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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003cem>View the full episode transcript\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Walking into her sophomore year math class, Taylor Paris was nervous. She’d had a rocky relationship with the subject ever since long division showed up in elementary school. “I knew I didn’t understand math concepts very well. I knew that it was something that took me a longer time (than classmates),” she recalled.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So she was pleasantly surprised when one of the first assignments from teacher Sarah Strong required no calculating. Instead, Strong asked the class to write a letter to math – as if it were a person. These \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/60108/using-dear-math-letters-to-overcome-dread-in-math-class\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Dear Math” letters\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> are a tool that Strong developed as a way to understand students’ relationship to math, which researchers call \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/jmetc/article/view/9187/4897\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">mathematical identity\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. What Strong learns from these letters informs how she teaches individual students and whole classes throughout the year. Often that means working to disrupt the negative beliefs that students hold about their math abilities, which tend to revolve around comparisons to classmates, like “fast” vs. “slow” or “math person” vs. “not a math person.”\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Strong models the Dear Math activity by reading her own letter to math. Then she gives students prompts, such as:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What is one of your greatest mathematical strengths?\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">How do you plan to engage with math in the future?\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What would you like more of in math classrooms?\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Paris, who is now 20, was excited to apply her writing skills in math, but also to unpack some of her deeply rooted emotions about math. “I was finally able to write all of the things that made me sad and things that made me mad, like everything into one letter, addressing math directly,” she said. Here’s what she wrote in 10th grade: \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dear Math, \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh, do I have some things to say to you. You’ve followed me through every school year, caused me the worst headaches, and given me numerous counts of anxiety just thinking about you … The memories of my seventh grade math teacher telling me ‘maybe you’re just not a math person’ still ringing in my head and the constant Bs and Cs are still imprinted in my mind. You’ve been a never ending challenge and struggle, and it’s always been hard to understand you. No matter how many times my friends and teachers explain you, I never grasp you completely.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For Paris, having a teacher acknowledge emotions in math class was \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54980/why-teachers-want-math-with-more-human-ties\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">humanizing\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. “She recognized my experience as a part of this really big experience that so many other people have. And that was really validating,” Paris said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Strong devotes a few hours to reading the letters, making notes about broad patterns and individual details. “It’s the beginning of an ongoing story between you and the students and their math experience for that semester or year, and it’s really important to start by listening to them well,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Hierarchy in math education\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Strong teaches at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.hightechhigh.org/about/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">High Tech High\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and its Graduate School of Education in San Diego. She developed the Dear Math routine almost a decade ago, and she published a book about it, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.10publications.com/dear-math\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dear Math: Why Kids Hate Math And What Teachers Can Do About It\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, co-authored by her former\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">student Gigi Butterfield. In it, the teacher and former student reflect on the themes across hundreds of letters. One pervasive theme is hierarchy.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Kids as young as kindergarten and first grade are defining themselves as good at math or not good at math,” said \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/amynoelleparks\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Amy Parks\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, an elementary math education researcher at Michigan State University. Much of that definition comes from how they rank among classmates – from timed tests, to ‘high’ and ‘low’ groups, to subtle cues in teachers’ language. “I’ve been in classrooms where teachers have had kids line up by how many questions they answered or how many things they got right,” Parks said. “These hierarchies get reinforced so often and in so many different ways it’s almost overwhelming.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For many kids, the comparisons add up to a negative self-perception around math. And by the time they reach high school, that mathematical identity can feel immutable. But math class doesn’t have to be this way. “Teachers and parents can affect the way kids think about these things,” said \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://mathematizing4all.com/about-the-author/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rachel Lambert\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a professor and researcher at University of California, Santa Barbara.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s a stubborn cultural \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54389/3-ways-to-shape-math-into-a-positive-experience\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">myth that some of us are “math people” and some of us aren’t\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. This idea gets repeated explicitly all the time, and often \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aah6524\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">implicitly with gendered and racialized associations\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. But neuroscience shows that \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youcubed.org/resources/brain-science/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">everyone is capable of learning math\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and Lambert said \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/57997/how-to-build-students-math-confidence-with-culturally-sustaining-teaching-practices\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">it matters that kids hear that\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. “Students connect subjects to teachers in a pretty intense way that I think as adults we often forget. So if they feel their math teacher believes in them as a human being and believes in their competence in mathematics, that can make a huge difference,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Strong’s classroom, listening to students’ stories is the first step toward disrupting those hierarchies. She also looks for ways to highlight students’ mathematical thinking on a daily basis. One way she does this is by having multiple students write their problem-solving ideas on the whiteboard and asking other students to comment on what they like about the strategies they see. Another routine is an exit ticket that asks students to share something they learned from a classmate that day. She might share the details the next day with a student who was mentioned or with the whole class if there’s a bigger lesson in it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Math is for everyone\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Isabela Avila, another of Strong’s former students, said these kinds of practices created a sense of community: “It was never even like a question of did you get it right or wrong. It just seemed like we were always just all learning together as a class.” She had Strong as a teacher twice and wrote Dear Math letters both times. In her letter as a sophomore, her self-doubts showed up in the first sentence:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dear Math, I really like you, but you don’t come naturally to me. I have to work extra hard to understand and fully conceptualize what you have to offer.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In her letter as a senior, Avila wrote about her math growth over the prior two years:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I developed a sense of patience and open mindedness for the first time ever. … I know this will help me a lot in college and beyond, and I look forward to using it in the future.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When Avila got to the highly competitive environment of Johns Hopkins University, however, the usual order of things returned. “I really struggled a lot with comparing myself, especially in math,” she said, discussing her freshman year. “And I just found that to be super, super counterproductive for both my learning and my self esteem.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Strong said her own math story has had a lot of highs and lows, too. Though she can’t protect students from the ways math is taught and talked about beyond her classroom, her hope is that before they leave high school, “they start to see themselves as mathematicians in new ways and that they start to see their peers as mathematically brilliant in new ways.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For Avila, the persistence she developed in high school did pay off in the long, emotionally tough hours of college calculus. “I feel like how you think about yourself and how fast you are to get back up and keep trying is really, truly so much more important than if you can actually do the math,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Fast and slow\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Paris, Strong’s former student who liked expressing her emotions in a Dear Math letter, still remembers the heart-racing stress that accompanied \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/61712/do-math-drills-help-children-learn\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">timed multiplication tests\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in third grade. In Strong’s classroom, she said, there was never a timer. When Paris needed extra support, Strong brought out old algebra textbooks to reinforce foundational concepts. She designed projects where Paris could make connections between math and art – a subject that she already loved. Most importantly, Strong helped Paris learn how to break down complex problems into smaller steps. “Which is such a simple concept, but it didn’t even cross my mind that I could do that in math,” said Paris. “And that taking my time in math meant that I was being a mathematician.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Many students have this conception that they’re the only one who’s taking time to understand this concept, that everybody around them has already got it,” said Lambert, the UC Santa Barbara professor. Lambert suggested that teachers can reduce the rush of the pacing calendar by thinking of it not as going slowly but choosing where to invest time. “You can’t do every standard every year with your students. You have to figure out what is worth investment, and then spend more time with those topics so that students feel that they have enough time learning those things,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Strong’s view, this requires shifting away from math instruction that is built around the ideas the teacher wants to get to in a given period. Student-centered instruction requires a lot more listening, she said: “Listening first off to their stories and how they’re showing up to class, and then second off (listening to) the ways that they are thinking of and understanding and making sense of mathematical ideas.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Paris, who had Strong as a teacher for three years, said that time transformed her. She now works at a bridal shop, where she was recently promoted from stylist to sales manager – a role that involves a lot of math. “If I want to teach my stylists how to increase their productivity in their sales, then I need to think like a mathematician and come up with the ways that I can do that,” she explained. In tenth grade, that would have scared her. Not now. “There’s no reason for me to be afraid of math because I’ve proven to myself time and time again that I can do it,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC8301605465&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Welcome to MindShift, where we explore the future of learning and how we raise our kids. I’m Kara Newhouse.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And I’m Nimah Gobir.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Music\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Today we’re talking about math.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Because it involves numbers and formulas, we often think of math as straightforward and objective.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> But learning math is actually packed with emotions. I met a high school teacher who starts the year with an unusual assignment. She has her students write a letter to math, describing their feelings about the subject. Here’s that teacher, Sarah Strong.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Strong: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A Dear Math letter is a letter that students write to math as if math were personified sitting across the table from them. … And it really helps inform teachers better understand the students stories and experiences that they’re coming to class with so that teachers can better design math experiences for students to thrive and flourish in math class.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> We’ll hear more from Sarah later in the episode. First, here’s part of a Dear Math letter from one of her former students, Taylor Paris.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Music\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Taylor Paris: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Reading letter\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">] Dear math, Oh, do I have some things to say to you. You’ve followed me throughout every school year, caused me the worst headaches, and given me numerous counts of anxiety just thinking about you … The memories of my seventh grade math teacher telling me, ‘Maybe you’re just not a math person’ still ringing in my head, and the constant Bs and Cs are still imprinted in my mind. You’ve been a never ending challenge and struggle, and it’s always been hard to understand you. No matter how many times my friends and teachers explain you, I never grasp you completely.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The anxiety and frustration that Taylor described in her letter are familiar feelings for many young people. And by the time students get to high school, it can feel like if they don’t understand math now, they never will.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> But math doesn’t have to be this way.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> When we get back from the break, we’ll hear more about Dear Math letters and how they help students like Taylor strengthen their mathematical identities.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Taylor Paris graduated high school a few years ago, but she still remembers the first week of tenth grade math with her teacher Sarah Strong. That’s when students wrote letters to math, as if it were a person.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Taylor Paris:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And I remember being so excited because basically you’re writing in math, and that’s never the case.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Interdisciplinary learning allows students to think about a subject from new perspectives. For Taylor, writing the Dear Math letter gave her a chance to reflect on how her early school years shaped her relationship to math.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Taylor Paris: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I remember, my first, like, scariness of math was long division, because it was like so abstract to me, and everyone around me understood it and was just like, ‘Yeah, well that’s just the way it is and that’s totally fine.’\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Writing about those memories was cathartic. It also helped Taylor feel connected to her teacher.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Taylor Paris:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I have never had a math teacher talk about emotions behind math ever. Like, truly ever … She recognized my experience as a part of this really big experience that so many other people have. And that was really validating.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Her teacher, Sarah Strong, also made it clear that it was okay for those feelings to surface throughout the year. Which made it possible for Taylor to focus on actually learning math.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Taylor Paris: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She did a great job at making me feel like I could take a really complex problem and break it down to the bare bones of it, which is such a simple concept. But it didn’t even cross my mind that I could do that in math and that taking my time in math meant that I was being a mathematician. And that’s what mathematicians did, was take their time and work on problems slowly to really understand every aspect.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When I met Taylor, she had just been promoted from a stylist to a sales manager at a bridal shop in San Diego. That’s a fashion job that involves a lot of math.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Taylor Paris: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So stylists are responsible for obviously, you know, the customer service side of things, but on the sales side, there is a certain goal that you need to meet or would ideally meet day to day and kind of week to day, month to day. …\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And so when you think about it, sales is like one big math problem every day because there’s a question, there’s an answer that you have to get to, and then there’s variables that go into, you know, the answer to your problem, essentially.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Taylor is 20. Not that long ago, doing a math-related job would have been unimaginable to her.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Taylor Paris:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you told sophomore year Taylor that I would be doing something that was directly correlated with math and numbers all the time, I would be terrified and probably laugh.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Taylor had Sarah Strong as a math teacher from 10th grade through 12th grade. She said that those years totally changed her view of math.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Taylor Paris: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And so while I may have been scared to take a sales manager position at, you know, in my sophomore year, it makes a ton of sense for me now because what I do is help people find their wedding dress. And who would have thought that math was in finding a wedding dress?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Music\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Taylor now sees herself as a doer of math. This is what’s called mathematical identity.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> We did an episode featuring Chris Emdin, who talked about students’ STEM identities. Mathematical identity is one form of a STEM identity.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Strong: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mathematical identity is a way that students see themselves as a mathematician, and therefore it connects to the ways that they enter into mathematical spaces and connect with other mathematicians around them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s teacher Sarah Strong again. She created the Dear Math activity during a bigger project where students were exploring their mathematical identities. They were using different types of math as metaphors for their experiences. And Sarah wanted to add a writing component to that project.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Strong:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And one of my colleagues shared with me the idea of writing letters to a thing like books or basketball, and how she’d heard of that practice. And she thought I could do Dear Math letters, and I thought that was an amazing idea. So I ran with it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The letters were powerful. And Sarah realized that having students write them at the beginning of the year could help her teach each class better. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here’s how she does it now. She introduces the assignment during the first week of school. She reads her own Dear Math letter as a model, because most students aren’t used to writing in math class. Hearing her letter also lets them know that even though she teaches math, it hasn’t always been easy for her.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After reading her letter, Sarah gives her students prompts for writing their own. Questions like…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What is one of your greatest mathematical strengths?\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">How do you plan to engage with math in the future?\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What would you like more of in math classrooms?\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They spend 15 to 30 minutes writing in class. Anyone who wants to write more can finish at home.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Then Sarah reads the letters on her own. She says this is the most important step.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Strong: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">‘Cause it’s the beginning of an ongoing story between you and the students and their math experience for that semester or year, and it’s really important to start by listening to them well.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She first looks for broad patterns across the class.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Strong: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If I’ve got a disproportionate amount of students that hate math, don’t think they’re mathematicians, that I have to be really intentional about my class design, where I am regularly noticing and calling out their mathematical strengths and giving them opportunities to see themselves as mathematicians and see each other as mathematicians.\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Or do I have a lot of students who, who feel like ‘I am a really strong mathematician. Ever since I was young, I get all the right answers. I’m really fast.’ Then I can note that that’s a trend in the class and be thinking how I can continue to push those students while also broadening their understanding of how they are mathematical and how important it is to also listen to other students’ ways of being mathematical.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She also reads the letters for individual details about things students love and things that trip them up. She might make a few notes and …\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Strong: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Check in with students like, ‘Gosh, I remember you said that you had a really hard time with the idea of percents and like whenever percents come up, you panic. Well, tomorrow we’re going to need some percents in our work with exponential functions. And so I wanted to make sure that you knew that I believe that you’ve got this. If you want to do a little practice beforehand, we can do that because I want you to feel confident. I don’t want some story from sixth grade impacting your confidence in what we’re working on right now.’\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sarah said that getting to know students was always important to her. Even before she created the Dear Math assignment.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Strong:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I would often try to connect with them in a variety of ways and I would hear their comments here and there that were both positive and negative. And I always tried to be a really good listener and understand my students’ feelings.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But she wasn’t always getting a full picture.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Strong:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sometimes I think I was being a little delusional before I got to hear their whole stories because I would think, ‘Oh, they had really negative experiences. They don’t like math, but now that they’re in my class, everything’s going to be fine.’\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The letters helped her take off her rose-colored glasses.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Strong:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It wasn’t until I started having them write Dear Math letters that I got to hear more complete stories and gain a bigger picture for their previous experience and how those experiences were informing the ways they were showing up to my class.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That knowledge enables her to help students grow as math learners throughout the year.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Strong:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">My biggest hope is that they start to see themselves as mathematicians in new ways and that they start to see their peers as mathematically brilliant in new ways.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Music\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nimah, it would be great if writing a Dear Math letter helped all students see themselves as capable of doing math – the way it did for Taylor Paris.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It would. But of course not every student’s math story is linear.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">No… Some math stories go up and down over time, like a periodic function. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hey, nice math analogy! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I got that one from Sarah Strong. She described her own math story that way. It also applies to another of her former students, Isabela Avila. Here’s the start of a Dear Math letter Isabela wrote in tenth grade.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Isabela Avila: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Reading letter\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">] Dear Math, I really like you, but you don’t come naturally to me. I have to work extra hard to understand and fully conceptualize what you have to offer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In previous math classes, Isabela felt pressure to always be fast and have the right answer. But she told me that expectation wasn’t there in Sarah Strong’s class.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Isabela Avila: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It was never even like a question of like, did you get it right or wrong? It was just seemed like we were always just all learning together, as a class.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> That sense of togetherness mattered. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Isabela Avila: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And like, I think that really helped me like number one, like, think highly of myself as like a problem solver and also … be confident in my ideas.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Isabela had Sarah Strong as a teacher twice, and she wrote a Dear Math letter both times. You can hear her increased confidence in the letter she wrote as a senior.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Isabela Avila:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Reading letter\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">] The most mathematical growth I feel I have ever experienced was during my junior year. I felt confident in my algebra skills for the first time ever. … My mindset also shifted drastically. I developed a sense of patience and open mindedness for the first time ever. … I know this will help me a lot in college and beyond, and I look forward to using it in the future. Sincerely, Isabela Avila.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When Isabela actually got to college, the transition was rocky. She’s a pre-med major at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Isabela Avila:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our like math department is known for being like notoriously hard.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> All around her, Isabela saw classmates who had come from elite high schools and seemed to understand calculus more easily than she did.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Isabela Avila: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I really struggled a lot with like comparing myself, especially in math. And I just found that to be super, super counter-productive for both my learning and like my self esteem.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sometimes she would break down crying while doing homework, which could take eight hours to complete. In class, she didn’t participate as much as she had hoped to.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Isabela Avila: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I just really didn’t want to sound like I didn’t know what I was talking about or like, not that I don’t belong there, but I don’t know. It was just, everyone around me was so smart. And I know, like, tests don’t define you, but everyone around me, like, even if they were starting in calc one, they, like, got fives on like the AP calc exams and did exceptionally well.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Back in high school, Isabela had written in one of her letters that she’d had a lot of highs and lows with math. Freshman year of college was definitely another low.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When I talked to her during her sophomore year at Johns Hopkins, being a premed major was still very stressful. Something that helped, though, was making friends who didn’t talk about grades.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Isabela Avila: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We don’t talk about, like, what score we got. We don’t talk about how we’re doing in the class. We don’t talk about — honestly we don’t talk that much about like our actual like school. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And she said the persistence that she developed in high school did help her get through calculus.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Isabela Avila:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Especially in math here in college, like, I feel like how you think about yourself and like how fast you are to like, get back up and keep trying is really, truly so much more important than if you can actually do the math.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Music\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Kara, the way Isabela compared herself to her calculus classmates isn’t unique to being at a university full of high achievers.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> That’s right. Sarah Strong said those comparisons have been pervasive in students’ Dear Math letters. And according to experts, this kind of thinking starts early.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Researchers say even kindergarteners start to notice their spot in the pecking order of math ability.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It often starts with those one-minute math quizzes that so many of us remember.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sound of pencils scribbling and slamming down\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Students might hear their classmates furiously scribbling answers and slamming their pencils down when they finish. They equate that with being “good” at math.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And there are lots of other ways in school that students are ranked and sorted. In younger grades, teachers often group students by ability when they’re practicing math. In upper grades, students may get tracked into ‘regular’ and ‘advanced’ classes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some teachers will even publicly display kids’ progress in certain math skills. This can look like a bulletin board that uses paper ice cream scoops to represent how many multiplication facts each student knows.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One researcher I talked to had a lot of ideas about how to disrupt hierarchies in math education. This is Rachel Lambert, from University of California, Santa Barbara.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachel Lambert: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think if there’s one one thing I’d like to communicate, it’s that teachers and parents can affect the way kids think about these things.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rachel shared five tips that teachers can use to help kids stop comparing themselves to others in math. The first tip is to change the narrative about who can do math.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachel Lambert: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Students would tell me how much it mattered to them to hear their teacher say, ‘There is no difference in who can be good at math.’ Like very clear messages around race and gender and the clear message that there is no one group of people that is better in math than other people, those students told me that was helpful to them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Changing the narrative isn’t just about what we say to kids. It’s also about how teachers talk to each other. And how they group students in class.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachel Lambert: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We might think as teachers – and I was a teacher for over 10 years – that kids don’t know that we might be calling them low kids or high kids when we’re having lunch with other teachers. … But they know, they always know and they know how they’re being grouped and classified and seen. … If we decide that kids are going to do well in mathematics, we do a lot of things in our teaching to set them up for success day after day. If we think kids will fail when we hand them a mathematical task, we’re doing subtle things to set them up for failure every single time we do that. So if we put them in groups that never change, we’re teaching them who they are and we’re also affecting who they become, because we’re only allowing them opportunities to do things quote-unquote at their level. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rachel’s second tip for teachers is to stop focusing on speed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachel Lambert:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Think of it not as a matter of going slow. Think of it as investing in certain things. So you can’t hit everything on your pacing calendar. You can’t do every standard every year with your students. You have to figure out what is worth investment and what is worth extra time, and then spend more time with those topics so that students feel that they have enough time learning those things.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Her third tip is to normalize mistakes. It can help students learn from each other’s thinking when you have them share their mistakes. Rachel told me about a teacher who did this.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachel Lambert: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She would even put a little heart next to a mistake and she’d be, ‘This was my favorite mistake of the day.’ And she drew a little heart next to it. And the kids would go, ‘awww.’ It’s adorable.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Tip number four is to give students problems that can be approached from multiple angles.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachel Lambert:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I see that some kids really love to engage in the visual aspect of a problem. Other students like to make, say, an organized list. And that doesn’t mean – there’s no such thing as learning styles; it doesn’t mean that that’s the way they’re going to approach every problem, but it does mean that a problem that draws on multiple ways of engaging can be more rich mathematically and also disrupt ideas of who’s the best at math and who isn’t.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rachel Lambert’s fifth and final tip is to make supports available to everyone.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachel Lambert: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That is the one of the simplest interventions you can do in math to make it more equitable … And it doesn’t send any negative messages to kids because they are choosing if they want to use a calculator. They are choosing if they want to hear the directions a second time. They are choosing if they use manipulatives.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Making these resources available to everyone takes the teacher’s assumptions out of the equation. And it helps kids develop the skills to recognize what they need to succeed.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Music\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kara, there are some people who say math teachers should just focus on content. That activities like writing letters to math are more about self-esteem than learning.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">These goals don’t have to be separate. Direct instruction and problem-solving practice are essential parts of math education. But like we said at the beginning, doing math involves emotions. Although we’ve heard a lot about the frustrating parts of math, it can also evoke positive emotions.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kids who are absorbed in math problem-solving often express wonder and excitement.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Listening to young people’s stories and honoring all of these emotions allows students to be more human in math class. And that doesn’t just make them \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">believe \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">in their math abilities, it empowers them to learn math and to do math.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Music\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This episode would not have been possible without Sarah Strong. To learn more about Dear Math letters, you can read the book she wrote with her former student, Gigi Butterfield. The book is called, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dear Math: Why Kids Hate Math and What Teachers Can Do About It.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thanks also to Taylor Paris, Isabela Avila, Rachel Lambert and Amy Parks.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The MindShift team includes Nimah Gobir, Ki Sung, Marlena Jackson-Retondo and me, Kara Newhouse.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our editor is Chris Hambrick. Chris Hoff engineered this episode.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Cesar Saldaña and Holly Kernan.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">MindShift is supported in part by the generosity of the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation and members of KQED.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> If you love MindShift, and enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend. We really appreciate it. You can also read more or subscribe to our newsletter at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/mindshift\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">kqed.org/mindshift\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Thank you for listening to Season 8 of the MindShift podcast. That’s it for these deep dive episodes. We’re taking a little break, but we’ll be back soon with new episodes featuring conversations about big ideas in education. Be sure to follow the show or subscribe so you don’t miss a thing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003cem>View the full episode transcript\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Walking into her sophomore year math class, Taylor Paris was nervous. She’d had a rocky relationship with the subject ever since long division showed up in elementary school. “I knew I didn’t understand math concepts very well. I knew that it was something that took me a longer time (than classmates),” she recalled.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So she was pleasantly surprised when one of the first assignments from teacher Sarah Strong required no calculating. Instead, Strong asked the class to write a letter to math – as if it were a person. These \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/60108/using-dear-math-letters-to-overcome-dread-in-math-class\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Dear Math” letters\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> are a tool that Strong developed as a way to understand students’ relationship to math, which researchers call \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/jmetc/article/view/9187/4897\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">mathematical identity\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. What Strong learns from these letters informs how she teaches individual students and whole classes throughout the year. Often that means working to disrupt the negative beliefs that students hold about their math abilities, which tend to revolve around comparisons to classmates, like “fast” vs. “slow” or “math person” vs. “not a math person.”\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Strong models the Dear Math activity by reading her own letter to math. Then she gives students prompts, such as:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What is one of your greatest mathematical strengths?\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">How do you plan to engage with math in the future?\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What would you like more of in math classrooms?\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Paris, who is now 20, was excited to apply her writing skills in math, but also to unpack some of her deeply rooted emotions about math. “I was finally able to write all of the things that made me sad and things that made me mad, like everything into one letter, addressing math directly,” she said. Here’s what she wrote in 10th grade: \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dear Math, \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh, do I have some things to say to you. You’ve followed me through every school year, caused me the worst headaches, and given me numerous counts of anxiety just thinking about you … The memories of my seventh grade math teacher telling me ‘maybe you’re just not a math person’ still ringing in my head and the constant Bs and Cs are still imprinted in my mind. You’ve been a never ending challenge and struggle, and it’s always been hard to understand you. No matter how many times my friends and teachers explain you, I never grasp you completely.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For Paris, having a teacher acknowledge emotions in math class was \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54980/why-teachers-want-math-with-more-human-ties\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">humanizing\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. “She recognized my experience as a part of this really big experience that so many other people have. And that was really validating,” Paris said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Strong devotes a few hours to reading the letters, making notes about broad patterns and individual details. “It’s the beginning of an ongoing story between you and the students and their math experience for that semester or year, and it’s really important to start by listening to them well,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Hierarchy in math education\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Strong teaches at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.hightechhigh.org/about/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">High Tech High\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and its Graduate School of Education in San Diego. She developed the Dear Math routine almost a decade ago, and she published a book about it, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.10publications.com/dear-math\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dear Math: Why Kids Hate Math And What Teachers Can Do About It\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, co-authored by her former\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">student Gigi Butterfield. In it, the teacher and former student reflect on the themes across hundreds of letters. One pervasive theme is hierarchy.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Kids as young as kindergarten and first grade are defining themselves as good at math or not good at math,” said \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/amynoelleparks\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Amy Parks\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, an elementary math education researcher at Michigan State University. Much of that definition comes from how they rank among classmates – from timed tests, to ‘high’ and ‘low’ groups, to subtle cues in teachers’ language. “I’ve been in classrooms where teachers have had kids line up by how many questions they answered or how many things they got right,” Parks said. “These hierarchies get reinforced so often and in so many different ways it’s almost overwhelming.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For many kids, the comparisons add up to a negative self-perception around math. And by the time they reach high school, that mathematical identity can feel immutable. But math class doesn’t have to be this way. “Teachers and parents can affect the way kids think about these things,” said \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://mathematizing4all.com/about-the-author/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rachel Lambert\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a professor and researcher at University of California, Santa Barbara.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s a stubborn cultural \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54389/3-ways-to-shape-math-into-a-positive-experience\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">myth that some of us are “math people” and some of us aren’t\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. This idea gets repeated explicitly all the time, and often \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aah6524\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">implicitly with gendered and racialized associations\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. But neuroscience shows that \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youcubed.org/resources/brain-science/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">everyone is capable of learning math\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and Lambert said \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/57997/how-to-build-students-math-confidence-with-culturally-sustaining-teaching-practices\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">it matters that kids hear that\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. “Students connect subjects to teachers in a pretty intense way that I think as adults we often forget. So if they feel their math teacher believes in them as a human being and believes in their competence in mathematics, that can make a huge difference,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Strong’s classroom, listening to students’ stories is the first step toward disrupting those hierarchies. She also looks for ways to highlight students’ mathematical thinking on a daily basis. One way she does this is by having multiple students write their problem-solving ideas on the whiteboard and asking other students to comment on what they like about the strategies they see. Another routine is an exit ticket that asks students to share something they learned from a classmate that day. She might share the details the next day with a student who was mentioned or with the whole class if there’s a bigger lesson in it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Math is for everyone\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Isabela Avila, another of Strong’s former students, said these kinds of practices created a sense of community: “It was never even like a question of did you get it right or wrong. It just seemed like we were always just all learning together as a class.” She had Strong as a teacher twice and wrote Dear Math letters both times. In her letter as a sophomore, her self-doubts showed up in the first sentence:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dear Math, I really like you, but you don’t come naturally to me. I have to work extra hard to understand and fully conceptualize what you have to offer.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In her letter as a senior, Avila wrote about her math growth over the prior two years:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I developed a sense of patience and open mindedness for the first time ever. … I know this will help me a lot in college and beyond, and I look forward to using it in the future.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When Avila got to the highly competitive environment of Johns Hopkins University, however, the usual order of things returned. “I really struggled a lot with comparing myself, especially in math,” she said, discussing her freshman year. “And I just found that to be super, super counterproductive for both my learning and my self esteem.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Strong said her own math story has had a lot of highs and lows, too. Though she can’t protect students from the ways math is taught and talked about beyond her classroom, her hope is that before they leave high school, “they start to see themselves as mathematicians in new ways and that they start to see their peers as mathematically brilliant in new ways.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For Avila, the persistence she developed in high school did pay off in the long, emotionally tough hours of college calculus. “I feel like how you think about yourself and how fast you are to get back up and keep trying is really, truly so much more important than if you can actually do the math,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Fast and slow\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Paris, Strong’s former student who liked expressing her emotions in a Dear Math letter, still remembers the heart-racing stress that accompanied \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/61712/do-math-drills-help-children-learn\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">timed multiplication tests\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in third grade. In Strong’s classroom, she said, there was never a timer. When Paris needed extra support, Strong brought out old algebra textbooks to reinforce foundational concepts. She designed projects where Paris could make connections between math and art – a subject that she already loved. Most importantly, Strong helped Paris learn how to break down complex problems into smaller steps. “Which is such a simple concept, but it didn’t even cross my mind that I could do that in math,” said Paris. “And that taking my time in math meant that I was being a mathematician.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Many students have this conception that they’re the only one who’s taking time to understand this concept, that everybody around them has already got it,” said Lambert, the UC Santa Barbara professor. Lambert suggested that teachers can reduce the rush of the pacing calendar by thinking of it not as going slowly but choosing where to invest time. “You can’t do every standard every year with your students. You have to figure out what is worth investment, and then spend more time with those topics so that students feel that they have enough time learning those things,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Strong’s view, this requires shifting away from math instruction that is built around the ideas the teacher wants to get to in a given period. Student-centered instruction requires a lot more listening, she said: “Listening first off to their stories and how they’re showing up to class, and then second off (listening to) the ways that they are thinking of and understanding and making sense of mathematical ideas.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Paris, who had Strong as a teacher for three years, said that time transformed her. She now works at a bridal shop, where she was recently promoted from stylist to sales manager – a role that involves a lot of math. “If I want to teach my stylists how to increase their productivity in their sales, then I need to think like a mathematician and come up with the ways that I can do that,” she explained. In tenth grade, that would have scared her. Not now. “There’s no reason for me to be afraid of math because I’ve proven to myself time and time again that I can do it,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC8301605465&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-content post-body\">\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Welcome to MindShift, where we explore the future of learning and how we raise our kids. I’m Kara Newhouse.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And I’m Nimah Gobir.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Music\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Today we’re talking about math.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Because it involves numbers and formulas, we often think of math as straightforward and objective.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> But learning math is actually packed with emotions. I met a high school teacher who starts the year with an unusual assignment. She has her students write a letter to math, describing their feelings about the subject. Here’s that teacher, Sarah Strong.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Strong: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A Dear Math letter is a letter that students write to math as if math were personified sitting across the table from them. … And it really helps inform teachers better understand the students stories and experiences that they’re coming to class with so that teachers can better design math experiences for students to thrive and flourish in math class.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> We’ll hear more from Sarah later in the episode. First, here’s part of a Dear Math letter from one of her former students, Taylor Paris.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Music\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Taylor Paris: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Reading letter\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">] Dear math, Oh, do I have some things to say to you. You’ve followed me throughout every school year, caused me the worst headaches, and given me numerous counts of anxiety just thinking about you … The memories of my seventh grade math teacher telling me, ‘Maybe you’re just not a math person’ still ringing in my head, and the constant Bs and Cs are still imprinted in my mind. You’ve been a never ending challenge and struggle, and it’s always been hard to understand you. No matter how many times my friends and teachers explain you, I never grasp you completely.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The anxiety and frustration that Taylor described in her letter are familiar feelings for many young people. And by the time students get to high school, it can feel like if they don’t understand math now, they never will.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> But math doesn’t have to be this way.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> When we get back from the break, we’ll hear more about Dear Math letters and how they help students like Taylor strengthen their mathematical identities.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Taylor Paris graduated high school a few years ago, but she still remembers the first week of tenth grade math with her teacher Sarah Strong. That’s when students wrote letters to math, as if it were a person.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Taylor Paris:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And I remember being so excited because basically you’re writing in math, and that’s never the case.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Interdisciplinary learning allows students to think about a subject from new perspectives. For Taylor, writing the Dear Math letter gave her a chance to reflect on how her early school years shaped her relationship to math.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Taylor Paris: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I remember, my first, like, scariness of math was long division, because it was like so abstract to me, and everyone around me understood it and was just like, ‘Yeah, well that’s just the way it is and that’s totally fine.’\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Writing about those memories was cathartic. It also helped Taylor feel connected to her teacher.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Taylor Paris:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I have never had a math teacher talk about emotions behind math ever. Like, truly ever … She recognized my experience as a part of this really big experience that so many other people have. And that was really validating.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Her teacher, Sarah Strong, also made it clear that it was okay for those feelings to surface throughout the year. Which made it possible for Taylor to focus on actually learning math.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Taylor Paris: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She did a great job at making me feel like I could take a really complex problem and break it down to the bare bones of it, which is such a simple concept. But it didn’t even cross my mind that I could do that in math and that taking my time in math meant that I was being a mathematician. And that’s what mathematicians did, was take their time and work on problems slowly to really understand every aspect.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When I met Taylor, she had just been promoted from a stylist to a sales manager at a bridal shop in San Diego. That’s a fashion job that involves a lot of math.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Taylor Paris: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So stylists are responsible for obviously, you know, the customer service side of things, but on the sales side, there is a certain goal that you need to meet or would ideally meet day to day and kind of week to day, month to day. …\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And so when you think about it, sales is like one big math problem every day because there’s a question, there’s an answer that you have to get to, and then there’s variables that go into, you know, the answer to your problem, essentially.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Taylor is 20. Not that long ago, doing a math-related job would have been unimaginable to her.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Taylor Paris:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you told sophomore year Taylor that I would be doing something that was directly correlated with math and numbers all the time, I would be terrified and probably laugh.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Taylor had Sarah Strong as a math teacher from 10th grade through 12th grade. She said that those years totally changed her view of math.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Taylor Paris: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And so while I may have been scared to take a sales manager position at, you know, in my sophomore year, it makes a ton of sense for me now because what I do is help people find their wedding dress. And who would have thought that math was in finding a wedding dress?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Music\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Taylor now sees herself as a doer of math. This is what’s called mathematical identity.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> We did an episode featuring Chris Emdin, who talked about students’ STEM identities. Mathematical identity is one form of a STEM identity.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Strong: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mathematical identity is a way that students see themselves as a mathematician, and therefore it connects to the ways that they enter into mathematical spaces and connect with other mathematicians around them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s teacher Sarah Strong again. She created the Dear Math activity during a bigger project where students were exploring their mathematical identities. They were using different types of math as metaphors for their experiences. And Sarah wanted to add a writing component to that project.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Strong:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And one of my colleagues shared with me the idea of writing letters to a thing like books or basketball, and how she’d heard of that practice. And she thought I could do Dear Math letters, and I thought that was an amazing idea. So I ran with it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The letters were powerful. And Sarah realized that having students write them at the beginning of the year could help her teach each class better. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here’s how she does it now. She introduces the assignment during the first week of school. She reads her own Dear Math letter as a model, because most students aren’t used to writing in math class. Hearing her letter also lets them know that even though she teaches math, it hasn’t always been easy for her.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After reading her letter, Sarah gives her students prompts for writing their own. Questions like…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What is one of your greatest mathematical strengths?\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">How do you plan to engage with math in the future?\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What would you like more of in math classrooms?\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They spend 15 to 30 minutes writing in class. Anyone who wants to write more can finish at home.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Then Sarah reads the letters on her own. She says this is the most important step.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Strong: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">‘Cause it’s the beginning of an ongoing story between you and the students and their math experience for that semester or year, and it’s really important to start by listening to them well.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She first looks for broad patterns across the class.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Strong: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If I’ve got a disproportionate amount of students that hate math, don’t think they’re mathematicians, that I have to be really intentional about my class design, where I am regularly noticing and calling out their mathematical strengths and giving them opportunities to see themselves as mathematicians and see each other as mathematicians.\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Or do I have a lot of students who, who feel like ‘I am a really strong mathematician. Ever since I was young, I get all the right answers. I’m really fast.’ Then I can note that that’s a trend in the class and be thinking how I can continue to push those students while also broadening their understanding of how they are mathematical and how important it is to also listen to other students’ ways of being mathematical.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She also reads the letters for individual details about things students love and things that trip them up. She might make a few notes and …\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Strong: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Check in with students like, ‘Gosh, I remember you said that you had a really hard time with the idea of percents and like whenever percents come up, you panic. Well, tomorrow we’re going to need some percents in our work with exponential functions. And so I wanted to make sure that you knew that I believe that you’ve got this. If you want to do a little practice beforehand, we can do that because I want you to feel confident. I don’t want some story from sixth grade impacting your confidence in what we’re working on right now.’\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sarah said that getting to know students was always important to her. Even before she created the Dear Math assignment.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Strong:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I would often try to connect with them in a variety of ways and I would hear their comments here and there that were both positive and negative. And I always tried to be a really good listener and understand my students’ feelings.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But she wasn’t always getting a full picture.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Strong:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sometimes I think I was being a little delusional before I got to hear their whole stories because I would think, ‘Oh, they had really negative experiences. They don’t like math, but now that they’re in my class, everything’s going to be fine.’\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The letters helped her take off her rose-colored glasses.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Strong:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It wasn’t until I started having them write Dear Math letters that I got to hear more complete stories and gain a bigger picture for their previous experience and how those experiences were informing the ways they were showing up to my class.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That knowledge enables her to help students grow as math learners throughout the year.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Strong:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">My biggest hope is that they start to see themselves as mathematicians in new ways and that they start to see their peers as mathematically brilliant in new ways.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Music\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nimah, it would be great if writing a Dear Math letter helped all students see themselves as capable of doing math – the way it did for Taylor Paris.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It would. But of course not every student’s math story is linear.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">No… Some math stories go up and down over time, like a periodic function. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hey, nice math analogy! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I got that one from Sarah Strong. She described her own math story that way. It also applies to another of her former students, Isabela Avila. Here’s the start of a Dear Math letter Isabela wrote in tenth grade.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Isabela Avila: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Reading letter\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">] Dear Math, I really like you, but you don’t come naturally to me. I have to work extra hard to understand and fully conceptualize what you have to offer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In previous math classes, Isabela felt pressure to always be fast and have the right answer. But she told me that expectation wasn’t there in Sarah Strong’s class.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Isabela Avila: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It was never even like a question of like, did you get it right or wrong? It was just seemed like we were always just all learning together, as a class.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> That sense of togetherness mattered. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Isabela Avila: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And like, I think that really helped me like number one, like, think highly of myself as like a problem solver and also … be confident in my ideas.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Isabela had Sarah Strong as a teacher twice, and she wrote a Dear Math letter both times. You can hear her increased confidence in the letter she wrote as a senior.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Isabela Avila:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Reading letter\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">] The most mathematical growth I feel I have ever experienced was during my junior year. I felt confident in my algebra skills for the first time ever. … My mindset also shifted drastically. I developed a sense of patience and open mindedness for the first time ever. … I know this will help me a lot in college and beyond, and I look forward to using it in the future. Sincerely, Isabela Avila.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When Isabela actually got to college, the transition was rocky. She’s a pre-med major at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Isabela Avila:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our like math department is known for being like notoriously hard.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> All around her, Isabela saw classmates who had come from elite high schools and seemed to understand calculus more easily than she did.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Isabela Avila: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I really struggled a lot with like comparing myself, especially in math. And I just found that to be super, super counter-productive for both my learning and like my self esteem.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sometimes she would break down crying while doing homework, which could take eight hours to complete. In class, she didn’t participate as much as she had hoped to.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Isabela Avila: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I just really didn’t want to sound like I didn’t know what I was talking about or like, not that I don’t belong there, but I don’t know. It was just, everyone around me was so smart. And I know, like, tests don’t define you, but everyone around me, like, even if they were starting in calc one, they, like, got fives on like the AP calc exams and did exceptionally well.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Back in high school, Isabela had written in one of her letters that she’d had a lot of highs and lows with math. Freshman year of college was definitely another low.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When I talked to her during her sophomore year at Johns Hopkins, being a premed major was still very stressful. Something that helped, though, was making friends who didn’t talk about grades.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Isabela Avila: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We don’t talk about, like, what score we got. We don’t talk about how we’re doing in the class. We don’t talk about — honestly we don’t talk that much about like our actual like school. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And she said the persistence that she developed in high school did help her get through calculus.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Isabela Avila:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Especially in math here in college, like, I feel like how you think about yourself and like how fast you are to like, get back up and keep trying is really, truly so much more important than if you can actually do the math.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Music\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Kara, the way Isabela compared herself to her calculus classmates isn’t unique to being at a university full of high achievers.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> That’s right. Sarah Strong said those comparisons have been pervasive in students’ Dear Math letters. And according to experts, this kind of thinking starts early.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Researchers say even kindergarteners start to notice their spot in the pecking order of math ability.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It often starts with those one-minute math quizzes that so many of us remember.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sound of pencils scribbling and slamming down\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Students might hear their classmates furiously scribbling answers and slamming their pencils down when they finish. They equate that with being “good” at math.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And there are lots of other ways in school that students are ranked and sorted. In younger grades, teachers often group students by ability when they’re practicing math. In upper grades, students may get tracked into ‘regular’ and ‘advanced’ classes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some teachers will even publicly display kids’ progress in certain math skills. This can look like a bulletin board that uses paper ice cream scoops to represent how many multiplication facts each student knows.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One researcher I talked to had a lot of ideas about how to disrupt hierarchies in math education. This is Rachel Lambert, from University of California, Santa Barbara.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachel Lambert: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think if there’s one one thing I’d like to communicate, it’s that teachers and parents can affect the way kids think about these things.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rachel shared five tips that teachers can use to help kids stop comparing themselves to others in math. The first tip is to change the narrative about who can do math.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachel Lambert: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Students would tell me how much it mattered to them to hear their teacher say, ‘There is no difference in who can be good at math.’ Like very clear messages around race and gender and the clear message that there is no one group of people that is better in math than other people, those students told me that was helpful to them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Changing the narrative isn’t just about what we say to kids. It’s also about how teachers talk to each other. And how they group students in class.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachel Lambert: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We might think as teachers – and I was a teacher for over 10 years – that kids don’t know that we might be calling them low kids or high kids when we’re having lunch with other teachers. … But they know, they always know and they know how they’re being grouped and classified and seen. … If we decide that kids are going to do well in mathematics, we do a lot of things in our teaching to set them up for success day after day. If we think kids will fail when we hand them a mathematical task, we’re doing subtle things to set them up for failure every single time we do that. So if we put them in groups that never change, we’re teaching them who they are and we’re also affecting who they become, because we’re only allowing them opportunities to do things quote-unquote at their level. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rachel’s second tip for teachers is to stop focusing on speed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachel Lambert:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Think of it not as a matter of going slow. Think of it as investing in certain things. So you can’t hit everything on your pacing calendar. You can’t do every standard every year with your students. You have to figure out what is worth investment and what is worth extra time, and then spend more time with those topics so that students feel that they have enough time learning those things.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Her third tip is to normalize mistakes. It can help students learn from each other’s thinking when you have them share their mistakes. Rachel told me about a teacher who did this.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachel Lambert: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She would even put a little heart next to a mistake and she’d be, ‘This was my favorite mistake of the day.’ And she drew a little heart next to it. And the kids would go, ‘awww.’ It’s adorable.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Tip number four is to give students problems that can be approached from multiple angles.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachel Lambert:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I see that some kids really love to engage in the visual aspect of a problem. Other students like to make, say, an organized list. And that doesn’t mean – there’s no such thing as learning styles; it doesn’t mean that that’s the way they’re going to approach every problem, but it does mean that a problem that draws on multiple ways of engaging can be more rich mathematically and also disrupt ideas of who’s the best at math and who isn’t.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rachel Lambert’s fifth and final tip is to make supports available to everyone.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachel Lambert: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That is the one of the simplest interventions you can do in math to make it more equitable … And it doesn’t send any negative messages to kids because they are choosing if they want to use a calculator. They are choosing if they want to hear the directions a second time. They are choosing if they use manipulatives.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Making these resources available to everyone takes the teacher’s assumptions out of the equation. And it helps kids develop the skills to recognize what they need to succeed.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Music\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kara, there are some people who say math teachers should just focus on content. That activities like writing letters to math are more about self-esteem than learning.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">These goals don’t have to be separate. Direct instruction and problem-solving practice are essential parts of math education. But like we said at the beginning, doing math involves emotions. Although we’ve heard a lot about the frustrating parts of math, it can also evoke positive emotions.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kids who are absorbed in math problem-solving often express wonder and excitement.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Listening to young people’s stories and honoring all of these emotions allows students to be more human in math class. And that doesn’t just make them \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">believe \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">in their math abilities, it empowers them to learn math and to do math.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Music\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This episode would not have been possible without Sarah Strong. To learn more about Dear Math letters, you can read the book she wrote with her former student, Gigi Butterfield. The book is called, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dear Math: Why Kids Hate Math and What Teachers Can Do About It.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thanks also to Taylor Paris, Isabela Avila, Rachel Lambert and Amy Parks.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The MindShift team includes Nimah Gobir, Ki Sung, Marlena Jackson-Retondo and me, Kara Newhouse.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our editor is Chris Hambrick. Chris Hoff engineered this episode.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Cesar Saldaña and Holly Kernan.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">MindShift is supported in part by the generosity of the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation and members of KQED.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nimah Gobir:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> If you love MindShift, and enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend. We really appreciate it. You can also read more or subscribe to our newsletter at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/mindshift\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">kqed.org/mindshift\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kara Newhouse:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Thank you for listening to Season 8 of the MindShift podcast. That’s it for these deep dive episodes. We’re taking a little break, but we’ll be back soon with new episodes featuring conversations about big ideas in education. Be sure to follow the show or subscribe so you don’t miss a thing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>"
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Middle school English teacher \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/theVogelman\">Brett Vogelsinger\u003c/a> wasn’t always attuned to the needs of introverts. As an extrovert himself, he found it easy to raise his hand and be vocal in school. So when he \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/61361/using-poetry-to-sharpen-students-claims-for-argument-writing\">became a teacher\u003c/a>, he believed those were the hallmarks of a good student.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I would even see a student in an honors class who wasn’t super participatory, and I’d think to myself, ‘What are they doing in an honors class?’ They don’t seem that into English class,” he said. “I don’t really like that I thought that, but I did.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_62135\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-62135\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/brett-vogelsinger-160x222.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"347\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/brett-vogelsinger-160x222.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/brett-vogelsinger-800x1109.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/brett-vogelsinger-1020x1414.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/brett-vogelsinger-768x1065.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/brett-vogelsinger-1108x1536.jpg 1108w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/brett-vogelsinger-1477x2048.jpg 1477w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/brett-vogelsinger-1920x2663.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/brett-vogelsinger-scaled.jpg 1846w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teacher Brett Vogelsinger reads a passage from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. \u003ccite>(Kara Newhouse/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Vogelsinger has taught at Central Bucks School District – a large, suburban district outside Philadelphia – for 20 years. In that time, the concepts of introversion and extroversion have become more widely known. As author Susan Cain explained in a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">viral Ted Talk in 2012\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, “extroverts really crave large amounts of stimulation, whereas introverts feel at their most alive and their most switched-on and their most capable when they’re in quieter, more low-key environments.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In an education landscape where speaking up often \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://quietrev.com/class-participation-lets-talk-about-it-2/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">counts towards grades\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and collaboration is \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/58155/grades-have-huge-impact-but-are-they-effective\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">highly valued\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, today’s classrooms are sometimes noisy and stimulating places to learn. That can be draining for introverted students, who may do their best thinking solo or in calmer settings. Teaching strategies that build in think time, encourage students to listen to each other’s ideas, and include options for written responses can help make space for introverted voices.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Those kinds of things help to move towards 100% participation without making introverts feel cornered,” said Vogelsinger, who uses all these methods.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While popular understanding of introversion was rising, Vogelsinger was getting a personal education. Because he married an introvert, he began to see the strengths that come from introverts’ propensity for quiet reflection. Just as importantly, he noticed that some of the most powerful writing assignments in his classes came from students who rarely spoke in class. These observations raised questions for how he structured classes in \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/61848/whats-the-best-way-to-teach-it-depends-on-the-subject\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a subject where conversation is king\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It took me a while to realize that someone can engage rigorously mentally with what’s going on in the classroom, and you might not hear it as a teacher,” Vogelsinger said. “So then how do we make that learning visible? How do we give them chances to share what they’re learning?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Summer Reading Series: “Quiet” by \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/susancain?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SusanCain\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://t.co/tZ8TNdLmU3\">pic.twitter.com/tZ8TNdLmU3\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Mr. John Curtis (@curtiswords) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/curtiswords/status/1676198396736991232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 4, 2023\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Adding more voices to the conversation with colored index cards\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last spring, Vogelsinger’s English class at Holicong Middle School was discussing whether fate or decision-making played a bigger role in the tragic outcome of Shakespeare’s \u003ci>Romeo and Juliet\u003c/i>. Each student had a white index card and a yellow index card on their desk. At the start, he reminded students that a white card “means a fresh new idea no one’s brought up yet,” and a yellow card means you’re building on someone’s line of thinking, “just like yellow snow means someone’s been there before.” He calls this discussion format “white snow/yellow snow.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As students spoke, classmates raised a white or yellow card to be called on, shuffling between cards after hearing peers’ comments. Vogelsinger devised this strategy to create more on-ramps to class discussions for introverted students, who might take a beat (or several) before volunteering, and by the time they do, their more voluble classmates have gone in a different direction.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_62136\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 160px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-62136\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/white-snow-yellow-snow-160x213.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"213\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/white-snow-yellow-snow-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/white-snow-yellow-snow-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/white-snow-yellow-snow-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/white-snow-yellow-snow-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/white-snow-yellow-snow-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/white-snow-yellow-snow-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/white-snow-yellow-snow-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In a “white snow/yellow snow” discussion, students raise a white index card to share a new idea or a yellow index card to build on a classmate’s idea. \u003ccite>(Kara Newhouse/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">About halfway through the \u003ci>Romeo and Juliet\u003c/i> discussion, a student named Mary tentatively raised a yellow card about halfway. Another classmate took a turn, and Mary raised her card higher. Vogelsinger nodded to her, giving her the floor, and she softly shared a counterpoint to her classmates’ claims about Romeo’s bad choices.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Vogelsinger said his introverted students usually speak up more when using the index cards. Plus, his extroverted students are reminded to listen and reflect a little more than usual. “Instead of just raising your hand, which you’re doing all day, now you have this other element and you have to think about how [what you want to say] connects to other things with the white snow/yellow snow.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The index cards also help Vogelsinger monitor the flow of conversation and redirect when things go off track or one idea drags on too long. And they aren’t the only way Vogelsinger invites introverts to participate in class.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Discussion boards and think time\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Before classroom discussions start, Vogelsinger also builds in opportunities for students to engage with ideas on their own. Online message boards are one of those opportunities. Though some teachers used online discussion boards before the COVID-19 pandemic, their popularity surged during distance learning. Many teachers \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/58377/unplanned-lessons-what-pandemic-education-has-taught-teachers\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">heard from new voices\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> through those forums.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Kids who had been really quiet were responding really well on discussion boards in that last part of the spring from March to June [2020],” Vogelsinger said of his classes. Now he uses message boards as an introvert-friendly form of participation throughout the semester. Sometimes he highlights comments from the boards in class before moving on to another activity. Other times, the message boards lead into a verbal discussion, like the white snow/yellow snow discussion of \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Romeo and Juliet\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“They’ve already done some thinking about it online. They’ve even interacted with [ChatGPT] and how it wrote about [the play’s themes],” Vogelsinger said. That preparation gives students “roots to the conversation.” Plus, he carved out several minutes before the discussion for students to revisit what they wrote and read each other’s responses. That “think time” is especially helpful for introverted students, who may not want to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://quietrev.com/encouraging-introverts-to-speak-up-in-school/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">speak on the spot\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> as soon as a teacher throws out a question.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Introversion is not about being quiet, shy or reserved,” Vogelsinger said. “It’s about feeling recharged and energized by quiet time, reflective time. … And in English class that’s really valuable. And in learning, that’s really valuable.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">🕒 Wait time 🕒 between asking a question and calling on someone for an answer — as well as waiting to respond to an answer — is an important strategy to include all learners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sketchnote via \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ValentinaESL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ValentinaESL\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://t.co/I510pm7x5u\">pic.twitter.com/I510pm7x5u\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— MindShift (@MindShiftKQED) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED/status/1683090835917664258?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 23, 2023\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Engagement as a continuum\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For Vogelsinger, learning about introversion helped him move from deficit thinking to tackling a creative challenge. “I’ve learned not to see an introverted student as someone who’s not engaging as much as I think they should, and rather to see my responsibility as giving a variety of ways to engage,” he said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He uses the word “engage” intentionally. While “participation” when used in grading usually emphasizes talking in class, engagement encompasses a range of learning behaviors. Education researcher Amy Berry developed \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/61926/reimagining-student-engagement-as-a-continuum-of-learning-behaviors\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a continuum of student engagement\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that illustrates this concept.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_61940\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1816px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-61940 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2023/06/Figure-1.2-Berry_Reimagining-Student-Engagement-e1688161876432.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1816\" height=\"939\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/06/Figure-1.2-Berry_Reimagining-Student-Engagement-e1688161876432.png 1816w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/06/Figure-1.2-Berry_Reimagining-Student-Engagement-e1688161876432-800x414.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/06/Figure-1.2-Berry_Reimagining-Student-Engagement-e1688161876432-1020x527.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/06/Figure-1.2-Berry_Reimagining-Student-Engagement-e1688161876432-160x83.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/06/Figure-1.2-Berry_Reimagining-Student-Engagement-e1688161876432-768x397.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/06/Figure-1.2-Berry_Reimagining-Student-Engagement-e1688161876432-1536x794.png 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1816px) 100vw, 1816px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A continuum of student engagement, from Reimagining Student Engagement by Amy Berry. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Corwin Press)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Berry’s continuum, responding to teacher questions is considered a passive form of engagement, whereas more active engagement includes habits such as asking questions, setting goals, and seeking feedback. These behaviors can occur in both extroverted and introverted ways. What’s essential, according to Berry, is to find out from students themselves what these things look like. “That’s when you’re really going to get somewhere when both teacher and student are able to use the continuum as kind of a foundation and anchor for their conversations about engagement,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Vogelsinger showed his students the engagement continuum for the first time last year. But he and the other English teachers at Holicong Middle School were asking students what engaged learning looks like well before that. A few years ago, as part of a rethinking process around grades, Vogelsinger and his colleagues created a quarterly self-reflection for students. Students are encouraged to look at patterns in their homework completion, class participation and assignment feedback before responding to several prompts. One of those prompts is: \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Engagement and participation are vital to success, but can look different to different students. Explain how you participate and engage in class.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Questions like that can help teachers \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/60088/using-a-strengths-based-approach-to-help-students-realize-their-potential\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">see strengths in all students\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> – and spark ideas for how to help them learn. Two decades into his career, it’s not just the idea of an extrovert as the model student that Vogelsinger has shed; it’s the entire concept of a model student.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Now I think I’m much better at seeing the individual students,” he said. “I’m looking more for growth.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC6014610124&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Taking a shot\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On the same day as the white snow/yellow snow discussions of \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Romeo and Juliet\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, Vogelsinger took a different approach in one of his classes. For third period, he went with a basketball discussion. To kick things off, students ripped a page out of their notebooks and answered one question: \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you could tell one character one thing that might fix this whole play (apart from how it ends), what would it be?\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After several minutes of scribbling, Vogelsinger instructed students to crumple their page into a ball. The ideas they’d written would be the launching point for the discussion. The paper balls would be launched into a plastic blue crate at the front of the room.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Students raised their hands to speak, and three times during the period, Vogelsinger paused the conversation. At those moments, everyone who’d spoken up so far could stand and take a shot with their paper ball. By the end, only three class members hadn’t participated. Vogelsinger collected the crumpled papers from those students before they exited.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the empty classroom, he smoothed the pages, and his eyes tracked over the penciled words. One student wrote: \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I would tell Romeo that Lady Capulet is sending an assassin after him, because she’s going to send someone with poison to Mantua to kill him\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_62134\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-62134\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/basketball2-160x120.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/basketball2-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/basketball2-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/basketball2-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/basketball2-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/basketball2-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/basketball2-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/basketball2-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students in Brett Vogelsinger’s English class at Holicong Middle School shoot paper balls into a basket during a discussion of Romeo and Juliet. \u003ccite>(Kara Newhouse/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“That was a great observation. I kind of wish it would have come up in class, but I can still respond to the student now this way,” Vogelsinger said. That’s key. In the basketball discussion, the chance to shoot the ball may motivate kids who like to move, whether introverted or extroverted. But the written responses ensure that Vogelsinger gets a window into the thinking of students who opt out of speaking.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“In just a regular classroom conversation, I wouldn’t have heard anything from them, so I wouldn’t have known they had these thoughts,” he said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Middle school English teacher \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/theVogelman\">Brett Vogelsinger\u003c/a> wasn’t always attuned to the needs of introverts. As an extrovert himself, he found it easy to raise his hand and be vocal in school. So when he \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/61361/using-poetry-to-sharpen-students-claims-for-argument-writing\">became a teacher\u003c/a>, he believed those were the hallmarks of a good student.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I would even see a student in an honors class who wasn’t super participatory, and I’d think to myself, ‘What are they doing in an honors class?’ They don’t seem that into English class,” he said. “I don’t really like that I thought that, but I did.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_62135\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-62135\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/brett-vogelsinger-160x222.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"347\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/brett-vogelsinger-160x222.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/brett-vogelsinger-800x1109.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/brett-vogelsinger-1020x1414.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/brett-vogelsinger-768x1065.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/brett-vogelsinger-1108x1536.jpg 1108w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/brett-vogelsinger-1477x2048.jpg 1477w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/brett-vogelsinger-1920x2663.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/brett-vogelsinger-scaled.jpg 1846w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teacher Brett Vogelsinger reads a passage from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. \u003ccite>(Kara Newhouse/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Vogelsinger has taught at Central Bucks School District – a large, suburban district outside Philadelphia – for 20 years. In that time, the concepts of introversion and extroversion have become more widely known. As author Susan Cain explained in a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">viral Ted Talk in 2012\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, “extroverts really crave large amounts of stimulation, whereas introverts feel at their most alive and their most switched-on and their most capable when they’re in quieter, more low-key environments.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In an education landscape where speaking up often \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://quietrev.com/class-participation-lets-talk-about-it-2/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">counts towards grades\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and collaboration is \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/58155/grades-have-huge-impact-but-are-they-effective\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">highly valued\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, today’s classrooms are sometimes noisy and stimulating places to learn. That can be draining for introverted students, who may do their best thinking solo or in calmer settings. Teaching strategies that build in think time, encourage students to listen to each other’s ideas, and include options for written responses can help make space for introverted voices.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Those kinds of things help to move towards 100% participation without making introverts feel cornered,” said Vogelsinger, who uses all these methods.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While popular understanding of introversion was rising, Vogelsinger was getting a personal education. Because he married an introvert, he began to see the strengths that come from introverts’ propensity for quiet reflection. Just as importantly, he noticed that some of the most powerful writing assignments in his classes came from students who rarely spoke in class. These observations raised questions for how he structured classes in \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/61848/whats-the-best-way-to-teach-it-depends-on-the-subject\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a subject where conversation is king\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It took me a while to realize that someone can engage rigorously mentally with what’s going on in the classroom, and you might not hear it as a teacher,” Vogelsinger said. “So then how do we make that learning visible? How do we give them chances to share what they’re learning?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Summer Reading Series: “Quiet” by \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/susancain?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SusanCain\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://t.co/tZ8TNdLmU3\">pic.twitter.com/tZ8TNdLmU3\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Mr. John Curtis (@curtiswords) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/curtiswords/status/1676198396736991232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 4, 2023\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Adding more voices to the conversation with colored index cards\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last spring, Vogelsinger’s English class at Holicong Middle School was discussing whether fate or decision-making played a bigger role in the tragic outcome of Shakespeare’s \u003ci>Romeo and Juliet\u003c/i>. Each student had a white index card and a yellow index card on their desk. At the start, he reminded students that a white card “means a fresh new idea no one’s brought up yet,” and a yellow card means you’re building on someone’s line of thinking, “just like yellow snow means someone’s been there before.” He calls this discussion format “white snow/yellow snow.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As students spoke, classmates raised a white or yellow card to be called on, shuffling between cards after hearing peers’ comments. Vogelsinger devised this strategy to create more on-ramps to class discussions for introverted students, who might take a beat (or several) before volunteering, and by the time they do, their more voluble classmates have gone in a different direction.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_62136\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 160px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-62136\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/white-snow-yellow-snow-160x213.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"213\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/white-snow-yellow-snow-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/white-snow-yellow-snow-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/white-snow-yellow-snow-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/white-snow-yellow-snow-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/white-snow-yellow-snow-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/white-snow-yellow-snow-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/white-snow-yellow-snow-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In a “white snow/yellow snow” discussion, students raise a white index card to share a new idea or a yellow index card to build on a classmate’s idea. \u003ccite>(Kara Newhouse/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">About halfway through the \u003ci>Romeo and Juliet\u003c/i> discussion, a student named Mary tentatively raised a yellow card about halfway. Another classmate took a turn, and Mary raised her card higher. Vogelsinger nodded to her, giving her the floor, and she softly shared a counterpoint to her classmates’ claims about Romeo’s bad choices.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Vogelsinger said his introverted students usually speak up more when using the index cards. Plus, his extroverted students are reminded to listen and reflect a little more than usual. “Instead of just raising your hand, which you’re doing all day, now you have this other element and you have to think about how [what you want to say] connects to other things with the white snow/yellow snow.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The index cards also help Vogelsinger monitor the flow of conversation and redirect when things go off track or one idea drags on too long. And they aren’t the only way Vogelsinger invites introverts to participate in class.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Discussion boards and think time\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Before classroom discussions start, Vogelsinger also builds in opportunities for students to engage with ideas on their own. Online message boards are one of those opportunities. Though some teachers used online discussion boards before the COVID-19 pandemic, their popularity surged during distance learning. Many teachers \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/58377/unplanned-lessons-what-pandemic-education-has-taught-teachers\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">heard from new voices\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> through those forums.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Kids who had been really quiet were responding really well on discussion boards in that last part of the spring from March to June [2020],” Vogelsinger said of his classes. Now he uses message boards as an introvert-friendly form of participation throughout the semester. Sometimes he highlights comments from the boards in class before moving on to another activity. Other times, the message boards lead into a verbal discussion, like the white snow/yellow snow discussion of \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Romeo and Juliet\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“They’ve already done some thinking about it online. They’ve even interacted with [ChatGPT] and how it wrote about [the play’s themes],” Vogelsinger said. That preparation gives students “roots to the conversation.” Plus, he carved out several minutes before the discussion for students to revisit what they wrote and read each other’s responses. That “think time” is especially helpful for introverted students, who may not want to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://quietrev.com/encouraging-introverts-to-speak-up-in-school/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">speak on the spot\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> as soon as a teacher throws out a question.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Introversion is not about being quiet, shy or reserved,” Vogelsinger said. “It’s about feeling recharged and energized by quiet time, reflective time. … And in English class that’s really valuable. And in learning, that’s really valuable.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">🕒 Wait time 🕒 between asking a question and calling on someone for an answer — as well as waiting to respond to an answer — is an important strategy to include all learners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sketchnote via \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ValentinaESL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ValentinaESL\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://t.co/I510pm7x5u\">pic.twitter.com/I510pm7x5u\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— MindShift (@MindShiftKQED) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED/status/1683090835917664258?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 23, 2023\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Engagement as a continuum\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For Vogelsinger, learning about introversion helped him move from deficit thinking to tackling a creative challenge. “I’ve learned not to see an introverted student as someone who’s not engaging as much as I think they should, and rather to see my responsibility as giving a variety of ways to engage,” he said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He uses the word “engage” intentionally. While “participation” when used in grading usually emphasizes talking in class, engagement encompasses a range of learning behaviors. Education researcher Amy Berry developed \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/61926/reimagining-student-engagement-as-a-continuum-of-learning-behaviors\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a continuum of student engagement\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that illustrates this concept.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_61940\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1816px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-61940 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2023/06/Figure-1.2-Berry_Reimagining-Student-Engagement-e1688161876432.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1816\" height=\"939\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/06/Figure-1.2-Berry_Reimagining-Student-Engagement-e1688161876432.png 1816w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/06/Figure-1.2-Berry_Reimagining-Student-Engagement-e1688161876432-800x414.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/06/Figure-1.2-Berry_Reimagining-Student-Engagement-e1688161876432-1020x527.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/06/Figure-1.2-Berry_Reimagining-Student-Engagement-e1688161876432-160x83.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/06/Figure-1.2-Berry_Reimagining-Student-Engagement-e1688161876432-768x397.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/06/Figure-1.2-Berry_Reimagining-Student-Engagement-e1688161876432-1536x794.png 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1816px) 100vw, 1816px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A continuum of student engagement, from Reimagining Student Engagement by Amy Berry. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Corwin Press)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Berry’s continuum, responding to teacher questions is considered a passive form of engagement, whereas more active engagement includes habits such as asking questions, setting goals, and seeking feedback. These behaviors can occur in both extroverted and introverted ways. What’s essential, according to Berry, is to find out from students themselves what these things look like. “That’s when you’re really going to get somewhere when both teacher and student are able to use the continuum as kind of a foundation and anchor for their conversations about engagement,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Vogelsinger showed his students the engagement continuum for the first time last year. But he and the other English teachers at Holicong Middle School were asking students what engaged learning looks like well before that. A few years ago, as part of a rethinking process around grades, Vogelsinger and his colleagues created a quarterly self-reflection for students. Students are encouraged to look at patterns in their homework completion, class participation and assignment feedback before responding to several prompts. One of those prompts is: \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Engagement and participation are vital to success, but can look different to different students. Explain how you participate and engage in class.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Questions like that can help teachers \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/60088/using-a-strengths-based-approach-to-help-students-realize-their-potential\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">see strengths in all students\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> – and spark ideas for how to help them learn. Two decades into his career, it’s not just the idea of an extrovert as the model student that Vogelsinger has shed; it’s the entire concept of a model student.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Now I think I’m much better at seeing the individual students,” he said. “I’m looking more for growth.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC6014610124&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Taking a shot\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On the same day as the white snow/yellow snow discussions of \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Romeo and Juliet\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, Vogelsinger took a different approach in one of his classes. For third period, he went with a basketball discussion. To kick things off, students ripped a page out of their notebooks and answered one question: \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you could tell one character one thing that might fix this whole play (apart from how it ends), what would it be?\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After several minutes of scribbling, Vogelsinger instructed students to crumple their page into a ball. The ideas they’d written would be the launching point for the discussion. The paper balls would be launched into a plastic blue crate at the front of the room.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Students raised their hands to speak, and three times during the period, Vogelsinger paused the conversation. At those moments, everyone who’d spoken up so far could stand and take a shot with their paper ball. By the end, only three class members hadn’t participated. Vogelsinger collected the crumpled papers from those students before they exited.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the empty classroom, he smoothed the pages, and his eyes tracked over the penciled words. One student wrote: \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I would tell Romeo that Lady Capulet is sending an assassin after him, because she’s going to send someone with poison to Mantua to kill him\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_62134\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-62134\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/basketball2-160x120.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/basketball2-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/basketball2-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/basketball2-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/basketball2-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/basketball2-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/basketball2-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/07/basketball2-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students in Brett Vogelsinger’s English class at Holicong Middle School shoot paper balls into a basket during a discussion of Romeo and Juliet. \u003ccite>(Kara Newhouse/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“That was a great observation. I kind of wish it would have come up in class, but I can still respond to the student now this way,” Vogelsinger said. That’s key. In the basketball discussion, the chance to shoot the ball may motivate kids who like to move, whether introverted or extroverted. But the written responses ensure that Vogelsinger gets a window into the thinking of students who opt out of speaking.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“In just a regular classroom conversation, I wouldn’t have heard anything from them, so I wouldn’t have known they had these thoughts,” he said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "A tale of two science classrooms: How different approaches to participation shape learning",
"headTitle": "A tale of two science classrooms: How different approaches to participation shape learning | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Adapted with permission from Stroupe, D. (2023). \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://hep.gse.harvard.edu/hep-home/books/growing-and-sustaining-student-centered-science-cl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Growing and Sustaining Student-Centered Science Classrooms\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (p. 1-5). \u003ca href=\"https://www.hepg.org/hep-home/home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Harvard Education Press\u003c/a>. \u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Teaching has always been a crucial and underappreciated profession across the world. Almost everyone spends some time in a school, and in those spaces, teachers play an important role in designing and facilitating opportunities for participation and learning. Many people fondly remember a favorite teacher and classroom or, conversely, might hope to forget a school that made them feel rejected. While society might collectively forget, those of us who spend time in schools know that teachers and administrators have a great responsibility as we shape the lives of children. By representing and upholding equitable communities and participatory structures that ensure powerful learning opportunities for children, especially those from marginalized communities, teachers and administrators can help change the world…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Let’s peek]\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> into the classrooms of two teachers, who I will refer to as Teacher A and Teacher B. Both teachers graduated from the same teacher preparation program, and both taught life science in very diverse schools in the same district. However, Teacher A and Teacher B differed in how they chose to open up, or restrict, avenues for student talk and participation around knowledge in their science classrooms. Let’s look at an example from each class, both of which occurred at the beginning of the school year. As teachers and administrators, we know that the beginning of the school year is such an important time for building a foundation for a science community. For each example, imagine you are sitting in the room, as I was when I watched these lessons unfold, and immerse yourself in the sights and sounds of middle and high school science classes.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Teacher A’s classroom, students are learning about why identical twins look alike, and why differences might exist even with their similar DNA. Following the first lessons in which students share some initial ideas about why identical twins might look similar and begin to hear terms such as “dominant,” “recessive,” “trait,”, “allele,” Teacher A decides that students should complete Punnett squares to visualize how physical traits and alleles are related. If you need a quick refresher about Punnett squares, recall that a Punnett square provides a space for visualizing and writing potential allele combinations for one offspring given the parents’ alleles. A typical example usually includes a two-by-two table, with two alleles from one parent on the side of the table, and two alleles from another parent above the table.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In this example, Teacher A demonstrated how to complete and interpret a Punnett square and asked students, in groups of two or three, to attempt three example squares as practice. After showing students how to correctly complete the squares, Teacher A wrote a new square on the whiteboard for students to attempt individually. As the murmurs of talk receded into individual pondering of the problem, a quiet student — one I had never heard speak in class before this moment — raised his hand. Tentatively, he asked, “Excuse me, Ms. [A]? I have a question. When we do Punnett squares, we also do examples with four kids. What if there are five kids? Where does the fifth kid go?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Let’s pause here, in this moment, to think about the layers of what the quiet student said. For some people, the focus might fall on science knowledge and the student’s “incorrect” idea about Punnett squares; after all, the cells in a Punnett square provide a space for people to record possible allele combinations for an individual, and do not represent multiple children. Others might be interested in the student deciding to share a question in the class. What prompted this student to speak at this time, when they had never previously spoken in class? Another layer is that the student might be speaking on behalf of other students in the class. After all, if one student thinks that Punnett Squares illustrate multiple children, how many other students have the same question?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While Teacher A could have been considering any of those possibilities, their thinking remained invisible as they said back to the student: “That’s not how this works. We need to keep moving to finish the practice problems.” While this talk move (a talk move is a statement made by a teacher or student to open up or restrict future classroom talk) may seem routine to some teacher and administrators, from the perspective of this student, Teacher A’s words caused silence. Whenever I visited the classroom for the remainder of the school year, this student never spoke in class again — not to the teacher, other students, or administrators who entered the space.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Let’s move from Teacher A’s classroom to Teacher B’s classroom, just a few miles away. In Teacher B’s classroom, students were learning about evolution by asking “How did we get chihuahuas from wolves?” which a student asked Teacher B in the hallway after school early in the academic year. Before the class began, Teacher B told me that they wanted to make students feel like their ideas had value, and that, like scientists, ideas about the world could be put into the public plane of talk and analyzed by a larger community. For this lesson, Teacher B created a poster using a large piece of construction paper and wrote a title: “Our hypotheses: From Wolf to Woof.” After students had five minutes to discuss ideas in pairs, Teacher B announced that the whole class would now think together, given their discussions. To catalyze the conversation, Teacher B asked students to share ideas about why chihuahuas exist, especially if they look so different from wolves. Importantly, Teacher B told the class to share ideas, if possible, that they considered during conversations with peers. After several students offered hypotheses (“Maybe the DNA changed because of a mutation,” “Maybe a wolf had pups that were all really different in size”), a series of student comments occurred in quick succession:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>STUDENT 1:\u003c/strong> “Maybe mating with a rabbit would make a dog small.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>STUDENT 2:\u003c/strong> “Yeah, a rabbit would make a small baby, not a Great Dane.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>STUDENT 3:\u003c/strong> “What about the ankle biter? Maybe a wolf mated with a rabbit to make an ankle biter.” [The class started calling chihuahuas “ankle biters” as a joke.]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Again, let’s pause here to consider the layers of complexity that arise \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">simultaneously when these students shared ideas. Some teachers and administrators might worry about the students’ wrong ideas — we know that wolves and rabbits cannot create babies together. Other people might wonder about the students’ purpose in sharing ideas: Were they seeking attention, or purposefully trying to disrupt the class? Still others might be focused on Teacher B’s actions, questioning whether such a conversation is a productive use of class time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Teacher B, however, recognized this moment as a point of departure from instruction that might limit students’ opportunities to engage in knowledge practices in a classroom. Here’s how the next minute of class unfolded:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>TEACHER B:\u003c/strong> “Wait, why did you just joke that a rabbit mating with a wolf would make an ankle-biter dog as opposed to a Great Dane?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>STUDENT 3:\u003c/strong> Maybe because . . . rabbits are small. And ankle biters are small.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>STUDENT 2:\u003c/strong> Oh, you feel my word. [Student 2 originally injected “ankle biter” into the science community.]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>TEACHER B:\u003c/strong> It’s become a class word now.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>STUDENT 3:\u003c/strong> Right. Rabbits have big ears. And ankle biters have ears that bend and look like rabbit ears.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>TEACHER B:\u003c/strong> So what are you really suggesting about where chihuahuas get their traits?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>MULTIPLE STUDENTS IN CLASS CALL OUT:\u003c/strong> From their parents.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Once students chimed into the discussion, the classroom talk exploded. Almost every student in the class raised their hand to contribute to the conversation, and by the end of class, three important ideas emerged: (1) parents must be close together to make babies (but all parents or just some species?, several students wondered); (2) Babies get traits from parents; (3) not all babies are identical to parents (some students wondered about animals that can clone themselves). Teacher B recorded these three ideas on the poster and told the students that their homework was to observe animals in the neighborhood to see if they all looked alike.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While these examples show a snapshot of the science communities found in the classrooms of Teacher A and Teacher B, there are three important features of the communities to highlight as a foundation for this book and our work as science teachers. First, how Teacher A and Teacher B opened up or constrained opportunities for student talk set the tone for the remainder of the school year. Students pay attention to teachers’ words and actions, and they notice how teachers respond to their ideas. Second, Teacher A and Teacher B sent different messages to students about what counts as a good statement to say out loud. By denying or valuing students’ statements, teachers demonstrate to students what words and ideas matter, and what words and ideas should remain silent. Third, Teacher A and Teacher B treated the purpose of participation differently. Teacher A wanted students to say correct answers and complete predetermined practice problems, while Teacher B helped students to shape the direction of knowledge production in the classroom by asking for multiple hypotheses, generating and using language to describe a phenomenon, and by encouraging and supporting students to share ideas. Each of these features sends visible and invisible messages to students about what knowledge matters, how knowledge should be invoked and used in a classroom, and who is allowed to share ideas and claims to knowledge in a classroom.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-61321 alignleft\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2023/03/Stroupe-David.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"138\" height=\"165\">\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://education.msu.edu/people/Stroupe-David/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">David Stroupe\u003c/a> is an associate professor of teacher education and science education, the associate director of STEM Teacher Education at the CREATE for STEM Institute, and the Director of Science and Society at State at Michigan State University. He has three overlapping areas of research interests anchored around ambitious and equitable teaching. First, he frames classrooms as science practice communities. Using lenses from Science, Technology, and Society (STS) and the History and Philosophy of Science (HPS), he examines how teachers and students disrupt epistemic injustice through the negotiation of power, knowledge, and epistemic agency. Second, he examines how beginning teachers learn from practice in and across their varied contexts. Third, he studies how teacher preparation programs can provide support and opportunities for beginning teachers to learn from practice. David has a background in biology and taught secondary life science for four years.\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The ways a teacher chooses to open up or constrain opportunities for student talk sets the tone for classroom engagement. David Stroupe explores two examples from science classes in an excerpt from his book, \"Growing and Sustaining Student-Centered Science Classrooms.\"",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Adapted with permission from Stroupe, D. (2023). \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://hep.gse.harvard.edu/hep-home/books/growing-and-sustaining-student-centered-science-cl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Growing and Sustaining Student-Centered Science Classrooms\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (p. 1-5). \u003ca href=\"https://www.hepg.org/hep-home/home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Harvard Education Press\u003c/a>. \u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Teaching has always been a crucial and underappreciated profession across the world. Almost everyone spends some time in a school, and in those spaces, teachers play an important role in designing and facilitating opportunities for participation and learning. Many people fondly remember a favorite teacher and classroom or, conversely, might hope to forget a school that made them feel rejected. While society might collectively forget, those of us who spend time in schools know that teachers and administrators have a great responsibility as we shape the lives of children. By representing and upholding equitable communities and participatory structures that ensure powerful learning opportunities for children, especially those from marginalized communities, teachers and administrators can help change the world…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Let’s peek]\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> into the classrooms of two teachers, who I will refer to as Teacher A and Teacher B. Both teachers graduated from the same teacher preparation program, and both taught life science in very diverse schools in the same district. However, Teacher A and Teacher B differed in how they chose to open up, or restrict, avenues for student talk and participation around knowledge in their science classrooms. Let’s look at an example from each class, both of which occurred at the beginning of the school year. As teachers and administrators, we know that the beginning of the school year is such an important time for building a foundation for a science community. For each example, imagine you are sitting in the room, as I was when I watched these lessons unfold, and immerse yourself in the sights and sounds of middle and high school science classes.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Teacher A’s classroom, students are learning about why identical twins look alike, and why differences might exist even with their similar DNA. Following the first lessons in which students share some initial ideas about why identical twins might look similar and begin to hear terms such as “dominant,” “recessive,” “trait,”, “allele,” Teacher A decides that students should complete Punnett squares to visualize how physical traits and alleles are related. If you need a quick refresher about Punnett squares, recall that a Punnett square provides a space for visualizing and writing potential allele combinations for one offspring given the parents’ alleles. A typical example usually includes a two-by-two table, with two alleles from one parent on the side of the table, and two alleles from another parent above the table.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In this example, Teacher A demonstrated how to complete and interpret a Punnett square and asked students, in groups of two or three, to attempt three example squares as practice. After showing students how to correctly complete the squares, Teacher A wrote a new square on the whiteboard for students to attempt individually. As the murmurs of talk receded into individual pondering of the problem, a quiet student — one I had never heard speak in class before this moment — raised his hand. Tentatively, he asked, “Excuse me, Ms. [A]? I have a question. When we do Punnett squares, we also do examples with four kids. What if there are five kids? Where does the fifth kid go?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Let’s pause here, in this moment, to think about the layers of what the quiet student said. For some people, the focus might fall on science knowledge and the student’s “incorrect” idea about Punnett squares; after all, the cells in a Punnett square provide a space for people to record possible allele combinations for an individual, and do not represent multiple children. Others might be interested in the student deciding to share a question in the class. What prompted this student to speak at this time, when they had never previously spoken in class? Another layer is that the student might be speaking on behalf of other students in the class. After all, if one student thinks that Punnett Squares illustrate multiple children, how many other students have the same question?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While Teacher A could have been considering any of those possibilities, their thinking remained invisible as they said back to the student: “That’s not how this works. We need to keep moving to finish the practice problems.” While this talk move (a talk move is a statement made by a teacher or student to open up or restrict future classroom talk) may seem routine to some teacher and administrators, from the perspective of this student, Teacher A’s words caused silence. Whenever I visited the classroom for the remainder of the school year, this student never spoke in class again — not to the teacher, other students, or administrators who entered the space.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Let’s move from Teacher A’s classroom to Teacher B’s classroom, just a few miles away. In Teacher B’s classroom, students were learning about evolution by asking “How did we get chihuahuas from wolves?” which a student asked Teacher B in the hallway after school early in the academic year. Before the class began, Teacher B told me that they wanted to make students feel like their ideas had value, and that, like scientists, ideas about the world could be put into the public plane of talk and analyzed by a larger community. For this lesson, Teacher B created a poster using a large piece of construction paper and wrote a title: “Our hypotheses: From Wolf to Woof.” After students had five minutes to discuss ideas in pairs, Teacher B announced that the whole class would now think together, given their discussions. To catalyze the conversation, Teacher B asked students to share ideas about why chihuahuas exist, especially if they look so different from wolves. Importantly, Teacher B told the class to share ideas, if possible, that they considered during conversations with peers. After several students offered hypotheses (“Maybe the DNA changed because of a mutation,” “Maybe a wolf had pups that were all really different in size”), a series of student comments occurred in quick succession:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>STUDENT 1:\u003c/strong> “Maybe mating with a rabbit would make a dog small.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>STUDENT 2:\u003c/strong> “Yeah, a rabbit would make a small baby, not a Great Dane.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>STUDENT 3:\u003c/strong> “What about the ankle biter? Maybe a wolf mated with a rabbit to make an ankle biter.” [The class started calling chihuahuas “ankle biters” as a joke.]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Again, let’s pause here to consider the layers of complexity that arise \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">simultaneously when these students shared ideas. Some teachers and administrators might worry about the students’ wrong ideas — we know that wolves and rabbits cannot create babies together. Other people might wonder about the students’ purpose in sharing ideas: Were they seeking attention, or purposefully trying to disrupt the class? Still others might be focused on Teacher B’s actions, questioning whether such a conversation is a productive use of class time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Teacher B, however, recognized this moment as a point of departure from instruction that might limit students’ opportunities to engage in knowledge practices in a classroom. Here’s how the next minute of class unfolded:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>TEACHER B:\u003c/strong> “Wait, why did you just joke that a rabbit mating with a wolf would make an ankle-biter dog as opposed to a Great Dane?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>STUDENT 3:\u003c/strong> Maybe because . . . rabbits are small. And ankle biters are small.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>STUDENT 2:\u003c/strong> Oh, you feel my word. [Student 2 originally injected “ankle biter” into the science community.]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>TEACHER B:\u003c/strong> It’s become a class word now.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>STUDENT 3:\u003c/strong> Right. Rabbits have big ears. And ankle biters have ears that bend and look like rabbit ears.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>TEACHER B:\u003c/strong> So what are you really suggesting about where chihuahuas get their traits?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>MULTIPLE STUDENTS IN CLASS CALL OUT:\u003c/strong> From their parents.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Once students chimed into the discussion, the classroom talk exploded. Almost every student in the class raised their hand to contribute to the conversation, and by the end of class, three important ideas emerged: (1) parents must be close together to make babies (but all parents or just some species?, several students wondered); (2) Babies get traits from parents; (3) not all babies are identical to parents (some students wondered about animals that can clone themselves). Teacher B recorded these three ideas on the poster and told the students that their homework was to observe animals in the neighborhood to see if they all looked alike.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While these examples show a snapshot of the science communities found in the classrooms of Teacher A and Teacher B, there are three important features of the communities to highlight as a foundation for this book and our work as science teachers. First, how Teacher A and Teacher B opened up or constrained opportunities for student talk set the tone for the remainder of the school year. Students pay attention to teachers’ words and actions, and they notice how teachers respond to their ideas. Second, Teacher A and Teacher B sent different messages to students about what counts as a good statement to say out loud. By denying or valuing students’ statements, teachers demonstrate to students what words and ideas matter, and what words and ideas should remain silent. Third, Teacher A and Teacher B treated the purpose of participation differently. Teacher A wanted students to say correct answers and complete predetermined practice problems, while Teacher B helped students to shape the direction of knowledge production in the classroom by asking for multiple hypotheses, generating and using language to describe a phenomenon, and by encouraging and supporting students to share ideas. Each of these features sends visible and invisible messages to students about what knowledge matters, how knowledge should be invoked and used in a classroom, and who is allowed to share ideas and claims to knowledge in a classroom.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-61321 alignleft\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2023/03/Stroupe-David.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"138\" height=\"165\">\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://education.msu.edu/people/Stroupe-David/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">David Stroupe\u003c/a> is an associate professor of teacher education and science education, the associate director of STEM Teacher Education at the CREATE for STEM Institute, and the Director of Science and Society at State at Michigan State University. He has three overlapping areas of research interests anchored around ambitious and equitable teaching. First, he frames classrooms as science practice communities. Using lenses from Science, Technology, and Society (STS) and the History and Philosophy of Science (HPS), he examines how teachers and students disrupt epistemic injustice through the negotiation of power, knowledge, and epistemic agency. Second, he examines how beginning teachers learn from practice in and across their varied contexts. Third, he studies how teacher preparation programs can provide support and opportunities for beginning teachers to learn from practice. David has a background in biology and taught secondary life science for four years.\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Helicopter Teaching? How Using Student Feedback Can Help With That",
"headTitle": "Helicopter Teaching? How Using Student Feedback Can Help With That | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/tag/student-centered-learning\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Student-centered learning\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is now a common phrase in education, but what does it look like? How can teachers who are accustomed to being in charge start to share power with students? These were some of the questions that led \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MirPloMCPS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Miriam Plotinsky\u003c/span>\u003c/a> to write her\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> book, \u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324019879\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Teach More, Hover Less: How to Stop Micromanaging Your Secondary Classroom\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Plotinsky is an instructional specialist in Montgomery County, Maryland, and a former language arts teacher. She said \u003cem>Teach More, Hover Less\u003c/em> was born from conversations with colleagues about how they appreciated the theories in many education books but needed more advice on application. She wanted to create a resource with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/60094/strategies-for-building-deeper-relationships-with-students-through-academic-content\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">practical strategies\u003c/a> for breaking the habits of what she calls “helicopter teaching.” She describes this phenomenon as \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/47223/how-one-teacher-let-go-of-control-to-focus-on-student-centered-approaches\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">micromanaging students\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> “by controlling every single aspect of instruction.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Helicopter teaching is usually driven by fear that without the teacher’s control, curriculum will fall apart, pacing will be off and students will be less focused. Plotinsky believes that this approach signals to students that teachers don’t \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/52616/why-adults-should-listen-learn-trust-and-expect-more-from-kids\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">trust them\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. She said she taught this way for almost a decade before students in a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/56580/how-fan-fiction-inspires-kids-to-read-and-write-and-write-and-write\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">creative writing\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> elective showed her other possibilities. Initially, she planned a variety of writing assignments, such as character sketches, children’s books and scary stories for Halloween. But then students asked if they could submit alternative pieces — stories and essays they were working on that didn’t match the boundaries of her assignments.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Plotinsky’s gut reaction was an emphatic “no.” She wanted students to try what she’d planned. “But then after a while, I thought, why not? They’re writing. And they’re passionate,” she recalled.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The difference was obvious. “As I released more and more of that ‘it has to be this way’ mentality, they were so excited to come to class. So incredibly excited,” she said. That led her to make other changes, such as inviting students to create their own writing prompts for classmates. In the ensuing years, she applied this new hover-free approach to other courses she taught.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The obvious question is, what do you do when it’s the core content class? And maybe it can’t always be quite as much of a party,” she said. “But at the same time … you can be more flexible. So it’s just being open to the possibility of agility. And then you’ll see kids be more interested in what they’re doing, and that’s reflected in the work.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In her book, Plotinsky details four stages for moving away from helicopter teaching. Given the busy lives of teachers, she said \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/51827/10-ways-to-start-shifting-your-classroom-practices-little-by-little\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">this shift can be gradual\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Teachers can try modifying a single lesson by keeping the content but rethinking the approach. Learning to recognize helicopter teaching and to use student feedback to guide instruction are good starting points.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cb>Recognizing helicopter teaching\u003c/b>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are three obvious symptoms of a micromanaged classroom, according to Plotinksy.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>\u003cb>An overpacked agenda: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is when teachers have every moment of the class period planned out and often more. “We probably won’t get to all of this, but…” is a common phrase.\u003c/span>\u003c/b>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Little student talk:\u003c/strong> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This happens when most of the class is devoted to silent work or teacher talk. Some educators and administrators assume that a quiet classroom is a well-managed and productive classroom, but Plotinsky disagrees.\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Discussions dominated by only a few students:\u003c/strong> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is when a class features frequent dialogue but mainly between the teacher and a few vocal students, while others act as observers. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Plotinsky said she was guilty of all three of these early in her career. Book discussions in her class, for example, often involved a small group of students expressing ideas similar to her own. At the time, she viewed those classes as a success, but reflecting now, she sees a problem: 25 of the students in the room might not have said a word.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She offered a simple idea for \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/56401/designing-learning-to-prioritize-student-voices\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">more inclusive class discussions\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">: Give each student one or two index cards. After speaking, they throw their card into the middle of the room and listen to others. Plotinsky recommended that the topic for this style of discussion be open-ended and low-risk, not something that feels like a “gotcha” about homework assignments. She also recommended explaining the process and giving students time to think about the question before jumping in.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">By adopting practices like these, Plotinsky noticed that students who other teachers \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/tag/introvert\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">saw as quiet\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> felt more comfortable speaking in her class. “That was a huge benefit — that people found voices in a way that they hadn’t before.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cb>Using student feedback\u003c/b>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Requesting and using student feedback is a key part of Plotinsky’s concept of hover-free teaching. She likes to ask students three things in every unit:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>What they already know\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>How they learn best\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>What has worked and what hasn’t in the class or in the past\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Those questions can be asked through online forms or other kinds of exit tickets. As a classroom teacher, Plotinsky would share with students what they collectively said worked and didn’t work and how she was integrating that feedback into class plans. She couldn’t always make requested changes, but she said that being transparent made students more engaged.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Like other aspects of hover-free teaching, getting student feedback can be nerve-wracking. “It’s scary to hear what kids think, but it becomes less scary the more we do it, because then it’s less of a surprise,” Plotinsky said. “And then what happens is it gets kind of addictive.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Helicopter teaching is driven by fear, says instructional specialist and author Miriam Plotinsky. Using student feedback to guide instruction can lead to higher classroom engagement.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/tag/student-centered-learning\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Student-centered learning\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is now a common phrase in education, but what does it look like? How can teachers who are accustomed to being in charge start to share power with students? These were some of the questions that led \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MirPloMCPS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Miriam Plotinsky\u003c/span>\u003c/a> to write her\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> book, \u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324019879\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Teach More, Hover Less: How to Stop Micromanaging Your Secondary Classroom\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Plotinsky is an instructional specialist in Montgomery County, Maryland, and a former language arts teacher. She said \u003cem>Teach More, Hover Less\u003c/em> was born from conversations with colleagues about how they appreciated the theories in many education books but needed more advice on application. She wanted to create a resource with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/60094/strategies-for-building-deeper-relationships-with-students-through-academic-content\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">practical strategies\u003c/a> for breaking the habits of what she calls “helicopter teaching.” She describes this phenomenon as \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/47223/how-one-teacher-let-go-of-control-to-focus-on-student-centered-approaches\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">micromanaging students\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> “by controlling every single aspect of instruction.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Helicopter teaching is usually driven by fear that without the teacher’s control, curriculum will fall apart, pacing will be off and students will be less focused. Plotinsky believes that this approach signals to students that teachers don’t \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/52616/why-adults-should-listen-learn-trust-and-expect-more-from-kids\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">trust them\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. She said she taught this way for almost a decade before students in a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/56580/how-fan-fiction-inspires-kids-to-read-and-write-and-write-and-write\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">creative writing\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> elective showed her other possibilities. Initially, she planned a variety of writing assignments, such as character sketches, children’s books and scary stories for Halloween. But then students asked if they could submit alternative pieces — stories and essays they were working on that didn’t match the boundaries of her assignments.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Plotinsky’s gut reaction was an emphatic “no.” She wanted students to try what she’d planned. “But then after a while, I thought, why not? They’re writing. And they’re passionate,” she recalled.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The difference was obvious. “As I released more and more of that ‘it has to be this way’ mentality, they were so excited to come to class. So incredibly excited,” she said. That led her to make other changes, such as inviting students to create their own writing prompts for classmates. In the ensuing years, she applied this new hover-free approach to other courses she taught.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The obvious question is, what do you do when it’s the core content class? And maybe it can’t always be quite as much of a party,” she said. “But at the same time … you can be more flexible. So it’s just being open to the possibility of agility. And then you’ll see kids be more interested in what they’re doing, and that’s reflected in the work.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In her book, Plotinsky details four stages for moving away from helicopter teaching. Given the busy lives of teachers, she said \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/51827/10-ways-to-start-shifting-your-classroom-practices-little-by-little\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">this shift can be gradual\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Teachers can try modifying a single lesson by keeping the content but rethinking the approach. Learning to recognize helicopter teaching and to use student feedback to guide instruction are good starting points.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cb>Recognizing helicopter teaching\u003c/b>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are three obvious symptoms of a micromanaged classroom, according to Plotinksy.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>\u003cb>An overpacked agenda: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is when teachers have every moment of the class period planned out and often more. “We probably won’t get to all of this, but…” is a common phrase.\u003c/span>\u003c/b>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Little student talk:\u003c/strong> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This happens when most of the class is devoted to silent work or teacher talk. Some educators and administrators assume that a quiet classroom is a well-managed and productive classroom, but Plotinsky disagrees.\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Discussions dominated by only a few students:\u003c/strong> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is when a class features frequent dialogue but mainly between the teacher and a few vocal students, while others act as observers. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Plotinsky said she was guilty of all three of these early in her career. Book discussions in her class, for example, often involved a small group of students expressing ideas similar to her own. At the time, she viewed those classes as a success, but reflecting now, she sees a problem: 25 of the students in the room might not have said a word.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She offered a simple idea for \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/56401/designing-learning-to-prioritize-student-voices\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">more inclusive class discussions\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">: Give each student one or two index cards. After speaking, they throw their card into the middle of the room and listen to others. Plotinsky recommended that the topic for this style of discussion be open-ended and low-risk, not something that feels like a “gotcha” about homework assignments. She also recommended explaining the process and giving students time to think about the question before jumping in.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">By adopting practices like these, Plotinsky noticed that students who other teachers \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/tag/introvert\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">saw as quiet\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> felt more comfortable speaking in her class. “That was a huge benefit — that people found voices in a way that they hadn’t before.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cb>Using student feedback\u003c/b>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Requesting and using student feedback is a key part of Plotinsky’s concept of hover-free teaching. She likes to ask students three things in every unit:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>What they already know\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>How they learn best\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>What has worked and what hasn’t in the class or in the past\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Those questions can be asked through online forms or other kinds of exit tickets. As a classroom teacher, Plotinsky would share with students what they collectively said worked and didn’t work and how she was integrating that feedback into class plans. She couldn’t always make requested changes, but she said that being transparent made students more engaged.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Like other aspects of hover-free teaching, getting student feedback can be nerve-wracking. “It’s scary to hear what kids think, but it becomes less scary the more we do it, because then it’s less of a surprise,” Plotinsky said. “And then what happens is it gets kind of addictive.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "how-teens-are-experiencing-their-version-of-the-great-resignation",
"title": "How teens are experiencing their version of the ‘Great Resignation’",
"publishDate": 1643014798,
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"headTitle": "How teens are experiencing their version of the ‘Great Resignation’ | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC5636330471\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By her sophomore year, Melody Dao was already enrolled in three AP classes at her high school in Los Angeles County. She expected the challenges ahead to largely be academic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Before the pandemic,” she said, “I thought I had everything planned out. Everything was going to go smoothly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her senior year marked the first time Dao attended class in person since she was a sophomore in March 2020. She described her junior year, spent entirely online, as unmotivating and numbing. Everything seemed overwhelming. She found she couldn’t conjure the same amount of effort she did pre-pandemic to a classroom on Zoom, something we now know is a common experience among students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Before the pandemic, I was kind of focusing. Then during the pandemic and distance learning, I feel like I just kind of lost it a bit,” said Azalia Mariscal, a junior at Richmond High School in Richmond, California. Mariscal took care of her younger siblings during the school day, helping them focus on their classes and occasionally cooking their meals. She felt there was a lot more to do than just school — which made finding the motivation to pay attention in class and do school work difficult online. Teens took on caregiving roles for their families at a time when the balancing of paid and domestic labor forced women out of the workforce at a disproportionate rate: Estimates in May 2021 placed the figure at \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/05/26/999952298/women-left-their-jobs-to-be-caregivers-a-business-coalition-wants-companies-to-h\">400,000 more\u003c/a> U.S. women left than men.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the coverage on Covid’s effects on adolescent mental health focuses on isolation from peers or a desire for normalcy. But for some students, not doing well on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/58055/dont-go-back-to-the-old-normal-opportunities-for-adolescent-learning-revealed-by-covid-19\">Zoom school\u003c/a> interfered with self-identities they were deeply invested in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a hard realization to realize that I wasn’t the student that I was before and I couldn’t be as motivated as I was before,” said Ian Szeto, also a high school senior in Los Angeles County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though his junior year was online, Szeto found his courses were rigorous, eroding his confidence when he \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-11-08/as-ds-and-fs-soar-schools-ditch-inequitable-grade-systems\">couldn’t meet expectations\u003c/a> as he once did. With so much of his self esteem and identity based in school, he felt as though he’d lost who he thought he was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just felt very frustrating and tiring,” said Szeto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This sentiment seemed widespread amongst his classmates: Szeto recalled Zoom classes where, the moment class wrapped with a teacher’s dismissal, 15 or so students would disappear instantly — as though they’d been hovering over the “Leave” button. It wasn’t as though they had places to be, he said. They just couldn’t take being in class anymore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58988\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-58988\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/Podcast-Logo.png\" alt=\"Study Break with Melody Dao podcast\" width=\"250\" height=\"249\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/Podcast-Logo.png 2663w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/Podcast-Logo-800x798.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/Podcast-Logo-1020x1018.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/Podcast-Logo-160x160.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/Podcast-Logo-768x766.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/Podcast-Logo-1536x1533.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/Podcast-Logo-2048x2043.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/Podcast-Logo-1920x1916.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">During the pandemic, Melody Dao decided to focus less on school and more on what interests her, such as creating a podcast.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“With everything happening outside of school, how could I focus on school?” asked Dao. “I learned that, yeah, school is not that serious. So why should I focus on it when I can focus on other things that matter more to me?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s not to say Dao stopped attending school, or even that she stopped working hard in her classes. But she de-centered school and grades from her priorities focusing instead on her family, her friends, her mental health and her dedication to helping others outside of school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This self-first approach to high school was novel for many of these high school students. Instead of forcing themselves into being or becoming straight-A students, they began thinking about how school could best serve them. They decided to make time for themselves and prioritize what they care about. Many decided to safeguard their mental health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sound familiar?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In continuation of last year’s upward trend of \u003ca href=\"https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/pages/interactive-quits-level-by-year.aspx\">voluntary resignations\u003c/a>, a record 4.5 million adults \u003ca href=\"https://fortune.com/2022/01/04/great-resignation-record-quit-rate-4-5-million/\">quit\u003c/a> their jobs in November 2021, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.t04.htm\">most recent data\u003c/a> from the\u003ca href=\"https://fortune.com/2022/01/04/great-resignation-record-quit-rate-4-5-million/\"> U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics\u003c/a>. While some economists \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101887279/beyond-the-great-resignation-how-the-u-s-job-market-broke\">complain\u003c/a> that “\u003ca href=\"https://fortune.com/2022/01/04/great-resignation-record-quit-rate-4-5-million/\">The Great Resignation\u003c/a>” or “The Big Quit” has been largely misunderstood by the media and general public for its failure to take into account retirement and job-swapping rates, many find it undeniable that Covid has influenced the employment conditions workers desire and demand from their employers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike adults, in most states, teens can’t really just quit school. But during the pandemic, teens also experienced a mindset shift as to the best conditions that would facilitate their learning, the ways they prefer to learn, and the role school should play in their lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These students said the pandemic caused them to approach school differently than they did as freshmen or sophomores in March 2020. Though attitude changes and re-prioritizations are par for the course in adolescence, these teens’ experiences are larger than that: they can draw direct lines from their time spent in isolation, in online classrooms, in the ongoing fear they or their loved ones could become sick — to the students they are now, and to what they value most.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>DECENTERING SCHOOL\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the biggest realizations these teens expressed was that school — and by extension, college — wasn’t everything. The speed with which Covid razed once normal, taken-for-granted routines made the future even less predictable. Many students looked inward and asked themselves what they wanted, rather than what was expected of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Szeto shared that many of his classmates reconsidered their planned majors — wanting to pursue subjects they were actually passionate about — and reconsidered college itself. Some debated whether a high tuition would be worth a university experience that could be largely online. Others reconsidered life plans, given the odds that they would have to work remotely or that another life-altering event could happen. Why not spend your time on this earth doing what you want?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58985\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1364px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-58985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_0019.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1364\" height=\"1819\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_0019.jpg 1364w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_0019-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_0019-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_0019-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_0019-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_0019-1152x1536.jpg 1152w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1364px) 100vw, 1364px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ian Szeto \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Ian Szeto)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>During shelter-in-place, many students — like their adult counterparts — developed hobbies, reignited passions or aligned priorities. Some students went so far as to realize that the untold amounts of effort they spent \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/58155/grades-have-huge-impact-but-are-they-effective\">striving for an ‘A’\u003c/a> in a subject they weren’t passionate about might not be as worthy a use of their time. A lower grade and more time to work on their own extracurricular projects provided a balance that felt more true.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now that there’s been this pandemic, it’s given me more opportunity to reflect. And it’s made me come to the realization that I want to prioritize my interests,” said Sirihaasa Nallamothu, a high school junior in Normal, Illinois.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nallamothu learned new coding languages, as did Danielle Ma, a high school senior in Los Angeles County. Szeto spent more time sewing — he designed, cut and stitched the backpack he now wears to school. He feels a rush of pride when classmates compliment him and ask where it’s from. Dao created a \u003ca href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/study-break/id1522538171\">podcast\u003c/a> in which she \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/show/12xEOwnqJrsFYwuU9pOPhA\">interviews\u003c/a> teens around the world about their experiences, differences and common ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58981\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-58981\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_1584-scaled-e1643003971380.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"264\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_1584-scaled-e1643003971380.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_1584-scaled-e1643003971380-800x845.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_1584-scaled-e1643003971380-1020x1077.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_1584-scaled-e1643003971380-160x169.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_1584-scaled-e1643003971380-768x811.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_1584-scaled-e1643003971380-1454x1536.jpeg 1454w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Danielle Ma\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I know a couple of students that have reprioritized their mental health over the pandemic,” said Nallamothu. She says these students changed track from courses solely designed to optimize college admittance to ones that better suit who they are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re taking courses that make them happy or make them feel challenged while prioritizing their mental health, which is really cool,” said Nallamothu. “College isn’t everything. You pursue your interests and you prioritize your mental health and then you’ll have a pretty good outlook on life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC5636330471\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>HOW TO REFORM SCHOOL\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This new approach to school largely seems to have occurred on an individual level: each student discovering what they want, the state of their mental health, and how to protect both interests in their decisions regarding class choice, college applications and how much studying to do. But students also want to see this emphasis on mental health occurring school-wide, even education system-wide, in the midst of a pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People have lost family members, they’ve lost friends, they’ve lost other important figures in their life. And it’s just really hard to go through all of that, but then receive a notification on your phone saying, ‘Your teacher posted a new math assignment. It’s due tonight at 11:59 p.m.’,” said Dao.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students don’t think their teachers are insensitive to what they’re going through. All of the students I spoke with expressed gratitude for their teachers, who were right there alongside them on Zoom. But based on her experiences and her podcast’s conversations, Dao wants to see greater sensitivity from schools. She wants there to be better structural support for mental health. She wants students to have a chance to share what they need and desire. And she wants schools to actively listen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dao appreciates the mental health resources her own school shares and its peer counseling program. While many things are easier in person, she posited that her peers seem less open about their mental health than they were online. Face-to-face, there’s no anonymity and there’s increased vulnerability compared with posting from a social media handle. So peer counseling programs allow students to feel supported in sharing again. The ability to talk with someone in one’s own year, someone who also knows what it’s like to be a student right now — and then to resultantly feel heard, supported and validated, is crucial, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Szeto pointed out that some students may be skeptical about using a school resource.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s almost like, ‘Oh, you put us through this, how could you know what we’re going through?’” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dao suggested schools could go beyond more formal resources and services to make adaptations that better serve students’ mental health. Some of Nallamothu’s teachers are encouraging more talking in class in general, allowing chatting between topics to go on for longer than she remembers pre-pandemic. Beyond the benefit of getting to socialize with peers again, she noticed the value of getting to talk out concepts, being directly asked for her thoughts or turning around and asking the person behind her a question. She felt more engaged. She wasn’t just speaking at her computer to rectangular video feeds of her classmates. School felt more real in person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You feel like you’re in a bigger and more connected community that way,” she said. “It’s the people that make it valuable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Dao finds it easier to focus in person than at home — she can less easily be distracted by her phone, her family or her neighbor’s dog — she thinks the rapid adjustment makes paying attention still difficult, if in a different way. She likes that some of her teachers are providing opportunities for students to take breaks. She’s heard of students being allowed to go for a quick walk around the building and then return to class, a two-minute reset that she thinks makes a real difference for concentration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58983\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-58983\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_5443.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"487\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Courtesy of Azalia Mariscal \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Azalia Mariscal)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mariscal felt grateful to be able to leave her house when classes went back in person, but that feeling was tempered by her fear of catching Covid. Band class helps distract from that fear: she plays tuba and trombone, and couldn’t really play during online learning. She appreciates the focus required to use the specific amount of air needed to hit each note. “It’s that one thing that makes me feel better,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dao wants teachers and administrators system-wide to allow students to get in touch with their emotions and personal identities, to allow students to talk about what they’re going through and what they need. Teachers should listen when students say they need more time for homework, for instance: they could correspondingly push out due dates or even assign less work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ma would like to see less busy work — she can tell the difference between an assignment that challenges her and one that seems only assigned for the sake of assigning. She said her class has been more “bold” in asking for less of that busy work, as well as in asking for extended time for work or test preparation, compared with pre-pandemic school. She feels she and many of her classmates have acquired agency and self-efficacy skills that will benefit them in the future — even if that future includes online learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t want to go to online school again. But if it’s for health reasons, it would be OK. I just have to work harder to stay focused,” said Ma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This agency is presently being \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11902396/shouldnt-have-to-make-this-decision-thousands-of-contra-costa-students-stay-home-citing-omicron-fears\">utilized\u003c/a> by students \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/01/14/students-walkout-covid-safety/\">nationwide\u003c/a> who have staged protests and walk-outs amidst the omicron surge to demand better Covid protections, testing and online schooling options. To only hear students’ preferences for in-person learning and to omit the context of the pandemic is disingenuous. The pandemic made even more visible systemic inequities that made safety and school most challenging for the families who needed the most help — the conditions that often worsen mental health in the first place. Students are pushing both for interesting classes and a feeling of safety at school in the ways they can.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>TIME BETTER SPENT IN CLASS\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When filling out her college applications, Ma asked herself why she goes to school at all. She thought about classes where the teacher is engaging, ones where the discussions are fun. In her English class, not only are her readings insightful, but she feels there’s a depth to them. She learns more from each re-reading, then more out of her teacher’s analysis, then even more from class discussions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The discussions weren’t like that on Zoom. In person, students are energetic. They build off each other. They’re funny. Ma enjoys the chance to laugh, to listen to new points of view, to participate herself. She appreciates when her English class’ readings deal with taboo topics, are open to interpretation and reflect non-Eurocentric worldviews. She’d like to see more of that. Her class read a work by Amy Tan, and Ma appreciated the chance to personally relate to the content, to connect with the narrator and to be able to draw from her own life in her analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ma realized she keeps going to class not just for her English teacher or fellow classmates, but because she actually likes the subject itself. Beyond grades, she feels challenged to uncover meanings and learn how to improve her own writing. The transfer from passively wanting good grades to actively wanting to learn is new, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58974\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1078px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-58974\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/nallamothuprofile.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1078\" height=\"1424\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/nallamothuprofile.png 1078w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/nallamothuprofile-800x1057.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/nallamothuprofile-1020x1347.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/nallamothuprofile-160x211.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/nallamothuprofile-768x1015.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1078px) 100vw, 1078px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sirihaasa Nallamothu is one of several students who re-evaluated the role of school in their lives during the pandemic and chose to follow more personally interesting pursuits. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Sirihaasa Nallamothu)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Moving from online to in-person laboratory experiments helped Nallamothu understand why she was learning chemistry, instead of just to achieve a good grade. Real-world applications allow students to see the value of learning beyond test scores, she said. She praised recent decisions by some universities to drop SAT or ACT score requirements for admissions and by the CollegeBoard to \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/22/college-board-scraps-sat-subject-tests-461357\">nix SAT subject tests\u003c/a>. She sees this as a sign that more higher-ups are realizing that understanding is far deeper than test scores: it’s about personal mastery and application.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nallamothu conceived her own way of applying what she was learning. After reading her AP U.S. History textbook’s sole paragraph on the 1918 influenza, she realized she didn’t want her town’s experience from this pandemic to be similarly truncated and forgotten. So she organized the 20-Year Project, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.wjbc.com/2022/01/10/town-of-normal-preserving-artifacts-from-the-covid-19-pandemic-in-a-community-time-capsule/\">community time capsule\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Community-based efforts by her generation give Nallamothu the hope she needs to go to school and try her best in an increasingly unpredictable world. She characterizes Gen Z as trying its best to remedy its unjust inheritances, ones that stretch back far before the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Gen Z-ers have been exposed to so much around them. They’ve been exposed to political polarization, social movements, the pandemic, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11900424/combating-climate-anxiety-how-young-activists-in-california-are-taking-action\">climate change\u003c/a>. And it feels like we’re really going to make a difference. I’ve seen so many cool people working in my community and on social media, working to make a change. So I think we’ll be in pretty good hands,” said Nallamothu.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC5636330471\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shocking events that disrupt any idea of normalcy are now normal to this generation, Szeto argues. That means many have realized that they can’t plan for their lives using a baseline assumption that the former status quo will return, or even that the current status quo will continue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t really know if normalcy exists anymore, and I think we’re all just trying to create a new normal in a way,” said Szeto. “But I don’t really know if people can really go back to what they had before. We just went through too much for it, for us to just go back and forget everything that happened.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC5636330471\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By her sophomore year, Melody Dao was already enrolled in three AP classes at her high school in Los Angeles County. She expected the challenges ahead to largely be academic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Before the pandemic,” she said, “I thought I had everything planned out. Everything was going to go smoothly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her senior year marked the first time Dao attended class in person since she was a sophomore in March 2020. She described her junior year, spent entirely online, as unmotivating and numbing. Everything seemed overwhelming. She found she couldn’t conjure the same amount of effort she did pre-pandemic to a classroom on Zoom, something we now know is a common experience among students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Before the pandemic, I was kind of focusing. Then during the pandemic and distance learning, I feel like I just kind of lost it a bit,” said Azalia Mariscal, a junior at Richmond High School in Richmond, California. Mariscal took care of her younger siblings during the school day, helping them focus on their classes and occasionally cooking their meals. She felt there was a lot more to do than just school — which made finding the motivation to pay attention in class and do school work difficult online. Teens took on caregiving roles for their families at a time when the balancing of paid and domestic labor forced women out of the workforce at a disproportionate rate: Estimates in May 2021 placed the figure at \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/05/26/999952298/women-left-their-jobs-to-be-caregivers-a-business-coalition-wants-companies-to-h\">400,000 more\u003c/a> U.S. women left than men.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the coverage on Covid’s effects on adolescent mental health focuses on isolation from peers or a desire for normalcy. But for some students, not doing well on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/58055/dont-go-back-to-the-old-normal-opportunities-for-adolescent-learning-revealed-by-covid-19\">Zoom school\u003c/a> interfered with self-identities they were deeply invested in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a hard realization to realize that I wasn’t the student that I was before and I couldn’t be as motivated as I was before,” said Ian Szeto, also a high school senior in Los Angeles County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though his junior year was online, Szeto found his courses were rigorous, eroding his confidence when he \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-11-08/as-ds-and-fs-soar-schools-ditch-inequitable-grade-systems\">couldn’t meet expectations\u003c/a> as he once did. With so much of his self esteem and identity based in school, he felt as though he’d lost who he thought he was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just felt very frustrating and tiring,” said Szeto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This sentiment seemed widespread amongst his classmates: Szeto recalled Zoom classes where, the moment class wrapped with a teacher’s dismissal, 15 or so students would disappear instantly — as though they’d been hovering over the “Leave” button. It wasn’t as though they had places to be, he said. They just couldn’t take being in class anymore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58988\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-58988\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/Podcast-Logo.png\" alt=\"Study Break with Melody Dao podcast\" width=\"250\" height=\"249\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/Podcast-Logo.png 2663w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/Podcast-Logo-800x798.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/Podcast-Logo-1020x1018.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/Podcast-Logo-160x160.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/Podcast-Logo-768x766.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/Podcast-Logo-1536x1533.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/Podcast-Logo-2048x2043.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/Podcast-Logo-1920x1916.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">During the pandemic, Melody Dao decided to focus less on school and more on what interests her, such as creating a podcast.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“With everything happening outside of school, how could I focus on school?” asked Dao. “I learned that, yeah, school is not that serious. So why should I focus on it when I can focus on other things that matter more to me?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s not to say Dao stopped attending school, or even that she stopped working hard in her classes. But she de-centered school and grades from her priorities focusing instead on her family, her friends, her mental health and her dedication to helping others outside of school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This self-first approach to high school was novel for many of these high school students. Instead of forcing themselves into being or becoming straight-A students, they began thinking about how school could best serve them. They decided to make time for themselves and prioritize what they care about. Many decided to safeguard their mental health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sound familiar?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In continuation of last year’s upward trend of \u003ca href=\"https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/pages/interactive-quits-level-by-year.aspx\">voluntary resignations\u003c/a>, a record 4.5 million adults \u003ca href=\"https://fortune.com/2022/01/04/great-resignation-record-quit-rate-4-5-million/\">quit\u003c/a> their jobs in November 2021, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.t04.htm\">most recent data\u003c/a> from the\u003ca href=\"https://fortune.com/2022/01/04/great-resignation-record-quit-rate-4-5-million/\"> U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics\u003c/a>. While some economists \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101887279/beyond-the-great-resignation-how-the-u-s-job-market-broke\">complain\u003c/a> that “\u003ca href=\"https://fortune.com/2022/01/04/great-resignation-record-quit-rate-4-5-million/\">The Great Resignation\u003c/a>” or “The Big Quit” has been largely misunderstood by the media and general public for its failure to take into account retirement and job-swapping rates, many find it undeniable that Covid has influenced the employment conditions workers desire and demand from their employers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike adults, in most states, teens can’t really just quit school. But during the pandemic, teens also experienced a mindset shift as to the best conditions that would facilitate their learning, the ways they prefer to learn, and the role school should play in their lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These students said the pandemic caused them to approach school differently than they did as freshmen or sophomores in March 2020. Though attitude changes and re-prioritizations are par for the course in adolescence, these teens’ experiences are larger than that: they can draw direct lines from their time spent in isolation, in online classrooms, in the ongoing fear they or their loved ones could become sick — to the students they are now, and to what they value most.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>DECENTERING SCHOOL\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the biggest realizations these teens expressed was that school — and by extension, college — wasn’t everything. The speed with which Covid razed once normal, taken-for-granted routines made the future even less predictable. Many students looked inward and asked themselves what they wanted, rather than what was expected of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Szeto shared that many of his classmates reconsidered their planned majors — wanting to pursue subjects they were actually passionate about — and reconsidered college itself. Some debated whether a high tuition would be worth a university experience that could be largely online. Others reconsidered life plans, given the odds that they would have to work remotely or that another life-altering event could happen. Why not spend your time on this earth doing what you want?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58985\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1364px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-58985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_0019.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1364\" height=\"1819\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_0019.jpg 1364w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_0019-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_0019-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_0019-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_0019-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_0019-1152x1536.jpg 1152w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1364px) 100vw, 1364px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ian Szeto \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Ian Szeto)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>During shelter-in-place, many students — like their adult counterparts — developed hobbies, reignited passions or aligned priorities. Some students went so far as to realize that the untold amounts of effort they spent \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/58155/grades-have-huge-impact-but-are-they-effective\">striving for an ‘A’\u003c/a> in a subject they weren’t passionate about might not be as worthy a use of their time. A lower grade and more time to work on their own extracurricular projects provided a balance that felt more true.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now that there’s been this pandemic, it’s given me more opportunity to reflect. And it’s made me come to the realization that I want to prioritize my interests,” said Sirihaasa Nallamothu, a high school junior in Normal, Illinois.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nallamothu learned new coding languages, as did Danielle Ma, a high school senior in Los Angeles County. Szeto spent more time sewing — he designed, cut and stitched the backpack he now wears to school. He feels a rush of pride when classmates compliment him and ask where it’s from. Dao created a \u003ca href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/study-break/id1522538171\">podcast\u003c/a> in which she \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/show/12xEOwnqJrsFYwuU9pOPhA\">interviews\u003c/a> teens around the world about their experiences, differences and common ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58981\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-58981\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_1584-scaled-e1643003971380.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"264\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_1584-scaled-e1643003971380.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_1584-scaled-e1643003971380-800x845.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_1584-scaled-e1643003971380-1020x1077.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_1584-scaled-e1643003971380-160x169.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_1584-scaled-e1643003971380-768x811.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_1584-scaled-e1643003971380-1454x1536.jpeg 1454w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Danielle Ma\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I know a couple of students that have reprioritized their mental health over the pandemic,” said Nallamothu. She says these students changed track from courses solely designed to optimize college admittance to ones that better suit who they are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re taking courses that make them happy or make them feel challenged while prioritizing their mental health, which is really cool,” said Nallamothu. “College isn’t everything. You pursue your interests and you prioritize your mental health and then you’ll have a pretty good outlook on life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC5636330471\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>HOW TO REFORM SCHOOL\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This new approach to school largely seems to have occurred on an individual level: each student discovering what they want, the state of their mental health, and how to protect both interests in their decisions regarding class choice, college applications and how much studying to do. But students also want to see this emphasis on mental health occurring school-wide, even education system-wide, in the midst of a pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People have lost family members, they’ve lost friends, they’ve lost other important figures in their life. And it’s just really hard to go through all of that, but then receive a notification on your phone saying, ‘Your teacher posted a new math assignment. It’s due tonight at 11:59 p.m.’,” said Dao.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students don’t think their teachers are insensitive to what they’re going through. All of the students I spoke with expressed gratitude for their teachers, who were right there alongside them on Zoom. But based on her experiences and her podcast’s conversations, Dao wants to see greater sensitivity from schools. She wants there to be better structural support for mental health. She wants students to have a chance to share what they need and desire. And she wants schools to actively listen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dao appreciates the mental health resources her own school shares and its peer counseling program. While many things are easier in person, she posited that her peers seem less open about their mental health than they were online. Face-to-face, there’s no anonymity and there’s increased vulnerability compared with posting from a social media handle. So peer counseling programs allow students to feel supported in sharing again. The ability to talk with someone in one’s own year, someone who also knows what it’s like to be a student right now — and then to resultantly feel heard, supported and validated, is crucial, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Szeto pointed out that some students may be skeptical about using a school resource.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s almost like, ‘Oh, you put us through this, how could you know what we’re going through?’” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dao suggested schools could go beyond more formal resources and services to make adaptations that better serve students’ mental health. Some of Nallamothu’s teachers are encouraging more talking in class in general, allowing chatting between topics to go on for longer than she remembers pre-pandemic. Beyond the benefit of getting to socialize with peers again, she noticed the value of getting to talk out concepts, being directly asked for her thoughts or turning around and asking the person behind her a question. She felt more engaged. She wasn’t just speaking at her computer to rectangular video feeds of her classmates. School felt more real in person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You feel like you’re in a bigger and more connected community that way,” she said. “It’s the people that make it valuable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Dao finds it easier to focus in person than at home — she can less easily be distracted by her phone, her family or her neighbor’s dog — she thinks the rapid adjustment makes paying attention still difficult, if in a different way. She likes that some of her teachers are providing opportunities for students to take breaks. She’s heard of students being allowed to go for a quick walk around the building and then return to class, a two-minute reset that she thinks makes a real difference for concentration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58983\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-58983\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/IMG_5443.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"487\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Courtesy of Azalia Mariscal \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Azalia Mariscal)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mariscal felt grateful to be able to leave her house when classes went back in person, but that feeling was tempered by her fear of catching Covid. Band class helps distract from that fear: she plays tuba and trombone, and couldn’t really play during online learning. She appreciates the focus required to use the specific amount of air needed to hit each note. “It’s that one thing that makes me feel better,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dao wants teachers and administrators system-wide to allow students to get in touch with their emotions and personal identities, to allow students to talk about what they’re going through and what they need. Teachers should listen when students say they need more time for homework, for instance: they could correspondingly push out due dates or even assign less work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ma would like to see less busy work — she can tell the difference between an assignment that challenges her and one that seems only assigned for the sake of assigning. She said her class has been more “bold” in asking for less of that busy work, as well as in asking for extended time for work or test preparation, compared with pre-pandemic school. She feels she and many of her classmates have acquired agency and self-efficacy skills that will benefit them in the future — even if that future includes online learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t want to go to online school again. But if it’s for health reasons, it would be OK. I just have to work harder to stay focused,” said Ma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This agency is presently being \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11902396/shouldnt-have-to-make-this-decision-thousands-of-contra-costa-students-stay-home-citing-omicron-fears\">utilized\u003c/a> by students \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/01/14/students-walkout-covid-safety/\">nationwide\u003c/a> who have staged protests and walk-outs amidst the omicron surge to demand better Covid protections, testing and online schooling options. To only hear students’ preferences for in-person learning and to omit the context of the pandemic is disingenuous. The pandemic made even more visible systemic inequities that made safety and school most challenging for the families who needed the most help — the conditions that often worsen mental health in the first place. Students are pushing both for interesting classes and a feeling of safety at school in the ways they can.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>TIME BETTER SPENT IN CLASS\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When filling out her college applications, Ma asked herself why she goes to school at all. She thought about classes where the teacher is engaging, ones where the discussions are fun. In her English class, not only are her readings insightful, but she feels there’s a depth to them. She learns more from each re-reading, then more out of her teacher’s analysis, then even more from class discussions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The discussions weren’t like that on Zoom. In person, students are energetic. They build off each other. They’re funny. Ma enjoys the chance to laugh, to listen to new points of view, to participate herself. She appreciates when her English class’ readings deal with taboo topics, are open to interpretation and reflect non-Eurocentric worldviews. She’d like to see more of that. Her class read a work by Amy Tan, and Ma appreciated the chance to personally relate to the content, to connect with the narrator and to be able to draw from her own life in her analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ma realized she keeps going to class not just for her English teacher or fellow classmates, but because she actually likes the subject itself. Beyond grades, she feels challenged to uncover meanings and learn how to improve her own writing. The transfer from passively wanting good grades to actively wanting to learn is new, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58974\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1078px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-58974\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/nallamothuprofile.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1078\" height=\"1424\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/nallamothuprofile.png 1078w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/nallamothuprofile-800x1057.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/nallamothuprofile-1020x1347.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/nallamothuprofile-160x211.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/01/nallamothuprofile-768x1015.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1078px) 100vw, 1078px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sirihaasa Nallamothu is one of several students who re-evaluated the role of school in their lives during the pandemic and chose to follow more personally interesting pursuits. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Sirihaasa Nallamothu)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Moving from online to in-person laboratory experiments helped Nallamothu understand why she was learning chemistry, instead of just to achieve a good grade. Real-world applications allow students to see the value of learning beyond test scores, she said. She praised recent decisions by some universities to drop SAT or ACT score requirements for admissions and by the CollegeBoard to \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/22/college-board-scraps-sat-subject-tests-461357\">nix SAT subject tests\u003c/a>. She sees this as a sign that more higher-ups are realizing that understanding is far deeper than test scores: it’s about personal mastery and application.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nallamothu conceived her own way of applying what she was learning. After reading her AP U.S. History textbook’s sole paragraph on the 1918 influenza, she realized she didn’t want her town’s experience from this pandemic to be similarly truncated and forgotten. So she organized the 20-Year Project, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.wjbc.com/2022/01/10/town-of-normal-preserving-artifacts-from-the-covid-19-pandemic-in-a-community-time-capsule/\">community time capsule\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Community-based efforts by her generation give Nallamothu the hope she needs to go to school and try her best in an increasingly unpredictable world. She characterizes Gen Z as trying its best to remedy its unjust inheritances, ones that stretch back far before the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Gen Z-ers have been exposed to so much around them. They’ve been exposed to political polarization, social movements, the pandemic, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11900424/combating-climate-anxiety-how-young-activists-in-california-are-taking-action\">climate change\u003c/a>. And it feels like we’re really going to make a difference. I’ve seen so many cool people working in my community and on social media, working to make a change. So I think we’ll be in pretty good hands,” said Nallamothu.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC5636330471\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shocking events that disrupt any idea of normalcy are now normal to this generation, Szeto argues. That means many have realized that they can’t plan for their lives using a baseline assumption that the former status quo will return, or even that the current status quo will continue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t really know if normalcy exists anymore, and I think we’re all just trying to create a new normal in a way,” said Szeto. “But I don’t really know if people can really go back to what they had before. We just went through too much for it, for us to just go back and forget everything that happened.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Build With Care: Recruiting Student and Teacher Voices to Rethink Schools Because of the Pandemic",
"title": "Build With Care: Recruiting Student and Teacher Voices to Rethink Schools Because of the Pandemic",
"headTitle": "MindShift | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As we reflect on the experience of learning during COVID, a big question looms: What will schools look like after the pandemic?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Currently, two prevalent narratives are rising over the horizon. In the first, schools seek to return to “normal” and resume the familiar rhythms of teaching and learning much as they were before the COVID disruption. In the second scenario, schools intensify their programs to remediate learning loss with summer school, longer hours, tutoring and learning pods.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Unfortunately, both scenarios are problematic. Pre-pandemic schools, especially for underserved communities, left much to be desired, and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.the74million.org/article/analysis-tutoring-summer-school-pods-survey-finds-parents-arent-so-thrilled-about-most-k-12-covid-recovery-solutions-on-the-table/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">families generally do not support increased instructional time\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, an approach that is found to have\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/proof-points-could-more-time-in-school-help-students-after-the-pandemic/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> little positive effect on learning\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">However, a third path is proposed in a new report from MIT, entitled \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://edarxiv.org/nd52b/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Healing, Community, and Humanity: How Students and Teachers Want to Reinvent Schools Post-COVID\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Instead of maintaining the status quo, the paper advocates for locally sourced reinvention while emphasizing community health and welfare over the stresses of remediation. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Its findings were drawn from interviews with teachers and students across elementary, middle and high schools about their pandemic learning experience. The report’s co-authors, educational researchers Justin Reich of MIT and Jal Mehta of Harvard, also facilitated ten design charrettes with teachers, school leaders, students and parents to generate ideas about the future of schools. Charrettes are collaborative design sprints – originally used by architects and urban planners – that integrate the views of multiple stakeholders.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It's important to listen to the voices of students and teachers – especially when you're in unprecedented times – not because they're always right, but because they're always there,” said Reich who described policies aimed to address learning during a pandemic often didn’t include voices from these two critical groups.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Notably, not one of the 200 teachers interviewed for the report discussed remediation as a priority. Rather, respondents advocated an approach that favored reflection, healing, community and humane reinvention.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The narrative around learning loss was becoming the only narrative in which to think about schools and what students might need for next year, but there's a much broader set of questions about what's been lost this year, what strengths kids have gained this year and how we might build on that in a constructive way for next year,” said Mehta.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Connections and Autonomy: What Students Said They Lost and Found\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The experiences shared by the 4,000 interviewed students ranged from being more focused and less distracted at home, to feeling completely disengaged and hating remote learning. Many expressed concern about the loss of irrecoverable chapters of their childhood and adolescence, while also lamenting the loss of social connections to their peers, and missed field trips, sports and extracurricular activities. A few even worried about the erosion of their interpersonal skills. Teachers attuned to their students’ needs stressed the importance of relationship and community building in the years ahead.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For example, one teacher said that, “I need to make so much more space for connecting with students, and for students to learn about each other. I have to stop thinking of community building as one ‘unit’ at the beginning that I rush through, and how community can play a much larger, systemic, role in my classroom.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Students also valued the independence and autonomy they enjoyed while learning from home. They relished the freedom to wear comfortable clothes, nap, snack, access the bathroom at will and move around when restless. Living through an alternative way of doing school raised many questions about uncomfortable learning spaces, crowded curriculum at the expense of human connections and interest-based learning, undue policing of bodies and behavior and early start times that contribute to adolescent sleep deprivation. The report recommends that educators build on the positive aspects of their pandemic learning experience in the years ahead and support increased student independence to cultivate a safe and healthy environment that is more conducive to learning.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I might say to teachers who are struggling to give up control, that you're working too hard. You're working against students’ natural inclinations to contribute, act and make. You're expending a huge amount of energy policing what they're wearing, where they're going, etc. You could focus much more on the content if you change the relationship a little bit,” said Mehta.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Neema Avashia, a Boston middle school teacher who works closely with Reich and Mehta also advocates for a shift to greater student autonomy.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“One issue that surfaced during the pandemic was how much time and energy we spend policing children's bodies, and how much of our day is spent on redirecting kids for what they're wearing, how they're sitting, etc. In urban public schools in America, there's a lot of focus on controlling kids,” said Avashia. “Kids realized during this pandemic, 'What the hell? Why does it matter what I wear if I'm learning? Does it really matter if I’m in pajamas?' Kids’ tolerance for policing is gone because they know that this is not about learning at all. We have to do a lot of reflecting on how much of that policing is actually about learning and how much of policing is actually just about an ugly mix of classism, racism and adultism.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Why Resist a Return to Normalcy? \u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Teachers and students, especially those who come from economically challenged and racialized communities, are apprehensive about the impulse to resume business as usual.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The narrative of back to normal, which I feel has been so pervasive from so many policymakers, has felt really troubling to me because normal didn't work for too many of our kids,” said Avashia. “And so why would we go back to that? Why is that what people want to go back to? Are there things that we could learn during the pandemic? The notion of a return to normalcy I really think is a wrong headed approach to this moment. And I hope people resist it.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/AvashiaNeema/status/1418193939379675136\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Avashia’s concerns speak to the widely reported phenomenon that the fracture lines of inequity that have long plagued US schools became alarmingly pronounced during COVID, as \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/07/how-covid-taught-america-about-inequity-in-education/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">vulnerable groups were disproportionately harmed by the pandemic\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Economic disparities widened while in-person school support systems in poorer schools – ranging from counseling to community support and food programs – disappeared when classes moved online, with direct consequences to mental health, racial achievement gaps and inaccessiblity due to technological limitations.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In many cases, already underfunded schools were left to try and support struggling students and families whose situations – due to evictions, job loss, overcrowding, mental health issues or illness – deteriorated during the pandemic. But family support from schools is significantly constrained by a scarcity of resources.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The pandemic really highlighted how easy it is to fall for vulnerable families and how fragile our safety nets are, and so schools were left to do a lot of sewing up of the safety nets, which is a tremendous amount of human capital,” said Avashia. “In our school, we would fundraise to get that cash to them from our pockets because there wasn't a structural way to do that. Our mechanisms for supporting families have to be a lot more robust and they have to be able to respond to the needs of families.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Stability at home is a vital precondition for successful learning, and the pandemic underscored the urgency to better equip schools to support economically challenged families. A return to normal and/or intensified learning schemes would only further disenfranchise the most vulnerable sectors of society. But how can meaningful changes be enacted? According to Reich, the pandemic revealed how much things actually can change. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There are lots of things in our school system that previously looked totally fixed and completely immovable that now everybody realizes are contingent and changeable,” he said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>“A Pragmatic Strategy for Gradual Reinvention”\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The authors view the learning loss and “back to normal” narratives as symptomatic of governance where policymakers issue broad directives without consulting those who are most directly affected by their decisions.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The disconnect between the local level and the policy level has never felt more intense to me than it has been,” said Avashia. “It's like erasing your lived experience. It's not responding to it. It's not allowing schools to meet kids where they're at or support them. We're all being subjected to such intense institutional violence because the people making the decision have no willingness and no clue as to what it's like to be young in school today.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Also, the authors argue that blanket policies are ineffective at addressing a mosaic of highly localized needs and circumstances, a reality made apparent by the sheer variety of divergent experiences shared by the report’s respondents. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The myriad of views, opinions and experiences is not lost on school leaders, as many of those interviewed openly wondered how they might bring their fragmented communities on the same page. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In lieu of top-down centralized policy, such as one-size-fits-all learning loss remediation programs, the authors recommend leveraging their user-centred design charrettes. This approach enlists relevant stakeholders, including students, educators, families and school leaders to help articulate, identify and solve issues that directly address their unique needs and circumstances. Charrettes require a very small investment of time, energy and resources, but can yield powerful dividends. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58375\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2032px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-58375\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/08/Stakeholders.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"2032\" height=\"1126\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/08/Stakeholders.png 2032w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/08/Stakeholders-800x443.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/08/Stakeholders-1020x565.png 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/08/Stakeholders-160x89.png 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/08/Stakeholders-768x426.png 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/08/Stakeholders-1536x851.png 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/08/Stakeholders-672x372.png 672w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/08/Stakeholders-1038x576.png 1038w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/08/Stakeholders-1920x1064.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2032px) 100vw, 2032px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The perspectives of stakeholders at school. \u003ccite>(From \"Healing, Community, and Humanity: How Students and Teachers Want to Reinvent Schools Post-COVID\" by Justin Reich and Jal Mehta)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The charrettes run by the researchers for the report included an “amplify, hospice and create” activity, where participating stakeholders were asked to consider what pandemic learning experiences they would keep and grow (amplify), what experiences should be retired (hospice) and the “create” activity asked participants to chart a tangible courses for implementation. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s important to delve a little bit into different people's perspectives,” said Mehta. “To that end, \u003ca href=\"https://edarxiv.org/nd52b/\">the amplify, hospice and create activity\u003c/a> is quite doable. It only takes 75 - 90 minutes, and all you really need is a meeting where you put people into manageable sized groups. If you're doing it with the whole faculty or a wide group of faculty and students, you probably want to do it in groups of eight to ten.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The \u003ca href=\"https://edarxiv.org/nd52b/\">design charrettes\u003c/a> yielded a number of actionable initiatives that might help improve future schools. Some of these include implementing Zoom-style chat features in regular classes because they encouraged shy students to participate, continuing to hold parent-teacher conferences online, emphasizing depth over breadth by scheduling fewer but longer classes, increasing engagement through personalized learning programs, shifting from punitive to restorative disciplinary action, and building-in more time and space to reflect and connect.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If you're remote, you can run a charrette with Google Document or Google Slides,” said Mehta. Each group gets a slide with amplify, hospice and create. After an hour, have people look across the slides to see what things popped up again and again to decide what to move forward. Schools are just resuming, so while it's still fresh, while everybody still remembers what happened last year, I think that this exercise would be really powerful.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A helpful toolkit in the appendix provides support material to effectively interview teachers and students, and guidelines to run a charrette with an amplify, hospice and create focus. These initiatives are contextualized by an acknowledgement that everybody is tired, and that change will not happen overnight. The upcoming year should be seen as an opportunity for reflection and recovery, and the charrettes can be used to support what the report terms a “pragmatic strategy for gradual reinvention.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The Possibility of Making the Impossible, Possible \u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Also, the charrettes asked participants to think about metaphors that capture the future of schools, such as “school as temple” or “school as family reunions.” These conceptual frames can act as big picture “tentpoles” to help guide and synchronize the efforts of the learning community. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“A lot of the early planning documents for this last pandemic year were organized as checklists. That was kind of like the dominant rhetorical structure of policy advice to schools. And we thought: you cannot communicate one hundred and seventy three point checklists to families,” said Reich. “It is better to communicate one, two, or maybe three big ideas about what the response to the pandemic might look like and let people organize themselves around those big ideas, so that a high school biology teacher and a first grade teacher can both find themselves in those ideas. We went to metaphors this time.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Unlike a contained checklist of bullet points, metaphors are generative and open a structured mental space to think creatively about practicable possibilities for building better schools. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The common thread that runs through all these voices, proposals, aspirations and visions for the pandemic-informed future of school is a resounding call for more humane schools. And, it is important to remember that, rather than being at odds with academic success and learning, an emotionally healthy and community-focused learning environment will only heighten engagement and make lessons learned more meaningful and consequential. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As one student put it, “I hope teachers approach whatever our return to normal looks like with the same degree of empathy as they have during the pandemic. People are just much more understanding of our lives and pressures.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As we reflect on the experience of learning during COVID, a big question looms: What will schools look like after the pandemic?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Currently, two prevalent narratives are rising over the horizon. In the first, schools seek to return to “normal” and resume the familiar rhythms of teaching and learning much as they were before the COVID disruption. In the second scenario, schools intensify their programs to remediate learning loss with summer school, longer hours, tutoring and learning pods.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Unfortunately, both scenarios are problematic. Pre-pandemic schools, especially for underserved communities, left much to be desired, and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.the74million.org/article/analysis-tutoring-summer-school-pods-survey-finds-parents-arent-so-thrilled-about-most-k-12-covid-recovery-solutions-on-the-table/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">families generally do not support increased instructional time\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, an approach that is found to have\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/proof-points-could-more-time-in-school-help-students-after-the-pandemic/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> little positive effect on learning\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">However, a third path is proposed in a new report from MIT, entitled \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://edarxiv.org/nd52b/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Healing, Community, and Humanity: How Students and Teachers Want to Reinvent Schools Post-COVID\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Instead of maintaining the status quo, the paper advocates for locally sourced reinvention while emphasizing community health and welfare over the stresses of remediation. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Its findings were drawn from interviews with teachers and students across elementary, middle and high schools about their pandemic learning experience. The report’s co-authors, educational researchers Justin Reich of MIT and Jal Mehta of Harvard, also facilitated ten design charrettes with teachers, school leaders, students and parents to generate ideas about the future of schools. Charrettes are collaborative design sprints – originally used by architects and urban planners – that integrate the views of multiple stakeholders.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It's important to listen to the voices of students and teachers – especially when you're in unprecedented times – not because they're always right, but because they're always there,” said Reich who described policies aimed to address learning during a pandemic often didn’t include voices from these two critical groups.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Notably, not one of the 200 teachers interviewed for the report discussed remediation as a priority. Rather, respondents advocated an approach that favored reflection, healing, community and humane reinvention.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The narrative around learning loss was becoming the only narrative in which to think about schools and what students might need for next year, but there's a much broader set of questions about what's been lost this year, what strengths kids have gained this year and how we might build on that in a constructive way for next year,” said Mehta.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Connections and Autonomy: What Students Said They Lost and Found\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The experiences shared by the 4,000 interviewed students ranged from being more focused and less distracted at home, to feeling completely disengaged and hating remote learning. Many expressed concern about the loss of irrecoverable chapters of their childhood and adolescence, while also lamenting the loss of social connections to their peers, and missed field trips, sports and extracurricular activities. A few even worried about the erosion of their interpersonal skills. Teachers attuned to their students’ needs stressed the importance of relationship and community building in the years ahead.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For example, one teacher said that, “I need to make so much more space for connecting with students, and for students to learn about each other. I have to stop thinking of community building as one ‘unit’ at the beginning that I rush through, and how community can play a much larger, systemic, role in my classroom.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Students also valued the independence and autonomy they enjoyed while learning from home. They relished the freedom to wear comfortable clothes, nap, snack, access the bathroom at will and move around when restless. Living through an alternative way of doing school raised many questions about uncomfortable learning spaces, crowded curriculum at the expense of human connections and interest-based learning, undue policing of bodies and behavior and early start times that contribute to adolescent sleep deprivation. The report recommends that educators build on the positive aspects of their pandemic learning experience in the years ahead and support increased student independence to cultivate a safe and healthy environment that is more conducive to learning.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I might say to teachers who are struggling to give up control, that you're working too hard. You're working against students’ natural inclinations to contribute, act and make. You're expending a huge amount of energy policing what they're wearing, where they're going, etc. You could focus much more on the content if you change the relationship a little bit,” said Mehta.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Neema Avashia, a Boston middle school teacher who works closely with Reich and Mehta also advocates for a shift to greater student autonomy.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“One issue that surfaced during the pandemic was how much time and energy we spend policing children's bodies, and how much of our day is spent on redirecting kids for what they're wearing, how they're sitting, etc. In urban public schools in America, there's a lot of focus on controlling kids,” said Avashia. “Kids realized during this pandemic, 'What the hell? Why does it matter what I wear if I'm learning? Does it really matter if I’m in pajamas?' Kids’ tolerance for policing is gone because they know that this is not about learning at all. We have to do a lot of reflecting on how much of that policing is actually about learning and how much of policing is actually just about an ugly mix of classism, racism and adultism.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Why Resist a Return to Normalcy? \u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Teachers and students, especially those who come from economically challenged and racialized communities, are apprehensive about the impulse to resume business as usual.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The narrative of back to normal, which I feel has been so pervasive from so many policymakers, has felt really troubling to me because normal didn't work for too many of our kids,” said Avashia. “And so why would we go back to that? Why is that what people want to go back to? Are there things that we could learn during the pandemic? The notion of a return to normalcy I really think is a wrong headed approach to this moment. And I hope people resist it.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Avashia’s concerns speak to the widely reported phenomenon that the fracture lines of inequity that have long plagued US schools became alarmingly pronounced during COVID, as \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/07/how-covid-taught-america-about-inequity-in-education/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">vulnerable groups were disproportionately harmed by the pandemic\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Economic disparities widened while in-person school support systems in poorer schools – ranging from counseling to community support and food programs – disappeared when classes moved online, with direct consequences to mental health, racial achievement gaps and inaccessiblity due to technological limitations.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In many cases, already underfunded schools were left to try and support struggling students and families whose situations – due to evictions, job loss, overcrowding, mental health issues or illness – deteriorated during the pandemic. But family support from schools is significantly constrained by a scarcity of resources.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The pandemic really highlighted how easy it is to fall for vulnerable families and how fragile our safety nets are, and so schools were left to do a lot of sewing up of the safety nets, which is a tremendous amount of human capital,” said Avashia. “In our school, we would fundraise to get that cash to them from our pockets because there wasn't a structural way to do that. Our mechanisms for supporting families have to be a lot more robust and they have to be able to respond to the needs of families.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Stability at home is a vital precondition for successful learning, and the pandemic underscored the urgency to better equip schools to support economically challenged families. A return to normal and/or intensified learning schemes would only further disenfranchise the most vulnerable sectors of society. But how can meaningful changes be enacted? According to Reich, the pandemic revealed how much things actually can change. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There are lots of things in our school system that previously looked totally fixed and completely immovable that now everybody realizes are contingent and changeable,” he said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>“A Pragmatic Strategy for Gradual Reinvention”\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The authors view the learning loss and “back to normal” narratives as symptomatic of governance where policymakers issue broad directives without consulting those who are most directly affected by their decisions.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The disconnect between the local level and the policy level has never felt more intense to me than it has been,” said Avashia. “It's like erasing your lived experience. It's not responding to it. It's not allowing schools to meet kids where they're at or support them. We're all being subjected to such intense institutional violence because the people making the decision have no willingness and no clue as to what it's like to be young in school today.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Also, the authors argue that blanket policies are ineffective at addressing a mosaic of highly localized needs and circumstances, a reality made apparent by the sheer variety of divergent experiences shared by the report’s respondents. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The myriad of views, opinions and experiences is not lost on school leaders, as many of those interviewed openly wondered how they might bring their fragmented communities on the same page. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In lieu of top-down centralized policy, such as one-size-fits-all learning loss remediation programs, the authors recommend leveraging their user-centred design charrettes. This approach enlists relevant stakeholders, including students, educators, families and school leaders to help articulate, identify and solve issues that directly address their unique needs and circumstances. Charrettes require a very small investment of time, energy and resources, but can yield powerful dividends. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58375\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2032px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-58375\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/08/Stakeholders.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"2032\" height=\"1126\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/08/Stakeholders.png 2032w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/08/Stakeholders-800x443.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/08/Stakeholders-1020x565.png 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/08/Stakeholders-160x89.png 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/08/Stakeholders-768x426.png 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/08/Stakeholders-1536x851.png 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/08/Stakeholders-672x372.png 672w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/08/Stakeholders-1038x576.png 1038w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/08/Stakeholders-1920x1064.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2032px) 100vw, 2032px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The perspectives of stakeholders at school. \u003ccite>(From \"Healing, Community, and Humanity: How Students and Teachers Want to Reinvent Schools Post-COVID\" by Justin Reich and Jal Mehta)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The charrettes run by the researchers for the report included an “amplify, hospice and create” activity, where participating stakeholders were asked to consider what pandemic learning experiences they would keep and grow (amplify), what experiences should be retired (hospice) and the “create” activity asked participants to chart a tangible courses for implementation. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s important to delve a little bit into different people's perspectives,” said Mehta. “To that end, \u003ca href=\"https://edarxiv.org/nd52b/\">the amplify, hospice and create activity\u003c/a> is quite doable. It only takes 75 - 90 minutes, and all you really need is a meeting where you put people into manageable sized groups. If you're doing it with the whole faculty or a wide group of faculty and students, you probably want to do it in groups of eight to ten.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The \u003ca href=\"https://edarxiv.org/nd52b/\">design charrettes\u003c/a> yielded a number of actionable initiatives that might help improve future schools. Some of these include implementing Zoom-style chat features in regular classes because they encouraged shy students to participate, continuing to hold parent-teacher conferences online, emphasizing depth over breadth by scheduling fewer but longer classes, increasing engagement through personalized learning programs, shifting from punitive to restorative disciplinary action, and building-in more time and space to reflect and connect.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If you're remote, you can run a charrette with Google Document or Google Slides,” said Mehta. Each group gets a slide with amplify, hospice and create. After an hour, have people look across the slides to see what things popped up again and again to decide what to move forward. Schools are just resuming, so while it's still fresh, while everybody still remembers what happened last year, I think that this exercise would be really powerful.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A helpful toolkit in the appendix provides support material to effectively interview teachers and students, and guidelines to run a charrette with an amplify, hospice and create focus. These initiatives are contextualized by an acknowledgement that everybody is tired, and that change will not happen overnight. The upcoming year should be seen as an opportunity for reflection and recovery, and the charrettes can be used to support what the report terms a “pragmatic strategy for gradual reinvention.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The Possibility of Making the Impossible, Possible \u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Also, the charrettes asked participants to think about metaphors that capture the future of schools, such as “school as temple” or “school as family reunions.” These conceptual frames can act as big picture “tentpoles” to help guide and synchronize the efforts of the learning community. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“A lot of the early planning documents for this last pandemic year were organized as checklists. That was kind of like the dominant rhetorical structure of policy advice to schools. And we thought: you cannot communicate one hundred and seventy three point checklists to families,” said Reich. “It is better to communicate one, two, or maybe three big ideas about what the response to the pandemic might look like and let people organize themselves around those big ideas, so that a high school biology teacher and a first grade teacher can both find themselves in those ideas. We went to metaphors this time.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Unlike a contained checklist of bullet points, metaphors are generative and open a structured mental space to think creatively about practicable possibilities for building better schools. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The common thread that runs through all these voices, proposals, aspirations and visions for the pandemic-informed future of school is a resounding call for more humane schools. And, it is important to remember that, rather than being at odds with academic success and learning, an emotionally healthy and community-focused learning environment will only heighten engagement and make lessons learned more meaningful and consequential. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As one student put it, “I hope teachers approach whatever our return to normal looks like with the same degree of empathy as they have during the pandemic. People are just much more understanding of our lives and pressures.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "down-with-toxic-positivity-for-teachers-and-students-healing-isnt-blind-optimism",
"title": "Down With Toxic Positivity! For Teachers and Students, Healing Isn’t Blind Optimism",
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"headTitle": "Down With Toxic Positivity! For Teachers and Students, Healing Isn’t Blind Optimism | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>You can listen to this episode of the MindShift Podcast on \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/down-with-toxic-positivity/id1078765985?i=1000530854437\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5/episode/MjhiZjI5ZjYtZjNiMi0xMWViLWFkZTYtZGYwYmEzMmU5YmEz?hl=en&ved=2ahUKEwi72fGNp__yAhWhNn0KHfbCBtQQjrkEegQIAhAF&ep=6\">Google Podcasts\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast\">NPR One\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/episode/0jDFwHNPnvvDKtW7ubLcAT?si=rPHSDmXHRKiW8JyUmZ9Vuw&dl_branch=1\">Spotify\u003c/a>, \u003c/strong>\u003ca href=\"https://listen.stitcher.com/yvap/?af_dp=stitcher://episode/85853328&af_web_dp=https://www.stitcher.com/episode/85853328\">\u003cstrong>Stitcher\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> or wherever you get your podcasts.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">New York-based English teacher Irene Yannascoli was already drained after jumpstarting distance learning in March 2020 and facing uncertain school plans for the fall. So when Irene had to come into school to have in-person meetings about whether or not school buildings would be reopening, she felt even more depleted. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I had a lot of concerns on a lot of levels: the condition of my old school building, [and] whether I was going to have the support or the PPE to do my job properly and safely,” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What she had experienced was in stark contrast to the meeting’s tone: bright decorations, icebreaker questions and energetic affirmations about how hard the school and staff were working. They all seemed out of place in what had been an extremely challenging year.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Then, her school leaders sat the staff down to watch Kelly McGonigal’s 2013 \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">TED Talk entitled “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress_your_friend?language=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">How to Make Stress Your Friend.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">” It’s a well-intentioned video about how reframing one’s mindset towards stress can lessen its negative effects on a person’s health. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But to Yannascoli, these were all displays of toxic positivity – a phenomenon that was acute during the COVID-19 pandemic – in which people focus on the good and reject the bad in a way that is unrealistic and borders on gaslighting. Even though positivity and optimism are good things, many teachers, including Irene, were tired of being complimented while being told they have to do twice the work and risk their lives with almost no structural support. Irene wasn’t trying to criticize her administrator because she knew everyone was trying their best and no one was prepared for teaching during a pandemic. But she was concerned by this attention to mindset.* \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Everything was framed in such an overwhelmingly positive way that I felt really alone and really unheard,” says Yannascoli. “I’m a senior person in the school and I was completely unable to lead because I couldn’t function in the framework that they had created.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">These feelings aren’t necessarily new. Teachers typically fall into – or are forced into – the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/57540/why-setting-boundaries-is-helpful-for-teachers-and-their-students\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">teacher martyr stereotype.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> And studies have found that \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/57280/strategies-for-retaining-teachers-of-color-and-making-schools-more-equitable\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Black and brown teachers are doubly burdened\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> because they are both dealing with their own grief and stress while showing up to support students of color who are disproportionately affected by the pandemic. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Toxic positivity can also harm students, according to Arlène Elizabeth Casimir, an elementary school teacher who taught in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and saw how blind optimism rolled down from teacher to classroom to student. “The way the teachers were being treated, that’s how they were treating kids,” says Casimir. “They were being told to be gracious with the kids, to understand what they’re going through, [but] it’s like that wasn’t being offered to them.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC5026206656\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Tired, Stressed, Overwhelmed” \u003c/span>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One commonality between these two events is that teachers were told to ignore their emotions. However, those emotions can help teachers maintain their boundaries and keep toxic positivity at bay. Teachers and school leaders can develop strategies to ensure their staff are recognizing and navigating challenges in a way that promotes health and authentic healing for all.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Centering teachers’ emotions is a critical step that many schools miss in their focus on productivity and positivity, says consultant and educator Elena Aguilar. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I think there is no other conversation which has greater potential for freedom, for figuring out how we can serve kids, living the kind of lives we want to live, having the kinds of relationships we want to have than having that conversation about emotions,” says Aguilar. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She says emotions are educators’ “greatest untapped resource” because they provide information about growth areas and important boundaries. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If you ask a teacher, ‘How are you doing today’ or ‘How are you feeling?’ Eighty five or ninety percent of the time the response I hear is one of three words,” says Aguilar. “Tired, stressed, overwhelmed.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to Aguilar those aren’t even words that describe a singular emotion. “Those are words that describe a whole ‘stew’ of emotions.” She says in this case, overwhelmed is the stew and its ingredients are sadness, frustration, emotional fatigue, confusion and fear.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When teachers can unpack the emotions in their “stew” they can be better informed to figure out what actions they want to take next. However, when strong emotions are at play it can be easy for someone to be reactive. To develop next steps that are aligned with their values, Aguilar recommends teachers ask themselves, “What action can I take in the moment that is one that I’m going to feel really good about tonight, in 10 years, when I retire?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">By recognizing and understanding those emotions, teachers can be honest about what they’re up against while\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/53640/12-ways-teachers-can-build-resilience-so-they-can-make-systemic-change\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> exercising their influence and agency, according to Aguilar\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. That way, they can take action to advocate for the changes they need. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">School leaders also have an important role in helping teachers. Principals can make it a priority to check in with teachers during everyday interactions like walking down the hall. Instead of asking “How are you doing?” school leaders should make an effort to connect with teachers by asking deeper and more specific questions. For example, a school leader might say, “I know you had a rough week last week. What has been coming up for you?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Student-centered Learning to Meet Kids’ Needs\u003c/span>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When Arlène Casimir was teaching during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, she experienced a school system that wanted teachers to put on a brave face for young students. It didn’t work. “And teachers were having nervous breakdowns. There was not a time to pause and witness what was happening to us,” says Casimir. “I often asked myself, ‘Who takes care of the caretakers? Who nurtures the nurturers?’” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Casimir focused on how taking care of herself enabled her to show up better for her students. She directed her attention towards “inner work,” namely cultivating her core values of integrity and authenticity. She examined how her lived experience, culture and past school experiences shape the way that she shows up in the classroom. Instead of trying to ignore her experiences or sidestep her values, she paid attention to the ways that they aligned with community needs. She asked herself “Where do I need to get a better understanding or make adjustments?” and “Where are my students affirming those core values? And where are they challenging them?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58224\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-58224 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/07/Toxic-positivity-post_arlenes-class-800x413.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2021/07/Toxic-positivity-post_arlenes-class-800x413.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2021/07/Toxic-positivity-post_arlenes-class-1020x526.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2021/07/Toxic-positivity-post_arlenes-class-160x83.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2021/07/Toxic-positivity-post_arlenes-class-768x396.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2021/07/Toxic-positivity-post_arlenes-class-1536x792.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2021/07/Toxic-positivity-post_arlenes-class.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student from Casimir’s class writes about how they will bring about their vision for the community. Courtesy of Arlène Elizabeth Casimir\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When Casimir was a student and there was a disaster or tragedy reported in the news, she remembers feeling as if there was no space to grieve or process in the classroom, so she made sure her students felt as if they could be honest about their experiences. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There’s a lot that we can learn from kids as adults,” she says. “We can use our experience and wisdom from being an adult to help children process, learn from and notice all that they bring to the table.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Civic Education and Healing\u003c/span>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Much like how toxic positivity can overlook the real experiences teachers are having, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">for students, that can look like character education – such as grit, optimism, self control, curiosity and gratitude – especially when they’re disproportionately pushed on Black and brown children, according to educator and author \u003ca href=\"https://bettinalove.com/\">Dr. Bettina Love\u003c/a>. In her book, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/622408/we-want-to-do-more-than-survive-by-bettina-love/\">We Want To Do More Than Survive,\u003c/a>” Love says that having good character isn’t a bad thing, but it can be when it becomes a tool to enforce compliance.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In order to recognize and sidestep these harmful practices, Dr. Love promotes abolitionist teaching, which encourages young people to participate in civics education, because for too long, schools have been failing many children, specifically Black and brown students, who are erased in curricula and\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.edweek.org/leadership/black-students-bear-uneven-brunt-of-discipline-data-show/2018/05\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> disciplined at higher rates\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. “A robust civics education should include discussion focused on current events, opportunities for students to participate in school government, history, law, economics and geography,” writes Love. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One way abolitionist teaching is taking shape is at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.wokekindergarten.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ki Gross’s Woke Kindergarten\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which is based on their experiences as a kindergarten teacher in New York. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUR3p4c4OTI\">http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUR3p4c4OTI\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 2016, Gross’s kindergarten class took to the halls of their school to protest the results of the 2016 election. Inspired by Audrey Faye, the Civil Rights Movement’s youngest marcher, they made signs with popsicle sticks and cardstock and walked up all seven floors of their school.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The students felt that issues directly affecting their families like immigration and healthcare were hanging in the balance. Gross made space for them to air out their concerns by taking action. Civic action practices like a march through the halls of a school are empowering because it shows students that they aren’t just victims of their circumstance, according to Gross. They have an important role to play in shaping their own futures and creating a more just world.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Part of abolition is really about thriving, not about just survival anymore,” says Gross about how abolitionist teaching practices empower students to get active if they feel something is unjust. “Existing in survivalist mode really gets you thinking about the trauma. But when you’re thinking about thriving, you’re thinking about the healing.” Gross specifically focuses on uplifting counternarratives for Black, brown, queer and trans students. “Because our stories are not just stories of death and hurt and pain. In actuality, our stories are that of brilliance and joy.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Woke Kindergarten is also an abolitionist teaching resource where teachers can get curriculum advice and consulting help, especially to help with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/57757/dr-sonja-cherry-paul-using-stamped-for-kids-to-have-age-appropriate-discussions-about-race\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the tough conversations that adults are often too nervous to have with children\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. For Gross, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54150/teaching-6-year-olds-about-privilege-and-power\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">discussions about power, privilege\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> or disheartening events need to be paired with healing and civic action.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“What’s important here is that we don’t stay in that sadness. We make space for that sadness to exist,” says Gross. Acknowledging emotions – even if the emotion is sadness – might even provide a roadmap for how to create conditions for actual positivity.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC5026206656\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>*Editors note: This article was updated to include more information about Yannascoli’s experience in school. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Subscribe to the MindShift Podcast in your favorite podcast app so you won’t miss a single episode. You can listen on \u003ca href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mindshift-podcast/id1078765985\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/I4hhfs3azg3avjzbuowzeal5sze\">Google Podcasts\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast\">NPR One\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/show/0MxSpNYZKNprFLCl7eEtyx\">Spotify\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share\">Stitcher\u003c/a> or wherever you get your podcasts. \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>You can listen to this episode of the MindShift Podcast on \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/down-with-toxic-positivity/id1078765985?i=1000530854437\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5/episode/MjhiZjI5ZjYtZjNiMi0xMWViLWFkZTYtZGYwYmEzMmU5YmEz?hl=en&ved=2ahUKEwi72fGNp__yAhWhNn0KHfbCBtQQjrkEegQIAhAF&ep=6\">Google Podcasts\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast\">NPR One\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/episode/0jDFwHNPnvvDKtW7ubLcAT?si=rPHSDmXHRKiW8JyUmZ9Vuw&dl_branch=1\">Spotify\u003c/a>, \u003c/strong>\u003ca href=\"https://listen.stitcher.com/yvap/?af_dp=stitcher://episode/85853328&af_web_dp=https://www.stitcher.com/episode/85853328\">\u003cstrong>Stitcher\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> or wherever you get your podcasts.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">New York-based English teacher Irene Yannascoli was already drained after jumpstarting distance learning in March 2020 and facing uncertain school plans for the fall. So when Irene had to come into school to have in-person meetings about whether or not school buildings would be reopening, she felt even more depleted. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I had a lot of concerns on a lot of levels: the condition of my old school building, [and] whether I was going to have the support or the PPE to do my job properly and safely,” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What she had experienced was in stark contrast to the meeting’s tone: bright decorations, icebreaker questions and energetic affirmations about how hard the school and staff were working. They all seemed out of place in what had been an extremely challenging year.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Then, her school leaders sat the staff down to watch Kelly McGonigal’s 2013 \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">TED Talk entitled “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress_your_friend?language=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">How to Make Stress Your Friend.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">” It’s a well-intentioned video about how reframing one’s mindset towards stress can lessen its negative effects on a person’s health. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But to Yannascoli, these were all displays of toxic positivity – a phenomenon that was acute during the COVID-19 pandemic – in which people focus on the good and reject the bad in a way that is unrealistic and borders on gaslighting. Even though positivity and optimism are good things, many teachers, including Irene, were tired of being complimented while being told they have to do twice the work and risk their lives with almost no structural support. Irene wasn’t trying to criticize her administrator because she knew everyone was trying their best and no one was prepared for teaching during a pandemic. But she was concerned by this attention to mindset.* \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Everything was framed in such an overwhelmingly positive way that I felt really alone and really unheard,” says Yannascoli. “I’m a senior person in the school and I was completely unable to lead because I couldn’t function in the framework that they had created.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">These feelings aren’t necessarily new. Teachers typically fall into – or are forced into – the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/57540/why-setting-boundaries-is-helpful-for-teachers-and-their-students\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">teacher martyr stereotype.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> And studies have found that \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/57280/strategies-for-retaining-teachers-of-color-and-making-schools-more-equitable\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Black and brown teachers are doubly burdened\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> because they are both dealing with their own grief and stress while showing up to support students of color who are disproportionately affected by the pandemic. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Toxic positivity can also harm students, according to Arlène Elizabeth Casimir, an elementary school teacher who taught in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and saw how blind optimism rolled down from teacher to classroom to student. “The way the teachers were being treated, that’s how they were treating kids,” says Casimir. “They were being told to be gracious with the kids, to understand what they’re going through, [but] it’s like that wasn’t being offered to them.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC5026206656\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Tired, Stressed, Overwhelmed” \u003c/span>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One commonality between these two events is that teachers were told to ignore their emotions. However, those emotions can help teachers maintain their boundaries and keep toxic positivity at bay. Teachers and school leaders can develop strategies to ensure their staff are recognizing and navigating challenges in a way that promotes health and authentic healing for all.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Centering teachers’ emotions is a critical step that many schools miss in their focus on productivity and positivity, says consultant and educator Elena Aguilar. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I think there is no other conversation which has greater potential for freedom, for figuring out how we can serve kids, living the kind of lives we want to live, having the kinds of relationships we want to have than having that conversation about emotions,” says Aguilar. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She says emotions are educators’ “greatest untapped resource” because they provide information about growth areas and important boundaries. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If you ask a teacher, ‘How are you doing today’ or ‘How are you feeling?’ Eighty five or ninety percent of the time the response I hear is one of three words,” says Aguilar. “Tired, stressed, overwhelmed.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to Aguilar those aren’t even words that describe a singular emotion. “Those are words that describe a whole ‘stew’ of emotions.” She says in this case, overwhelmed is the stew and its ingredients are sadness, frustration, emotional fatigue, confusion and fear.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When teachers can unpack the emotions in their “stew” they can be better informed to figure out what actions they want to take next. However, when strong emotions are at play it can be easy for someone to be reactive. To develop next steps that are aligned with their values, Aguilar recommends teachers ask themselves, “What action can I take in the moment that is one that I’m going to feel really good about tonight, in 10 years, when I retire?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">By recognizing and understanding those emotions, teachers can be honest about what they’re up against while\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/53640/12-ways-teachers-can-build-resilience-so-they-can-make-systemic-change\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> exercising their influence and agency, according to Aguilar\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. That way, they can take action to advocate for the changes they need. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">School leaders also have an important role in helping teachers. Principals can make it a priority to check in with teachers during everyday interactions like walking down the hall. Instead of asking “How are you doing?” school leaders should make an effort to connect with teachers by asking deeper and more specific questions. For example, a school leader might say, “I know you had a rough week last week. What has been coming up for you?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Student-centered Learning to Meet Kids’ Needs\u003c/span>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When Arlène Casimir was teaching during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, she experienced a school system that wanted teachers to put on a brave face for young students. It didn’t work. “And teachers were having nervous breakdowns. There was not a time to pause and witness what was happening to us,” says Casimir. “I often asked myself, ‘Who takes care of the caretakers? Who nurtures the nurturers?’” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Casimir focused on how taking care of herself enabled her to show up better for her students. She directed her attention towards “inner work,” namely cultivating her core values of integrity and authenticity. She examined how her lived experience, culture and past school experiences shape the way that she shows up in the classroom. Instead of trying to ignore her experiences or sidestep her values, she paid attention to the ways that they aligned with community needs. She asked herself “Where do I need to get a better understanding or make adjustments?” and “Where are my students affirming those core values? And where are they challenging them?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58224\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-58224 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/07/Toxic-positivity-post_arlenes-class-800x413.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2021/07/Toxic-positivity-post_arlenes-class-800x413.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2021/07/Toxic-positivity-post_arlenes-class-1020x526.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2021/07/Toxic-positivity-post_arlenes-class-160x83.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2021/07/Toxic-positivity-post_arlenes-class-768x396.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2021/07/Toxic-positivity-post_arlenes-class-1536x792.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2021/07/Toxic-positivity-post_arlenes-class.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student from Casimir’s class writes about how they will bring about their vision for the community. Courtesy of Arlène Elizabeth Casimir\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When Casimir was a student and there was a disaster or tragedy reported in the news, she remembers feeling as if there was no space to grieve or process in the classroom, so she made sure her students felt as if they could be honest about their experiences. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There’s a lot that we can learn from kids as adults,” she says. “We can use our experience and wisdom from being an adult to help children process, learn from and notice all that they bring to the table.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Civic Education and Healing\u003c/span>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Much like how toxic positivity can overlook the real experiences teachers are having, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">for students, that can look like character education – such as grit, optimism, self control, curiosity and gratitude – especially when they’re disproportionately pushed on Black and brown children, according to educator and author \u003ca href=\"https://bettinalove.com/\">Dr. Bettina Love\u003c/a>. In her book, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/622408/we-want-to-do-more-than-survive-by-bettina-love/\">We Want To Do More Than Survive,\u003c/a>” Love says that having good character isn’t a bad thing, but it can be when it becomes a tool to enforce compliance.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In order to recognize and sidestep these harmful practices, Dr. Love promotes abolitionist teaching, which encourages young people to participate in civics education, because for too long, schools have been failing many children, specifically Black and brown students, who are erased in curricula and\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.edweek.org/leadership/black-students-bear-uneven-brunt-of-discipline-data-show/2018/05\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> disciplined at higher rates\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. “A robust civics education should include discussion focused on current events, opportunities for students to participate in school government, history, law, economics and geography,” writes Love. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One way abolitionist teaching is taking shape is at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.wokekindergarten.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ki Gross’s Woke Kindergarten\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which is based on their experiences as a kindergarten teacher in New York. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUR3p4c4OTI\">http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUR3p4c4OTI\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 2016, Gross’s kindergarten class took to the halls of their school to protest the results of the 2016 election. Inspired by Audrey Faye, the Civil Rights Movement’s youngest marcher, they made signs with popsicle sticks and cardstock and walked up all seven floors of their school.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The students felt that issues directly affecting their families like immigration and healthcare were hanging in the balance. Gross made space for them to air out their concerns by taking action. Civic action practices like a march through the halls of a school are empowering because it shows students that they aren’t just victims of their circumstance, according to Gross. They have an important role to play in shaping their own futures and creating a more just world.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Part of abolition is really about thriving, not about just survival anymore,” says Gross about how abolitionist teaching practices empower students to get active if they feel something is unjust. “Existing in survivalist mode really gets you thinking about the trauma. But when you’re thinking about thriving, you’re thinking about the healing.” Gross specifically focuses on uplifting counternarratives for Black, brown, queer and trans students. “Because our stories are not just stories of death and hurt and pain. In actuality, our stories are that of brilliance and joy.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Woke Kindergarten is also an abolitionist teaching resource where teachers can get curriculum advice and consulting help, especially to help with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/57757/dr-sonja-cherry-paul-using-stamped-for-kids-to-have-age-appropriate-discussions-about-race\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the tough conversations that adults are often too nervous to have with children\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. For Gross, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54150/teaching-6-year-olds-about-privilege-and-power\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">discussions about power, privilege\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> or disheartening events need to be paired with healing and civic action.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“What’s important here is that we don’t stay in that sadness. We make space for that sadness to exist,” says Gross. Acknowledging emotions – even if the emotion is sadness – might even provide a roadmap for how to create conditions for actual positivity.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC5026206656\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>*Editors note: This article was updated to include more information about Yannascoli’s experience in school. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Subscribe to the MindShift Podcast in your favorite podcast app so you won’t miss a single episode. You can listen on \u003ca href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mindshift-podcast/id1078765985\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/I4hhfs3azg3avjzbuowzeal5sze\">Google Podcasts\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast\">NPR One\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/show/0MxSpNYZKNprFLCl7eEtyx\">Spotify\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share\">Stitcher\u003c/a> or wherever you get your podcasts. \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "8 Ways to Help Older Kids Develop a Sense of Imagination",
"title": "8 Ways to Help Older Kids Develop a Sense of Imagination",
"headTitle": "MindShift | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cp>Celebrated American author \u003ca href=\"http://www.ursulakleguin.com/\">Ursula K. Le Guin\u003c/a> -- dubbed by the Library of Congress in 2000 as a “living legend” for her contributions to science fiction, who died in January at the age of 88 -- had strong feelings about the imagination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In America the imagination is generally looked on as something that might be useful when the TV is out of order,” she \u003ca href=\"https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/04/13/ursula-k-le-guin-operating-instructions-words-are-my-matter/\">wrote\u003c/a> in \u003cem>Words Are My Matter\u003c/em>. But the ability to imagine is what drives all creativity, enables clear thinking and inspires a sense of humanity. “I think the imagination is the single most useful tool mankind possesses,” she wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Imaginative play comes naturally to children, but it’s a habit of mind that needs to be taught and reinforced throughout life: “Young human beings need exercises in imagination as they need exercise in all the basic skills of life, bodily and mental: for growth, for health, for competence, for joy,\" Le Guin wrote. \"This need continues as long as the mind is alive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Imagination might be vital to a clear mind, but it’s not something that’s widely taught or understood, especially among older students. In a 2007 study of prospective teachers, 68 percent \u003ca href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1871187108000266\">said\u003c/a> they believed students needed to focus on memorizing the right answer rather than thinking imaginatively. In his improbably popular TED talk on creativity and schools, Sir Ken Robinson \u003ca href=\"https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity/transcript?language=en\">said\u003c/a> that humans are born with creativity and “we get educated out of it.” Jenny Smith, who graduated from Millburn High School in 2013, said that her secondary school focused singularly on academic benchmarks. “No one really cared about trying to develop our imaginations,” she said. “There was a curriculum, and they stuck to it.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researcher \u003ca href=\"http://www.ascd.org/Publications/Books/Overview/Cultivating-Curiosity-in-K-12-Classrooms.aspx\">Wendy Ostroff\u003c/a>, author of \u003cem>Cultivating Curiosity in K-12 Classrooms\u003c/em>, is a student of imagination and curiosity. Like Robinson, Ostroff believes many schools are set up in such a way as to wring out kids’ natural imaginativeness. “School is very oriented towards concepts,” she said, with walls between the creative classes like art and drama and “real” subjects where students have to perform. Lacking flexibility and time, teachers are required to hit “learning outcomes” and hew closely to lesson plans. Students respond by trying to please the teacher and get A’s, often losing any intrinsic interest in the subject along the way. “This is the opposite of imagination and creativity,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because imaginative thinking hones creativity and improves students’ social and emotional skills, it’s something that teachers and schools should fold into their planning. Ostroff identified several strategies teachers can adopt to encourage older students to activate their dormant imaginations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Give students more control\u003c/strong>. Loosening the classroom structure and allowing students more power over their work can activate their curiosity. Ostroff encourages teachers to “flip the system,” so that students understand that the learning is for them, and not the teachers. As a practical matter, this might mean assigning essays and allowing the students to determine their length, or telling kids to turn the papers in when they’re done rather than on a particular day, or simply offering a free-write period, where students write what they please for their eyes only. Teachers also can invite students to decide for themselves how a paper or assignment is assessed, and to encourage kids to reflect on and evaluate their own work. “They start to crack open when they feel like they’re in charge,” Ostroff said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Have students track their Google searches.\u003c/strong> Internet search engines can seem to provide all the answers, blocking students from thinking expansively. For Ostroff, “Google is the beginning of the learning, not the end.” She recommends the following assignment: Ask students to Google something that they find intensely interesting. Then, suggest that they click the hyperlink that’s most appealing, and then the one after that. They should keep track of what interested them in each link, so they develop an awareness of their own process. A student might start by searching “Mayans,” then move to “jewelry they wore,” then “precious metals,” then to “mining.” The point is to understand that learning is not simply finding an answer; it’s going deeper to figure out the next question. The first Google search should be the start of a larger inquiry. “Learning is about letting yourself get carried away,” Ostroff said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tell collaborative stories\u003c/strong>. Reading and telling stories is an effective way to learn. To spark imagination, the teacher might start by writing the first few lines of a story or poem on a piece of paper. She then passes the paper to a student, who adds more to the story. Every student receives the paper in turn, but reads only the written contribution of the student before her. (The paper should be folded to conceal all but the most recent addition.) This kind of impromptu storytelling, with its unpredictable outcome, keeps students engaged and thinking creatively.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Try improv\u003c/strong>. Once the domain of jazz musicians and comedians, improvisation has found its way into businesses and \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/01/30/how-improv-can-open-up-the-mind-to-learning-in-the-classroom-and-beyond/\">schools\u003c/a>. Improv is the practice of telling stories, or playing music, without scripts. One person begins the story with a few lines, and turns to the person next to her to continue it, and so on, until everyone in the group has contributed. The inviolate rule of improv is “yes, and”—meaning every contribution is accepted, regardless of its randomness, and woven into the story. Improv sparks creativity and spontaneity, and its nonjudgmental tone frees up the introverted or fearful. Because improv tends toward playfulness, it also allows some lightness into the classroom, and to learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Introduce real-life experiences whenever possible.\u003c/strong> What might seem bloodless or irrelevant in the classroom can come alive if students see the subject play out before them. To bring energy to science and math, for example, a teacher might take her class to a Maker Faire, where kids (and sometimes adults) use their imaginations and minds to create new things. Ostroff suggests something as simple as taking a walk in pursuit of objects that can be used to build sculptures; or, if a manufacturer is nearby, asking for their remnants to build machines. Another interesting project for teenagers is building a “\u003ca href=\"http://cubekc.org/\">box city\u003c/a>,” in which students construct their own buildings and work to combine them into a model city. Done right, the box city will take into account economics, geography, history and culture, and give children hands-on experience with design and urban planning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Encourage doodling\u003c/strong>. Drawing pictures or coloring while listening is both common and useful: it enables the \u003ca href=\"http://www.proquest.com/blog/pqblog/2015/K122015-Current-Research-Supports-Doodling-.html\">doodler\u003c/a> to stay focused and heightens intellectual arousal. Teachers can capitalize on that benefit by including doodling in class work. For example, students can be given notebooks to doodle in when listening, and asked to do a “doodle content analysis” of their scribbles. As well, teachers might ask students to select one or more drawings to modify for an art project, or to combine several doodles into a mural. The point is to be mindful of the value of doodling—how it enhances imagination and improves focus—and to invite students to continue the practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Imagine a classroom “creative council.” \u003c/strong>The council is an imaginary body of visionaries and experts that the students could “create” and then look to for answers to problems. A teacher might ask students to recommend people from the past or present who could “sit” on this council and serve as sources of wisdom. Ostroff writes, “We can tap into their knowledge virtually, by imagining and researching their potential responses and actions.” If students selected Marie Curie, for example, they would speculate about how she would respond to a particular issue. How would she approach the problem? What would she say we’re forgetting? This kind of made-up collective compels students to better understand how another thinks and even provides a kind of “imaginary mentorship.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lighten up.\u003c/strong> “The message kids are getting in school is that learning isn’t fun,” Ostroff said. High school kids especially, who are reminded regularly to get serious about their studies, lose their sense of playfulness and replace it with a grim determination to do well. For their part, teachers feel the weight of lesson plans and standardized testing, all of it compressed into shorter days. Ostroff appreciates the challenge for students and teachers who are caught up in an efficiency model of education. By relaxing lesson plans, trying improv and giving students more voice in their education, teachers can shed some of the burden and restore the joy in learning.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "As kids get older, the activities that cultivate imagination often get sidelined by the demands of academics. Professor Wendy Ostroff explains why imagination is so important and has suggestions for bringing back the spark.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Celebrated American author \u003ca href=\"http://www.ursulakleguin.com/\">Ursula K. Le Guin\u003c/a> -- dubbed by the Library of Congress in 2000 as a “living legend” for her contributions to science fiction, who died in January at the age of 88 -- had strong feelings about the imagination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In America the imagination is generally looked on as something that might be useful when the TV is out of order,” she \u003ca href=\"https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/04/13/ursula-k-le-guin-operating-instructions-words-are-my-matter/\">wrote\u003c/a> in \u003cem>Words Are My Matter\u003c/em>. But the ability to imagine is what drives all creativity, enables clear thinking and inspires a sense of humanity. “I think the imagination is the single most useful tool mankind possesses,” she wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Imaginative play comes naturally to children, but it’s a habit of mind that needs to be taught and reinforced throughout life: “Young human beings need exercises in imagination as they need exercise in all the basic skills of life, bodily and mental: for growth, for health, for competence, for joy,\" Le Guin wrote. \"This need continues as long as the mind is alive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Imagination might be vital to a clear mind, but it’s not something that’s widely taught or understood, especially among older students. In a 2007 study of prospective teachers, 68 percent \u003ca href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1871187108000266\">said\u003c/a> they believed students needed to focus on memorizing the right answer rather than thinking imaginatively. In his improbably popular TED talk on creativity and schools, Sir Ken Robinson \u003ca href=\"https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity/transcript?language=en\">said\u003c/a> that humans are born with creativity and “we get educated out of it.” Jenny Smith, who graduated from Millburn High School in 2013, said that her secondary school focused singularly on academic benchmarks. “No one really cared about trying to develop our imaginations,” she said. “There was a curriculum, and they stuck to it.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researcher \u003ca href=\"http://www.ascd.org/Publications/Books/Overview/Cultivating-Curiosity-in-K-12-Classrooms.aspx\">Wendy Ostroff\u003c/a>, author of \u003cem>Cultivating Curiosity in K-12 Classrooms\u003c/em>, is a student of imagination and curiosity. Like Robinson, Ostroff believes many schools are set up in such a way as to wring out kids’ natural imaginativeness. “School is very oriented towards concepts,” she said, with walls between the creative classes like art and drama and “real” subjects where students have to perform. Lacking flexibility and time, teachers are required to hit “learning outcomes” and hew closely to lesson plans. Students respond by trying to please the teacher and get A’s, often losing any intrinsic interest in the subject along the way. “This is the opposite of imagination and creativity,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because imaginative thinking hones creativity and improves students’ social and emotional skills, it’s something that teachers and schools should fold into their planning. Ostroff identified several strategies teachers can adopt to encourage older students to activate their dormant imaginations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Give students more control\u003c/strong>. Loosening the classroom structure and allowing students more power over their work can activate their curiosity. Ostroff encourages teachers to “flip the system,” so that students understand that the learning is for them, and not the teachers. As a practical matter, this might mean assigning essays and allowing the students to determine their length, or telling kids to turn the papers in when they’re done rather than on a particular day, or simply offering a free-write period, where students write what they please for their eyes only. Teachers also can invite students to decide for themselves how a paper or assignment is assessed, and to encourage kids to reflect on and evaluate their own work. “They start to crack open when they feel like they’re in charge,” Ostroff said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Have students track their Google searches.\u003c/strong> Internet search engines can seem to provide all the answers, blocking students from thinking expansively. For Ostroff, “Google is the beginning of the learning, not the end.” She recommends the following assignment: Ask students to Google something that they find intensely interesting. Then, suggest that they click the hyperlink that’s most appealing, and then the one after that. They should keep track of what interested them in each link, so they develop an awareness of their own process. A student might start by searching “Mayans,” then move to “jewelry they wore,” then “precious metals,” then to “mining.” The point is to understand that learning is not simply finding an answer; it’s going deeper to figure out the next question. The first Google search should be the start of a larger inquiry. “Learning is about letting yourself get carried away,” Ostroff said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tell collaborative stories\u003c/strong>. Reading and telling stories is an effective way to learn. To spark imagination, the teacher might start by writing the first few lines of a story or poem on a piece of paper. She then passes the paper to a student, who adds more to the story. Every student receives the paper in turn, but reads only the written contribution of the student before her. (The paper should be folded to conceal all but the most recent addition.) This kind of impromptu storytelling, with its unpredictable outcome, keeps students engaged and thinking creatively.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Try improv\u003c/strong>. Once the domain of jazz musicians and comedians, improvisation has found its way into businesses and \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/01/30/how-improv-can-open-up-the-mind-to-learning-in-the-classroom-and-beyond/\">schools\u003c/a>. Improv is the practice of telling stories, or playing music, without scripts. One person begins the story with a few lines, and turns to the person next to her to continue it, and so on, until everyone in the group has contributed. The inviolate rule of improv is “yes, and”—meaning every contribution is accepted, regardless of its randomness, and woven into the story. Improv sparks creativity and spontaneity, and its nonjudgmental tone frees up the introverted or fearful. Because improv tends toward playfulness, it also allows some lightness into the classroom, and to learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Introduce real-life experiences whenever possible.\u003c/strong> What might seem bloodless or irrelevant in the classroom can come alive if students see the subject play out before them. To bring energy to science and math, for example, a teacher might take her class to a Maker Faire, where kids (and sometimes adults) use their imaginations and minds to create new things. Ostroff suggests something as simple as taking a walk in pursuit of objects that can be used to build sculptures; or, if a manufacturer is nearby, asking for their remnants to build machines. Another interesting project for teenagers is building a “\u003ca href=\"http://cubekc.org/\">box city\u003c/a>,” in which students construct their own buildings and work to combine them into a model city. Done right, the box city will take into account economics, geography, history and culture, and give children hands-on experience with design and urban planning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Encourage doodling\u003c/strong>. Drawing pictures or coloring while listening is both common and useful: it enables the \u003ca href=\"http://www.proquest.com/blog/pqblog/2015/K122015-Current-Research-Supports-Doodling-.html\">doodler\u003c/a> to stay focused and heightens intellectual arousal. Teachers can capitalize on that benefit by including doodling in class work. For example, students can be given notebooks to doodle in when listening, and asked to do a “doodle content analysis” of their scribbles. As well, teachers might ask students to select one or more drawings to modify for an art project, or to combine several doodles into a mural. The point is to be mindful of the value of doodling—how it enhances imagination and improves focus—and to invite students to continue the practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Imagine a classroom “creative council.” \u003c/strong>The council is an imaginary body of visionaries and experts that the students could “create” and then look to for answers to problems. A teacher might ask students to recommend people from the past or present who could “sit” on this council and serve as sources of wisdom. Ostroff writes, “We can tap into their knowledge virtually, by imagining and researching their potential responses and actions.” If students selected Marie Curie, for example, they would speculate about how she would respond to a particular issue. How would she approach the problem? What would she say we’re forgetting? This kind of made-up collective compels students to better understand how another thinks and even provides a kind of “imaginary mentorship.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lighten up.\u003c/strong> “The message kids are getting in school is that learning isn’t fun,” Ostroff said. High school kids especially, who are reminded regularly to get serious about their studies, lose their sense of playfulness and replace it with a grim determination to do well. For their part, teachers feel the weight of lesson plans and standardized testing, all of it compressed into shorter days. Ostroff appreciates the challenge for students and teachers who are caught up in an efficiency model of education. By relaxing lesson plans, trying improv and giving students more voice in their education, teachers can shed some of the burden and restore the joy in learning.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Tips And Tricks To Keep Kids On Track During Genius Hour Projects",
"title": "Tips And Tricks To Keep Kids On Track During Genius Hour Projects",
"headTitle": "MindShift | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cp>When \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/BusEdCrev?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sean Crevier\u003c/a> accidentally wandered into the room where educators at a Milwaukee Edcamp were discussing 20 percent time projects, also known as \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/tag/genius-hour/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Genius Hour\u003c/a>, he stayed only out of politeness. He had no idea the stories colleagues shared there would change how he teaches. For the past six years, Crevier has been letting his students choose and drive the learning involved in these projects. And he has honed some systems and tools to help kids find success with a style of learning that is often quite different from their previous experiences of school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"You are going to have to sell it to your kids because for a lot of kids coming in, sitting down, taking notes and regurgitating is a lot easier,” Crevier told educators at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.iste.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">International Society for Technology in Education conference\u003c/a>. And, he points out, this attitude from students is understandable; it’s the path of least resistance. But he still thinks it’s worth carving out the time in a busy school year to do \u003ca href=\"http://www.20timeineducation.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">20 percent time projects\u003c/a> because of the life skills he has watched students develop along the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I'm a fixer,” Crevier admitted. He often finds himself helping too much, too eager to share all the resources and knowledge he’s already acquired. “And I think as teachers we are naturally fixers. But I think we don't always have to give them the answers for them to have those amazing experiences.\" He’s trying to remember to take a step back, to let kids try some solutions on their own first, and to step in only at the last possible moment. He’s all to aware how easy it is to let kids slide back into dependency on the teacher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>DEFINING THE PROBLEM\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crevier breaks this project into three parts: the problem, the solution, and the product. By far the most important step to ensure these projects go smoothly, in his experience, is the problem definition phase. He doesn’t allow students to do the project in groups, although he knows of other teachers that do, because he wants them to dig into something for which they truly have a passion. He worries that in a group students will compromise, lowering investment in the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As students work to define the problem they want to investigate, Crevier’s only requirement is that it connect to accounting and that it be something the student could feasibly accomplish within the 10-week time frame he has allotted. He usually gives them this project several weeks into the second semester, and he allocates a 50-minute period every Wednesday to in-class work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_49186\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-49186\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2017/09/Student-Brainstorming-1020x765.jpg\" alt=\"Crevier's students brainstorm ideas for their projects.\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2017/09/Student-Brainstorming-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2017/09/Student-Brainstorming-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2017/09/Student-Brainstorming-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2017/09/Student-Brainstorming-768x576.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2017/09/Student-Brainstorming-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2017/09/Student-Brainstorming-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2017/09/Student-Brainstorming-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2017/09/Student-Brainstorming-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2017/09/Student-Brainstorming-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crevier's students brainstorm ideas for their projects. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Sean Crevier)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Crevier has designed some \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XRlKaUXYnQ5jCvg2aneAAzSFT6SbFec9kT1g1pBqRPM/edit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tools to help students brainstorm ideas\u003c/a> and to help them realistically scope a project that will fit into the 10-week schedule. He mostly does this by holding individual conversations with students about the problem they want to tackle, helping them to shape it, make it more specific, and at times narrow the scope. Before they begin researching, he also makes them backwards-plan the 10-week cycle starting from a clearly defined end product. They have to map out what must happen each class period before that end goal, with deliverables for each day of work. If they reach the first class period and there’s clearly too much work left over, they have to rethink their project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"That's my favorite skill that they learn because I know they walk out of here with the ability to create, schedule and manage their own projects,” Crevier said. And, often students haven’t had many opportunities to practice this type of intentional planning because the teacher has done this work ahead of time, defining deadlines, deliverables and rubrics. One of Crevier’s favorite things about 20 percent time is that students do that work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/xupHuEk8p7g\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>STAYING ORGANIZED\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crevier quickly learned that even when students have clearly defined problems and end products in mind, it’s easy to get off track when searching for digital resources. He helps students stay on task with a \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RedaUvSwV07FFxyj-7l8R6y2hjtwswSXbeufmP83yZ4/edit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">project tracker\u003c/a>, a simple Google spreadsheet he developed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students write the objective for the day in the first box, and then at three times during the class period a timer goes off, telling students to fill in the next box with what they accomplished during that third of the period. Crevier likes to link this system to the business world through the idea of “billable hours.” At the end of class, there’s a box for “pre-work” needed to successfully stay on schedule for the next class period. That “pre-work” is homework before the next Wednesday in-class work period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He has also built in reflection after each 20 percent work period with a Google Form he calls the “\u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1GhBuGByN-t00uFrTwzYbSPQFs5di04SnNEB6xZi-brk/viewform?edit_requested=true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">3 N’s\u003c/a>.” Students have to answer three simple questions:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>What do you need from me (the teacher)?\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>What’s your newest knowledge?\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>What would you never do again?\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Crevier has found that requiring regular reflection as part of the process helps students recognize the process skills they are learning. Crevier values the process as much as the product, but wants students to see their growth along the way as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crevier has also found that while students research things online all the time, they don’t always have good systems to stay organized for a long project that may morph along the way. To help scaffold the process, he gives students a \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RZ3wzsXB3ZDiYWDCe7Vsw0H4AarIXBjbNoh4e2Neag4/edit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Doc for research\u003c/a>, shows them how to use the “Explore” function, and demonstrates how Google will automatically generate footnotes for them. This saves kids a lot of time going back to find resources when compiling their bibliographies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ASSESSMENT\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the goals of “Genius Hour” projects is to give students more independence in their learning. Crevier believes that should extend to assessment or else the whole endeavor rings false. So, he works with students to co-generate the grading rubric depending on the essential deliverables of their project. Crevier uses \u003ca href=\"http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">RubiStar\u003c/a> to create these rubrics, although there are other digital rubric generators that work as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"My main focus through all of it is that it's about the journey,” Crevier said. “They may end in a totally different place than they said they would.” That’s why half of students’ final grades on the project comes from the process -- the reflections, problem-solving and revelations that come up along the way. Crevier has found that if the process isn’t the number one target, then the content never gets as deep as he’d like.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although students push back against this assignment at first, finding it confusing and challenging compared to the direct instruction they’re used to receiving in Crevier’s class, he has found that with scaffolding they do get better at managing their time, staying on task, and ultimately creating \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQcLMymgwdNwOHYUop1UDpaXF2f11vWSgfuFZhvXVEy70xOLubgZZiQ7msEqLz5khMBkhjaJ-2E7moB/pub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">interesting solutions and products to real problems\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of his students was undocumented and found the college application and scholarship process daunting because of her legal status. Her passion project was to create a web resource for other students in a similar situation, complete with scholarship resources, calculations for the cost of private school loans, and breakdowns on the benefits of spending the first few years of college at a less expensive community college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crevier has no doubt that the class time he has carved out for these projects is well spent and he encourages hesitant educators to dive in, even if letting go of control is scary at first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"If you are going to ask your kids to stumble through a learning process and fail, then you have to be willing to do it, too,” Crevier said. As so often happens, asking students to take initiative, to learn from missteps, and to become more independent starts with modeling from the teacher. Crevier readily admits he has spent the last six years learning what not to do, but along the way he has connected with students, watched them thrive, and has gotten re-energized about what’s possible in his classroom.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/BusEdCrev?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sean Crevier\u003c/a> accidentally wandered into the room where educators at a Milwaukee Edcamp were discussing 20 percent time projects, also known as \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/tag/genius-hour/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Genius Hour\u003c/a>, he stayed only out of politeness. He had no idea the stories colleagues shared there would change how he teaches. For the past six years, Crevier has been letting his students choose and drive the learning involved in these projects. And he has honed some systems and tools to help kids find success with a style of learning that is often quite different from their previous experiences of school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"You are going to have to sell it to your kids because for a lot of kids coming in, sitting down, taking notes and regurgitating is a lot easier,” Crevier told educators at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.iste.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">International Society for Technology in Education conference\u003c/a>. And, he points out, this attitude from students is understandable; it’s the path of least resistance. But he still thinks it’s worth carving out the time in a busy school year to do \u003ca href=\"http://www.20timeineducation.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">20 percent time projects\u003c/a> because of the life skills he has watched students develop along the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I'm a fixer,” Crevier admitted. He often finds himself helping too much, too eager to share all the resources and knowledge he’s already acquired. “And I think as teachers we are naturally fixers. But I think we don't always have to give them the answers for them to have those amazing experiences.\" He’s trying to remember to take a step back, to let kids try some solutions on their own first, and to step in only at the last possible moment. He’s all to aware how easy it is to let kids slide back into dependency on the teacher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>DEFINING THE PROBLEM\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crevier breaks this project into three parts: the problem, the solution, and the product. By far the most important step to ensure these projects go smoothly, in his experience, is the problem definition phase. He doesn’t allow students to do the project in groups, although he knows of other teachers that do, because he wants them to dig into something for which they truly have a passion. He worries that in a group students will compromise, lowering investment in the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As students work to define the problem they want to investigate, Crevier’s only requirement is that it connect to accounting and that it be something the student could feasibly accomplish within the 10-week time frame he has allotted. He usually gives them this project several weeks into the second semester, and he allocates a 50-minute period every Wednesday to in-class work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_49186\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-49186\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2017/09/Student-Brainstorming-1020x765.jpg\" alt=\"Crevier's students brainstorm ideas for their projects.\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2017/09/Student-Brainstorming-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2017/09/Student-Brainstorming-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2017/09/Student-Brainstorming-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2017/09/Student-Brainstorming-768x576.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2017/09/Student-Brainstorming-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2017/09/Student-Brainstorming-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2017/09/Student-Brainstorming-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2017/09/Student-Brainstorming-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2017/09/Student-Brainstorming-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crevier's students brainstorm ideas for their projects. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Sean Crevier)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Crevier has designed some \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XRlKaUXYnQ5jCvg2aneAAzSFT6SbFec9kT1g1pBqRPM/edit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tools to help students brainstorm ideas\u003c/a> and to help them realistically scope a project that will fit into the 10-week schedule. He mostly does this by holding individual conversations with students about the problem they want to tackle, helping them to shape it, make it more specific, and at times narrow the scope. Before they begin researching, he also makes them backwards-plan the 10-week cycle starting from a clearly defined end product. They have to map out what must happen each class period before that end goal, with deliverables for each day of work. If they reach the first class period and there’s clearly too much work left over, they have to rethink their project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"That's my favorite skill that they learn because I know they walk out of here with the ability to create, schedule and manage their own projects,” Crevier said. And, often students haven’t had many opportunities to practice this type of intentional planning because the teacher has done this work ahead of time, defining deadlines, deliverables and rubrics. One of Crevier’s favorite things about 20 percent time is that students do that work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/xupHuEk8p7g\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>STAYING ORGANIZED\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crevier quickly learned that even when students have clearly defined problems and end products in mind, it’s easy to get off track when searching for digital resources. He helps students stay on task with a \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RedaUvSwV07FFxyj-7l8R6y2hjtwswSXbeufmP83yZ4/edit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">project tracker\u003c/a>, a simple Google spreadsheet he developed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students write the objective for the day in the first box, and then at three times during the class period a timer goes off, telling students to fill in the next box with what they accomplished during that third of the period. Crevier likes to link this system to the business world through the idea of “billable hours.” At the end of class, there’s a box for “pre-work” needed to successfully stay on schedule for the next class period. That “pre-work” is homework before the next Wednesday in-class work period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He has also built in reflection after each 20 percent work period with a Google Form he calls the “\u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1GhBuGByN-t00uFrTwzYbSPQFs5di04SnNEB6xZi-brk/viewform?edit_requested=true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">3 N’s\u003c/a>.” Students have to answer three simple questions:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>What do you need from me (the teacher)?\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>What’s your newest knowledge?\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>What would you never do again?\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Crevier has found that requiring regular reflection as part of the process helps students recognize the process skills they are learning. Crevier values the process as much as the product, but wants students to see their growth along the way as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crevier has also found that while students research things online all the time, they don’t always have good systems to stay organized for a long project that may morph along the way. To help scaffold the process, he gives students a \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RZ3wzsXB3ZDiYWDCe7Vsw0H4AarIXBjbNoh4e2Neag4/edit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Doc for research\u003c/a>, shows them how to use the “Explore” function, and demonstrates how Google will automatically generate footnotes for them. This saves kids a lot of time going back to find resources when compiling their bibliographies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ASSESSMENT\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the goals of “Genius Hour” projects is to give students more independence in their learning. Crevier believes that should extend to assessment or else the whole endeavor rings false. So, he works with students to co-generate the grading rubric depending on the essential deliverables of their project. Crevier uses \u003ca href=\"http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">RubiStar\u003c/a> to create these rubrics, although there are other digital rubric generators that work as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"My main focus through all of it is that it's about the journey,” Crevier said. “They may end in a totally different place than they said they would.” That’s why half of students’ final grades on the project comes from the process -- the reflections, problem-solving and revelations that come up along the way. Crevier has found that if the process isn’t the number one target, then the content never gets as deep as he’d like.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although students push back against this assignment at first, finding it confusing and challenging compared to the direct instruction they’re used to receiving in Crevier’s class, he has found that with scaffolding they do get better at managing their time, staying on task, and ultimately creating \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQcLMymgwdNwOHYUop1UDpaXF2f11vWSgfuFZhvXVEy70xOLubgZZiQ7msEqLz5khMBkhjaJ-2E7moB/pub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">interesting solutions and products to real problems\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of his students was undocumented and found the college application and scholarship process daunting because of her legal status. Her passion project was to create a web resource for other students in a similar situation, complete with scholarship resources, calculations for the cost of private school loans, and breakdowns on the benefits of spending the first few years of college at a less expensive community college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crevier has no doubt that the class time he has carved out for these projects is well spent and he encourages hesitant educators to dive in, even if letting go of control is scary at first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"If you are going to ask your kids to stumble through a learning process and fail, then you have to be willing to do it, too,” Crevier said. As so often happens, asking students to take initiative, to learn from missteps, and to become more independent starts with modeling from the teacher. Crevier readily admits he has spent the last six years learning what not to do, but along the way he has connected with students, watched them thrive, and has gotten re-energized about what’s possible in his classroom.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "How One Teacher Let Go of Control To Focus On Student-Centered Approaches",
"title": "How One Teacher Let Go of Control To Focus On Student-Centered Approaches",
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"content": "\u003cp>When \u003ca href=\"http://mrsrileygandt.weebly.com/\">Kristine Riley\u003c/a> looks back on how she used to teach her students, she sees order and control. Her third, fourth and fifth grade gifted-and-talented classes had been structured and orderly, and students sat in designated seats. She had assigned the same tasks to every student and had hoped for roughly the same answers from all of them. She used to believe that it was her responsibility as a teacher to impart information to her students. Riley had decided what was important and students were expected to learn what they were taught.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Riley is also a conscientious teacher and regularly looks for ways to better herself on behalf of her students in Edison, New Jersey public schools. So after a colleague she admired and teachers she followed on social media began extolling the learning advantages of letting go of control in the classroom, Riley decided to give it a try. “I started out small,” she said. It took about a year, maybe a year and a half, to abandon her top-down approach to teaching and replace it with what she calls “structured chaos.” She shared her findings at a recent \u003ca href=\"http://www.edcampnewjersey.net/\">EdCamp\u003c/a> gathering in New Jersey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/MrsRileyGandT/status/799969366687289344\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the beginning, it was uncomfortable,” Riley said. She had to let go of her micro-managing mentality and embrace the notion that the students needed to drive their learning—which meant less of her standing at the front of the classroom. But over time, she came up with a range of classroom strategies that put students squarely in charge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GIVING STUDENTS CHOICE\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Student choice is central to her methods. When she assigns projects, Riley now offers options for students to choose from. Some assignments will include “menus” of questions, for example, that ask students to pick what intrigues them from the “breakfast,” “lunch” and “dinner” selections—with a “dessert” choice for those hungry to learn more. In a third grade science unit on oil spills, to name another, Riley proposed different ways to explore the problem, including researching the Keystone XL pipeline and studying cruise ship pollution. Students could then pick an assignment that suited their personal inclination: they could write a song, create a commercial or build a website to share what they learned. Along with choice of subjects, students also have freedom to move at their own pace. And with their teacher’s input, students set their own goals, reflect on their work and assess themselves. What’s not allowed in class? Students are prohibited from declaring “I’m done.” Instead, Riley invites students to ask themselves new questions, like “How can I make this better?” or “What else can I add?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rather than have Riley assign seats, students now choose their own work place: a standing desk, an overturned crate or a spot next to the windowsill. Students are free to move around within the room, from one station to another; they’re not expected to sit still for the duration of class. Riley encourages them to find a place and get comfortable—ideally, where they will feel engaged and productive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/MrsRileyGandT/status/788415284675768321\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And as a way to underscore the confidence she places on the students to direct their own learning, the children are free to select their work partners. “This was the most scary for me,” Riley said. To prevent children from picking their best friends or ostracizing anyone, she guided the children in creating norms on how to select a work partner. The model they devised was simple: work together, not against each other; compromise; split tasks fairly. Again, Riley encourages the kids to think of their partner as someone with whom they could work successfully—not just a friend, or someone with identical skills, but a fellow student who would contribute to the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>TOO MUCH FREEDOM?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Does such freedom of choice deter young students from pursuing unfamiliar subjects? Will inviting children to present their work in the way that best suits their interests discourage them from taking risks? Riley says no. “I encourage them to try something different,” she said. She is clear about letting students know that she doesn’t want the same old thing, just repurposed, every time they turn in an assignment. “I tell them, ’show me that you’re challenging yourself to try something new.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And to counterbalance the self-directed nature of students’ learning, Riley also emphasizes the need for community within the classroom. All students are responsible for clean up and each week Riley picks one empowering quote from the many that students have submitted for consideration. Riley posts the quote at the front of the class and students then strive to live by the saying—for example, “Be yourself, because everybody else is already taken.” At the end of the week, students decide who best embodied the quote, and that student then gets to “keep” the quote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Riley’s students prefer the new classroom environment, she said. “They enjoy what’s going on in the class so much more,” she said. Academically, the kids dive deeper when they determine where they’re headed. When Riley introduced programmable robots to the students, for example, each work group sought to develop a different robot capability. And while some groups followed Riley’s instructions on programming, others turned to online tutorials to learn more. “They’re embracing it and running with it,” Riley said about her spirited classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents seem to love what’s happening in her classroom, Riley said, in part because their excited children tinker with school projects at home. School officials also support her new approach. “My supervisor encourages me to try different things, and is very supportive of all that’s going on,” she said—so much so that he is trying to push the rest of the school to adopt this mindset. Riley is convinced that these student-centered methods can apply as well in general education classes as in gifted and talented programs. What has changed for her, as she has let go of control in her classes? “Every day, they continue to surprise me,” Riley said. “They blow my mind.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When \u003ca href=\"http://mrsrileygandt.weebly.com/\">Kristine Riley\u003c/a> looks back on how she used to teach her students, she sees order and control. Her third, fourth and fifth grade gifted-and-talented classes had been structured and orderly, and students sat in designated seats. She had assigned the same tasks to every student and had hoped for roughly the same answers from all of them. She used to believe that it was her responsibility as a teacher to impart information to her students. Riley had decided what was important and students were expected to learn what they were taught.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Riley is also a conscientious teacher and regularly looks for ways to better herself on behalf of her students in Edison, New Jersey public schools. So after a colleague she admired and teachers she followed on social media began extolling the learning advantages of letting go of control in the classroom, Riley decided to give it a try. “I started out small,” she said. It took about a year, maybe a year and a half, to abandon her top-down approach to teaching and replace it with what she calls “structured chaos.” She shared her findings at a recent \u003ca href=\"http://www.edcampnewjersey.net/\">EdCamp\u003c/a> gathering in New Jersey.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>“In the beginning, it was uncomfortable,” Riley said. She had to let go of her micro-managing mentality and embrace the notion that the students needed to drive their learning—which meant less of her standing at the front of the classroom. But over time, she came up with a range of classroom strategies that put students squarely in charge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GIVING STUDENTS CHOICE\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Student choice is central to her methods. When she assigns projects, Riley now offers options for students to choose from. Some assignments will include “menus” of questions, for example, that ask students to pick what intrigues them from the “breakfast,” “lunch” and “dinner” selections—with a “dessert” choice for those hungry to learn more. In a third grade science unit on oil spills, to name another, Riley proposed different ways to explore the problem, including researching the Keystone XL pipeline and studying cruise ship pollution. Students could then pick an assignment that suited their personal inclination: they could write a song, create a commercial or build a website to share what they learned. Along with choice of subjects, students also have freedom to move at their own pace. And with their teacher’s input, students set their own goals, reflect on their work and assess themselves. What’s not allowed in class? Students are prohibited from declaring “I’m done.” Instead, Riley invites students to ask themselves new questions, like “How can I make this better?” or “What else can I add?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rather than have Riley assign seats, students now choose their own work place: a standing desk, an overturned crate or a spot next to the windowsill. Students are free to move around within the room, from one station to another; they’re not expected to sit still for the duration of class. Riley encourages them to find a place and get comfortable—ideally, where they will feel engaged and productive.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>And as a way to underscore the confidence she places on the students to direct their own learning, the children are free to select their work partners. “This was the most scary for me,” Riley said. To prevent children from picking their best friends or ostracizing anyone, she guided the children in creating norms on how to select a work partner. The model they devised was simple: work together, not against each other; compromise; split tasks fairly. Again, Riley encourages the kids to think of their partner as someone with whom they could work successfully—not just a friend, or someone with identical skills, but a fellow student who would contribute to the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>TOO MUCH FREEDOM?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Does such freedom of choice deter young students from pursuing unfamiliar subjects? Will inviting children to present their work in the way that best suits their interests discourage them from taking risks? Riley says no. “I encourage them to try something different,” she said. She is clear about letting students know that she doesn’t want the same old thing, just repurposed, every time they turn in an assignment. “I tell them, ’show me that you’re challenging yourself to try something new.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And to counterbalance the self-directed nature of students’ learning, Riley also emphasizes the need for community within the classroom. All students are responsible for clean up and each week Riley picks one empowering quote from the many that students have submitted for consideration. Riley posts the quote at the front of the class and students then strive to live by the saying—for example, “Be yourself, because everybody else is already taken.” At the end of the week, students decide who best embodied the quote, and that student then gets to “keep” the quote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Riley’s students prefer the new classroom environment, she said. “They enjoy what’s going on in the class so much more,” she said. Academically, the kids dive deeper when they determine where they’re headed. When Riley introduced programmable robots to the students, for example, each work group sought to develop a different robot capability. And while some groups followed Riley’s instructions on programming, others turned to online tutorials to learn more. “They’re embracing it and running with it,” Riley said about her spirited classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents seem to love what’s happening in her classroom, Riley said, in part because their excited children tinker with school projects at home. School officials also support her new approach. “My supervisor encourages me to try different things, and is very supportive of all that’s going on,” she said—so much so that he is trying to push the rest of the school to adopt this mindset. Riley is convinced that these student-centered methods can apply as well in general education classes as in gifted and talented programs. What has changed for her, as she has let go of control in her classes? “Every day, they continue to surprise me,” Riley said. “They blow my mind.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Time and again both research and anecdotal stories from impactful teachers show that trust and respect are crucial ingredients to high functioning classrooms. But reaching that level of deep understanding with a diverse group of learners requires more than acting professionally or expertise in academic content. Often the disconnect between a teacher’s culture and his or her students’ culture unintentionally creates a divide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his new book \u003ca href=\"http://www.beacon.org/For-White-Folks-Who-Teach-in-the-Hoodand-the-Rest-of-Yall-Too-P1187.aspx\">\u003cem>For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood: and the Rest of Y’all Too\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, Dr. Christopher Emdin writes that when teachers adopt \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/04/18/what-teachers-can-gain-when-students-design-the-lessons/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">what he calls “reality pedagogy” \u003c/a>they can bridge the gap between themselves and their students and reach deeper levels of content learning. Teaching with reality pedagogy means, in part, opening up space for, and actively valuing, students’ expertise on their own lives, communities and ways of learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emdin acknowledges these practices can be difficult for teachers schooled in a more traditional approach to education, but his work as a professor at \u003ca href=\"http://www.tc.columbia.edu/faculty/ce2165/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Teachers College, Columbia University\u003c/a> has convinced him that teachers from all backgrounds are capable of using this approach effectively. He not only uses the practices with his own graduate students, but he has watched them go out into classrooms around the country and do the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/bIgAEqG_UwY\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GIVING STUDENTS A MEANINGFUL VOICE\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>George Sirrakos’ first teaching experience was in the Bronx, and although he grew up in New York City, he had rarely been to the neighborhoods his students called home. As a white, male teacher, his experience growing up as a New Yorker did not mirror those of his students, and he wanted to try out some of the reality pedagogy techniques he learned in Dr. Emdin’s class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sirrakos said he first tried a core practice Emdin calls “co-generative dialogue,” where teachers select students who represent a variety of classroom experiences to give feedback on the class. The teacher actively listens and solicits solutions students believe would help them. Sirrakos said when he first tried this, students just complained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a new teacher, I was spending a lot of time on my lesson plans, so when you think you’re spinning this brilliance to students and then they spend an hour telling you why this class sucks so much, it’s kind of eye opening,” Sirrakos said. Naturally, he immediately felt defensive, but he worked hard to hold those feelings at bay and focused on listening to what the students were saying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, Sirrakos had spent a lot of time and his own money to decorate his science classroom with posters and quotes he hoped would inspire his science students. In a dialogue, one student told him that his class environment was boring. Sirrakos was confused and pointed out all the decorations on the walls meant to liven up the room. His students explained those images represented him, not them. Sirrakos was still confused, but he asked his students to help him fix the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students started bringing in their own posters, including things they made. The one rule was it had to be related to science in some way. Immediately students were more cheerful. “They have to be part of the solution,” Sirrakos said. “That’s where we talk about having these co-generative plans of action.” In this example, the solution didn’t require a big shift, it only required that Sirrakos recognize he wasn’t achieving the result he thought he was, and be open to students’ owning their classroom space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his first two years of teaching, Sirrakos felt like he was being pulled in two directions. His first year went fairly well, although he realized he was using a hyper-standardized way of teaching with lots of rote memorization. Students took to it well because they were used to that approach. But as he gradually began using more reality pedagogy, he noticed students were more involved in their learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a big shift when he really started to believe that, “whatever the students are telling me does have some value,” Sirrakos said. “I still position myself as the expert when it comes to pedagogy and learning, but I don’t position myself as the sole holder of that knowledge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Practically, this means Sirrakos continues to do co-generative dialogues to get student input and then acts on the feedback he receives. He lets them choose how they will display their knowledge, not always insisting on a standardized assignment. He encourages student questions, even if they take the conversation beyond the curriculum. And, he admits to students when he’s not an expert.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trained as a biologist, Sirrakos has less depth of knowledge about physics. So, when students asked questions that were beyond his knowledge he told them he didn’t know and encouraged them to try to find the answers on their own and report back. He’d give them extra credit when they did their own research to answer student-posed questions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The core part of this approach has little to do with how teachers invite students to participate in creating the class -- co-generative dialogues are just one way -- but giving students authentic voice matters. When teachers insist that class be structured one way, with a single measure of success, and materials created from one point of view, it doesn’t feel designed for the students themselves. Listening to their input, acting on it, and valuing who they are and what they bring to the classroom without preconceived notions about their identities is a core part of implementing this approach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/YQrj4NPefd8\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\nLETTING STUDENTS TAKE THE LEAD\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another core strategy Emdin discusses in his book is co-teaching, in which teachers ask students to master material and teach it to their peers. In his book Emdin writes, “the fundamental principle of co-teaching in reality pedagogy is that the neoindigenous student is the expert on the best way to deliver information to others who are part of their culture.” This is true any time the teacher’s culture is not the same as their students, regardless of race and class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emdin writes about the disconnect he felt from his mostly white Ivy-league graduate students. They didn’t connect to his style of teaching, but when he let them teach each other parts of the curriculum they responded much better. It’s important to note that when Emdin watched students teach, he felt the pace was too slow and that it wasn’t how he would teach, but that didn’t make it wrong. The other students in the class responded very positively to these experiences because the teaching was of their culture. And Emdin learned some things he could use to reach his students better.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sirrakos has had success using co-teaching methods with both his Bronx students and students an an elite international school in Germany, although he says it requires more time and effort. Students aren’t teachers, even though they often communicate with one another more clearly than their teacher can. When asking students to design and give a lesson, the teacher has to be prepared to give them plenty of time to master the content, and provide support with materials and lesson formats. Sirrakos found it was important to share with students that he wanted to learn from their styles of teaching.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I learned was having students undergo that iterative process, they were able to function as ambassadors for future students,” Sirrakos said. This was a side benefit because it empowered students to play an even more invested role in the culture and function of the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sirrakos remembers one student teaching a lesson about the process of photosynthesis, which involves chloroplast and chlorophyll within the plant cell. The student put up a picture of a Twinkie. He asked his classmates what was on the outside of a Twinkie; they answered, a plastic wrapper. Good, he said, so you’re going to remember that chloro-\"plast,” like plastic, is on the outside. Then he asked what was on the inside of a Twinkie; creme filling they answered. So chloro-\"phyll,” like filling, is on the inside. Students immediately got it and when they took exams Sirrakos would sometimes notice students writing those analogies in the margin so they could remember.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sirrakos used the analogy with many future classes, although he discovered it didn’t work with his students in Germany who weren’t familiar with Twinkies because they came from a different culture. Sirrakos also learned from his students that his PowerPoints were boring compared to theirs and that his body language and positioning in the classroom was holding him at a distance. He noticed that when students taught, they moved around, joining their peers in the middle of the room, whereas when he was teaching he would often stay at the front.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He began incorporating all these ideas into his own teaching and his students gradually became more engaged with the material and seemed to learn it better too. Interestingly, many of the more progressive teaching practices were already in place at the German international school and Sirrakos unconsciously began teaching more traditionally, perhaps because his students were more affluent and he thought they’d get it on their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But his students started acting out in class and showing other signs of disengagement. Emdin reminded Sirrakos that he was a foreigner in their culture and needed to use the same reality pedagogy strategies to reach these students as he had with the inner city New York City students who had a different culture. This was an important lesson -- the reality of students each year is going to be different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The content may not change, but your ability to make the connections between their realities and the content is going to be different,” Sirrakos said.\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\nHIP HOP AS A TEACHING VEHICLE\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/1-5aQQ5SriE\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wauwatosa is a suburban area outside Milwaukee. And in this environment, high school English teacher Jon Balcerak is having a lot of success teaching hip hop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most teenagers are aware of and often listen to hip hop music. “When I play a song, it’s not like part of the student population gets it and everyone else is wondering what’s this strange music,” Balcerak said. Not only do kids everywhere listen to hip hop, but many are aware of hip hop culture too, including things like ciphers, where lyricists trade off rhyming in a collaborative circle. Balcerak has found there are important lessons about the give and take of ideas, sharing the floor, and listening embedded in a tradition that isn’t part of the culture he grew up in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Balcerak doesn’t infuse hip hop in everything, but he does often hold up a verse or a rhyme as a valuable text to study. For example, when he teaches American literature he inevitably touches on transcendentalism and the writing of white men like Emerson and Thoreau. Alongside those older texts, Balcerak will ask students to examine a hip hop verse to show the ideas are present in pop culture as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very much the object of that lesson, it’s not a bridge to some canonical text,” Balcerak said. He’s found that teaching through hip hop is a good way to open up conversations with students about some of the social justice issues relevant to their lives today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is culture and music and art that kids are already attuned to,” Balcerak said. “You get to meet them where they are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than merely teaching with hip hop, thinking through these ideas has helped Balcerak to open himself up to his students, listen to their suggestions, trust them, and to see respect as a multidimensional gift that goes far beyond mere obedience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The first thing is about creating a culture of respect,” Balcerak said. “You can do that without any hip hop aspects at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, assuming kids like hip hop can actually be the opposite of respectful. George Sirrakos now teaches education at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania and he coaches many teachers. He remembers one well-meaning teacher who assigned students to write a rap about evolution. He was impressed by her alternative assignment and asked her how she had come up with it. She replied that her students were of color so they all liked hip hop music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Sirrakos asked the class whether they liked hip hop, about three quarters said they listened to it and the rest named a variety of other types of music. But the students assumed the teacher had assigned them raps because of who they were.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re not dumb; they can see through the instructors’ attempts,” Sirrakos said. In this case, the teacher made assumptions about her students using her own cultural lens, rather than getting to know her students well enough to be sure of her conclusion.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Time and again both research and anecdotal stories from impactful teachers show that trust and respect are crucial ingredients to high functioning classrooms. But reaching that level of deep understanding with a diverse group of learners requires more than acting professionally or expertise in academic content. Often the disconnect between a teacher’s culture and his or her students’ culture unintentionally creates a divide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his new book \u003ca href=\"http://www.beacon.org/For-White-Folks-Who-Teach-in-the-Hoodand-the-Rest-of-Yall-Too-P1187.aspx\">\u003cem>For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood: and the Rest of Y’all Too\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, Dr. Christopher Emdin writes that when teachers adopt \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/04/18/what-teachers-can-gain-when-students-design-the-lessons/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">what he calls “reality pedagogy” \u003c/a>they can bridge the gap between themselves and their students and reach deeper levels of content learning. Teaching with reality pedagogy means, in part, opening up space for, and actively valuing, students’ expertise on their own lives, communities and ways of learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emdin acknowledges these practices can be difficult for teachers schooled in a more traditional approach to education, but his work as a professor at \u003ca href=\"http://www.tc.columbia.edu/faculty/ce2165/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Teachers College, Columbia University\u003c/a> has convinced him that teachers from all backgrounds are capable of using this approach effectively. He not only uses the practices with his own graduate students, but he has watched them go out into classrooms around the country and do the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/bIgAEqG_UwY\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GIVING STUDENTS A MEANINGFUL VOICE\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>George Sirrakos’ first teaching experience was in the Bronx, and although he grew up in New York City, he had rarely been to the neighborhoods his students called home. As a white, male teacher, his experience growing up as a New Yorker did not mirror those of his students, and he wanted to try out some of the reality pedagogy techniques he learned in Dr. Emdin’s class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sirrakos said he first tried a core practice Emdin calls “co-generative dialogue,” where teachers select students who represent a variety of classroom experiences to give feedback on the class. The teacher actively listens and solicits solutions students believe would help them. Sirrakos said when he first tried this, students just complained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a new teacher, I was spending a lot of time on my lesson plans, so when you think you’re spinning this brilliance to students and then they spend an hour telling you why this class sucks so much, it’s kind of eye opening,” Sirrakos said. Naturally, he immediately felt defensive, but he worked hard to hold those feelings at bay and focused on listening to what the students were saying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, Sirrakos had spent a lot of time and his own money to decorate his science classroom with posters and quotes he hoped would inspire his science students. In a dialogue, one student told him that his class environment was boring. Sirrakos was confused and pointed out all the decorations on the walls meant to liven up the room. His students explained those images represented him, not them. Sirrakos was still confused, but he asked his students to help him fix the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students started bringing in their own posters, including things they made. The one rule was it had to be related to science in some way. Immediately students were more cheerful. “They have to be part of the solution,” Sirrakos said. “That’s where we talk about having these co-generative plans of action.” In this example, the solution didn’t require a big shift, it only required that Sirrakos recognize he wasn’t achieving the result he thought he was, and be open to students’ owning their classroom space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his first two years of teaching, Sirrakos felt like he was being pulled in two directions. His first year went fairly well, although he realized he was using a hyper-standardized way of teaching with lots of rote memorization. Students took to it well because they were used to that approach. But as he gradually began using more reality pedagogy, he noticed students were more involved in their learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a big shift when he really started to believe that, “whatever the students are telling me does have some value,” Sirrakos said. “I still position myself as the expert when it comes to pedagogy and learning, but I don’t position myself as the sole holder of that knowledge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Practically, this means Sirrakos continues to do co-generative dialogues to get student input and then acts on the feedback he receives. He lets them choose how they will display their knowledge, not always insisting on a standardized assignment. He encourages student questions, even if they take the conversation beyond the curriculum. And, he admits to students when he’s not an expert.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trained as a biologist, Sirrakos has less depth of knowledge about physics. So, when students asked questions that were beyond his knowledge he told them he didn’t know and encouraged them to try to find the answers on their own and report back. He’d give them extra credit when they did their own research to answer student-posed questions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The core part of this approach has little to do with how teachers invite students to participate in creating the class -- co-generative dialogues are just one way -- but giving students authentic voice matters. When teachers insist that class be structured one way, with a single measure of success, and materials created from one point of view, it doesn’t feel designed for the students themselves. Listening to their input, acting on it, and valuing who they are and what they bring to the classroom without preconceived notions about their identities is a core part of implementing this approach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/YQrj4NPefd8\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\nLETTING STUDENTS TAKE THE LEAD\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another core strategy Emdin discusses in his book is co-teaching, in which teachers ask students to master material and teach it to their peers. In his book Emdin writes, “the fundamental principle of co-teaching in reality pedagogy is that the neoindigenous student is the expert on the best way to deliver information to others who are part of their culture.” This is true any time the teacher’s culture is not the same as their students, regardless of race and class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emdin writes about the disconnect he felt from his mostly white Ivy-league graduate students. They didn’t connect to his style of teaching, but when he let them teach each other parts of the curriculum they responded much better. It’s important to note that when Emdin watched students teach, he felt the pace was too slow and that it wasn’t how he would teach, but that didn’t make it wrong. The other students in the class responded very positively to these experiences because the teaching was of their culture. And Emdin learned some things he could use to reach his students better.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sirrakos has had success using co-teaching methods with both his Bronx students and students an an elite international school in Germany, although he says it requires more time and effort. Students aren’t teachers, even though they often communicate with one another more clearly than their teacher can. When asking students to design and give a lesson, the teacher has to be prepared to give them plenty of time to master the content, and provide support with materials and lesson formats. Sirrakos found it was important to share with students that he wanted to learn from their styles of teaching.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I learned was having students undergo that iterative process, they were able to function as ambassadors for future students,” Sirrakos said. This was a side benefit because it empowered students to play an even more invested role in the culture and function of the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sirrakos remembers one student teaching a lesson about the process of photosynthesis, which involves chloroplast and chlorophyll within the plant cell. The student put up a picture of a Twinkie. He asked his classmates what was on the outside of a Twinkie; they answered, a plastic wrapper. Good, he said, so you’re going to remember that chloro-\"plast,” like plastic, is on the outside. Then he asked what was on the inside of a Twinkie; creme filling they answered. So chloro-\"phyll,” like filling, is on the inside. Students immediately got it and when they took exams Sirrakos would sometimes notice students writing those analogies in the margin so they could remember.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sirrakos used the analogy with many future classes, although he discovered it didn’t work with his students in Germany who weren’t familiar with Twinkies because they came from a different culture. Sirrakos also learned from his students that his PowerPoints were boring compared to theirs and that his body language and positioning in the classroom was holding him at a distance. He noticed that when students taught, they moved around, joining their peers in the middle of the room, whereas when he was teaching he would often stay at the front.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He began incorporating all these ideas into his own teaching and his students gradually became more engaged with the material and seemed to learn it better too. Interestingly, many of the more progressive teaching practices were already in place at the German international school and Sirrakos unconsciously began teaching more traditionally, perhaps because his students were more affluent and he thought they’d get it on their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But his students started acting out in class and showing other signs of disengagement. Emdin reminded Sirrakos that he was a foreigner in their culture and needed to use the same reality pedagogy strategies to reach these students as he had with the inner city New York City students who had a different culture. This was an important lesson -- the reality of students each year is going to be different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The content may not change, but your ability to make the connections between their realities and the content is going to be different,” Sirrakos said.\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\nHIP HOP AS A TEACHING VEHICLE\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/1-5aQQ5SriE\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wauwatosa is a suburban area outside Milwaukee. And in this environment, high school English teacher Jon Balcerak is having a lot of success teaching hip hop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most teenagers are aware of and often listen to hip hop music. “When I play a song, it’s not like part of the student population gets it and everyone else is wondering what’s this strange music,” Balcerak said. Not only do kids everywhere listen to hip hop, but many are aware of hip hop culture too, including things like ciphers, where lyricists trade off rhyming in a collaborative circle. Balcerak has found there are important lessons about the give and take of ideas, sharing the floor, and listening embedded in a tradition that isn’t part of the culture he grew up in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Balcerak doesn’t infuse hip hop in everything, but he does often hold up a verse or a rhyme as a valuable text to study. For example, when he teaches American literature he inevitably touches on transcendentalism and the writing of white men like Emerson and Thoreau. Alongside those older texts, Balcerak will ask students to examine a hip hop verse to show the ideas are present in pop culture as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very much the object of that lesson, it’s not a bridge to some canonical text,” Balcerak said. He’s found that teaching through hip hop is a good way to open up conversations with students about some of the social justice issues relevant to their lives today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is culture and music and art that kids are already attuned to,” Balcerak said. “You get to meet them where they are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than merely teaching with hip hop, thinking through these ideas has helped Balcerak to open himself up to his students, listen to their suggestions, trust them, and to see respect as a multidimensional gift that goes far beyond mere obedience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The first thing is about creating a culture of respect,” Balcerak said. “You can do that without any hip hop aspects at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, assuming kids like hip hop can actually be the opposite of respectful. George Sirrakos now teaches education at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania and he coaches many teachers. He remembers one well-meaning teacher who assigned students to write a rap about evolution. He was impressed by her alternative assignment and asked her how she had come up with it. She replied that her students were of color so they all liked hip hop music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Sirrakos asked the class whether they liked hip hop, about three quarters said they listened to it and the rest named a variety of other types of music. But the students assumed the teacher had assigned them raps because of who they were.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re not dumb; they can see through the instructors’ attempts,” Sirrakos said. In this case, the teacher made assumptions about her students using her own cultural lens, rather than getting to know her students well enough to be sure of her conclusion.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003cem>Excerpted from \"\u003ca href=\"http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/249126/schools-on-trial-by-nikhil-goyal/\">Schools on Trial: How Creativity and Freedom Can Fix Our Educational Malpractice\u003c/a>\" by Nikhil Goyal.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003cb>Enrolling in the Real World \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Innovative models of education are not just limited to primary and secondary education, they are also scattered throughout higher education. There are a handful of institutions offering their students transformative, purposeful learning experiences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">For instance, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Massachusetts, has a unique approach to engineering education. There are no formal academic departments. Classes are taught in a studio setting, and the curriculum is interdisciplinary and grounded in real-world projects, from designing the AutoFrost automatic cake decorator to devising a weather balloon system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">There’s also Goddard College, a small liberal arts college in Vermont that shares much of its philosophy with one of the pioneers of progressive education, John Dewey. I am currently an undergraduate student there. About six hundred students are enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs in fields like individualized studies, education, creative writing, and fine arts. The cornerstone of the institution is its unique low-residency model, where each semester students participate in an eight-day residency on campus and then spend sixteen weeks off campus working independently on their learning goals with direct communication with faculty members. The learning is based on the student’s individual interests. Evaluations, instead of traditional grades, are given by the faculty. Several other colleges also offer narrative evaluations instead of grades: Evergreen State College in Washington, Hampshire College in Massachusetts, New College of Florida, and Prescott College in Arizona.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003cimg class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-43745\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2016/01/Nikhil-Goyal-by-Alberto-Vargas-e1455693420603.jpg\" alt=\"Nikhil Goyal\" width=\"250\" height=\"297\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">There is no college or university that serves many thousands of students and operates as radically on a large scale as these smaller schools do. There are, however, a few colleges that have started fascinating experiments to tinker with new models of learning. One of these experiments was recently launched at Lehigh University. In 2013, Urban Outfitters cofounder and Lehigh alumnus Scott Belair donated $20 million to the school with the condition that the two former Bethlehem Steel research buildings sitting on South Mountain would be renovated into spaces for invention and learning. After a successful pilot run in the summer of 2013, the program, called the Mountaintop experience, returned the following summer—this time with more than a hundred students who were immersed in several hands-on projects. There was no prescribed curriculum, no credits, grades, or tests. Students worked on documentaries about race and diversity and a Nobel Prize–winning poet, conducted science experiments, and designed things like a new food waste disposal system for the campus and a low-cost hand prosthetic.\u003csup>\u003ca id=\"ref1\" href=\"#fn1\">1\u003c/a>\u003c/sup>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">According to the 2014 National Survey of Student Engagement, only 57 percent of college seniors have taken part in an internship or field experience, 13 percent have studied abroad, and 28 percent have done research with a faculty member.\u003csup>\u003ca id=\"ref2\" href=\"#fn2\">2\u003c/a>\u003c/sup> Those activities often end up being the most rewarding parts of college. Providing such opportunities could also be a brilliant recruitment strategy that most institutions are failing to pursue. At a time when high school students are being constantly pestered by colleges to apply, what better means of standing out from the pack than if a college tells prospective students that it will give them the freedom, time, funding, faculty support, and outside mentorship for them to be involved in some activity, project, or other pursuit of their choosing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/249126/schools-on-trial-by-nikhil-goyal/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-43746\">\u003cimg class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-43746\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2016/01/Schools-on-Trial-e1455693514586.jpg\" alt=\"Schools on Trial\" width=\"250\" height=\"375\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">There are some colleges that give their students a chance to participate in an apprenticeship or cooperative education program. And as we will see shortly, apprenticeships are slowly being rekindled. On its website, the University of Waterloo in Canada claims it has the largest postsecondary co-op program in the world: 19,000 students, more than 60 percent of undergraduate students, are enrolled in a coop over three semesters in 122 programs. Overall, 5,200 employers have hired these students. Students can get up to two full years of work experience while enrolled in college. By the time they graduate, they will have earned on average $37,000 to $78,000.\u003csup>\u003ca id=\"ref3\" href=\"#fn3\">3\u003c/a>\u003c/sup> It’s a win-win for the students and their host companies, who often end up making job offers to the students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">The innovative colleges I’ve mentioned are very similar to one another in that they often have small class sizes, focus on interdisciplinary, seminar, and project-based classes, offer close contact between professors and students, and provide opportunities for students to do apprenticeships, real-world projects, or research for credit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003cem>Nikhil Goyal is a journalist and author of \u003ca href=\"http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/249126/schools-on-trial-by-nikhil-goyal/\">\"Schools on Trial: How Freedom and Creativity Can Fix Our Educational Malpractice\" \u003c/a>(Doubleday, 2016). He was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2013. He lives in New York.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003csup id=\"fn1\">1. Matt Assad, “Lehigh University Campus to Become ‘Invention Incubator,’ ” The Morning Call, October 16, 2013; Richard PérezPeña, “A Classroom Leaves the Syllabus to the Students,” New York Times, July 18, 2014.\u003c/sup>\u003cbr>\n\u003csup id=\"fn2\">2. National Survey of Student Engagement, “Bringing the Institution into Focus—Annual Results 2014,” Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research (2014).\u003c/sup>\u003cbr>\n\u003csup id=\"fn3\">3. “About Co-operative Education,” University of Waterloo, https://uwaterloo.ca/co-operative-education/about-co-operative -education.\u003c/sup>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003cem>Excerpted from \"\u003ca href=\"http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/249126/schools-on-trial-by-nikhil-goyal/\">Schools on Trial: How Creativity and Freedom Can Fix Our Educational Malpractice\u003c/a>\" by Nikhil Goyal.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003cb>Enrolling in the Real World \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Innovative models of education are not just limited to primary and secondary education, they are also scattered throughout higher education. There are a handful of institutions offering their students transformative, purposeful learning experiences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">For instance, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Massachusetts, has a unique approach to engineering education. There are no formal academic departments. Classes are taught in a studio setting, and the curriculum is interdisciplinary and grounded in real-world projects, from designing the AutoFrost automatic cake decorator to devising a weather balloon system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">There’s also Goddard College, a small liberal arts college in Vermont that shares much of its philosophy with one of the pioneers of progressive education, John Dewey. I am currently an undergraduate student there. About six hundred students are enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs in fields like individualized studies, education, creative writing, and fine arts. The cornerstone of the institution is its unique low-residency model, where each semester students participate in an eight-day residency on campus and then spend sixteen weeks off campus working independently on their learning goals with direct communication with faculty members. The learning is based on the student’s individual interests. Evaluations, instead of traditional grades, are given by the faculty. Several other colleges also offer narrative evaluations instead of grades: Evergreen State College in Washington, Hampshire College in Massachusetts, New College of Florida, and Prescott College in Arizona.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003cimg class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-43745\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2016/01/Nikhil-Goyal-by-Alberto-Vargas-e1455693420603.jpg\" alt=\"Nikhil Goyal\" width=\"250\" height=\"297\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">There is no college or university that serves many thousands of students and operates as radically on a large scale as these smaller schools do. There are, however, a few colleges that have started fascinating experiments to tinker with new models of learning. One of these experiments was recently launched at Lehigh University. In 2013, Urban Outfitters cofounder and Lehigh alumnus Scott Belair donated $20 million to the school with the condition that the two former Bethlehem Steel research buildings sitting on South Mountain would be renovated into spaces for invention and learning. After a successful pilot run in the summer of 2013, the program, called the Mountaintop experience, returned the following summer—this time with more than a hundred students who were immersed in several hands-on projects. There was no prescribed curriculum, no credits, grades, or tests. Students worked on documentaries about race and diversity and a Nobel Prize–winning poet, conducted science experiments, and designed things like a new food waste disposal system for the campus and a low-cost hand prosthetic.\u003csup>\u003ca id=\"ref1\" href=\"#fn1\">1\u003c/a>\u003c/sup>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">According to the 2014 National Survey of Student Engagement, only 57 percent of college seniors have taken part in an internship or field experience, 13 percent have studied abroad, and 28 percent have done research with a faculty member.\u003csup>\u003ca id=\"ref2\" href=\"#fn2\">2\u003c/a>\u003c/sup> Those activities often end up being the most rewarding parts of college. Providing such opportunities could also be a brilliant recruitment strategy that most institutions are failing to pursue. At a time when high school students are being constantly pestered by colleges to apply, what better means of standing out from the pack than if a college tells prospective students that it will give them the freedom, time, funding, faculty support, and outside mentorship for them to be involved in some activity, project, or other pursuit of their choosing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/249126/schools-on-trial-by-nikhil-goyal/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-43746\">\u003cimg class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-43746\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2016/01/Schools-on-Trial-e1455693514586.jpg\" alt=\"Schools on Trial\" width=\"250\" height=\"375\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">There are some colleges that give their students a chance to participate in an apprenticeship or cooperative education program. And as we will see shortly, apprenticeships are slowly being rekindled. On its website, the University of Waterloo in Canada claims it has the largest postsecondary co-op program in the world: 19,000 students, more than 60 percent of undergraduate students, are enrolled in a coop over three semesters in 122 programs. Overall, 5,200 employers have hired these students. Students can get up to two full years of work experience while enrolled in college. By the time they graduate, they will have earned on average $37,000 to $78,000.\u003csup>\u003ca id=\"ref3\" href=\"#fn3\">3\u003c/a>\u003c/sup> It’s a win-win for the students and their host companies, who often end up making job offers to the students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">The innovative colleges I’ve mentioned are very similar to one another in that they often have small class sizes, focus on interdisciplinary, seminar, and project-based classes, offer close contact between professors and students, and provide opportunities for students to do apprenticeships, real-world projects, or research for credit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003cem>Nikhil Goyal is a journalist and author of \u003ca href=\"http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/249126/schools-on-trial-by-nikhil-goyal/\">\"Schools on Trial: How Freedom and Creativity Can Fix Our Educational Malpractice\" \u003c/a>(Doubleday, 2016). He was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2013. He lives in New York.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003csup id=\"fn1\">1. Matt Assad, “Lehigh University Campus to Become ‘Invention Incubator,’ ” The Morning Call, October 16, 2013; Richard PérezPeña, “A Classroom Leaves the Syllabus to the Students,” New York Times, July 18, 2014.\u003c/sup>\u003cbr>\n\u003csup id=\"fn2\">2. National Survey of Student Engagement, “Bringing the Institution into Focus—Annual Results 2014,” Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research (2014).\u003c/sup>\u003cbr>\n\u003csup id=\"fn3\">3. “About Co-operative Education,” University of Waterloo, https://uwaterloo.ca/co-operative-education/about-co-operative -education.\u003c/sup>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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