I might officially be a researcher now. I began this summer focused on continuing my redefinition of mathematics education. Math is art. Math is a language. Math can be culturally responsive. I read a number of articles - maybe going down a few rabbit holes in the process. I wrote a literature review and I designed a methodology all about how I was going to design a new student-centered math curriculum. The process was intense and at least a little frustrating. I seemed to be spending all my time reading. When I tried to start writing, I felt like I still hadn't read enough. Then there was the whole process of crafting my methodology. In the beginning, qualitative data seemed farcical to me. What do you mean "I can keep a journal and that counts as data"? I am still learning how to validate qualitative data, at least to myself. However, teaching is a reflective practice. We get better at teaching by looking back at our experiences and deciding how to improve those experiences according to what others have done. So... Surveys, journals, observations are in fact valid data. Ensuring that there are check and balances to our own biases - aka triangulating the data - is the key. Qualitative data has to be matched with quantitative data. Suppose I'm reviewing some test scores and I notice that students who usually do well on tests are performing at lower rates. I refer to my journal and realize that the week before the test I had been worried about some life things and didn't have my best days of teaching. There is probably some relationship between my feelings and student performance. Qualitative data adds some flavor to the numbers.
Back to me being an official researcher: I will be changing my topic. Which means I need to begin my reading, writing, and research process (almost) all over again. I'm going to focus my energy on Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports. I'm already gathering information. I'm hoping to be less worried about reading everything. I want to just go with the flow of the process.
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I have this lofty vision of transforming grade school mathematics education. I see a future where higher level mathematics is no longer an affluent-white-male space. Big, lofty goals can be hard to break down. I've been having trouble envisioning what the curriculum might look like. How can I do this? What am I even working towards? As I begin to think of this goal in a more serious, action-research oriented mindset, I am certainly feeling overwhelmed. This week I found a little bit of ease. Working with the Engaged Teaching Approach from The 5 Dimensions of Engaged Teaching by Laura Weaver and Mark Wilding, I finally felt like I could chunk my grand vision into actionable steps. As I thought through the worksheet, I began to notice this pattern. I am already "integrating [my outlined] principles and practices." I have strengths to take into my daunting research projects. I also have noticed my tendency to want to do and control e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. As I begin my research and continue working for my vision, I want to be able to remind myself that I'm not in this alone and that I don't have to reinvent the wheel. There exist educators working towards these same goals. I know some of them personally. I need to take my own advice: Just like math IS collaborative, so is mathematics education. I am not alone.
So this is a call to all the educators who see the need for change, to the educators who have been working and crying towards the same goals, to the educators like me who need a push to get out of their own headspace: share this post, comment, reach out. Together, we CAN!
Short answer: That's impossible.8th graders find potty humor to be the height of comedic genius. (I mean, I do too. I don't teach middle school for nothin'.) However, requests for restroom and water fountain and "I just need a break" become time-eating distractions. So after mulling over how to limit hall passes without appearing to be "the man," I came to a choice between two systems - either a sheet of hall passes for each student or a sign-out system. While I like the idea of students keeping track of their own hall passes - a lesson in responsibility, a way to encourage limits - I felt like I would probably end up doing a lot more work in the long run. So, I went with the sign-out system: Hall Passes
Abuse of this privilege may lead to restrictions. And the policy as written worked ... for about a week. This experiment in freedom proved to be too much writing. Also, students were not aware enough of their surroundings to know (slash didn't care) whether or not someone else was already out of the room. SO, I made a permanent hall pass - because it's math class, the hall pass is a protractor. Since then dawn of the protractor, things have been better. Students are still asking permission - a harder habit to break than you might think. But we're getting closer to eliminating hall pass related distractions.
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AuthorI'm just a math teacher, trying to figure it out. Archives
December 2019
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