Coach for a Day

I had the pleasure of filling in coaching shoes at the middle school level. After a conversation with our Title teacher about the lack of student reasoning happening within our classes, I introduced a strategy assessment called GLoSS. It originated in New Zealand and assesses student use of strategy in the domains of addition/subtraction, multiplication/division and ratios/proportions. 

What was great about this opportunity was it allowed me to put back on my coaching hat and model the idea of student-centered, conceptual teaching. This idea was foreign to the Title teacher who shared he's very procedural in his teaching because it was the way he was taught.

His classroom was set-up in rows and students sat at least one desk away from the nearest neighbor. The students only encountered math in the nude and only needed to worry about getting the correct answer. Manipulatives were never visible. These kids are considered the "bubble kids" with gapping holes in their mathematical understanding. GLoSS and the Numeracy Project http://www.nzmaths.co.nz/numeracy-projects would be perfect for this classroom. 

He seemed very open to the entire idea. I would model the assessment and implement a lesson based on the data gained from the assessment. I assessed all but three of his kids determining the strategy range for concepts relating to ratios and proportions within the 7 th grade class was as low as 2nd grade to 4th grade understanding.

The lesson implemented involved the use of manipulatives, context and math discusses of the concept versus the procedure. It's like a grand slam modeling lesson for a teacher who has never seen that in action. A great lesson in which the students were engaged and of which the teacher enjoyed being a part. 

I left telling him, if he wanted to discuss the lesson later we could. There was no obligation because I'm technically not a coach. My hope is that change was promoted. Any change...

As I walked passed his classroom to leave for the day I saw this...

Change.

C is for Cookie That's Good Enough for Me

That's the song of the Cookie Monster I remember from my youth. CM sings about the letter "c" and begins by saying, "Cookie starts with the letter c, what are some other things that start with c?  Who cares about those other things..."  This is what it sounds like when teachers say, "I didn't learn this way and it was good enough for me!"  

The thing of it is, you may have come to terms with the idea of robotically following a routine without understanding why you're doing it and why it works. But it should not mean you are to subject your students to the same misfortune. I know it's a harsh reality when you find out what you thought you know isn't exactly right. It's like finding out the guy you thought was totally into you is actually madly in love with someone else. If you continue on as if you and him have a future together you'd be living in a false reality. 

Now let's apply that analogy to math instruction. You've found out that the math instruction you've been using for the past 5, 10, or 15 years is not as effective as you thought it was. So are you going to continue on in the same manner even though you know the truth?  Or do you push pass the discomfort of not knowing and begin to develop your own understanding in order to meet the needs of your students?

The Cookie Monster song: http://youtu.be/Ye8mB6VsUHw

When Kids Don't Get It

http://youtu.be/KdxEAt91D7k I was first introduced to this video as a math coach. Like many others, my initial thoughts were, "Oh this is too cute, oh this is so funny". My perspective today is different. I see the truth behind the humor, as my husband quite other says, "The truth is in the joke".

What happens when kids don't get it?  As teachers, we are called to meet each kid where they are and bring them as far as they are capable of going. But as we are bringing them along, are we sure, we aren't  leaving them behind, bewildered by the lack of support and guidance from the teacher who has handed them a failing grade. When students don't get it, what clicks in your mind?

For me, when I am analyzing student performance, I mentally go through a flowchart of instruction. 

Was the concept introduced conceptually? If yes, what strategies were developed, discussed, and implemented to allow the student(s) to gain understanding?  If no, how can I guide students to begin to look at the content conceptually?

What methods, have I used to meet the students needs?  Have I tried more than one way?  If not, TRY ANOTHER WAY. 

When students don't get it and you find yourself using the same method every day for several weeks, there may be a flaw in your method. If what you've tried doesn't work, it is okay to say, "what I thought would be effective wasn't, here's how I will change what I did". This is why collaboration is so important.  You have the opportunity to bounce ideas off of other teachers. You find out what was effective or ineffective with their students. 

Like, shoes, clothes and underwear, education is not one size fits all. Math especially is not one size fits all. So if you have a one size fits all approach to teaching mathematics, consider the flowchart approach of reflection to ensure that when kids don't get it, you've done all you can do to ensure they can.  And chances are if you have, they will never receive an assessment with 6 out of 24 correct. 

Lies My Teacher Told Me

I remember having to take a History course while attending the University of Florida (Go Gators). We were required to read a book titled Lies My Teacher Told Me. To me even the title of this book was so provocative, to even image that teachers would lie. As I read the book, it became more shocking to me as it discussed rtopics and ideas shared by teachers which were invalid or down right untrue. And a lot of this teacher misunderstandings came from dare I say, a textbook. 

If I were to rewrite this book based on math misconceptions I've heard from my students in the first 5 weeks of 7th grade I would include the following:

You cannot take a large amount from a smaller amount. 

A negative plus a negative ALWAYS equals a positive. 

When adding 36 + 47, 6+7 and 3+6. 

Adding means a number gets bigger, subtraction means a number gets smaller. 

When you add on a number line you ALWAYS go to the right. When you subtract on a number line you ALWAYS go to the left. 

And the one that takes the cake for me: when discussing absolute, the number comes out of jail and is positive. UGH!!

Rules can expire and tricks cannot be applied in various problematic situations. So is it truly worth the price students have to pay in misunderstandings?

I Can Say I'm Sorry

Most times when you're on the outside looking in, you have visions of how things should be on the "inside". As a coach, I always had this vision of how things should be within the classroom. I secretly frowned upon those who were not implementing county initiatives or best practices properly. I hadn't been long out of the classroom so I used that as my stripes to say, "I know what I'm talking about, I know how this is supposed to work. 

Now I find myself on the inside. I'm on the inside trying to make my out of box thoughts about teaching and learning fit. Well I'll be darn! Those ideals in which on the outside looked like it would fit within the round hole carved out for the round peg have now become square. 

So yes, while I struggle to make what's best fit best for my students, I say sorry to myself. Sorry to each teacher I secretly judged even if for a second. Sorry for each teacher who was in the midst of their productive struggle and I didn't stop to ask how they were managing it all. 

I can say sorry...

The Power of Leading By Example

A good friend of mine passed on "Daring Greatly" by Brene Brown.  It's a book about vulnerability and whole-hearted living.  I'm currently on the chapter in which she is discussing how to dare greatly in parenting.  The statement that is resonating with me is "Be the adult you want your child to be when they grow up".  This is huge because it calls you out as a parent to lead by example.

Now as I look to relate this to being a teacher leader, I still hear the same call to lead by example.  Be the teacher you want your colleagues to be, be the leader you want your colleagues to be.  It's not about enforcing non-negotiables or hoarding your ideas and resources.  It's first doing what is best for kids, then telling others about what the students were able to do as a result.  This isn't done in a "I'm the bomb.com and this is what I'm doing with my student" fashion.  It's a "the kids were really engaged today when we did this..." fashion.  This is when you share student work, student experiences and provide the opportunity for others to use your resources.  You approach this humbly, so not to bring glory to yourself, but to shed a light on the goodness that is happening with student engagement and performance.

When you do things like that, you have the opportunity to get excited when a teammate decides the textbook isn't engaging enough for their students.  So they come to you asking for the very thing you wanted them to use from the beginning, rich and engaging math tasks :-).

It is my belief that when a teacher switches from the textbook to GA state math frameworks, a math angel gets its wings!

SMPs According to 7th Graders

These 7th graders were asked to analyze and interpret the Standards for Mathematical Practice. Here are a few:

#Meaningful