Themes in Math

Here is an update on the work I've been doing in the first semester of the Ed.D. program at San Francisco State University. I have learned how to put theories about social justice, transformational leadership, and equity into action. I'm lucky in the sense that this program is the right fit for me. I enjoy the conversations our cohort has in class, as well as the expertise and experience they openly share. It's a great group!

The program has given me the opportunity to continue my research and learning about mathematics teaching and learning. 

Here's what I have learned and synthesized about mathematics education this semester.
There is unequal math achievement for subgroups. 2015 CAASPP 4th Grade results show the following: 
88% ELL
83% African American
79% SED
78% Hispanic/Latina/Latino
66% Female
STANDARD NOT MET/STANDARD NEARLY MET
Why are the factors (policies, practices, structures) that contribute to the achievement gap in mathematics difficult to change?

Research themes from empirical literature:

Theme 1: Inequities in spending.

“Schools with high instructional spending were able to support higher quality instruction” (Ottmar et al., 2013).

Theme 2: Teacher beliefs about student ability.

"Teachers believed deeply that their students were capable of becoming mathematically proficient if they received appropriate support" (Cobb & Jackson, 2013).

Theme 3: Equity and teaching practices.

"Equity does not merely involve helping minority students reach higher standards set by the mainstream, but is instead a matter of understanding diversity as a relation between the community of practice established in the math classroom and the other communities of practice of which the students belong" (Nasir & Cobb, 2002).

An answer that I've come up with is the factors (policies, practices, structures) that contribute to the achievement gap in mathematics are difficult to change because equitable instructional practices are often tied to financial restraints, as well as intrinsic and reflective teaching practices. 

The following is missing from the research: 1) student voice and 2) research that determines what instructional practices support underserved students and their success in math. 

I will probably narrow my focus in the following ways: possibly focus on one subgroup and possibly focus on one factor. I will also discuss underlying issues of racism and social justice more explicitly as they relate directly and indirectly to math teaching and learning.

The birds' fire-fangled feathers dangle down. #reflection #edleadership

It's important for me to take a moment to reflect on the past year in terms of insights, takeaways, ideas, next steps, action items, successes, etc. This is an opportunity to practice what I preach. If I'm going to ask students and teachers to be reflective, then I should too. I've been thinking about the year a lot.

Last night, before the board meeting, I went to dinner with a colleague. As we were talking about privilege, equity, recent events in the news, our professional goals, vacations, etc. the following quote came to mind, "The birds' fire-fangled feathers dangle down." It's the last line of the poem titled, Of Mere Being, by Wallace Stevens. It's a poem my dad used to say from memory to my sister, brothers, and me when we were little. The last line has always stayed with me- maybe because of the alliteration, maybe because it's the end of the poem. 

Insights: Relationships matter. This theme emerged for me this year, especially at the Equity at the Core conference I attended. Change and progress cannot take place without respectful, trusting relationships. Each relationship is different/unique/complex.

Successes: I'm proud of the work I did to further the research/thinking from my Master's thesis on the SCASA SMP/SEP post. I'm proud I completed my Ignite at the CMC-North Asilomar Conference. I'm excited that I am starting my Ed.D. in Educational Leadership at SF State. 

Takeaways: Breathe. Be concise.

Ideas: What if we lead with curiosity that is truly genuine? Positivity and optimism are important. Build on your strengths. 

Next Steps: Look at science and math through the lens of equity. Talk about and recognize privilege. 

Action Items: Continue to support teachers with math, science and ELD instructional practices. 

Problem of the Month - Gallery Walk, January #maths #edleadership

The end of January marked our second school-wide problem of the month gallery walk. The problem of the month we decided to do for January was Calculating Palindromes.

Prior to giving the task to students, we spent time at a staff meeting working on this problem and then discussing our work and thoughts with each other. We had interesting conversations about zero and patterns.

I happened to be in two classrooms while they were working on this activity. Fourth graders were constructing viable arguments about all the possible ways to make twelve using two numbers between 1-11. Coincidentally, fifth graders were working on the same part. I saw many similarities in their work with Part A. Students came up with the same combinations of different numbers to equal twelve. Seeing the students in action was powerful. Most were working with and talking to partners, while others were working/thinking individually. I saw evidence of SMP #1: Make Sense of Problems and Persevere in Solving Them. The area of SMP #1 that stood out to me was inparticular was the following- students were analyzing givens, constraints, and relationships. They were making conjectures about the meaning of the solution. Part A of this problem had a few constraints and it was interesting to hear how students made sense of that.

The area where I saw the most change was in what students wrote on the post-its. This time, the students were commenting on each other's thinking while noticing patterns. Here are some examples of student comments:

"They all equal 12. And in the first column you counted down and in the second column you counted up." (6th grader commenting on 2nd grader's work.)

"It was a great idea and it works if you're trying to find a pattern." (6th grader commenting on 2nd grader's work.)

Here are some additional pictures of student work from the Gallery Walk:

Second grade work (pictured above), showed how students added different amounts using counting numbers 1-11 to get a sum of twelve.

 Second grade work (pictured above) document their thinking with a shared parnter paper.

Kindergarten work (pictured above) show nine ways to make four using cubes.

 Kindergarten conversations (pictured above) in what they noticed.

 Kindergarten thinking on display (pictured above).

Kindergarten used a variety of objects to show different ways to get four.

6th graders worked in small groups on Levels C and D.

After reflecting on our last gallery walk, I realized student voice and input about the experience was missing, so I sent out a Google form for students to fill out about their experience at the Gallery Walk. Here are screen shots of the form for student input:

Persevere #oneword2016

I chose the word, "persevere" for my #oneword2016 because of Standard for Mathematical Practice 1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. Already, this word has given me direction and purpose.

The dictionary definition of persevere is: (verb) to persist in anything undertaken; maintain a purpose in spite of difficulty, obstacles, or discouragement; continue steadfastly.

Last month I was one of ten Ignite speakers at the California Mathematics Council North Conference in Pacific Grove. Here is the link to my IGNITE. I definitely had to maintain a purpose (mindset about math) and continue steadfastly while working on those twenty slides. Overall, I was happy with how the slides and speech turned out. One of the things I learned about myself through the IGNITE experience is that perseverance pays off. I also liked the challenge of speaking while the slides automatically advance every fifteen seconds. I would definitely do another IGNITE.

In having lunch with students today, I was talking to them about my blog post and the idea behind the #oneword2016 hashtag. I was explaining to them that I wanted to pick a word that would be meaningful for my work. I was talking about how I always ask students to persevere in math and their studies, as well as life in general, and how it would be unfair if I didn't ask the same of myself. One student replied, "That's why I wanted to learn Spanish! It's a beautiful language."

 Photo credit: carlocassara.com

Photo credit: huttobible.com

Problem of the Month: Make Student Thinking Visible #edleadership #maths

The end of November marked our first school-wide Problem of the Month (POM). We had four classes participate by displaying their work, as well as working on the problem for one month and five classes walked through to look at and discuss student thinking. 

The POM decided by our Leadership Team was The Shape of Things. I displayed the original problem on a poster so students could refer back to it.

It was my fist time participating as a principal with a school-wide POM. I had participated many times as a classroom teacher at my previous school, so to say I was excited for this new experience was an understatement! 

6th Graders made logos to show their thinking on rotational symmetry:

6th Graders also drew pictures to show rotational symmetry:

If you look closely, you can see the folds in the paper that are representative of the symmetry.

This is how TK represented their thinking with patterns:

TK also used Adobe Voice to record their thinking about shapes on iPad minis. The iPads were displayed on a table and students in other grades were able to watch the TK videos during the gallery walk. Here is a video of a student watching the TK video:

Students constructed an understanding of this task by actually making the kites. 

The strength of this part of the gallery walk was that students could see how the shape of the kite changed depending on the size of the sticks. 

Here is some 1st Grade work on display:

Here is the writing from one of the work samples: 

"My shape is a rhombus. I thought the sides were even." 

"My shape is a diamond. It has four vertices. The length is shorter."

"It has four sides, we think it is a diamond."

What a great way to explore student thinking! Some questions that came up during the gallery walk were: How did the partners decide to classify the shape as a diamond? Is there a way to prove their thinking about the sides being even? What is meant when the student uses the word "even?" 

The gallery walk was a great way for SMP 3: Construct Viable Arguments & Critique the Reasoning of Others to take place across grade levels. Here are some pictures from what students wrote on their post-its.

We still have work to do in the areas of students constructing viable arguments and critiquing the reasoning of others. Responses could use definitions and an overall increase in using logic and reasoning to defend their thinking and/or the thinking of others. 

The student thinking and student conversations during the gallery walk also appear to have correspondence with SMP 7: Look for and make use of structure and SMP 8: Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning. 

In conclusion, the Problem of the Month was a worthwhile activity that focused on student thinking and student conversations about math. I predict that conversations we have about student thinking from the Problem of the Month will inform classroom instruction.

#CASTEM15 Experience

I had a great time at the Anaheim Convention Center for the California STEM Symposium. The highlights of the conference for me were facilitating a round table discussion with Gina Silveira, Betha MacClain and Kim Kern. 

The title of our discussion was "Creative Play, Maker Education, and STEM: What is the Connection?" Notice the Jenga game in the picture? We wrote talking points on each piece. As people came to our table, they would pull a Jenga piece and our conversation would go from there. It was a fun way to talk about topics like arts integration, school culture, risk-taking and collaboration. Our conversations were bidirectional in that I learned something from each person who stopped by our table. This was the first time I had participated in a round table discussion at a conference and it is an experience that I will participate in again at future conferences.

On day two of the conference, I presented with Gina, Betha and Matt O'Donnell. The title of our session was "Creating & Sustaining 21st Century Learning Classrooms: Pedagogy, Assessment and Design."

It was a great opportunity to share about the work our district has done with professional development. Here is the link to our presentation: http://tinyurl.com/pwkwkgo 

The session was interactive in that we allowed time for participants to discuss their thoughts about what 21st Century Learning looks like, sounds like and feels like. Participants shared their responses on Answer Garden. 

I was fortunate to be tasked with speaking about one of my favorite #edutopics, authentic assessment. What is the point of assessment? What is the assessment trying to accomplish?

Inspiration is a theme for me this year. The opening keynote was given by Leland Melvin. His story about going from the NFL to NASA was inspiring and motivating. The mindset he shared was powerful. 

The conference was a great opportunity for me to collaborate with my colleagues from Sonoma County Office of Education and Piner-Olivet Union School District. I appreciated the opportunity to connect with educators from across California.

Today Was A Good Day! #FutureReady #edleadership

This is a reflective post. The point is that I ultimately reflect on my voice/input as it pertains to education.

The story begins yesterday with the Raiders victory over the Chargers. Part of me relates to Amari Cooper because I'm a "new" principal and part of me relates to Charles Woodson because we are the same age (IRL) and veterans in some aspects. Whenever the Raiders win, I know it's going to be a good week! Little did I know what the foreshadowing of this victory would mean for today....

Today started off like any other Monday. I checked in with Mr. Malone, our PE teacher, to see how PE was going, as well as to debrief the Raiders victory. He is the only other Raiders fan on my staff of approximately 35. He always has some insights to offer about the Raiders and football in general, which I appreciate.

Next, I went to both 4th grade classes to read them my fall mystery story titled, Soup. I think it is valuable for students to see me as an author and talk about the writing process with them. I like to think they are inspired by me taking the time to talk with them about being a writer, as well as sharing my work with them. I appreciated their enthusiasm, questions and applause at the end of the story!

That afternoon, I went to the District Office for a follow up Re-Imagining Learning Collaborative meeting with district admins and twenty-one highly motivated teachers. I was excited to have the chance to share my perspective on the relationship between learning environment, pedagogy and authentic assessment with everyone in the room. Currently, my focus is on the social-emotional aspect of learning and how that directly impacts the learning environment.

As the meeting was coming to an end, I checked my Twitter feed. I noticed a #FutureReady chat moderated by U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, was coming up. I thought the chat sounded interesting because I work in a #FutureReady district and an opportunity to participate in a chat with Mr. Duncan seemed to be too good of an opportunity to pass up. 

Long story short, Mr. Duncan retweeted/quote tweeted me twice during the conversation. Here are the screenshots: 

So...first, Mr. Duncan said, "Great point." I almost fell out of my seat at the District Office. I can't really explain the impact of that. I am still at a loss for words. I'll need a little more reflection time.

Next:

Well, to be thanked by the United States Secretary of Education is affirming (to say the least). My dad really put it into perspective for me. I called him to tell him about the Twitter chat. He responded, "(expletive!) That's the equivalent of a Supreme Court Justice acknowledging my work!" (He's a lawyer.) Thanks, Dad! 

My brothers, on the other hand, had differing views:

Mark Reynolds  interviewed Buster Posey when he was a blogger for Bleacher Report. He has an understanding of the magnitude of today. John Reynolds, well...he has an interesting sense of humor. Everyone says he is the funniest person in our family, and I'll leave it at that. 

They say timing is everything, right? Just when I'm feeling a little overwhelmed (Ignite speech & #CASTEM15 session/round table coming up) and questioning myself, today provided some reassurance via unrelated events that what I'm doing is making a difference for students and my community.

I used to question my contributions to district committees. I used to say, "I'm not sure if I'm the best person to have on this committee, I don't really have an opinion one way or the other...." Eventually I realized my ideas, voice and opinion matters. I've had great mentors along the way. I credit Catina Haugen for her guidance in supporting me develop my voice in education. She has been my mentor and supportive in ways she may never know, but I will be sure to tell her! I also credit Jennie Snyder for being a #FutureReady Supt, as well as innovative and collaborative.