Category: Reflections and big ideas

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Taking Action: Self-Care in a Time of COVID School Closures

The list of things I am not good at prominently features “change” and “uncertainty”

And these are times full of change and uncertainty. 

We are all coping as best we can. My personal list of strategies includes yoga, walks, tea, naps, complaining, trying to count my blessings, meditating and not getting past 6 breaths without a worry, girl power pop anthems, and stress-eating too many cookies.  

Which is to say, you do you, and no judgement about what gets you through. 

And, because I am an over thinker, and curious about the human brain and performance, and because it’s better than alternative lines of thought, and — you know — it’s relevant: I’ve been thinking more than ever about self care.

Sometimes, often, self care is about taking a break. Taking the breath, the break, stepping away from the to do list to relax and rest and restore. This is important and helpful.

And, curiously, sometimes, often, for me, self care is about taking action. (Because, the opposite of a profound truth … )

Putting on work clothes (even though I’m working from home), and checking something, anything off the list, and reminding myself that while I can’t fix or control many things, I can do some small things. This is helping. A lot, actually. 

So, as we’re all experimenting with walks and cookies and yoga vs. pandemic stress, reminders to myself…

  • I desperately want clear, calm communication about what is happening. But, I feel better when I channel that anxiety into providing as much clear, calm communication to my students as I can. 
  • I am grieving some of what will not transfer, as we are told our classes will be digital. But I feel better when I take a small first step and find a way to ask my students what they want the new thing to be.  (Here’s a quick survey I sent my students about distance learning goals, if you’d like to do the same)
  • I am disoriented by this new schedule-less schedule. But, weeks ago, my student asked for practice on a particular kind of problem (order of operations with division bars) and I couldn’t find it and now I’ve made it (and two more variations, because I was on a roll, and because I had the time). And so I owe social distancing that. 

Other, non-professional ways to take action. 

  • Donating to a good cause. $20 to a food pantry is the best cure I know for self-pity, not that I’ve been feeling any. (<- Don’t believe it ) 
  • Ordering take out from the little neighborhood place
  • Leaving a care package on someone’s front porch.  

However you’re coping. Whatever self-care looks like for you. I hope it’s working and that you are both safe and cared for.

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The Struggle Is Real: Balance and Self Care

Note: I wrote this when we were advised to wash our hands, not to shut down major institutions and practice social distancing. Much has changed in recent days … but in the midst of it we need self-care more than ever. Be well, friends.

So….I might have mentioned that I’m prep’ing a few workshops this spring (once, or twice). The one I might need to take myself is on balance and self care (see, adding multiple workshops to multiple jobs; see also an email from the conference coordinator, when I sent in my third proposal: “That IS ambitious”)

I’m not so great at not taking on all the things. (#overachiever) But, I am so much better about boundaries and making good use of my time and strategically recharging than I was when I was younger.

And yet, there are those people who radiate zen, that seem perfectly suited to a self care workshop. I’m not them.

I am a much more tightly wound and occasionally cranky self-care facilitator.

I like to think this helps me know where the tightly wound and occasionally cranky people who sign up for a self care workshop are coming from.

But also, I think we/the world need a wider and maybe more tightly wound and cranky definition of self care.

I am of the ‘self care is a life you don’t want to escape from’ school of self-care thought. And, in a field that asks so much of people, for so little, ‘a job you don’t want to escape from’ . It’s radical, but I believe we ought to be able to do meaningful, mission-driven work, at a high level, without burning out by 2pm every Thursday.

And, as much as I admire the glowing zen folks, I need some of my overachiever energy for this version of self care.

I want to propose a three-pronged approach to self care for educators (is it to over achiever-y to have a 3 pronged approach to self care? Probably, but, I’m going with it. Sometimes self care is embracing your over achiever self, right?)

Anyways, prongs:

  • Boosting the positives
  • Managing the challenges
  • Managing and maintaining energy

Boosting the positives:

Fighting back against negativity bias. Tapping into the parts of this work we love. Negotiating and job crafting and creative brainstorming our way into spending more of our time on the things that fill us. Schedule sending myself student notes.

Managing the challenges:

Acknowledging that some of this is structural. And it’s unjust and bigger than us. Taking action if it helps. Having a ‘lets talk about priorities’ conversation, saying no, and also, fixing the things we can so there’s a little less stress and struggle in our days. Repeating the serenity prayer (whatever your religious and/or substance use background).

Managing and maintaining energy:

Taking care of ourselves: good meals, breaks, not spending too many hours in a row hunched over a computer screen. (Because Maslow is not wrong) Keeping some space between work and life. Doing the things that refuel us.

Three prongs, all the questions. Self care takes some doing.

If you need more guidance, download my free reflection and planner.

Or, MA adult ed folks …

… This post was inspired by a workshop I planned for the Massachusetts Coalition for Adult Education Network Conference in April.

NETWORK has been cancelled for public health reasons. I respect the decision, wish everyone good health… and am going to be offering a digital version.

Sign up to receive information about a digital workshop from mathacognitive: “The Struggle is Real: Self Care and Balance

Here’s the workshop description: “Teaching is meaningful, important, rewarding… and hard. If we are to do our best work and sustain our efforts, we must find ways to manage the hard parts, amplify the positives and maintain our energy. ”

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High quality teacher professional development (PD)

I am in a season where I am spending a lot of time in PD. (or I was, before we all started practicing social distancing, more on that below)

I’ve been (and will be) a participant in some, lead some and planned a few more, talked with colleagues, friends, family about it all. 

And, the good and the less-good of it has got me thinking about what makes good teacher PD good.

Short answer: Pretty much the same things that make for good teaching with our students: belief in them, flexibility, engagement, a holistic approach.

The long answer (or at least, my long answer)

Good PD believes in teachers:

Coming from frustration about what teachers aren’t doing, even if you’re right that the X you want is better than the Y they are doing? That shows. And it makes people not want to come to PD and/or check out once they’re there. I believe teachers want to do well by their students, and they’re doing the best they can with what they’ve got, and it’s my job as a facilitator to encourage and inspire and provide resources until the best they can is better. 

Good PD is reality based

Evidence based and research based get a lot of play. They’re important, and probably deserve their own bullet, but it hardly seems necessary since its on so many other lists. But I would argue for reality based, too. If I’m going to deliver something that is helpful, I need to have accounted for the reality that teachers and students are working in. Can this idea adapt and flex if students are frequently absent, and the supply budget has been spent, and class hours are limited (and prep hours even more so)? If not, I’m not ready to share it, because that’s the reality where teachers will be trying to implement it. 

Good PD engages teachers as learners and professionals

Partly, this is basic active-learning pedagogy. Lets not spend 3 hours with a powerpoint and a passive audience. But even if we spend 3 hours in small groups and pair-shares and poster sessions, but the point is merely to deliver the answers that someone has already figured out… I’m missing out. A room full of teachers is a powerful problem-solving resource: lets engage them.   My job is to ask good questions, to bring new resources, ideas and information, to share what I know and move the conversation forward; not to make pronouncements

Good PD supports the whole-person

I’m pretty businesslike, by default. But, I know that when I go to PD, I definitely want the information — but I might also want a break from the minutia and stress of the day to day, and a chance to stretch my brain and feel like I’m growing, and to connect with colleagues.  This is why face to face still beats a webinar or a series of online modules. As a facilitator, it’s helpful for me to remember that it’s not all about me, and it’s not even all about my content.

4 Elements of High Quality Teacher Professional Development Believes in teachers Is reality based Engages teachers Is holistic

And, yet.

As I write, events and institutions all around are declaring temporary closures for public health reasons and we’re all trying to figure out digital. ASAP. (myself included)

And, so, I’m looking at my list with a different focus. How can I translate these?

The first two, I’ve got. I still believe in teachers, I still want to share reality-based solutions. Engagement, I’m working on. A chat box is not as rich as a pair-share, but there are tools, and we can figure out how to use them.

It’s the last one that’s got me stumped. (And that makes me hope we’re all healthy and able to gather again soon.) I’ve had webinars that were informative, or interesting, or useful. But screen time, even informative, interesting screen time, is rarely refreshing or rejuvenating. (I think the folks doing extended online learning might have more tools than one-time events…?)

I’m pondering and googling (it’s what I do).

Also, seeking suggestions, if anyone has cracked the code.

Also, wishing everyone good health and a quick return to normalcy.

Also, sharing a few links to ideas I’m finding helpful in crafting human-scale digital professional development

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The benefits of experience

Events in my life have recently reminded me how long I’ve been at this.

I started in adult education with a volunteer gig in 2008, which became a part time job, and then a career.

All together, it means, I’ve been teaching for just about 10 years, and involved in adult ed for 12. Plus the years of higher ed before that.


Sometimes, this makes me feel old.

Sometimes it just feels unreal.

Sometimes, it makes me feel super grateful.

Mostly, lately, I’ve been feeling the gratitude. Because I’m far enough in to have learned some lessons and gained some perspective and be able to see the benefits of both.

Three reasons I’m loving in this stage:

My network: My version of hell looks something like a cocktail party. I’m an introvert, and until recently, I would tell you I’m terrible at networking because I’m terrible at the work a room cocktail party kind of networking. But when you do good work and help people and build real relationships for a dozen years, it turns out you have a pretty good network. I’ll be honest, my mind is still a little bit blown to realize this is true.

Compounding interest: To take one example… It’s not a big deal for me to make and do my spiral reviews now, because one year I scanned all of my materials to google drive; and another year, I worked out the classroom routines; and another year I made the template. It’s daunting imagining doing that all at once, but step by step, year by year improvements add up.

Go-to activities: I had to pivot a lesson this week. I like quick pivots on only slightly better than cocktail parties, but they are sometimes a fact of life. Fortunately, I had a mental list of tried and true go-to activities that I could plug my content into and move forward without a lot of fuss. I definitely did not have that when I was starting out Feeling confident that I have tools I can count on makes those things So. Much. Easier.

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Class Evals: Why I’m glad I bothered

Sometimes, often, especially in the middle of the year, It’s hard to know if you’re having an impact.

I think I am, I try, I believe in my practices. But, day to day, making all the photo copies and dealing with all the things, it’s not always clear.

Even, when I do an eval, it’s hard to know. My students tend to be super grateful, and super kind, and not at all used to giving constructive feedback to teachers, so I take most evals with a grain of salt.

Often, I skip mid-year evaluations altogether. I have my exit tickets, and my end of year reflection, and that’s probably good enough.

This year, I’m doing them, though. Partly, I’m curious to see the results, but mostly I think the act of asking matters more than any answer. When I ask, I get to show I care about their opinions, and its another nudge towards metacognition, and that’s worth a few minutes and some photocopies at the end of each term.

And, I got a lot of evals that were about what I expected. Kind, grateful students writing sweet but general comments. I’m definitely schedule-sending some of those to myself for when I need a boost. But they’re better for my ego, than for guiding practice. And I know enough to know that they’re not the whole story.

And, then, sometimes, in between all the grain of salt taking, and the commitment to process, and the sweet, vague comments … they show me something is working.

For once, I said nothing about brains.

But they did.

Multiple students in one class (the class full of people I’ve had Iongest) talked about their brains. They told me they liked a challenge, liked to level up, liked to review… liked homework even (#adultlearnersarethebest)

Student evaluation: "I like how we recap and transition to something new at a steady rate. Whenever I get use to a formula we up the notch to challenge my brain more."

We talk about brains all the time, and about productive struggle, and about how practice grows your brain.

And, I’m never sure if they care, or if it makes sense, or makes an impact. They’re tired working adults who carved out a few hours to learn the math they need to pass a high stakes test, not to geek out about neurons.

But, it turns out they’re listening, and absorbing, and getting it.

And showing me that means so much more than all of the praise they write.

And I wouldn’t have known, if I hadn’t given them an eval and asked.

<3

Simple Class Evaluation | Reflection & Metacognition Bundle

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(Real) Goals for the New Year

It’s almost the new year, and all around, people are making resolutions. So, goals are on my mind.

I love goals.

I love having a clear plan, and I REALLY love checking them off.

So, I make a lot of goals. I might have sent my supervisors an email ‘Here’s the 3 goals you asked for and 8 or 9 more just for me.’

(I’ve mentioned a few … interleaving, and practice questions, and a few others)

There are big, important goals to be set in teaching. And they matter. And you might be making them right now.

But, at this point in the year, I’m thinking about the little goals that keep us sane.

Because as much as I believe in all the goals, I also believe in taking little steps (and sanity

And, I want to encourage all of us to set little, sanity preserving goals for the start of 2020, and the second half of the school year.

So, the goals at the top of my personal list:

  • Make my copies at least a day in advance (this is quite possibly the best thing ever for not arriving at class a frazzled mess)
  • Clear my desk before I leave (I am defining ‘clear’ to include ‘stuff piled in the right basket’- but mostly I’m trying to have less paper)
  • Send emails with praise and compliments (because people deserve it way more than they get it)

And …. as we start 2020, wishing you all the success in all the goals (big and small)

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Wins

We have definitely, totally, absolutely reached that time of year. The new-year energy has worn off, we’re all a little tired, feeling a little behind, maybe a little overwhelmed, and just grateful that we get a short break next week.

It’s real. I’ve given out chocolate, and tissues, and lots of deep breaths lately.

And, I am very aware of the class with the terrible attendance, and the students who struggle, and all of the things on the calendar that add stress, and all of the resources that I wish we had but we don’t.

 

And, yet, the little wins.

 

They’re there too, when I remember to breath and notice.

A few weeks ago, we did this open middle challenge.  My students were so into it, they didn’t want to move on when I told them they could. And, my college student volunteer took it home to see if she could get exactly one.

And in another class, we tried these order of operations riddles (freebie!) and one group was so into getting every. last. one. that they argued hard against showing the answer key at the end of the class. They got it, averting their eyes and solving it with seconds to spare.

I’m grateful for the people who put creative and engaging teaching out there. But, my favorite wins are just my students, working  and learning.

I showed my (struggling) middle level class a preview of Algebra equation solving when we were finding the missing side in area. Most of them thought I was nuts to do so much extra writing when they could just divide, get an answer and move on. But one student, who sits in the back and struggles with math and rarely says much, kinda liked it. And when she was done with the first task, took on some simple equations (? + 7 = 15), and then some less simple equations, and by the end of the two hour class was slowly solving two step equations (2x+6=20)

 We had one of those nights early on, where enough of the class had to take an assessment that I couldn’t do anything new. It was early, but I gave the few left in class some practice HiSET tests to look at. Mostly they looked at them, their eyes got wide, and they threw up their hands. I moved on (I’ve never seen such enthusiastic agreement to switching to word problems) But one student stuck with it. He doesn’t know more of the math, he’s just more able to sit with it. He and a tutor worked that practice test for two hours, and then for homework, and then when he had free time in another class.  A few weeks ago, he asked for another test.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hacking my Prep Weeks

The beginning of the school year is the beginning of the school year. That is, exciting, but also (largely) frantic.

And yet, at the end of September, I can say that I feel like I finally figured out how to put my prep weeks to good use. The start of the year was still busy, but not as busy; the start of classes still came as a shock, but not as much of a shock.

 

Black file of photo copied papers, they are held together by paperclips. The folder is on a desk.
Making All. The. Copies.

 

4 Questions Helping my Teacher Prep Productivity:

  • What can I batch?  Classic productivity advice that I’ve never really applied to my prep weeks. This year, I’m batching everything I can. For me, that meant a couple hours adding HiSET answer sheets to lessons throughout the year. Not super fun, but done, and one less thing to think about each week from here on out. And I used a ream and a half of paper in one massive bout of photo copying.

 

 

  • How can I build capacity? I know, it’s non-profit jargon, but I was lucky enough to spend time early in my career in programs that thought a lot about capacity building. It means investing in tools, systems etc. now so that you can do more with less effort later.  This is a good mental framework for me. For my teaching, it’s setting up systems and organization. So, a playlist of videos, lots of pre-formatted spreadsheets, a class website made now… and less reinventing the wheel later.

 

  • And, the key innovation: When will I need this time? I started prepping lessons ahead. Nice enough. My 2 weeks from now self will appreciate. But, the game changer was figuring out that I’m not going to be super frantic and frazzled when I need to prep the two week from now lessons. But I will be way frazzled and frantic when I’m trying to prep lessons in, say, December, when I’m also getting ready for the holidays, and the HiSET, and the end of the trimester, and the flu, the snow day and the progress reports… all at once. So, I looked at my outline and spent some unfrazzled beginning of the year time to (hopefully!) make the crazy points a little less crazy.

 

 

Proof?  This one’s from a lesson I’m next teaching in January. It’s on TPT now.

Fellow teachers – I’ll take all the making-prep-saner tips I can get. Please share yours!

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Teaching the Test

Teach the students, not the test.

I am quite certain that what I care most about teaching is that you, yes, you the one who never got above a C in math class, can learn anything, even math. Teaching the students.

Except that what my students care most about passing a test (HISET) that stands between them and big dreams (jobs and college and examples for their kids and a sense of pride at finally doing the thing they quit years ago) And, there’s something worthy in helping them reach those goals, and it is nice proof of my basic thesis when they do it …so, yeah, we do kind of teach the test, too.

In a perfect world it would be different, but in this world, I’ve made some peace with the idea that it’s possible to teach both.

 

I have not, however, settled on a favorite way to actually, effectively incorporate test practice into class, so I’m giving it some thought before the rush of the school year.

The challenges:

How to give enough to expose them to the breadth and challenge of the test, without sending them into overwhelm.

How to connect it to our current learning and prepare them for an exam that covers approximately 5 years of K12 math standards.  (Yes, really: 6th grade area to high school algebra)

How to fit it in an already over-stuffed curriculum.

 

Past attempts:

Give interested students practice tests to take home.  (This only really works with a subset of students who are pretty prepared and pretty self directed)

Slip questions from the practice tests in to my weekly review routine  (A keeper, I think, although probably not enough by itself)

Collect multiple questions relevant to our topic from across the stack of practice tests, make it part of the lesson (Super-laborious until we found an intern to help us organize, now only moderately laborious)

Review sessions, on those random end of term/all-the-interuptions days when you can’t teach anything new anyways.  (Not bad. Not brilliant, I don’t think, but not bad)

 

Additions for this fall:

Easy win: Bubble sheets. Apparently one student was totally thrown off by the answer sheet when she took the exam last year.  I put “use bubble sheets in class each trimester” on my goals list. *Check*

Question of the Day: One practice test question every week, slipped into the routine of the class.  I spent one distinctly not-fun afternoon sorting through tests and picking a couple dozen out. This is the exposure therapy theory of math teaching: see the test questions often enough and they’re less intimidating.

 

But, I’m still in search of structures for those random review days that make them something more than solo worksheet time. Especially, ones that don’t rely on speed, shouting out answers, or competition to make them game-y. My students have enough math anxiety already, thank you very much.

 

My favorites so far:

These 3 problems all have the same answer. What is it? Where ‘answer’ means: the same letter on the multiple choice format questions.  This let me mix in questions students were likely to get with stretch questions without inducing overwhelm. It worked particularly well in groups, where different people knew different questions and could check each other.

Test question sort When you’re being tested on 5 years worth of standards all at once, quickly identifying what math you need to use is crucial. And hard. So we say, lets not worry about the answers for a little while and focus on identifying what we’re being asked to do.  Also, my students are very, very familiar with card sorts.

 

But, really, I could use more ideas. My best googling turns up few ideas that suit my class 🙁

 

 

 

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What I’m not doing this year

I think a lot about the things I want to add to my classes, the new goals I’m setting, the ways we’re all going to grow.

But, this summer, mapping out my classes (and gritting my teeth at the mismatch between goals and time available) I’ve been having to think about the things I’m dropping.

 

Some of them are easier.

The things that are just not pulling their weight.

The app that didn’t quite work the way I wanted it to (now accepting applications in the comments for new vocab apps)

A few flashy activities, that looked so good (and sometime made me look so good for doing them) but never actually closed the loop for student learning.

 

Some are harder.

The sequence of 3 lessons that I’m going to try to somehow fit into two classes.

And, especially, the content that I’m letting go of altogether (I have more flexibility than most to make that call)

 

The one that feels biggest is fractions. I’ve held on to a review in my middle level class, because when I talk to students that’s often where it (read: math) first went off the rails and I want them to know they can learn it this time.

For the teaching goals that were about passing the test and moving on to the next steps in their lives, it was not particularly relevant. But for the teaching goals that were about recovering and regrowing from their previous negative experiences, it was relevant.

 

But, I looked at the test, and I looked at my class calendar, and I looked at the test, and there is no way to fit in near as much math as they need.

And, so, choices.

And no fractions.  More algebra.

(Also, much shaking of metaphoric fists at the people who make these tests.)