Relationships Beyond the Classroom

Sometimes the best days of a teacher are not in the classroom.

My Day In the Life post came about over school break, so I didn’t have a classroom experience today, but I did have a great teacher experience today.

In my second year of teaching, I had some tremendous students.  One of whom was new to not only our town, but our state and region as a whole.  I teach in New England, and her family had moved from Michigan.  They were what I called “Midwest Nice”, with an outlook and temperament that is not native to the Boston area.  Everything they did was as a family, there was love and support and encouragement at every turn, and in general it was the type of environment you would wish for all of your students.  The young woman was not a strong math student, but her work ethic was tremendous, and there was never a question that she was giving her all.  I continued to help her before school throughout the 8th grade, and told her that if she ever needed more support in high school, she knew where to find me.

That summer, I was in setting up my classroom when her mother came to see me, as I was set to have her younger sister that year.  When I asked how K was doing, it was not the answer I ever wanted or expected.  There had a been a severe and prolonged bullying incident, that had began at the end of 8th grade and got worse over the summer, to the point where she would not be attending the high school in the fall, but rather, would be homeschooled until a new situation was found.  I immediately offered my services.  She enrolled in classes at a local community college for a year, and I was there to help her, and then the next year she attended a private high school, eventually graduated, and began college.

In the meantime, she has endured seven (yes, seven) major knee surgeries - some of which have caused her to miss semesters of college.  And yet, she pushes through.

So, my day involved a sushi lunch with K, now 21 and a confident young woman.  We do still get together from time to time, and I try to visit the family often.  I’ve had over a thousand students in my career, and they have all had some level of impact, but the 9 years I have known K are truly filled with experiences that make me a better educator, and a better person.  In my classroom, I take bullying very seriously, because I know what it can do if it goes unchecked.  I value work ethic much more than any “natural ability”.  I do not view my subject as the only important subject, and know that students may have talents that lie outside my classroom and I cannot expect them to deliver the same results in every subject.  These are all directly attributable to my experiences with K, and I can name a dozen students who I have looked at and taught differently as a result.

It seems like such a cliche, for a teacher to say that they get inspired by their students.  And I hate teacher cliches.  But I can tell you for a fact, that I am constantly inspired by a young woman who sat in my classroom as a student, and I sincerely hope that all teachers are able to have such an experience.  And if you end up having wonderful three-hour conversations over amazing sushi from time to time, well, that’s just a bonus.

Impact on Students in a Trump-laden World

As this election cycle comes to a close, I am simultaneously struck with the overpowering urge to summarize my thoughts and feelings of recent months, while not at all being confident in articulating them.

And what I’ve come to realize, oddly enough, is that I actually want to thank Donald Trump.

Hear me out.

If you support him, you will not like what I’m about to say, so you should probably leave now. I just want to warn you in advance. If you continue to read this, and then take issue with me, then it’s entirely your fault.

As an educator, I have chosen to take on the challenge of creating better citizens for the world - I use math as my point of entry, but I try and teach the whole student. I did not have many teachers like that growing up in a very white and very insulated town. I am ashamed to admit that as a teen, I made a lot of the jokes about race and sexual orientation that may have been passable at the time, but I must admit it because it grounds my desire to not allow it to continue with my students today.

It wasn’t until I went to college (also very white, but with some diversity in the people I interacted with) that I learned to expand my worldview to account for others who did not experience the world in the same way that I did. This continued into my adult years. And in those years, I have surrounded myself mostly with tolerant, progressive, and open-minded friends and colleagues.  I had taken for granted that this evolution of thought was growing more and more common by the year.

Trump’s brand of hate, and the legions who follow him, were a staunch reminder that I could not be complacent in my journey to produce a new generation of forward-thinking people. His constant mangling of facts, statistics, and common sense strengthened my resolve to instill the critical thinking skills necessary for people to push back against those who depend on a soundbite or a tweet to go unchallenged. And whenever a Trump behavior would present itself as reprehensible, I had to reflect upon my own actions to make sure that I was not guilty - even accidentally - of the behaviors that I was about to loudly denounce.

As a result, I feel like I have become a better educator, and a better person, by making myself keenly aware of what I did not want to be, or what I wanted my students to be. I am constantly in a state of self-reflection when it comes to my teaching, but that usually take place in the context of a lesson, or the results of an assessment. I do not reflect enough on the overall impact I can be having on the lives of students, whether by direct instruction or indirect modeling.

Until now. Until Trump. And I don’t feel like I’m alone. I think there are a lot of people taking closer looks at themselves and how they impact others, and I believe that it will lead to an even more tolerant society. That is my hope. It’s the only thing that’s getting me through.

So thank you, Donald Trump. And now, you may go away.

Please Come Into My Classroom and Judge Me. I'm Serious.

(Originally appeared in Education Post, October 31st)

Accountability in schools is something we teachers talk about but rarely own.

More often than not, “accountability” is interpreted as “explaining why I did something wrong”. In other cases, it becomes synonymous with evaluation, which comes with a different set of red flags.

But with the right school climate, not only can accountability be seen as not scary, it can lead to the growth of teachers in practice, and students in achievement.  We have no problem asking students to be accountable for their actions or their studies, and we must model to them what it means in such a way that makes it safe for them to follow our lead.

A recent post from Robert Kaplinsky, a mathematics teacher specialist in Southern California, mentioned a teacher who had posted a sign outside of his classroom inviting anyone to observe him at any time he was teaching, and offering three points on which he would like feedback.  Kaplinsky then turned it into the #ObserveMe campaign.

I loved this idea, and immediately put one outside my own classroom.  That was three weeks ago, and do you know how many observers I have had?  Zero.

I have, however, spread the idea to a colleague in another school in my district, and her principal stopped me one day to tell me what a good idea he thought it was.  But, I’m a little disappointed.  I want that feedback.  More than that, I want my school to feel that they can give and receive feedback to one another without fear of consequence.

FEEDBACK LOOP

I’m a career-switcher.  Before becoming a teacher, I managed a record store.  Immediately upon entering education, I was taken aback by the resistance to the evaluation and self-reflection process.  In my previous field, employee reviews were common - twice a year formally, and almost bi-weekly (and unscheduled) in between those dates.  I learned to prepare every day as if someone were coming in to judge me and those who worked under me.  I continue to carry that mentality into teaching.

Many younger teachers coming in do not seem to have the same aversion to feedback as career teachers.  Still, too often, I hear teachers complain about the views of people who are not in the classroom - whether that be policymakers, parents, or administration.  Those can be valid arguments, to be sure, but my challenge to educators is to respond to that by taking matters into your own hands.  Open up your classroom to your colleagues, with three quick items of focus:

Specify What You Want Observed.  When students come in with a vague, “I need help” statement, you will naturally prompt them to be more specific.  The same applies for teachers.  Don’t have a colleague watch everything in a 45-minute period.  Give them one or two things on which to take notes and provide feedback.  For example, I know that I sometimes (OK, many times) catch myself talking to students instead of with them.  I do not have enough dialogue in my instruction.  But, I only pick up on it late into a class period.  I need someone to call me on it as it happens.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Everyone.  If your school culture doesn’t yet seem ready to make this a priority, find a group of like-minded colleagues and do it among yourselves.  Then, other conversations in faculty meetings or lunch rooms may open up more doors.  They may like the idea, but don’t want to be the first ones.

Involve the Students. When someone new comes in the room, students notice.  Be upfront with them and tell them what’s happening - even if you need to leave some details out.  When students see that a teacher is constantly trying to improve themselves, it sets the tone for them to follow suit.  If your school is one that is adopting a growth mindset, it can make a wonderful lesson and lead to many teachable moments.

If the goal is to improve your craft, then there is really no better resource than the professionals in your building.  Books, PD courses, and research can all be helpful (even the occasional blog post!), but none of those will deal with the exact set of students, staff, and circumstances that you deal with every day.  And when we allow others into our world, and we are willing to visit the worlds of others, all worlds improve.

Day In The Life - October 30th

October was a pretty busy month.  Today is a Sunday, so my day did not involve any interactions with current students.  Today is also my birthday, which provides an excellent opportunity to look back on the past year.

I started out with a quick 3-mile run, to shake out the tired legs from yesterday’s 6.66-mile race in Salem, Massachusetts.  That was actually a pretty fun race - I had looked at it the past two years but never quite made it to sign up. I wanted to have a double-race weekend, but the half marathon for Sunday through the Stone Zoo was canceled, due to low registration.  One race was good, though, and my fall running season is winding down, for which my body is thankful.  I did complete my 18th consecutive 100-mile month, and am only 20 km shy of my “2016 km in 2016” goal I set back in January.

After the run, brunch with my wife, my mother, and my brother’s family, and then back to my parents’ house to watch football with my father (who had to work during brunch) and carve pumpkins with my nieces.  The evening ended with a rock concert in Worcester, as luck had one of my favorite bands, Clutch, in town on my birthday.  Overall, it was a pretty good day, and a good way to start Year 42.

I mentioned that I did not interact with current students, but a student from my past reached out to wish me a happy birthday via text.  This young woman, now 21, means a tremendous amount to me personally, and professionally, and is the personification of how a teacher can make a difference in a student’s life in ways that you don’t realize at the time.

As for looking back on the year, I have made the largest professional growth of my life over the past 12 months.  At this time last year, I was a classroom teacher who was just learning about the avenues of teacher leadership that exist.  Since then, I have both attended and organized professional development sessions, as well as conferences involving some of the strongest teachers I have ever met, by whom I am continuously inspired.  My entire experiences surrounding the ECET2 convenings have transformed me as an educator, and I feel as though I am much more effective in my classroom with all students, and improving regularly.  Even as I sat in a dilapidated old theater, watching a rock band destroy the hearing of hundreds of people, part of my mind would wander to what I would do Monday morning.  When I reflect on that, I fully realize my growth, and appreciate it for a moment.  But only for a moment, because I’m not finished.

________________________

The next record in the series on my back wall is Johnny Cash’s “Live at San Quentin”.  This is the record I chose to represent the need for teachers (and students) to show their grit and perseverance, as well as illustrate that redemption is possible, and someone will always believe in you.  The legend of Johnny Cash is well-known, with many songs about tough main characters - characters who personify the grit and resilience that a good student (and a good teacher) should have.  This particular album was recorded behind the walls of the San Quentin State Prison in California, to an audience of convicted criminals.  Having spent some time in jail himself, Cash knew that sometimes just knowing someone had hope for you was enough to get you through.  Those may be some of our most needy students, and it is important to be mindful of them.

Run The ECET2 Convening

“It’s like planning a wedding!” “It’s like having a baby!” It is and it isn’t.

“It” was planning and executing the plan of running an ECET2 Regional Convening.  Along with four other talented, dedicated, and otherworldly educators, I was lucky enough to be involved with a project that was almost 10 months in the making.

This weekend, over 120 educators and partners from across the state made an early Saturday morning trip into the Microsoft space in Cambridge, eager to share with, and learn from, other driven members of their profession.  And for the first time in my career, I was not there to take part in the sessions.  I was the Event Manager, in charge of all game-day operations.

I’m not going to describe the events of the day.  Maureen Devlin, probably the most essential member of our planning committee, is probably typing up a much better summary as we speak.  I’m not even going to try and compete.  Instead, I’m going to give a little different perspective on how transformational this whole experience has been, and it’s my hope that others will take on the same challenge.

The journey begins in the summer of 2015, when I was selected to be a part of the Teacher Advisory Cabinet, created by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.  This in and of itself was a leap for me, but I felt like I needed to leave the comfort of my own district, and see what’s out there.  I’m currently pursuing a doctorate to move into educator prep, and I felt that in order to be effective in that field, I needed to know what else teachers should be prepared for as a profession, not just in the classroom.  Through the Cabinet, I was selected to go to the ECET2 (Elevation and Celebration of Effective Teaching and Teachers) National Convening in San Diego, CA. I was honored, and terrified.

When I told my wife I was going, her first question to me was, “What are you going to do?  You don’t talk to anyone!”  And she was right, I don’t.  I don’t like small talk.  I hate parties.  I can’t network.  This may be a problem.  But something about that weekend didn’t just take me out of my comfort zone, it shoved me out and slammed the door.  It was the greatest experience of my professional life, and I was hooked.  I wanted more.  And one of those opportunities for more was to host a regional convening.

I could not have done this, at all, without the amazing educators who made up the planning committee with me.  They were amazing, and no one will ever fully appreciate what went on in the meetings, video conferences, and emails that took place over eight months.  And, despite all that, it was still a whole new level of discomfort yesterday.  I had a nice suit on, put on my best welcoming smile, and tried to do everything I could to bring the best possible experience to those people in the room, because I knew they deserved it.  Even if they didn’t fully know what was supposed to happen, I wanted them all to feel like it was worth their time and effort to come and be with their like-minded colleagues, and go back to their schools and their students with new focus and a sense of purpose.

Of course, as a planner, you see the faults.  Technology issues popped up too often for my liking, but teachers are understanding creatures, and our guests were very patient and accommodating.  We had welcomed some teachers to a Friday night reception, and then a Saturday night post-reception, and I talked to the same teachers both nights to get a sense of their expectations, and if they had been met.  We got largely positive feedback, which was nice to hear, but naturally I’m waiting for the results of the survey to see what they *really* thought.

I’m certain that I’ll have to do this again in my career.  I already know it won’t be as rewarding as this first one, simply because of the amazing people I was working with, and the mission behind the work.  My ultimate satisfaction would be if a handful of people liked our results so much, that they applied for their own grant and moved the work forward, like we did after San Diego.

More than anything else, I feel stretched out as an educator now.  I have this experience under my belt, and my comfort zone is that much bigger.  More challenges await - not only for myself, but the talented and driven group who planned it.  Audrey Jackson, Lisa Simon, Sean Brooks, and the irreplaceable Maureen Devlin are worthy of the highest praise.  It is my sincere hope that we can work on something else in the future.

But now, I need to sleep.

How To Not Be Afraid of Data - and Make It a Valuable Teaching Tool

(originally appeared in The Huffington Post on October 3, 2016)

After a district-wide- and a school faculty meeting, while most teachers in our building were bustling to set up their classrooms for the next day, six math teachers stared at me as I attempted to explain that the overwhelmingly intimidating Excel spreadsheet before them was really no big deal, and that they could use it in their planning and teaching.  As a staff, we have been discussing data usage in theory, but this was our first attempt at putting it into practice.  That is an entirely different feeling.

The look on my colleagues’ faces was not unique.  There are too many instances when the very idea of using data at the classroom level causes teachers anxiety and uneasiness.  And yet, data usage is invaluable to measuring student progress.  It helps bring to the forefront ways that we can help students on a more individual level.  My classroom may have two students who are currently getting a C, but they have distinctly different areas that need improvement.  Jacob is struggling with percent equations, while Kay is attempting to master integer rules with the division of fractions.  As a teacher, tracking data on the individual standard level – not simply relying on overall grades – allows me to have a sharper focus and know exactly where the extra help is needed.

Which is why I believe that those of us who are comfortable with data should do all we can to demystify the process for all educators.  We need to present it in such a way that it is not only considered a valuable tool, but that using it becomes a moral imperative because of the ultimate benefit to student learning and growth.

Here are a few steps that can help even the most data-averse educators get the hang of it:

Ease in.  Start with the careful construction of the data culture in your schools.  Much like a good educator does with students, scaffolding may be the best course.  If you intend to have full implementation over the course of a school year, you’re asking for failure.  Rather, there needs to be a well-planned and deliberate process for teachers to take it a piece of at a time.  That starts with constructing a system for every teacher to use that does not reach the administrative level, and has no evaluative component.

Allow each teacher to decide what data they want to collect, how often, and what they want to do with it.  Give them a year of collecting data that matters to them, and seeing that no judgment comes from it.  In our school, we built a system where teachers were only responsible for entering the unit when a question was asked, the date it was asked, and a “1” or “0” to indicate if the student had met the standard on that assessment.  This helped us gauge student progress at the individual standard level and provide more relevant interventions to struggling students.

Find the Geeks.  Creating individualized data collection systems can be time-consuming, and certainly cannot be expected of all teachers to do on their own.  However, each school will have (hopefully at least) one person who either has the knowledge, or is willing to be trained to create and maintain a system.  When school ended last June, all I knew about Excel was how to spell it and put things in alphabetical order.  Over the summer, I paired with a colleague and trained with a consultant at Greybeard Educators to learn Excel.  In a week I felt like Mr. Robot.  We were able to create grade- and teacher-specific data collection systems, tailored to each of our teachers’ preferences.  The systems were a hit because they measured what the teacher wanted to measure, not what they felt they had to report.

It’s Not Really About Data, Anyway.  That’s the hidden secret behind data collection – it has very little to do with the data.  The system we built will track student performance on Common Core Math Standards.  Once we built it, we had to decide what data to enter.  This meant that, in order to gather the evidence necessary to back our claims of assessment mastery, we needed to better understand the standards.  This led to enriching conversations.  Soon, “data collection” was just a backdrop to our conversations about how to better teach our students.  “Data collection” also became about having better conversations with students – Jacob and Kay have now been empowered to assess themselves, by being made aware of their specific areas of opportunity.  They are no longer relegated to feel an overwhelming sense of having to improve everything they do in math.  They can identify their strengths and know where to focus their efforts for improvement.

                There are so many benefits to data collection and analysis that it will soon become a must for educators are to be well-versed in its usage.  That’s why the introduction to data usage is so crucial.  Building a school culture that is unafraid of self-reflection is very powerful.  If you can organically foster trust and confidence among the staff when it comes to data, you have the potential to do wonderful things with and for your students.

Day in the Life - September 30th

I beat the train.  It should be a good day.

BEFORE SCHOOL:  I was out the door at 4.45 for my 5-mile run.  It’s the last day of the month, so the last run of the month, and I ended up at a little over 128 miles.  That was the highest volume month for me since March and training for Boston.  I got home, showered, and downloaded the new Skyzoo & Apollo Brown album to my phone - I preordered the vinyl and it’s in the mail, but I wanted it for the commute this morning.  Skyzoo is one of the best lyricists out there today - I could write an entire blog post just on the nostalgia his “Stretch and Bobbito” track made me feel.  Stopped at Cumberland Farms for a couple of their apple cider donuts, and came in early to give students an extra help session before today’s assessments.

7:00am - My classroom looks pretty good.  I was out yesterday to attend the kick-off meeting of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Teacher Advisory Cabinet, of which I am a member for the second year.  Being a member of that group has been the single most transformative experience of my professional career, and I am lucky to have such supportive administration to allow me to be a part of it.  My substitute teacher was a retired math teacher - the teacher whose retirement 11 years ago opened up the spot for me to be hired.  It feels so much better to leave kids with a sub who can help them with the work you leave behind.

7.10am  - the normal group of 7th grade girls comes in to practice for today’s quiz on the adding and subtracting positive and negative integers and rational numbers.  They ask questions, practice some problems, and leave feeling more confident.  I prefer morning help to after-school help, because the students are far more engaged in it before the wear and tear of a school day.  I have an open door policy - I’m here every morning, so just come in.  Even if you aren’t a student in my class.  Some former 7th graders who are on the other 8th grade team still come in regularly, and it’s great to reconnect and be able to work with them in a way with which they are comfortable and familiar.

9.00am - Our team met to discuss students and concerns, as well as plan some upcoming curriculum scheduling.  This is a new team for 2016-17, with four members teaching 7th and 8th grade (the ELA and SS teachers are teaching 8th grade for the first time), and we are starting to hit our stride.  Even though I still love my job and approach it with enthusiasm every day, the two new teachers are young, energetic, and provide even more inspiration for me to raise my game.

10.00am - My inclusion 7th grade math class took their end of Unit 1 assessment.  While there is still some definite opportunities for growth, the students worked hard and had some reasonable success upon first look.  One of the things that has been very positive this year is the new assistant from our program for students with autism.  There are two of those students in this class, and she works closely with them every day.  She is young, and at the beginning stages of her career, but I can already sense that she will be excellent for students.  I just hope she stays at our school so we can reap the benefits.

11.15am - My only real prep period of the day.  I know I should spend it correcting the two days of homework that built up, get a jump start on the first two periods of quizzes to correct - but, nope.  I went and talked fantasy football with my librarian, visited the office assistant with whom I’m good friends, and had a snack.  I admire teachers who get as much accomplished in a Friday prep as they do on Tuesday.  I have always struggled with that.

11.45am - My 8th grade portion of the day begins, and they also have a mini-assessment.  This deals with transformations in a coordinate plane. Rotations are the hardest for them to conceive, but I feel pretty good going into it.  They’re working hard, and I don’t feel like more than one or two of them are completely unprepared as I walk around the room and look at the progress.  I did have one question that needed to be clarified multiple times, so I will have to edit it for next year.

2.30pm - Time to hit the road for the day, and for the weekend.  Another week where there were a lot of good things going on, some instances to reflect on, and a foundation to build upon next week.

9pm - So, there is a GIGANTIC gap in the day because my laptop and the Windows 10 update do not seem to like each other.  I was therefore unable to work on the data spreadsheet assignment I have, and instead caught up on the final two episodes of Mr. Robot.  That counts as computer work, right?  I’ll hit the sack soon, up early to get in 7 miles and then my wife and I are heading up to York Beach, Maine for what will be the last free Saturday for either of us until Thanksgiving.  I’m already salivating over this sandwich that I get up there - a BLT with watermelon instead of tomato.  Really, try it out sometime.

The second record that adorns the back wall of my classroom is Donald Byrd’s “Places and Spaces”, a Blue Note jazz record from 1975 which provided samples for 90s hip hop songs from Pete Rock & CL Smooth and Black Moon, among others.  The title track is an absolute chillout classic, and that’s why the record is on the wall - to remind me (and students) to stay relaxed.  We put too much pressure on small situations sometimes, and it’s not good for us, or for the students.  I tell the students all the time, I’m a math teacher and couldn’t tell you what my middle school math grades were.  I just remember what I learned, and how to use it.