Back in the saddle

 Hi all,

I've been away from thinking about education for a bit - gaining perspective by being education adjacent.  Perhaps Upward Bound gave me the ability to see what students need that teachers can't always provide.  My Upward Bound classroom became a cute little coffee shop, staffed cleaned and set up by students who just wanted a home away from home.  They  made soup nearly every day, cared for each other and me, and ensured everyone felt safe in the space.  I wasn't responsible for their education, but I tutored them in whatever class they were struggling in, helped them learn about college and life, and filled in the gaps in their educations as best I could.  

I'd like to say I added to the school and the program, but one can never really know.  I recruited a few good teacher/tutors and planned and executed a trip to some colleges they  might not have considered otherwise.  This included Bates, Dartmouth and UMass Amherst.  

Anyway, the pay was too low for me to stay in the nonprofit sector.  So I am back to teaching math full time, at a great magnet school with caring staff and students who (sometimes) want to learn.  I am hoping I bring to that assignment some of the socioemotional learning lessons I took from my time at Upward Bound.  

How to hire (and keep) great teachers

 When working in my large, urban school district, we went through maybe 5 teachers per year.  We were a good school, with caring adults, nice students and parents, and supportive administration.  Some retired, some quit, some didn't make it, and some left for other opportunities.  This is a national crisis now, with a looming teacher shortage and no one stepping in to take their place.  

To be fully upfront: I taught from 2005-2019 in an urban magnet school, then tried a few years at two separate suburban schools.  I now work at Upward Bound as a mentor, and online as a tutor for students who require at home services.  I am still education adjacent, but I am no longer in a classroom teaching mathematics.  

What drew me to education in the first place was helping students.  I loved it when I started in the magnet, because I felt like the students, other staff and the administrators truly appreciated what I was doing for the students.  Because of that, I was willing to work.  I probably put too much into it - teaching a full load of courses with 3 or 4 preps, coaching 2 or 3 seasons, and saying yes every time I was asked to chaperone a dance or activity on the weekends.  I was definitely prioritizing my work life over my social life or family life, and it eventually burned me out.  

Here is what burned me out:

a) Students over my 17 year career became less and less motivated, and seemed to need more positive feedback and immediacy of reward in order to continue to work.

b) Parents raised expectations about communication, individualized feedback about their child, and shifted blame from their students' lack of work ethic or apathy about their grades to me, the teacher, for not making their student interested enough or good enough at my subject.

c) Principals and administrators forced me to reduce my high standards for student achievement.  In the worst case scenario, I was told that I had to pass students during the pandemic who did not show up to meets, come to school, do a single assignment or even reply to any emails or calls.  I literally did not know whether or not they were alive, and I was expected to pass them.

d) Maybe 3 of my 17 years in the classroom, I had enough supplies to do my job well.  My technology needs were never met, and there was no upgrade plan.  A few years I used donorschoose.org and because I have generous friends and family, I got a new printer and a few calculators, one year a laptop.  But I should NOT have to ask friends and family for supplies.

e) Trust.  I was hired to teach mathematics, but instead of being allowed to do so in the way I thought best, I was forced to use district curriculum and do things in a certain, prescribed way that I knew was not as effective as what worked for my students.  

There are many other reasons why I do what I do now - I am able to work one on one with students to help them achieve mastery of whatever topic they'd like to work on, I can give them career and college advice, and I'm not standing at the front of a room trying to entertain students with a lesson about math (which they hate) and convince them my subject is important.

But it can't just be me.  There has to be some real change in educational policy and the system has to adapt to meet the needs of our new learners, as well as to think about the needs of teachers, in order to survive.

Philosophy - are we teachers, or lifelong learners?

 Hi all,

As I ponder my 17 years in education (more if you consider all the years I was a student in academia) I notice that I am at my best, as an educator, when I consider the possibility that I might learn from my students.  What might I gain, if I was open to their sense of wonder, to their knowledge about life from their perspective?  

To be clear: I know I'm a subject matter expert and that this means that I will be more often correct about math or computer science or grammar.  However, being open to potentially learning from my students also means I am open to their experiences, and they might consider sharing things about their life with me.  I also, sometimes on purpose, commit small faux pas, small mathematical blunders, just to let them know it's ok to do so and make sure they are paying attention (sometimes they even catch me, lol).  This vulnerability leads directly to the growth mindset, to the idea that they can also learn and grow and improve, and that mistakes can teach us how to do so.  

Communication

 

Good morning,

I'm not sure this hasn't been said before, (actually, I'm sure it HAS been said before).  In my book club, I'm often the one advocating finding middle ground, finding ways to communicate with folks who don't agree with us.  The book club tends left/liberal, and my family and immediate surrounds tend very right.  I think my value, such as it is, is to bridge that gap.  I see reasonable republicans like my parents, and leftists who aren't communists, but prefer a social safety net for those who can't work.  Often, they see the problems as the same, and just have differing solutions.  

Anyway, I think I'm able to fill this role because I try to listen to both groups.  Some of my leftist friends say that's shitty - that all republicans are racists and that being around them or calling them friends is bad.  However, I think being around varying perspectives is ok, as long as it doesn't make me lose track of or sight of my own moral compass.  It also helps to know another perspective.  

I generally think of this as the George approach.  This man is a Harvard educated doctor, who has been serving the world in all sorts of ways his adult life.  He has treated hippo bites for doctors without borders.  But to meet him and have a conversation, you'd think YOU were the expert.  He lets people speak, and in doing so, creates this ability for people to express themselves and learn.  Sometimes, I learn about myself, and sometimes I learn about him by the infrequent and subtle statements he makes.  He asks clarifying questions, but never really tries to relate it to his own story, or make it anything but yours.  The speaker ends up feeling heard, but also leaves feeling that this is a wise man.

Another version of wisdom is another chosen father figure, my friend Mark.  He is well versed in a huge variety of topics, and can inject that knowledge into whatever it is I'm speaking about.  He is ebullient and humorous, and able to make conversation with just about anyone, as well as being able to "run a room" no matter how big the room is (for example, a cafeteria packed to the gills with raucous 8th graders).  He still listens, but in a different way, and lets me examine my own story though the way it is connected to his.  

My method for this kind of listening is asking questions about things people are excited about or are experts in.  For my friend Bill, this is machinist/engineer things as well as hobby farmer things.  This is partly because he can make his own pieces to the antique machinery he uses, and partially because he is a meticulous maintainer of those machines.  I love learning about the machines, and tried my hand at making hay myself this year.  In general, people like talking about things they know about and care about, and I like learning.  Win/win.

This doesn't work for everyone though - there are some people who can't or won't share their expertise.  Or, they need their entire focus to do the job, and can't or don't want to handle questions.  So for them, I watch and learn and try not to interrupt.

Something else?

 Good morning all,

I'm having really mixed feelings about continuing in education.  I love my students, even/especially those that are difficult sometimes.  Humans, all of them, are difficult sometimes.  But the overhead that comes with teaching , especially pandemic teaching, is sometimes too much to bear.  It caused me to sleep away my Friday night, much of my Saturday, and be up worrying again at 2:30 this morning.  

Maybe I'm just bad at this job.  Maybe pandemic teaching is too much.  Maybe I'm not putting enough effort in, but I can't put more in without reducing my self care to dangerous levels.  As is, I come home emotionally and physically tired, so tired that I almost immediately nap when I arrive home.  I'm running from student to student, responding to questions in my headset as I run from physical student to physical student, answering questions on the google meet chat, the goguardian chat, emails, physical students and virtual students speaking in my headset.  I clock more steps than I ever have before in my career.  And yet my students aren't doing the assignments.  My grades are too low.  I arrive at school at 6:30 am and tutor students before and after school almost every day.  Yet this isn't enough, or isn't working.  Their grades show growth in the Iready assessment, and their assessments, when students take them, show growth too.  But they don't do the Khan or Quizizz assignments that they have time to do during class, even when I monitor them on goguardian.  They don't have homework, not really - 30 minutes of Iready Mypath which they have time to complete in class.  I'm running out of ideas to engage them, and I'm feeling pressure from above, below, sideways and upside down to pass more students even with literally 0 evidence of their existence, never mind understanding of my curriculum.  Some of them never join the meet, and those that do sometimes, "log in and walk away/become unresponsive."  This was joked about by my students attending physically in class Friday - they said knowingly that those at home are probably not even near their computers anymore.  Add this to the pressure I already put myself under to make sure that all students learn, that they are safe and happy and healthy and that they enjoy my class - and it may just be too much.

I'm seriously considering other careers, and I'm worried that far too many educators feel the same after this year.  I'm a 15 year veteran and I like technology.  But hybrid isn't working for many students, because the students in the room don't get the full me, and neither do the students at home.  It's not working for me either, since I haven't the energy to do both jobs at 100%.  

This year, most of my parental feedback has been positive.  They like the way I speak to their students (my audience is their whole house/living room in many cases), and their students seem to enjoy my class too, which is not something that 7th graders would usually admit.  Why, then, do I feel like such a failure?  Why am I feeling like I'm failing, when evidence both statistical and anecdotal tells me otherwise?  

If you've read this far, I really would appreciate feedback.  Am I doing it wrong?  Should I be satisfied with the success that the students who ARE paying attention are achieving?  Should I be happy that they seem to be meeting socio-emotional learning goals?  Are you an educator who has ideas that have been more successful?  Please share them.  I read a quote recently - "be teachable, you aren't always right."  I firmly believe the motto of my old school, "we learn not for school, but for life."  I want to continue learning and improving my craft.  I want to not give up.  

I hope all of you are having a great morning so far,

~Mark

Test taking tips (for all ages/grades/even adults)

Hi all,

Here are some things I’ve noticed in myself and my students over the last few years (I won’t say how many) of teaching and learning.  Maybe they’ll help you do just a bit better on your next assessment, or as I like to think of them, chance to prove just how much you know.

1. Be rested.  If you have to choose between cramming more information into your head and being rested, I always choose rest.  

1. A quick aside - I have numerous examples of folks who would spend hours upon hours in the library instead of sleeping, and I think it helped them, but not as much as it would have helped them to get real rest before the test so they could focus.

2. Be calm.  Bring your yoga breaths, your deep breathing, your sense that “it will turn out however it turns out, let me just do the best I can do.”  Focus on your breathing during the assessment and consciously take some really deep ones.

3. Write work.  Show anything that you’re thinking, even if you aren’t sure it’s right.  That helps your teachers to see your thinking, and most teachers will award partial credit if they see anything that seems like the student is trying or has some idea what to do.

4. Annotate.  This is a close reading strategy, but it helps no matter what level you’re at and whatever the question is asking.  I circle the most important information and underline what I don’t understand after the first read, then I look at it again and see if I can make more sense of it.  I also am careful to answer the question they are ASKING, not the question I think they’re asking.

5. Skip around (if you can) to the questions you can do with ease, then go back and spend time on the ones that you struggle with.  This strategy works in standard tests, but not on adaptive tests like I-Ready.  I star the ones that need more attention and come back to them after I’ve answered all the ones I know.

6. Avoid any distractions.  This includes hunger, other situations in your life, anything that could make you focus on anything but the assessment at hand.  This isn’t always possible, but I would say do whatever is in your power to put these things aside for a few minutes, even if you can’t fully control them.

1. If you have concerns about food insecurity, please ask someone at your school and see if they can help.  Many teachers and professors will listen to this and do their absolute best to help.

2. If you have other things going on, again find someone you can confide in about it.  This doesn’t need to be someone at the school, the teacher or professor, or a family member.  It could be anyone you trust.  Just sharing it usually helps, even though that’s risky.  If it’s someone at your school, they usually have resources to help or know who to have you talk to in order to find more information.  If it’s your teacher or professor, sometimes they can help you take the test another time or in a separate space where you can focus.

7. Pursuant to #6 - I find that for myself I can focus better when I have had exercise.  I have a hard time convincing myself to do this, but if I can get a morning workout in I do a better job teaching, as well as on whatever tasks I need to accomplish, up to and including the assessments I have to take from time to time.

8. Take practice tests.  Even if there isn’t one provided by the teacher, school or built with other classmates, there probably is one on Khan Academy or somewhere on the internet.  Quizizz and quizlet are other good sources.  If there isn’t one, make one and share it with your classmates.

9. Form a study group.  If each of you comes to a study session with a few problems you don’t understand, you have essentially done #8 and made an impromptu study guide.

10. Make a formula sheet.  Even if the teacher or professor doesn’t let you use it, making a 3x5 index card of formulas or main ideas or important information will help you to focus your studying on the stuff that is most essential.

 

Same lesson, different classes

Good morning everybody,

Sometimes I notice that the SAME EXACT lesson, with my approach being the same (I'm pretty sure) go differently based on the students in my room or the time of day.  I am really interested in why that happens.  I know classrooms are dynamic, heterogeneous places with lots of different students in each room, making a unique environment in each room and time of day.  However, it still boggles my mind that my period a class can be so different than my period f class.  Of course, this time wasn't a great comparison, since one was hybrid so i had students in the room paying attention (and whom I could monitor and engage more readily).  But the same questions, the same engaging questions and inquiry based learning and real world connections, totally flopped and/or received no response from the folks at home online.  The in class discussion as well as the at home discussion during the other period, with the same approach and delivery, went swimmingly the day before.  

EDD reasearchers, or folks doing inquiry projects - has anyone studied this effect?  It can't be something that only I notice.  I'll bet that there are tons of reflective practitioners out there experiencing similar stuff.  I'd welcome your comments - likes and shares or just feedback on this blog or on my social media share of the blog.  Extra points and appreciation if you can link to scholarly articles or your own experiences of the same or similar situations.

Have a great day all!

~Mark

Google Jamboard

 Hi all,

I unlocked a new level of Google Jamboard today.  I used an ipad to access it and it allowed me to take pictures of student work and instantly put it on the jam for the students at home.  Then I wrote on it with the ipad and it showed up on the projector AND on the notes for the students at home.  

So, even though the desktop should have the most functionality, the ipad app actually does more.  I'm learning from a student of mine who loves art and ipads as well, she's finding features before I do because she likes to play around with it and has the time.  

I've been told that I am too into this technology.  That's probably true but for me, it's the best way to share math work with my students at home.  I guess I can stop proselytizing but I really wish the other teachers would try it.  

Have a great night all,

~Mark

What if? (students had the technology to succeed)

 Good morning,

Today I woke up, full of energy for my day and ready to teach.  I have to wonder though, since we are hybrid/remote for who knows how much longer, how many computers and internet connectivity problems I'll have to fix today.  How many of my computers that I donated to my classroom will break, or whether the school issued chromebook will crash again, or whether goguardian will stop working.  If we treated this like a priority, here's what I would have in my room:

a) A google jamboard or a touchscreen whiteboard running a jam (6k)

b) A fast desktop running a) with a great webcam and mic that follows me/the sound in the room ($1500)

c) a laptop I could present from or beam to the chromecast from ($800) running ubuntu

d) A large display to just run the meet so the students could see each other ($400)

e) Ipad for writing on the jamboard ($800) with an apple pen ($150)

f) Wacom drawing tablet to write math problems from my laptop ($500)

I already have approximated most of these things, with my donated stuff and my purchases, but what if every teacher in the US had these things?  What if students had something better than chromebooks, and fast internet at every house?  What 21st century skills could we teachers be preparing them for?  

Anyway, that's my wish list.  I'd want a true laptop for each student and teacher, and investment in the infrastructure of the internet so every family could have 100mbps or better internet with good wifi.  

Please retweet and teachers - what is on your wish list?

Have a great day all,

~Mark

free wifi and fiber for everybody

 Good morning,

I'm a math teacher and self acknowledged technophile.  I have been a tech integration specialist for most of my career, as well as teaching math and being certified in technology.  I'm teaching hybrid model middle school, and fully online college classes.  It has never before been more clear to me that every home in America needs quality, fast internet service.  I don't care who pays for it, but it is a necessity as we face what looks like a harsher second wave of Corona.  There are places in the US that don't have the option of high speed internet because of their physical location.  They are stuck with flaky satellite connections or cell phone service, neither of which can stream video and do the sorts of things our students need to stay engaged in school when they are at home.

Internet service should be a right for all Americans, focusing first on the students.  The government (or a private company contracted by the government) should immediately decree that anyone who has an address can receive internet faster than 100 mbps for that address.  They should bury that cable, bundled with the electric service, to every address in the nation.  Each student needs a device from their district if they can't provide one, and the ability to receive internet on it.  

This does several potentially life changing things for our society.  

a) Like the CCC after the great depression, it makes a huge number of jobs available.  Jobs that are low risk for Covid, outdoors primarily.  People who aren't working due to Covid could do these jobs and receive fair pay.

b) Students with internet access can talk to their teachers and classmates, even if it isn't safe for them to do so in person.  

c) People of any age can talk to one another virtually, which combats the depression and all of the other related problems that are coming up due to Covid.

But what if we had a society that didn't . . . .

I wonder.

What would happen if we didn't assume the worst of one another?  If people who are supposed to serve and protect assumed that the people they were protecting and serving were innocent?  Perhaps more of them would live. 

I can't help thinking that if we were able to help our students in school learn that authority can be dangerous, and that they ought to respect it, maybe we could prevent some of this tragedy.  But should it be the job of educators to teach that police might not ask twice? 

I don't know how to fix this society.  But I do know that my own life has been better since I started assuming best intentions.  Of most of the people in my life.  Of course, there are some that aren't deserving.  I suppose I have utilized game theory.  I assume altruism, until trust is broken.  Then I remove that assumption and assume they are untrustworthy until their actions prove otherwise.  For more reading on game theory and evolution:

https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/game-theory-evolutionary-stable-strategies-and-the-25953132

Anyhow.  I know that for police, the game is life or death.  It is not the same for teachers - though we aren't free from risk, we aren't putting our lives on the line as police are.  So we build rapport, we understand why the folks who are oppositional and defiant are how they are, keep other students safe, and try to change the behaviors, while assuming best intentions.  But maybe the police could learn from us.  Maybe then, my former student would still be alive.

Students who don't immediately do what is asked of them

A few days ago, a former student of mine was shot and killed.  He was a student who was quiet, nice, and always eventually did what was asked of him.  Though he spent a lot of time in the hallways, usually out of uniform and with his hat on, he wasn't mean, malicious, or negative.  He would just smile at me and say, "yeah mister, I'm going to go to class," predicting what I'd say to him before I even said anything. 

It is tragic to me that this amiable student - who clearly knew what was expected - was shot and killed by police.  He never meant anyone any harm.  I never remember him being mean to anyone.  In fact, though he was almost never in class, he was also never confrontational with any adult about it.  He just went about his business, quietly, pleasantly, and without harming anyone or keeping anyone else from learning. 

Compare and contrast this with the 20 or 30 students who roam the halls now at my school, yelling at any adult who dares question them about their whereabouts.  They are actively disrupting our school environment.  One of them came in and yelled at me yesterday for having the audacity to write him up for roughhousing with 9th graders (he's a senior).  They are actively combative, and they do none of it with a smile.  I miss Anthony.

Anthony wasn't an academic star.  But he was a nice guy, who understood that it was our job to try to get him to class.  Though he didn't choose to participate academically as much as he could have, he was a good kid who benefited from being a part of our caring community.  I'm so sad that his life ended this way - because his aloof nature was interpreted a different way by an authority figure.  I wish I could see him tomorrow, ask him to get to class, and have him smile and say he would.

What if we could give students the technological tools and the creative space they need to be innovators

Good morning all,

I had the good fortune to tour Infosys' tech hub in Hartford yesterday with a group of my students.  They experienced virtual reality tennis, augmented reality (exploding a model into its composite parts on the screen that the student with the headset and the rest of the class could see on a big monitor) 3-D printing, and collaboration to create creative work.  I was struck by the idea in that company of creation.  They put creative, intelligent people together in a space, give them the tools they need, and watch them develop things. 

Why aren't we doing this with all students?  I know that we at Classical Magnet School do this, to some extent.  Our Coached Projects, when they run well, allow this sort of collaboration.  But we aren't giving the students the technological tools to be greater - to make these ideas into apps or websites, into easily consumable bits and bytes - so the audience for students is largely themselves, and maybe some parents and community members.  If, as a society, we really pushed those 21st century skills, and allowed students the time and creative space to create, as they do at Infosys, think of what they could accomplish! 

So, on to big dreams: a) Transform at least one room at Classical using the design principles of Infosys.  Big, open space, with room to dream and collaborate.  Lots of whiteboard space, interactive touchscreens which are usable by everyone, fast computers and knowledgeable coaches who can answer questions when students have tech questions.  Infuse this with the ability to create partnerships and drive connections to the larger community - city, state, world, business - and watch our students thrive. 

b) Recycle Infosys' old technology.  When they upgrade, show students how to refurbish the computers and give them to students who need them.  Based on what I saw in the innovation hub, even their old computers would be light years ahead of ours. 

c) Ongoing field trips and tech exploration with Infosys, with Capstone projects being guided by Infosys staff.  One easy connection - the Hartford website is being redesigned by Infosys.  Could the students help in that endeavor?  Could they help us on our website as well, using the design principles they learn at Infosys?

d) Summer internships for educators - become certified in teaching python or java, and learn real world applications of it by being a part of a design team.  I volunteer as tribute. 

e) Math education - each course builds in a few building blocks of CS, so students have some exposure even if they don't take a CS elective. 

f) Legit computer science course - either the one I signed up for with Amazon, or one that helps students prepare for Infosys internships by learning python and starting to play with apps. 

g) More collaboration between math and science, and math and technology, and science and technology.  We need collaborative projects like this because it would allow students to see connections, but also to learn how to work in groups as they would in jobs such as the ones we saw at Infosys.  The groupwork and collaboration was at least as important as the individual brilliance of the folks who work there, perhaps more so.  The collective genius of a group is what seems to drive innovation there, and what gets the most actual work done. 

A wealth of information

Good morning all,

I can't get this quote out of my head.  What information consumes is obvious.  It consumes our attention.  Therefore, a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention. 
Here it is in his words:

The brilliant economist and psychologist Herbert A. Simon was one of the first to precisely describe the relationship between information and attention: “….information consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.”

It's so relevant to my career, and to marketing literally anything.  In my life, I try to market mathematics education, @gr8fullyfeclub, linux, the Grange, recycling, philosophy, computer science, eating local, and my music.  I suppose I also market the beauty in nature, cute things my dog and my family do, and my backyard.  None of these things have gone viral, but I am starting to understand how they might.  In thinking about how to market my school, I am noticing that products like hootsuite, which not only post to several social media sites but also analyze the hits they get from each of them, are going to become ubiquitous and necessary.  How do you keep my school relevant?  It has to be posting every day, a few things to each social media site.  These posts all have to be positive or uplifting, as well as link back to our school and how to apply to it.  The positive attitude coming off of those posts has to be so great that it overcomes the student posts, some of which aren't flattering and some of which denotes a culture that is less than academic.  

So, here are my ideas:
a) Use a phone with a good camera, signed into hootsuite, to take at least one picture of something cool happening in our building every day.  Post it to all the social media at once, with hootsuite.
b) Give out raffle prizes for liking, sharing, and commenting positively on our posts (such as tickets to a show, game, T-shirts, etc. - things we already own)
c) Ask each club/organization in the school to make their own Insta, Facebook, Twitter (at least) and like and follow ours with it, as well as tagging us in each of their posts.
d) Links on the website to all of the official ones, as well as the ones in c)
e) Every teacher and every student checks into CMS daily on all the social media.  Challenge them to say something positive.

My commitment:
a) Take over one FB business page for CMS, one insta and one twitter.  Use Hootsuite to do    a) from above daily, and link to all 3 media sites from the website.  
b) Pay for a cell phone (hopefully reimbursed by the school eventually, but in the interim just me) to do what I said above, so it can be handed around to departments etc. to take pictures of the cool things happening.
c) Keep the website relevant and up to date, and linked to all of the above.
d) Write grants so we have cool things to talk about - for instance, the solar powered calculators in my room.


I also thought about this - could we have our name announced every snowstorm?  I know it's only a scrolling list, but it would get us announced separately from HPS every time on every scrolling list . . . . free advertising.

What teachers do

Good morning all,

I'm up at 3:38 am, stressed because the assistant superintendent is coming to my advisory class today.  I have to be on my game, well dressed and polished, on a Friday, after a truly ridiculous week.  Students have been having a fun game where they harass me in the hallway and during my classes by shouting my name.  The kid who started it was suspended, but he just passed it along to other students.  In the words of another kid, he "started a revolution."  At any rate, I'm not looking forward to today.  I have a good gpa at a great college (Bates), a degree in mathematics with minors in computer science and philosophy, and a Masters in Education from UConn.  No one, especially with those qualifications, should be subjected to this level of harassment with no repercussions.  Humans, in general, should be nicer to one another.

Yesterday, I contacted 10 parents about students' grades, received 2 angry emails about my contact from students, helped the same 2 angry students fix their math grades, taught 3 classes, had lunch duty (where kids yelled my name some more) and updated the school website.  With no real breaks, I had to have another teacher watch my class so I could use the restroom.  In this system, what should be my motivation to stay?  I suppose I could become apathetic, and stop calling and emailing parents of students who aren't achieving mastery.  I don't want to do that.  I care too much for that.

I care about all of my students, and I want them to succeed.  Many of them make my life better, and I can't wait to see what they do with their lives.  The students who harass me are usually outweighed by the great students who are empathetic, caring, and are really wonderful people.  But today, it's hard to get motivated.   It's hard to face a scenario where I know I will be interrupted in my duty to educate students by kids whose only motivation is to interrupt that education and "get" me.  I've done everything I can do to mitigate that situation - I've written referral forms, made phone calls home, conferenced with the student - and he bragged to friends that he was going to "Hey Teacher" himself right into inside suspension.

I suppose what teachers do is they take it.  They turn the other cheek, in the interest of the students who will lose out if they're not there.  However - I'd like to live in a world where I didn't have to deal with this at my job.  Where students treat each other and their teachers with respect, instead of this mean spirited asininity.  The fact that the student is able to continue to gloat over this, that he feels that he is "winning" means that my feelings as the professional are less important than his enjoyment.

At any rate, I wish you all a productive Friday.  Hopefully you all treat each other with respect, and enjoy your day.  I will try my best to enjoy mine, and hopefully convey some mathematical concepts to some students.

Donorschoose vs. what I think the school should supply

Donorschoose: feelings and thoughts about having to buy supplies for my job.

What other job, aside from an independent contractor, has to buy their own supplies that are necessary to complete their work?  I suppose I have a higher than average need for technology, but it seems to me that I should have, to be effective:

A computer less than 3 years old

A functional printer with toner

A SMART board or Google Jamboard

A chromebook cart, or 1-1 tech policy such that all students have access to technology like Khan Academy, teachertube/youtube and the ability to word process.

I also need printer paper, pencils, graphing calculators (I teach math), graph paper, staplers and staples, hole punches, and:

Copiers that work/aren’t Bob Marley and always jammin’.

Of these things, I have, provided by the school:

A 14 year old computer

A printer with no toner

A projector for the computer

A chromebook cart with 15 working chromebooks, and none which still have all of their keys

Pencils

Paper

Hole punch

Staples

20 graphing calculators

I have, provided by myself, my friends and family, and parents:

8 more graphing calculators, TI nspire CAS CX's

2 printers, with enough toner

10 year old, somewhat functional (off by 6 inches or so) SMART board, which was requisitioned from another school when they upgraded (by me)

HDMI projector

I3 laptop (donorschoose)

I5 laptop, donated by a former student

The best, and most functional, things I have in my classroom were bought by me, or given to the classroom by donorschoose donors, my friends, family, or former students/parents.  I'm seriously considering donating the rest of the money needed to fund my projects myself.  It's better than outright buying these things, because the projects are matched by donors like Samsung, Dalio Foundation, and sometimes Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.  So for $600, I'd get a $900 laptop for my classroom.  I KNOW it makes me faster and more effective when I have a faster computer.  I don't spend as much time waiting for the gradebook to open, or for my powerpoint to load, or for the computer to reboot.  Things just work.  

Here's what I think teachers need to be effective (it's the same as what corporate folks need).  We are paid relatively well per hour, and every moment we waste waiting for a computer is a moment we're not helping a student, planning effectively, or being the best teachers we can be.  Therefore, we should do what everybody else does.  We should lease computers and replace them every 3 years, just like industry.  We should insist on working printers and copiers, or go all the way paperless with ipads or kindles - but either way, they have to work.  We need for our students to see that they are valued - that they don't just have old, broken technology, but instead they have new things.  I know there are schools that are funded in this way - and I'll bet the students are higher performing, because they believe they are valued.  They have things that work.  That's the expectation.  

Anyway, rant over.  I'm in the process of writing grants and fundraising as much as I can to provide the things my school needs.  But I don't think we should have to.  I think every school, every single one in the US, should be given the technology it needs to create 21st century learners.  If not, we're not preparing them for the future.  We're preparing them for the past.

Joy in school?

I wonder . . .

What if we helped students find what brings them joy, then built upon that as a foundation until they had achieved what they wanted to in the ways that they want to.  I suppose we'd lose some of the "well rounded" features of a liberal arts education, but I wonder how we could bring out the best of our students in the ways that they want, instead of the ways we think they need.  I think, at its best, Montessori schools and Paideia schools do this.  At Classical Magnet, we use the Paideia philosophy, which, at its best, finds and develops the strengths and the passions of each student.  We have Socratic dialogue and seminar, which coaches students into their best selves, while encouraging them to think critically about themselves and the world around them.  We have coached projects, which allow our students to showcase their talents in a way that can't be assessed on tests and papers.  Our artists get to create, our musicians to play, our comedians and dancers to entertain.  They develop the skills that they have innately, whether or not those skills are ever measurable on a standardized test.  We do assess them, on rubrics which require them to have good sources and correct citations, but we also assess their creativity, their interest in their subject, and the way they portray their chosen topic.

I believe that testing can help us ascertain whether students have certain skills.  They need pre-assessments to help us edit our instruction to best fit their needs, formative assessments to see how they are progressing, and summative assessments to see whether they actually learned what we intended.  These are all necessary to inform good instruction, help students learn, and make sure they have learned.  However, if all we do is teach them a single subject, instead of letting them engage in their passions and showing us what they care about, we don't see the whole student.  I teach math, but I am happiest when I see my students, at the end of a coached project or Socratic Seminar, talking about what drives them, what they love, and what keeps them moving forward.  I don't teach because I can help students get higher scores on the SAT or my assessments in math, though I can and do accomplish that as well.  I teach because of those aha moments, where students realize the greater connections to their lives.  I teach because the kid who wants to be a rapper will someday not be swindled by their accountant if and when they make it.  I teach because the math skills I possess have helped me to live a better life.  I've gotten better deals at banks and car dealerships, found efficiency in my life, looked at my expenditures through the lens of an actuary, and found underground tanks using an old diagram and the Pythagorean theorem to figure out where to dig.

Anyway . . . that's how math has helped me.  But as to how I became inspired: I did Junior Engineering Team competitions with a math teacher.  I learned how to build 3d models in Cadkey 98 and Autocad, which helped me understand the math I was doing in my calculus class.  I dreamed of building things, designing things, and improving things.  I created a computer program that used mathematics to create fractals.  All of this allowed me to be in flow.  I stopped caring about time because I was so into what I was doing.  I've experienced flow as a musician as well, but never when I was told to do something.  It was always because I chose to.  We have to give our students choices, then support what they choose until they learn what they want to learn.  They need the basics in everything as well, but they need, more importantly, to find what drives them and expound upon that until they have learned to love learning.

I think flow is the expression of joy in what you are doing.  I find it in nature, I find it in music that tingles my spine, and I find it in the beauty of mathematics and computer science.  I also find it in the students I teach learning to love something they are doing.  It doesn't have to be (and usually isn't) math.  They just have to love it, and want to learn more, and be willing to involve me in that process.

On Reading

Good morning all,

I hope you're all cozy and warm, safe from the snowstorm which is changing to an ice storm in the Northeast.  I'm currently reading a book called "World Without Mind" by Franklin Foer.  It was a choice for my  book club, which frequently picks books I wouldn't otherwise try, and provides an academic outlet for me in times when I can't or won't take college classes. 

Finding good books used to be really difficult for me, as I sort of dropped off the reading for pleasure radar around 8th grade.  I became a 3 season athlete in high school, taking all the hardest courses with no study halls, and reading all the books my teachers mandated I read.  Before that, I was a bookish, nerdy middle school kid with a thirst for anything fantasy.  I loved the dragonlance series, and before that the Mossflower and Redwall series, and before that Rhoald Dahl and Shel Silverstein.  I was extremely fortunate in having my Aunt Gail, who worked in an elementary school, and loved to find new books for me to read at all of her book fairs.  My parents, grandparents, and others in my life always encouraged me to read, so I kept doing so.

However, once I started reading only what was assigned, because I didn't have time to do otherwise, I stopped reading for pleasure.  I spent my whole high school career reading things other people told me to read, and consequently losing much of the joy in it.  My teachers didn't make bad recommendations - I just didn't choose them, so I read them because I had to, not because I wanted to. 

In college, I remember one of my most rebellious acts.  I skipped a class I didn't feel like going to, and read George Orwell's 1984 cover to cover in one sitting.  Later, I figured out what it cost per class to go to Bates, and I never skipped another class.  However, the joy of reading resurfaced in my soul, and I started picking books I wanted to read again, and choosing classes based upon reading lists I liked and topics I enjoyed reading about.  I read all of Steven King's books, because my library had them and they were based in Maine, close to my college.  I remember "The Fog" being especially chilling as we took a trip to a foggy storage unit shortly thereafter, and it took place in the neighboring town.

For my students, I always try to foment in them a love for reading.  It's anathema to their natural impulses, but we have a Tempus Legendo period every day, which encourages them to read for about a half hour every day.  It is supposed to be pleasure reading, with no homework to be done, no reading for classes, no cell phones out, etc.  The only way I accomplish this is with strict oversight, which sort of defeats the purpose.  In the first place, I can't read myself because I have to enforce their reading, and in the second place, they usually only pretend to read a book to keep me from bothering them. 

It's a difficult philosophical problem - how to make someone love to do something.  I try to curate my classroom library such that there are things that are of their lexile level and interest, but I find it hard to do.  Whenever my teachers in high school asked me to read something, I did it, but not because I loved it.  Rather, I did it because there would be a test.  How, as an educator, can I approach this in such a way as to help students find the love of reading that I have rediscovered as a college student and been lucky enough to keep as an adult?  I can, and do model it, but they don't want to be like me when they grow up (or they'd never admit that to their peers).  I can grade it, which I've done in the past, but this is artificial and keeps me from reading myself.  I can ask them what they care about and give them books I think they'd like.  This has been by far the most effective method. 

I suppose the best thing I have done is to share my story with the students I teach.  Sometimes they recognize themselves in the above - especially the overachievers.  They are fluent in the ways of success, and sometimes success means the choice to read what is required instead of what is desired.  I hope that I can do both throughout my life, and inspire others to do the same.

Happy Reading!

~Mark

Job satisfaction, mathematics and how to make it a priority in our society again

Good morning all,

I think that my job satisfaction is directly related to how much people at work appreciate what I do.  Very infrequently, former students come back and say hi, and tell me they are appreciative of what I taught them.  This means a great deal.  More often, other teachers say nice things, and this is always fantastic.  Sometimes, there is even nice feedback from administrators or bosses, which is really cool.  Comments don't have to be evaluative, they can just be positive.  I think that those sorts of comments, from any of the above, are more important than how much I'm paid to do my work. 

I love engaging with other professionals about theories about education, how best to help students, and what we can do to help them become citizens of the state, country, and world.  My school does a great job at this with the Paideia philosophy, creating students (and teachers) who think deeply about things. 

My other job, at Northwestern Connecticut Community College, teaching Math Boot Camp, is a different experience and I really appreciate it, for different reasons.  Students there are more appreciative, even as they have more math phobia or recalcitrance towards math.  They are adults, so I think they have learned/realized how much they will need math skills for their associate's degrees/careers.  It's pretty neat to be able to diagnose their misunderstandings about math and helping them overcome them. 

I am left wondering how to give the sort of motivation that the adult students have to my high school students.  Many of my high school students are extremely motivated, but I teach so many that think that they will never need mathematics in general, and Algebraic skills in particular.  I tell them anecdotes about my life and when I've used algebra/math to outwit car salesmen, calculate tip faster than others, use the Pythagorean theorem to locate an underground tank for my grandparents, and how it can, in general, lead to a better life than the life that could be led without any math knowledge. 

As a culture, I think we need to start making math a priority again.  America has had years, and decades even, where the most important thing to our society was knowledge.  The drive to put a man on the moon before Russia made us glorify math/science/engineers because they were connected to patriotism.  We need that again, badly.  Technology companies can't find qualified American workers, and we need to be at the forefront of this.  This can't happen unless education becomes important to society again.  We have to put our money where our mouth is, and give funding to schools, K-12 AND community colleges, all the way up to graduate school.  Everyone with the aptitude should be able to learn as much as they want to about their chosen subject.  This wouldn't cost a lot, in the long run, and it would lead to the US dominating in technology, innovation, science, and math again. 

More importantly, the culture around it needs to change.  Instead of calling people dorky for wanting to learn about math, science, technology, or really any school subject, we should praise them and encourage them.  We should provide them with resources and scholarships, so that our companies can eventually innovate.  We should help our teachers.  Elevating the profession of education will elevate our students, because the BEST, most QUALIFIED people will want to teach.  It will be rewarded monetarily in a way commensurate with the qualification, drive, motivation, and intelligence that the teachers bring to students, every day.  Qualified teachers won't get jaded, feel frustration over non-working technology, or feel undervalued.  As a result, students will get our BEST. 

When that happens, the whole society benefits.  We help students become citizens of their city/town, the state, the country, and the world.  Making the teachers feel valued filters down to the students.  They will have the best education we can provide, with the resources required to do so, and the students feel that.  When I bring donorschoose resources to bear on my classroom, my students feel valued.  They feel that they are cared for, and they work harder because they know they have the resources they need to be their most effective. 

Why do I teach, and what do I teach best?

Hi all,

I've been a teacher in the Hartford Public Schools for 14 years.  Much of this has been in a brand new magnet school, founded on some old educational principles.  I believe in the liberal arts, and letting students find themselves in their education until they are well rounded students who have a diverse set of skills.  Because of this, I'm not just a math teacher.  I'm a coached project teacher, a technology integration specialist teacher, a computer teacher (yes, this is different from technology), a photography teacher, an essay reviewer, a college essay and resume helper, a financial advisor, a social worker, counselor and a life advice purveyor. 

I am considering becoming a technology teacher next year, and I'm thinking philosophically about what I am best at, and what students need the most.  I love mathematics, the problem solving aspects and the logic required to solve algebraic equations.  I love the beauty and the simplicity of a good formula or proof.  I love fractals, and I loved the computer science I used to create them for my senior thesis so much that programming time just went by without me noticing it passing.  The psychological term for this is flow.  I got so into it that hours would pass and I wouldn't notice. 

I am even more passionate about computers and technology.  I have a charity called @gr8fullyfeclub which almost has its 501c3 nonprofit status.  I take old computers, use Darik's Boot and Nuke, then use debian, ubuntu, or linux mint on them, depending on the speed of the computer.  Then they are given to students who don't have working technology at home.  As a technology teacher, I could have a class on that, on computer hardware and software, and teach students how to install an operating system, change a hard drive, fix a screen.  All of those things fade in necessity as tech becomes cheaper and better, but the basics - the building blocks of a computer, the hard drive, processor and graphics processor, and how it outputs to a display - are needed to understand even the smallest of computers, the phone. 

I'd also like to teach financial literacy to our students, since none of them understand fully what the world will expect of them in terms of their money management or finances.  Unless their parents teach them, they won't get the financial education they need to balance a checkbook, do their taxes, live within their means or be good financial members of our society.  That's the most important math class I can teach them - and it's not a class we offer. 

Anyway, there are my thoughts for this chilly Saturday.  Hope your day is filled with relaxation, love, peace, and happiness.

~Mark