the table so I told her, "This book is 100 pages, how long do you think yours is?" She decided to use the book as a ruler! She held them up next to each other, then matched them up spine to spine and determined that her book was over 100 pages. I asked, "A lot longer? A little? One and a half times as long?" She decided on one and a quarter. So I asked what a quarter of 100 was. "Hey! No, you always trick me into talking about math." I laugh silently and think: we've been talking about math kiddo, and I'm not trying to trick you, but, yes, we are talking about math. I smile broadly and say, "You can do that... What a quarter?" She says twenty-five cents. "So what's a quarter of a hundred?" Twenty-five. Great. I was done with the conversation and was going to continue reading my book when I saw her pick up her hundred page 'ruler' again. I watched her line up the books, mark the spot with her finger, open the book to her measured out 100 pages, and start counting aloud. She wanted to know if she was right! I watched, impressed that she counted pages (I was thinking about how many sheets of paper, but that's not how you number the pages of a book) and when she got 22 as her result I was seriously impressed! 

Since then she read the other book (in that series) we'd gotten from the library without prompting. And then she asked to go to the library (wonderful surprise! Of course we'll go!). When we got there she grabbed all the other books in the series without hesitation. As we headed out of the library with our piles of books she was able to verbalize that she likes these books because she likes reading short stories. I think I have a Shel Silverstein book from my childhood, that might be my next suggestion...

I Did That?

About a year ago, the EDC ran a training for eCMI table leaders. These individuals would be returning home and attending online PD with their departments throughout the school year. The PD is problem sets provided by EDC, but since these are remote sites, the table leaders would manage the participants and report back to whoever was running the session from Boston. Since I've been a table leader at PCMI (the live, in person, 3 week intensive version of eCMI) they invited me to model for the group. This was a fascinating experience. We spent some time working some problems together and engaging in discussion. They were an easy group to manage. When we finished the demo I was asked to explain what I did - this was shockingly hard to do. I could spout back some tenets of the program (don't give answers, you don't need to know any formulas to solve the problems so don't teach) but had no idea what else to say. People started asking questions and my answers surprised me. Someone from the EDC asked how I dealt with one of the quieter participants. My first reaction was "like everyone else" but that obviously wasn't true. I realized that I'd made a choice to let her work independently. Then at some point I'd made a choice to check in. Then I prompted a conversation with her neighbors who had a different perspective. After sharing that (and a few reasons why plus an anecdote about a particularly independent table member I'd had previously) the participant in question responded. She shared that I'd managed her very well, especially because she does not usually enjoy group work, and she hadn't even noticed what I'd done until I explained it.

It was this interaction in particular that struck me, and that continues to strike me (I've discussed this day with several people this summer so apparently it's really stuck with me). When teacher as facilitator works, it seems effortless for both the student and the teacher. Neither of us noticed that we were doing a particularly good job working together until someone else asked. (It might've been Bowen who facilitated this realization.) I've heard the claim that the only people who make more decisions per minute than teachers are air traffic controllers, but I've never considered how many of those decisions are subconscious. Or maybe more accurately, conscious but not noteworthy? Reflecting back on twenty minutes of teaching, I couldn't identify my best teacher moves. I can sometimes identify my worst ones, those moments where the class or the interaction is suddenly derailed. But most days I attribute successful classes to a good lesson plan, or students having a particularly good day. I never celebrate something I did during the time I was teaching. Do we even have the language to describe such things?

I am curious how I can have more of these realizations. How can I reflect on this aspect of my teaching? And I'm also concerned. If I never consciously think about where I give my attention, how can I eliminate bias in my teaching? Short of demanding Bowen observe my classes and ask insightful questions, what can I do?

Two possibilities come to mind:

• Someone makes a list of things to be aware of, I pick one to focus on for the day or for the week. This could make an awesome blogging series if others joined in.
• I record video and convince people to ask me questions. I don't think I can post it publicly though. And how would I know which chunk to share so that there's something interesting? Maybe that's exactly the point - I choose the most boring ten minutes I can and then others convince me I was still doing something worthwhile (or should've been).

This whole thing has me curious about teacher prep. Is this why people say that teacher prep is useless and you either can teach or you can't? It takes a trained eye to recognize key decisions, how do we train more eyes?

Now What?

I spent one afternoon at TMC listening to Peg Cagle and Levi Patrick talk about ways to grow as teachers without leaving the classroom. As I mentioned before, TMC brought to the forefront that I'm entering a new stage of my career, and I don't know what that means. Peg and Levi pointed out that there aren't pathways for growth in the US if you're a teacher. This isn't the case everywhere though. In China there are levels to achieve and (diverging) pathways to take as you grow as a teacher. They gave some examples - mentor, research, write a book, spend part of your schedule training pre-service teachers, other things I don't recall. At least in my district, there's no support to do anything beyond my regular teaching schedule. And the teacher leaders are the ones who sign up for committees - which I hate doing because they're typically run during school and remove me from my class. Because I don't want to stop teaching. I love teaching. But it no longer requires 100% of my energy and I want to do more.

So what are my options? I sign up each year to mentor new teachers, because sadly our department turnover is so high that we hire at least one math teacher every year. But this year we lucked out and hired only experienced teachers! They'll certainly need some support learning about our school, but they're much more established than teachers I've mentored in the past.

I never had any intention of writing a book, but that happened. I spoke at several conferences last year but working the conference circuit holds no appeal to me. I don't like to travel far just to spend a day somewhere. As appreciative as I am that so many people want to learn more, presenting to large groups isn't engaging in the way that teaching a class is. Finally, I hate missing school (if you're reading this you don't need me to tell you why).

I see Michael and Dylan digging into topics to explore them from multiple perspectives. This doesn't appeal to me, though I do enjoy scanning their writing to glean new information. I participated in a teacher cabinet advising the mayor last year, but I didn't find that we did anything impactful. So what's left?

This summer I've had the opportunity to do some curriculum work (Paid time! Not taking away from class time! Amazing!) with other teachers in my department. One day our leader from the charter school pointed out how wonderful it was to be doing this work with people who all know the content. That day I was working with our department head (another leadership position I don't really want because right now it's all bureaucracy, with only two teaching blocks) and another teacher who has taught five sections of Algebra 1 for each of the past three years. The same thing happened this past week, there were four of us in the room and with four years of Algebra 1 classes, I might have been the one with the least experience with the course. I also don't want to do curriculum work all the time, but these sessions made me appreciate the expertise of my co-workers. It's so much easier to work with people when I can say, "We need a lesson for the scientific notation part of this standard" and everyone 1) knows what's reasonable to ask our students, 2) has an idea from what they've done in the past, 3) can quickly assess other resources we discover, 4) can take my half sentence and turn it into a lovely handout doing exactly what I want (well, that may have more to do with us getting along that I didn't need to finish my sentence), 5) checks for common misconceptions and discusses how to address them. This is the benefit of having teachers stay in the classroom: we mapped out a month of classes (including a new Algebra support block), made student friendly handouts for all those lessons and chose assessment questions for each of the skills in the unit, in twelve hours. Two half days and a full day and we have photocopy ready plans for a month. There are some parts of class that aren't mapped out (we'll probably all do different openers and closers) and every pacing guide is meant to be broken, but what a huge accomplishment! (Right now all the files are in different places, including the school network, but once they're organized I promise to share.) These occasions make me see how important it is to have ways to keep these teachers in the district, in the classroom, with the students who deserve a teacher who knows what they're doing.

I still haven't answered the question of now what? Soon the answer will be "teach" because despite a decade of doing this, I still have a terrible time learning names. I never remember to make extra copies of the syllabus for Meet the Teacher Night. I always want to try something new, or have to try something new, because every group of students is different. There is one more thing that I want to consider, but I'm going to make it a separate post because it raises many important questions, beyond those of teacher professional paths. Stay tuned...

Making Our Global Math Department More Global

I realized at the end of TMC15 that I hadn't gotten any new lesson ideas, because I hadn't gone to any sessions focused on content. As I mulled over that fact I realized it said a lot about where I am as a teacher. I'm not teaching any new preps this year. It will be my sixth year in the same school, ninth year teaching. If you allow me to count student teaching I've been in the classroom for a decade. I attended sessions that made connections, whether they be K to 12, ELL to math, teacher to leader, MTBoS to NCTM... I love teaching, new lesson ideas are always welcome and I can't wait to plan with my co-workers next week and get back to the classroom next month. But these things don't have to be my top priority at a conference because I'm comfortable in my role as educator, my top priority is helping others reach this point - and one way to do it is to expand the reach of our community.

This spring I organized and worked at a booth at NCTM. Once again I didn't attend many content sessions, as I mentioned before. Engaging with people in our community and introducing new people to our plethora of resources was too much of a draw for me to want to leave. I realized that weekend exactly how hard our community is to describe. Sam did a nice job explaining the Evolution of the MTBoS in a recent post. It is precisely because we have so many voices that we are so hard to describe - but by the end of the conference I decided that Global Math Department is the best descriptor. People understand that a department is made up of different teachers with different voices, and if we describe ourselves as the ideal department - one that collaborates and celebrates together - then people have a better chance of beginning to understand who we are before they get scared away by newfangled technology like Twitter. When I get around to writing my letter to a newbie, that's how I will explain what we are. Maybe you have a better metaphor? Sam wants you to share it:

Sam (and Julie and I) also want you to share some thoughts that will be specifically helpful with the new blogger initiation we'll be running in November. What are the MTBoS FAQs? What lingo is confusing? What else should we think about? It might help to peruse the past iterations of this initiative if you have no idea what I'm talking about.

We are running the initiative in November because it will follow the NCTM regional conferences. If you're going to Nashville, Robert is helping to organize that group:

Robert Kaplinsky ‏@robertkaplinsky  2h2 hours ago

Are going to @NCTM Nashville in Nov? Please fill out this form to help us figure out if we can run a #MTBoS booth. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1JLQE-pj_1kSE8GaheEOqs7ru62gsmgYI-wfRkmMjvRo/viewform …

If you're going to Atlantic City or Minneapolis (or San Francisco, why not plan ahead!) and have any interest in running a booth, please comment here or tweet at me (I promise we did all the work last year, your role will be pure fun!). If you're not interested in organizing a booth but are presenting at any conference, please consider giving out some sort of info card. This one, modified from the NCTM version, might give you some ideas.

Like Sam, one of the things that I love is this community. Will you help us share it?

District SBG Implementation

I am so excited!! The district decided to move to K-12 Standards Based Grading. They spent the past year researching, including consulting with Bob Marzano, Kim Marshall and Tom Guskey. The charter school in the district has been using SBG so the leadership team did site visits to learn more. This summer there were two 3 day workshops for teachers who are going to pilot the program to learn and begin the work. There is a three year plan unfolding. If you know anything about working in schools that serve high need populations, you might know just how flabbergasting this paragraph is. Teachers rarely see roll out of initiatives as intentional, most initiatives last a few months before the next one comes along. I thought I was going to have to spend the week holding my tongue and deciding what points were worth fighting for, instead I was floored by the level of preparation and I got to spend my time digging into the important questions. The work I got to do the past three days made so many connections - the work we have done building curriculum maps over the past two years led beautifully into our task this week of choosing priority standards and writing progressions. It's amazing. What a beautiful gift to get this summer to renew my faith in our ability to succeed as a district!

I have to say, the work of unpacking the standards is something that's absolutely worth doing yourself. I was on the geometry team when we did our curriculum mapping so this was the first time I'd carefully analyzed the algebra standards. I followed the map, but I knew what we needed in Algebra 1 from teaching it five years ago and since I only taught below grade level kids this year the small shifts to push further in Algebra 1 compared to the previous Massachusetts standards didn't apply. But, since not everyone has the luxury of three days of curriculum work with their team, I'm happy to share what we came up with (below).

Our year was already divided into units. We took all the units and found priority standards to fit those units. Then we distributed the remaining standards for Algebra 1 (according to Appendix A) as supporting standards for the priority standards. Once we had all of those mapped out we identified the skills students need to demonstrate to be proficient. The skills were divided into a "Score 3" and "Score 2." A two is partial understanding and a three is proficient. So we separated out the more complex skills and declared those as the requirement to earn a three.

These are far from final, but I am amazed how much work we got done - the three mornings were spent on an introduction to the philosophy of SBG and some whole group discussion. Then we had the remainder of the morning and our afternoons to work in content teams. We were so productive since we had long stretches of uninterrupted time to wrap our heads around the ideas, get into a groove and maintain momentum. We had teams of grade 3 math, grades 4/5 math, Algebra, Biology and grade 9 English represented. Last week they had a few other teams. At the high school we are hoping to pilot SBG with the entire 9th grade team, at other schools they are looking at one subject per grade level. There are a lot of details on how to make this work with our existing grading software but I think we're up for the challenge. (Speaking of, if you know a program that does SBG and student information services well, I would be happy to pass that recommendation along to the district!)

Without further ado:

Curriculum Map

My poster for explaining the scoring (that I think still aligns with the district understanding)

Math Practices Posters

Priority Standards and Proficiency Scales (The blank pages help with double sided printing)

Algebra I Priority Standards