Michelle Watt - Educator
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Ritchhart & Church The Power of Making Thinking Visible - 2nd Session

11/14/2020

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 The research tells us that teachers ask 80% of the questions in a classroom - now that I think about that - it is completely backward. I need my students asking the questions. I need them to buy in and invest in their learning. And I need to foster this in my classroom.
Ritchhart mentioned that Formative Assessment is generally being used incorrectly in the classroom. He says it is not a task but a practice that we engage in. While I am not focusing on “correctness” when formatively assessing I am finding out about my student’s learning. Their process of acquiring new knowledge. I am wanting to find out about here development as thinkers and learners. 
What I liked the best about what Ritchhart had to share in this session was that “knowledge needs to be connected to make it useful.” And the notion that knowledge is passive where understanding is active - no one can “give” us understanding, we need to synthesize that for ourselves.
The task that I liked the most from this session is “Making Meaning.” For me, this is a mind map on steroids. It takes mind mapping to that next level, the level that makes thinking visible. There are five different rounds to completing The Making Meaning routine. The first round involves just responding with a single word to the concept we are trying to build meaning around. Then, in the second round you add onto the initial words; a phrase or word that elaborates the thinking. Third, connections must be made, drawing arrows and writing on the arrows explaining the connections. Fourth, we then ask any questions that have arisen from the words on the page, these can be written anywhere in the white space. Round five has students writing their own definition. Ritchhart calls this a “walking around definition,” a definition that can’t be Googled, it is a personal and powerful definition that students can act upon. 
I really like The Making Meaning routine for concepts that are abstract - I find that eleven year olds have difficulty with concepts that I have to teach such as democracy, equity, fairness, equality. I think that by completing all five rounds of The Making Meaning Routine my students will have not only made their learning visible on the chart paper, but they will also gain the understanding of the concept. 

That's my view from the 86th Pew,
Michelle
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Dr. Jody Carrington's Kids these Days on line course: Module 6: Getting Harts and Taking Names

7/17/2020

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Parenting is hard. My first pregnancy was an ectopic pregnancy, we lost that baby. Because of this experience we were 110% positive that we wanted children. Now that they are 18 & 20 and living with us during Covid-19 conditions we question our reasoning on a daily basis (but that is another story). Raising these two babies that I own is not easy, I question whether I am serving them the best I can all of the time. But what I have come to realize is that as long as I am doing it with love, I am doing it right. That is the best I’ve got.

Dr. Jody talks about showing genuine interest in the things they enjoy. This is a major part of how I build community in my classroom. Everyday I start my class by having a check in. Everyone who wants to contribute can, but it is not a requirement. We talk about our evening and what we did. Quickly I learn who my dancers, soccer players, rodeo cowboys and hockey players are. I ask about their games, I find out when they are at home and I go. I love to watch the reaction (coaches might not be impressed) when I walk in. The kids notice me and then a ripple runs through the bench/ice…”Mrs. Watt is here, Mrs. Watt is here.” The braver ones will wave at me from the ice. I cheer very loudly for them. While I love sports, I do not love gaming. However, I learn about gaming, because my students like to do that. 

Eye contact, getting down on their level and voice modulation I believe are all important. I am very cognizant of maintaining dignity in my classroom. I treat my students the way I would like to be treated. I light up, I get down to their level. And if there is something I need to tell them that maybe the rest of the class doesn’t need to hear I am very careful how I handle it. I worked as an Educational Assistant before I became a teacher. One day I was asked by the grade 9 Math teacher to pull a student to work with him. As we walked across the room he slowly strutted behind me and said to the room, “I’m going to the dumb room.” I was sick. I felt awful. I had to come up with a better way of managing situations like this. From that point on, if I had to pull a student I would catch them in the hallway and quietly ask them to meet me in a specific room/place. This way they would not have to 
be pulled in front of all their classmates.  Aside: to Shelley Moore and followers, this was in the early 2000s so now I know better and I do better - well I am learning to do better with inclusion.

Food! I love this. It always reminds me of the scene in Monsters Inc. when Mike is throwing cheerios at Boo, so funny! One of the children I own can be hypoglycemic. As a child I was always offering her food when she cried. I was secretly hoping I was not creating an eating disorder, we are good she is 18 now and no eating disorder. I did not know that we cannot flip our lids while eating/drinking. I will definitely be offering children drinks for sure. One statement Dr. Jody made I did not know, she said if you cannot produce language you cannot process language. If the child has flipped their lid and they are to the stage of just making guttural sounds telling them to, “just use your words” is not going to help - offer the water or get the juice (don't’ die on the juice hill) and wait for the sigh - when you hear the sigh you have them back.

Staying present can be hard. When my own children were little I would tell them when I wasn't in a good mood or feeling well. While I am the adult and I know I should be able to stay regulated, we all have an off day and that is ok. But I feel that the children we are in charge of deserve to know if we are not on our game. Late this winter I was getting sick during the school day, I felt it come on just before first recess and I went downhill from there. I told my students after lunch that I wasn’t feeling good, but I would do my best for them. Later, after being home for three sick days, I read a note that a student had left me. He said, “Mrs. Watt, thank you for being kind to us even when you didn’t feel good.” #ImNotCryingYouAreCrying

That's my view from the 86th Pew,
​Michelle





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Dr. Jody Carrington's Kids These Days on line Module 5: Grief, Mourning and Our Response

6/29/2020

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Death is “the great equalizer,” Jody is right. “Nobody gets out of here alive.” No matter your race, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, we all experience the loss of someone. If you are capable of love, you are capable of grief. I love when Jody says that we don’t need someone to fix it, we just need to be heard.” It took many years for my husband to understand this. Now that he just listens when I need to spew my day out there is much less stress in an already stressful situation. He does not make suggestions, he just hums and haws in all the right places. That is all I need, I just need to vent.

What does it mean to be “trauma informed?” I really don’t know, I think it is a very good question. I do not have any formal training in trauma, nor how to help someone through a traumatic experience. I, myself, have not been adversely affected by trauma. I have lost loved ones, I have been in a couple of car accidents, but I feel mentally I am none the worse for wear. However, I am fully aware it is “not if, but when.” For my students as well. I feel that I have a solid spiritual understanding that I can muddle through what I need to. However, my littles may not - how can I help them? Jody makes a good point - you have to name it to tame it. I, of course, would follow my little’s lead, but I think pretending nothing has happened, or that that person never existed, does not honour the feelings that are so raw to begin with.

I love the Mitch Albom quote, “Death does not end a relationship.” I love this on so many levels. I believe that on some level that person will always be available to you when and if you need them. I think this is important information for a little to understand. I found it shocking and sad when Jody said that 25% of all children will lose at least one parent by the time they are 18. There is the probability that one in four children in my class have lost a parent. I need to allow the child whatever it is they need at that moment. I hope I can recognize what that is and honour it in the moment. 

When I die all I want is for everyone to gather at my house, surround my babies in love, eat open faced egg salad sandwiches (the universal sign of death), bring a lasagne for my babies to put in the freezer and pull out when they don’t feel like cooking and talk, drink and share stories. Fellowship and connection, that is my wish.

That is my view from the 86th Pew,
​Michelle



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Thoughts from Module 4: As If It Wasn't Complicated Enough - Enter Trauma

6/15/2020

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Trauma. I am very fortunate, while I have had some harrowing experiences for sure, my experience with truly traumatic events is very limited. I do not suffer from any form of PTSD, for that I am grateful. However, this puts me in a difficult situation with my students who have suffered trauma. I can never truly empathize with them. I can sympathize and I can be concerned, but I cannot truly empathize. And because of this, trauma is an area that I need to research more in order to become trauma-informed. I think (and I am sure my FSL will agree) I can recognize trauma and I recognize that I am not the person to help with that, but I can certainly find someone who can help. That is important as well. I am not a licensed therapist, I am a classroom teacher. While I completely understand that I am a front line worker and children might feel comfortable in speaking to me and sharing “scary” stuff with me, I also acknowledge that I am not trained in this manner and I will always defer, while honouring the student’s trust, to people more qualified than me.  

Side Note: If you would like to send the University of Lethbridge a quick email stating that you think all pre-service teachers should have access to a counselling course or two, I would be grateful. I have tried, I need more voices requesting this. As teachers, we are front line workers and we need to be ready with the right words to say when a child comes to us sharing traumatic events. They trust us as their teacher to say and do the right thing. We should be trained properly for that inevitability. 

Something I had not thought of was an analogy that Jody used in the video. If the experience is coded in terror there will be residual effects that may be detrimental to that child. But the experience might not be coded in terror. This was very interesting to me - an experience at a refugee camp doesn’t have to be traumatic. That. Didn’t. Even. Occur. To. Me. I find this amazing and it only makes sense. If the event is coded in terror it is traumatic. For example, I love thunderstorms! I pull up a seat in front of our living room picture window and I watch, fascinated. My daughter and her dog, the complete opposite. Thunderstorms are traumatizing for both of them, so much that I can no longer enjoy the thunderstorm because I am worried about how they are feeling.

Suspensions...frowny face. I wish they didn’t happen. The comment was made that in the olden days you would have to go home and on the days you were suspended you were picking rocks at first light and still picking an hour after sundown and you would have been lucky to get a lunch break - believe me, you didn’t get suspended twice. Now, mom can’t take the day off of work so you get to sit at home eating Captain Crunch and playing Fortnite dreaming up ways to get suspended again for another great holiday. I love Jody’s line that “suspensions are the pipeline to prison,” well not that I love that - but just re-read that quote and think about it. When our children do something so bad that the administration believes they should be suspended, do we not hear that cry for help? One of my students this year was suspended. He did something very bad - bad enough that the police were called in. He spent three days at home, was he “cured” of his deplorable behaviour when he came back? Absolutely not. Was there someone waiting to love all over this kid when he walked into the room. I tried. I did my best to lite up for him, but honestly, it was hard. He needed someone else to invest in him, someone that could take him into a new, clean context and create something positive with him.  In my school, my principal will sometimes put up a list of students who have been identified as needing a mentor. A special someone who actively searches them out and is genuinely concerned about them on a regular basis. That is what we did for this boy. An EA who didn’t normally work with him or our class sought him out and asked him to shoot hoops - his all-time favourite activity and also just shoot the breeze. That is what he needed. Connection. It was lacking at home, we needed to provide it at school.

I believe we have taken the first tentative steps down the road to recognizing mental health issues, their causes and how they can be managed. But we have a long way to go. The more people who speak about their struggles, the more people will realize that they are not alone. I will never forget when I was a brand new mom I was feeling guilty for not wanting to be around my child. I didn’t have postpartum depression, I was just a new mom and sometimes it is very overwhelming. I remember going to a Mom’s Morning Out, a coffee time in our local church basement for stay at home moms. There was a mom there who was about five years ahead of me in the parenting department. I heard her say, “Oh ya, I’ve pictured them [her children] flying through the living room window more than once.” Please understand this is one of the most loving, caring mothers I have ever met and I often seek out her advice on parenting. I was so relieved when she said that, I felt like I wasn’t alone, that what I was feeling was somehow “normal.”  I think that is why we need to keep having conversations around mental health - people need to know they are not alone, and that there are people and programs that can help them.

That's My View, From the 86th Pew,
​Michelle



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Thoughts from Module 3: How I see them - Jody Carrington - Kids These Days

6/11/2020

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For me, this chapter had the biggest impact. I read this the summer before I knew I was going to have to teach a Calliou. I was dreading this - whining for me is such an energy drain, it just plain exhausts me. I was planning on ignoring this child. I rationalized that if I just don’t give the attention that they are seeking (see what I did there) then they will just stop. And then I read Kids These Days, Jody convinced me I could do better.
When I saw Calliou on that first day of school that fall - I lit up, I brought all I had and I asked all the questions. We had a great year because I knew better and I was able to do better. We made connections. I will be forever grateful to Jody even if it is just that one student who benefited I am happy - but so many more will benefit from my Calliou wisdom. 
Another statement that Jody brought to my attention in this chapter - “Don’t you know that mad is just sad’s bodyguard.” Whoa! Back the bus up! That is so important - read it again. This was mind-blowing for me. Maybe something I knew but didn’t really recognize. I think by keeping this in mind my approach to my angry kids is so, so much different. So many have not been shown how to regulate - it is my job to model this and walk them home. I have always been honest with my students. I am a terrible speller and I ask for their help. If I write something on the board and it is spelled wrong - they need to point that out to me. I make mistakes, I am the teacher but I don’t know everything about everything, I learn every day with them. When I make a mistake - I own it. I apologize and I hope to do better the next time. When my kids (the ones I own) were little and I was “chippy” I let them know. I’d say, “Mommy isn’t in a great mood - so please work with me.” I now let my students know if I am off. I strive to be “on” for them at all times but I am human. This spring I got sick - very sick and I had a hard time finding a sub. I told my class that I was doing my best but I was sick. My toughest/hardest mad/sad kid sent me a note that said: “Mrs. Watt, thank you for being kind to us even when you are not feeling well.” I don’t know if he experienced that in his world. I am happy to have modeled that for him.

That's My View from the 86th Pew,
​Michelle



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Thoughts from Module 2 - Emotional Regulation - Dr. Jody Carrington's Kids These Days

5/22/2020

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When I had my kids and they were just little, I was on the phone talking to my Dad and as all children do as soon as a parent is on the phone they started to get into something. This is what my Dad said upon hearing the commotion in the background, “Just whack them! We whacked you and it worked didn’t it?”...ummm ok Dad, you did - but I hope we have evolved since then.

​I never let my kids cry - I just couldn’t do it. I once went against my intuition, I went to get my infant son who was fussing in his bassinet and my Dad again (honest he was a good Dad), said just leave him, he will be ok, when I finally relented and picked my son up he had peed all up the side of his sleepers - I was new to boys and didn’t realize that when that thing pointed up the pee could leak out the top of the diaper. 

I never let my kids cry without finding the source of the cry and I always consoled them, or now I understand I was teaching them to regulate. And, not to brag (ok maybe a little because it is safe to now that the children I own are 17 and 20) but my children did not have temper tantrums. I wondered how I got off easy - even the terrible twos weren’t bad, although when my daughter was three she said that she was “free,” my come back was, “yes she is free, but you will bring her back.” 
Teaching came naturally to me.  When I graduated at the young age of 40, my brother-in-law said, “Michelle, we’ve always known you were a teacher.” I have known him since were were in high school. And I have to admit he is right, I naturally default to teaching in almost every situation - my 20 year old now stops me, and I have to catch myself, he doesn’t want my teaching - and I’m ok with that. I trust I have taught him what he needs to know. 

My son taught me one of the best lessons and I use it daily in my teaching. He was in kindergarten and a very social kid - he loved to go to school. On picture day he was adamant, he wasn’t going to school. I was puzzled, he wasn’t sick, he didn’t have a bad experience, he just wasn’t going. As I quizzed him, I realized he was fearful of picture day, it was his first, it was going to disrupt the “regular” day and he was fearful of the unknown. So I walked/talked him through the day. I said, “you will line up in your class, you will walk down to the gym, you will wait in line, then you will sit on a box, the photographer will turn you this way and that way, and then you will walk back to your class.” I literally finished this explanation and he said, “Ok, I’ll go.”  I had taken away the “unknown,” painted a picture for him, made it known and he was ok with it. Think about situations you have been in. The fear of the unknown is very scary and hard to overcome. That is why so many people are stuck in a rut - they can’t step out of the known. They didn’t have someone to walk them home and let them know they will be ok. 

Because of my experience with Ethan on that picture day way back in 2006, I post a Daily Agenda on my class webpage. Our daily agenda serves two purposes. The first, I sit down with the class first thing in the morning and explain what the whole day looks like. Think about it, you probably like to know what is going on with your day, their day shouldn't be kept a secret from them. I have explicit directions in the agenda so they can be as independent as possible in our class. Secondly, I post a daily agenda that is on my class website, that all parents and relatives can have access to. Let me tell you the love, sweat and tears I have poured into my class website have paid dividends during this pandemic. My son again taught me that parents need conversation starters. He would come home after being away from me for about 8 hours and his day was “good” and they did “nothing” in school. That was it. No explanation. Good. Nothing. Good Grief! By posting our detailed, daily agenda on line, parents can access and then have conversation starters. “I see you are reading The Breadwinner, what is that book about?” “In Science Mrs. Watt posted you were starting a new unit, tell me about that.”

​It is simple. But I would not have thought of it if I didn't have to regulate Ethan. It wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t have to walk him home. For that, I am grateful.

That's My View from the 86th Pew,
Michelle


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My Why - Module One Kids These Days

5/22/2020

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Why am I in the classroom, why did I choose this profession?  I didn’t.  It chose me.  I remember the day that I decided to be a teacher.  This may sound hokey for some of you so hang on to your hats and reserve judgment, please.  I remember the day I decided to be a teacher.  I was in Heather Scott’s 10-2 ELA class, not as a student, but as an Educational Assistant, that day the heavens opened up, I could almost hear angels singing, but most importantly what I heard, what I knew deep down, was that this was where I was supposed to be; in the classroom helping children.  
    When I arrived in Ms Scott’s class I had been an EA for six years.  I was in many classes from grade 5 - 11.  I had seen many teachers. Some really great, like Mike Brown at the time I met him he was a grade 6 teacher at West Meadow Elementary School.  He taught me one of my most essential tenets - “it doesn’t matter what was said, what matters is what was heard.”  This means, “perception is everything.”  I LOVE that. I had also seen some not so great teachers - I like to think I am a consummate professional so I will not mention any names - but they taught me a lot about what not to do in the classroom.  For instance, if you have a student with ADHD in your class and he is new to the school do NOT bring a study carol in and stick him in it to keep him away from the other students - good grief! I can see Shelley Moore rolling her eyes and nodding her head right now.  I knew I could do better than ostracising students and I hoped to be as good as Mr. Brown.  
    I quit my job as an EA and enrolled in post-secondary (again) this time in hot pursuit of my passion - Education. When I was thinking of resigning to become a student I asked the veteran members of the school I worked at what their teaching philosophy was - no one could tell me.  I found that very strange.  I do have a philosophy, I developed it while at university and I still live it.  I aim to be respectful of every interaction I have with students.  My goal as an educator is to reach every student in my care.  That may have nothing to do with the instruction of the curriculum.  I have no idea what each child goes through just to walk through my door each day.  I aspire to reach my students in whatever manner they need on a daily basis.  That could look like an extension for no reason given other than a student asked and the look in their eyes tells me all I need to know.  That could mean that I take my lunch to help a student with a paragraph because they can't string three sentences together, let alone write an essay.  That may mean I give my sandwich to a student who does not have a lunch.  It could be as simple as a heartfelt hello. Recently, Shelly Moore summed up what I am talking about in a hashtag #connectionbeforecurriculum.  This has become my mantra.  
    I love connecting with my students.  I want to know what books they like to read - if they like to read. What sports they take part in or clubs they belong to. I get to know my students as people. I have attended hockey games, soccer games and dance recitals to watch my students do what they love. And I try to be as real for them as I can.  Dr. Jody Carrington says we can’t tell we have to show. I show them I am real, that I make mistakes.  When I do I apologize.  I let them teach me if I know what we are talking about is an area of interest for them. I am sincere. I really want to know what is going on with them.  The good, the bad, the ugly and I want to help and if I can’t help, I will find someone who can.
    This is my purpose - again judgers reserve judgement - I get a rush helping children.  I am elated if I can be the first person to introduce a concept to my kids (I call my students my kids), I am genuinely excited when a student can teach me something, and if I make a mistake I own it and humbly learn from it. I can’t imagine any other job in the world I would rather do. It is not what I do, it is who I am. I am a teacher.

​
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The Struggle is Real...I continue to make mistakes, thank goodness!

7/10/2018

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Summer PD: Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler: a book study Chapter 2: The Power of Mistakes and Struggle - may you sparkle and grow

My son just graduated a week and a half ago.  We found out two days before graduation that he would be graduating with honours.  He crossed the stage with cords draped around his neck.  I was super proud of his accomplishment.  I always wanted cords, but my struggle was real.  I did not have teachers who understood growth mindset to help me.  So I watched with pride and a bit of envy, as my son stood with his peers, recognized for his outstanding accomplishment of honours.

This chapter turns my idea of assessment on its head.  Boaler tells us that Carol Dweck, author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, suggests we tell our children that we are sorry they didn't get an opportunity to learn when they receive 100% on a test, because "mistakes cause [our] brain[s] to spark and grow."  Boaler believes that we need to construct class work that will challenge and cause our students to make mistakes.  These mistakes need to be embraced and shared.  If one student makes a mistake, chances are others have made the same mistake.  I feel this is so important.  My students need to understand that they are not alone in their struggles.  If we celebrate the mistake instead of admonish it, we begin to change the thinking around mistakes.  Therefore allowing my students to "spark and grow."

"If we believe we can learn, and that mistakes are valuable, our brains grow to a greater extent when we make a mistake."  Isn't that the goal of teaching?  Don't I want my students to learn and grow?  Therefore I need to shake off the desire for them to be perfect, get answers right, and instead, encourage them to get it wrong.  I think I have to agree with this theory.  If I look back and reflect on some of my greatest learning opportunity's, they invariably started with a failure on some level.  

My students need to feel "free to try different ideas, not fearing that they might be wrong."  This is a paradigm shift, that will have to start with me.  One trait that I make a conscious effort to exhibit in my classroom is my humanism.  I am a human.  I make mistakes.  I allow my students to see my human side.  I allow myself to be corrected and I correct myself in front of them.  If I lead by example, they will follow.

That's my view from the 86th pew.
​Michelle
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Summer PD...My thoughts on Mathematical Mindsets - Chapter 1: The Brain and Mathematics Learning

7/9/2018

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TQS 2d: Engaging in Career Long Learning - critically reviewing educational research to improve practice

I am very happy to start my summer pd.  I did, however, take a few days for myself first.  I am also happy to announce that I secured a continuous contract.  I will be changing grades, I will be teaching grade 6 in the fall.  This also makes me happy, an older grade and I will get to teach all of my 5s that are moving up.  

With this in mind, I choose Jo Boaler's Mathematical Mindsets to start my summer pd.  I will be teaching a PAT year and so I feel I need to step my math game up a notch, and this is just the book to help me do that.  Mathematical Mindsets was recommended by a friend who I consider a genius in the field of education.  I settled into this book today with great anticipation.  My goal is to read a chapter each day and blog my understandings to further guide my teaching practice.

The underlying principle of this book is that everyone can succeed when they employ a growth mindset, even at math.  Eight years ago I embarked on the adventure of a lifetime, my family and I decided for me to go back to school and get my education degree.  I was not university material, when I graduated from high school it was with very average grades, most likely around a 60% overall average.  However, when I entered university I did so with the mindset that I would succeed, and I set the goal that I would not get a grade less that a B-.  I worked very hard and received two scholarships based on my GPA. I now have a name to put on my attitude - I had a growth mindset when I entered university.  That mindset allowed me to successfully  in complete my degree.  I feel as if this book is speaking directly to me 

I was "that" math student.  I have my own math trauma story to share.  I was in grade 7, and my math teacher asked me, "How don't you get it?"  I didn't understand and he was unable to help me understand it.  I struggled with math right up to the end of grade 12.  I have had to devise unorthodox ways to arrive at a math answer.  I feel that because I struggled (notice the past tense) with math, that makes me a better math teacher.  I can see why a student doesn't "get it" because I was (again, past tense) that student.  I know the fear of standing at the chalk board trying to complete a math question in front of the whole class.  The strangest phenomenon happened, my brain just stopped.  Nothing.  Happened.  The paralyzing fear of completing a math question in front of the class, is not a feeling you soon forget.  For the record, I never make my students to that.  

I agree with Boaler's comment that, "learning does not happen only in classrooms."  I encouraged, in my end of the year report card comments, for parents to discuss math as it arises in day to day activities.  Students need to be aware that math is all around us, not just something that happens from 9:00 to 10:20 Monday to Friday.  Sometimes I would rearrange my classroom schedule and have math instead of a regularly scheduled class - the protests that arose from my students surprised me..."its not 9:00, we don't do math now!"  The panic was palpable.  I want my students to look forward to all of our subjects, I and they cannot afford to be afraid of math.

The study of neuroscience astounds me.  If I had all the time and money in the world, I would go back to university and get my neuroscience degree.  The mind is an amazing creature.  I embrace the fact that, according to Boaler, "with the right teaching and messages, [everyone] can achieve at the highest levels in school," and that, "any levels of school math are within [a student's] reach."  These are researched based statements and I agree, as I am living proof.  I aim to seek, in the following chapters the knowledge that I need to ensure that all my students, "learn math well, not only those believed to hold a 'gift.'"

I believe it is important for me, as the teacher, to remember to praise the work and not the person.  Instead of telling a student they are clever, I need to praise the process.  

One idea that challenges my beliefs is that maturity does not factor into the student's ability to learn the concepts.  Boaler tells us that if the student is unable to grasp the concept it is due to the fact prerequisite math has not been learned yet.  With my experience, I felt that I was  not "ready" to understand the concepts due to my maturity level.  Now I believe that given the time, help, understanding and practice I would have been successful.  That is my goal as a math educator, to help all my students understand and move forward confidently with their skills.

That's my view, from the 86th pew.
​Michelle
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Free Time...can it work?

11/26/2017

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What did my students teach me this week?  Free Time is all about perception.
My students had to complete a survey put forth by our school division.  This data drives what we as teachers and administration sense as weak areas according to our students.  This survey was administered by our principal and assistant principal, so I got some much coveted “free time.”  And by “free time” I mean a chance to do some extra prep.  I managed to get an assessment built in a Google Form.
When I was called back to my classroom forty minutes later, most of my students had completed the survey and were working on unfinished assignments.  Some were writing a story, others were practicing their basic math facts online.  I came in and my students continued to work.  My class received positive reviews on their behaviour from our admin.  I always celebrate with my students when others note their ability to follow classroom procedures and stay focused on a task.
I did not interrupt the work that my students were doing as I monitored who had completed the survey and who was still working on it.  This class this day was pretty much a right off from the perspective of curriculum covered.  We didn’t cover any new curriculum that day.  However students did get some much needed working time on projects that they had already started. At one point I mentioned that they were just going to have “free time” until the end of the period as there wasn’t enough time to start something new.  When I mentioned “free time” I had several students shout, “What? Free Time!” I quickly had to rephrase my statement and told them to continue working on what they were working on.
My perception was that because I had not given instruction and introduced or reviewed a concept with them that morning that the work they were doing was indeed just “free time” work.  However my students looked at “free time” very differently.  “Free time” to them means just that - the freedom to choose what they wanted to do.
So now the question is does “free time” have any place in my classroom?  I had been giving my students “free time” in gym.  It was very cool to watch my students playing and having fun without my guidance and instruction.  They played very well together something that does not happen much in our society today.  I understood (I didn’t ask and I should have) that this was the culture of the school.  My students seemed to be well acquainted with “free time” in gym.  However I had quite the discussion with a Physical Education major as to what curriculum outcome was I addressing.  She had a good point - I would never consider giving “free time” in my classroom, why would I allow it in the gym?  
So...now no more “free time” in my PE class, but they will be given more choice and responsibility.  Two students each week will be responsible for planning our Thursday Gameday games.  They will have to choose, plan and instruct on those days.  
Now I have to allow that type of “freedom” in my classroom.  What does that look like, what am I comfortable with my students taking over and what am I comfortable giving up.  I need to work on the process of student choice, student driven learning and teacher directed.
That’s my view from the 86th pew.  Michelle.

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    The Born Again Teacher

    I am a teacher who came to education late in life, and like those who are born again I love to preach and teach about my vocation. I am a teacher who is always a student.  Here you will find my thoughts on how to improve my practice as an Educator.  I sign off with "That's my view from the 86th Pew," the reason is that I own an old church pew that sits in my front entrance and the plate on it says 86.  I love that it is a play on words in that the view is what I see as well as what I think. 

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