#OneWord2019

As we were doing our final meditation at hot pilates this evening, our instructor said, "Be thankful for your endurance." I thought about that word and decided that's my #OneWord2019. I have endurance to get through all the intervals of sit ups, push ups, burpees, pilates 100's, and mountain climbers in some way, shape, or form at hot pilates, and as I move into the final semester at SFSU, I need academic endurance to succeed. Two chapters stand between me and this degree. One semester, Spring 2019, and the ball is in my court. Endurance is what it will take.

Endurance (noun): the fact of enduring a difficult process without giving way. 

Recommended Readings

Here is a short list of the best books and articles that I have read in my doctoral program at SFSU. 

Books:
The School Leaders Our Children Deserve: Seven Keys to Equity, Social Justice, and School Reform (Theoharis, 2009) - helpful for P-12 school principals to understand the complexities of education unique to their site. 

Modern Education Finance and Policy (Guthrie et al., 2007) - good information about budgets regarding cost analysis.

The Flat World and Education (Darling-Hammond, 2010) - breaks down national schooling and includes in-depth analysis of external factors that contribute to education over time.  

School Reform From the Inside Out (Elmore, 2007) - analyzes change processes in U.S. schools.

Leading in a Culture of Change (Fullan, 2001) - provides steps for how change can take place.

Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth of a Great American School System and a Strategy for America's Schools (Kirp, 2013) - somewhat of a case study of two schools in New Jersey.

Constructing Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 2014) - the best book about how to understand and carry through qualitative research using initial coding.

Multiplication is for White People: Raising Expectations for Other People's Children (Delpit, 2012) - excellent narrative with descriptive examples about how to have high expectations and be a warm demander. 

How to Design & Evaluate Research in Education (Hyun et al., 2015) - great examples of how to conduct qualitative and quantitative research.

Reason & Rigor: How Conceptual Frameworks Guide Research (Ravitch & Riggan, 2017) - conceptual and theoretical frameworks defined!

American Education (Spring, 2018) - historical account of U.S. schooling.

Articles:
From the achievement gap to the education debt: Understanding achievement in U.S. schools (Ladson-Billings, 2006) - analysis of the achievement gap and why it exists.

Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995) - seminole piece about social justice education.

To study is a revolutionary duty (Duncan-Andrade, 2007) - a moving letter to Paulo Friere with correspondences to teaching and learning.

Creating mathematical futures through an equitably teaching approach: The case of Railside School (Boaler & Staples, 2008) - quantitative research analysis of mathematics instructional practices.

Often #OneWord2018

#OneWord2018

Often

I almost chose this word last year. It stayed with me throughout last year and into this year, so I’ve decided to choose the word, “often,” for my #OneWord2018.

Often:

adverb

1. frequently; many times.

I think this word reinforces success as success is defined by the person who is seeking it. For example, the more often that I “do math,” the better I get at it, the more contemplative I become, and I gain a greater understanding of the importance of mathematical thinking.

The more often I read research and synthesize it, the more successful I will be at writing a coherent literature review.

The more often I practice public speaking and/or giving presentations, the better I get at it (and less nervous too).

When I was looking for an image for the word, “often,” the saying, “Smile often” appeared.

I think I am more effective with educational leadership
when I 

reflect often

take risks often

think often

ask questions often

seek to understand often

wonder often

A letter to my daughter

This post comes from an assignment for SFSU- "Letters and essays are under-utilized in educational research and the research literature, yet they are a powerful form of research, thinking, persuasion, and empirical reasoning, all with implications for influencing P-20 leadership, policy, research, and practice."

September 8, 2017

A letter of hope to my daughter.

Dear Camille,

You are ten years old. In that relatively short amount of time, you have experienced kindness and compassion from your friends and family who tell you and show you in innumerable and immeasurable ways that they love you. They tell you they love your beautiful hair- extensions, braids, curls, waves, and the colors. In that same time and space, people have been mean to you for no other reason than simply because of the color of your skin. It is uncomfortable for me to use the word “simply” as a way to discuss skin color. I am at odds over that because I understand that the color of your skin is not simple. It is complex. I guess I just think that the color of your skin, or anyone else whose skin isn’t white for that matter, should be a simple thing. But it’s not. It is complex. People have been killed, excluded, and enslaved because of the color of their skin.

Tears start and stop as I write you this letter. I am not sure why I am emotional writing this letter or what the tears even mean- joy? Sadness? Exhaustion? Guilt? Maybe life is about starting and stopping too. I know my work and school schedules have taken time away from us that we won’t get back. I know your life is complex. Your experiences as an African American girl are different and incomparable to mine as a white female. I have something that you do not have and will never have. It is something called white privilege, and our country does a great job of enacting white privilege as a way to marginalize and oppress people.

I want you to develop your own narrative. Ultimately, my hope is that your narrative is a positive one. I hope you use the adversity that you experience, which will most likely be a consequence of your status as an African American female, to change the world. More specifically, I hope you shift systemic racist structures that exist in your school, city, county, state, and country. I have hopes for you that I am not able to find the words for….yet.

What we have in common is that we are both female. What we don’t have in common is race. I will never assume to know what your experience is in this world as a black girl, and more sooner than later, your experience as a black woman.

I want for you, what you want for yourself.

I want you to understand that although the country we live in was founded on inequity and racism, it is my core belief that we can change that. Gloria Ladson-Billings is a critical scholar who has advanced my thinking about the intersectionality of race and schooling. I am not going to attempt to explain Gloria’s writings to you in a way that connects to your current age. I have high expectations for you and know that you can understand complex concepts. More importantly, what I know to be true about you is that you will ask questions when you have them.

In her writings, Gloria explains how there are persistent problems of racism in schooling due to the fact that scholars have failed to theorize race. “Whiteness” or being white comes with numerous advantages that you do not get because you are African American. Exclusionary systems are in place with race and property, as well as race and education, that date back to the early colonization of the United States. These systems have changed little and it is these systems that will work to reinforce inequitable experiences for you in your future. Naming your own reality is important and necessary because it is situational.

That said, it is mathematics that has opened doors for me. I hope math will open doors for you as well. I hope that success in math will get you where you want to be. Math has opened doors for me that have, in turn, resulted in higher confidence, as well as leadership and professional advancement/growth opportunities. There is an achievement gap in mathematics and statistically, you are on the negative side of that gap. Your discourse and identity as an African American female student are important factors that contribute to your success in mathematics. Critical educational theorist, James Paul Gee (2004) defines discourse as “distinctive ways people talk, read, write, think, believe, value, act, and interact with things and other people to get recognized (and recognize themselves) as a distinctive group or distinctive kinds of people.” It is up to you how to determine the ways in which you will choose to talk, read, write, think, believe, value, act, and interact with maths, as well as how you decide to recognize yourself as a distinctive doer of math. It is my belief that your mathematical discourse is tied to your identity. You are beautiful and math is beautiful. It is up to you to determine what is beautiful to you. Write and believe in your own words. Question and understand the words of others.

I am your mom and love you more than anyone. It is both of our collective and shared responsibilities to enact change that will make the world an equitable place. Keep showing your will to persevere, your will to not give up, and your will to keep trying. Math also takes patience too and I know you can do hard things.

I conclude this letter to you, Camille, with two quotes that make me think of you, and of us, as mother and daughter navigating this world.

The first one is from author Edwidge Danticat, “There is always a place where, if you listen closely in the night, you will hear a mother telling a story and at the end of the tale, she will ask you this question: 'Ou libéré?' Are you free, my daughter?”

The last one is from Rihanna, “I could never identify with that word - - - weak.”

Indeed

My #OneWord2017 is "indeed." The word "indeed" is defined by Merriam-Webster as,"without any question: truly, undeniably - often used interjectionally to express irony or disbelief or surprise." 

I also see the meaning of the word "indeed" as though I am "in" - "deed" to the students I serve. A deed is an action that is performed intentionally or consciously. Using the word "indeed" will help me to focus my work on behalf of all students at my school this year. 

"Indeed" also relates to the doctoral program I am in at SFSU (second semester starts 1/28/17). I am blessed to be able to attend this program. The program is the perfect fit for me. The cohort model is great and I'm lucky to be a part of such an amazing cohort. Our cohort is made up of experienced colleagues from all levels of edcuation, who I learn with and from continuously. The three pillars of the program - leadership, social justice, and equity - all relate (directly and indirectly) to my word, "indeed."

"Action indeed is the sole medium of expression for ethics." -Jane Addams

A respected and wise friend of mine would often reply to many of my comments, sayings, and general conversations with, "Indeed." 

Some might consider or think "indeed" to be a simple word, but it is profound and meaningful, especially when guiding my work for 2017.

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.