Belonging and Barbecue

At our school’s ironically named “End-of-year” barbecue I talked with a couple of students who have been enrolled in our school for a long time. They are both in their twenties, both male, both students of color. While they both have a history of struggling in school they both are poised to graduate when the school year actually ends on June 28th. They both spoke about how important was to feel a part of something as they reflected on their successful school experiences. They recalled feeling like they were connected, and that everybody was on their side and we were working together. It was a very interesting conversation that stayed with me for some time. 

As I returned to my desk I found Ilana Horn’s article Who Belongs In Our Math Classrooms? in my twitter feed and saw an amazing set of connections between the conversation I just had and her blog post. The post describes the alienation that students feel in schools, especially in math class given the cultural norms and assessment driven pressures that surrounds the subject. “For most students, alienation can be overcome by teachers who create a sense of belongingness.” Horn writes in the post “Belongingness comes about when students experience frequent, pleasant interactions with their peers and teacher.” I was instantly reminded of my conversation about the two students who could quickly list off the classes and the teachers that created that culture and created a sense of belonging. They contrasted the sense of belonging with other teachers’ classrooms where they felt alone and had to “fend for themselves”. In Horn’s article she describes the negative consequences of creating a competitive culture as “competition sends a strong message that some people are more mathematically able than others.”

Horn goes on to describe a number of other things that made me think of ways to help other students. These include using students actual names even when it is difficult to pronounce, not treat students differently based on their cultural backgrounds, and not looking to correct things that are inconsequential. “If our students are learning English as a second language, speaking a pidgin or African American Vernacular English (AAVE), our focus on correct grammar in situations where it is inconsequential may disinvite their participation.” It was a great post, and one that would probably resonate with others as much as it resonated with me on Friday afternoon. 
 

The constant stream of insightful writing across the #MTBoS is a wonderful addition to my day. Luckily the opportunity to write for this newsletter is a good chance to go through the posts that I save in my pocket or in my feed reader and reflect on those ideas.

Andrew Gael (@bkdidact) created an infectiously engaging post that also made me wonder how to make our Parent Association more profitably. Using the money that his parents generated, he made an interesting 3-act problem with a really engaging video and a satisfying finish in the 3rd Act.

As a teacher who takes a hand-on approach to curriculum, I was really moved by Tina Cardone’s (@crstn85) piece about Curriculum over at her blog Drawing on Math. Her thinking around the district choice of a new 8th grade algebra curriculum echoed a lot of the thinking that I have about my curriculum. “Is it my job to write curriculum? No. Do I trust anyone else to do it? Not really.”

The collection of tweets and posts collected in John Golden’s (@mathhombre) recent post Not Subtracting is just the latest example of how wonderful example of this wonderful community. The post begins with a simple observation about a little girl doing math, and turns into a series of connections being made across the #MTBoS that looks almost like a game of six degrees of separation. It was an insighful discussion about subtraction too!

Egged on by Anne Schwartz, a whole slew of people are participating in #MTBoS30, myself included.  There will be lots of great reading this month, judging from the posts on THE FIRST DAY!  I was struck by this first post by Pam Wilson, aka the Radical Rational – here we are one month (or less for some) to go in the school year, and she is reflecting and planning for next year – being truly intentional as she reads, makes notes, thinks ahead.  I was inspired by her energy.  I highly recommend creating a #MTBoS30 column in your Twitter feed. It’s great to hear everyone’s voices all at once.  

I’ve written many times about Resourceaholic.  In case you haven’t been paying attention and subscribed to that treasure trove, I want to share with you a resource that Jo Morgan shared this week, 29 GIFs that Teach Math Better Than Your Teacher Did.  I’m not sure the title is completely accurate, but there are some very neat animations, like the one above, which might illuminate some abstractions for your students (and you!).

Thanks, Dan Meyer.  What for this time?  For sharing Every Handout & Presentation from NCTM and NCSM 2016.  For those of us who didn’t get to go, and those of you who did but, being human, couldn’t attend every session, it’s all here, included a curated list.
 

Dusting off the Blogs and Blog Readers

If you’re like me, you blog a ton. In your head. There are many drafts, but few get published, but that’s okay! If you’re looking for some collective energy to initiate your blog again join me (soon) and others in #MTBoS30, a 30 day challenge to post (almost) everyday of May.
Your first stop? Check out Tina Cardone’s (@crstn85) May Day blog post. If you’re not sure where to begin she shares some prompts to get you started. Here are a few samples from that list:

• I feel happiest in my skin when…
• Make a list of everything you’d like to say no to.
• Make a list of everything you’d like to say yes to.
• When I’m in pain — physical or emotional — the kindest thing I can do for myself is…
• Make a list of the people in your life who genuinely support you, and who you can genuinely trust. (Then make time to hang out with them.) – (Tina started with this one, so make sure to read her post!)

Even if you’re not planning to blog, keep an eye out and dust off the blog readers, create a new stream in the twitter app of your choice, etc. I can sense amazing-ness (beyond the usual) will be published this month. Bridget Dunbar (@BridgetDunbar) reflects on teaching math as a story after observing (and being completely hooked!) her colleagues engage their students through story telling as they learned of Julius Caesar and the fall of the Roman Empire. This led her to finding Rina Zazkis and Peter Liljedahl’s Teaching Mathematics as a Story. She’s currently reflecting on the following intriguing questions moving forward. Check out her entire post and add your voice if you so please!

1. On the macro level-How can I help teachers to tell the math story as a set of interconnected ideas and concepts?
2. On the micro level-How can I help teachers to consider a lesson play, so that the day to day story is just as interesting as the year long story they are telling? How do we get students to want more?

There will be great post coming your way soon. Lurk #MTBoS30 or better yet, take the plunge! 

by Sahar Khatri (@khatrimath)