Mrvaudrey

Author: mrvaudrey

  • Feelings and Whiteness

    There’s a great chance I’m doing this wrong. Let me know in the comments.

     

    Since I was young, I’ve been hit harder by feelings than most of my peers.

    Whenever schoolyard talk got heated, I’d burst into tears and be unable to complete a sentence, then stumble into my 5th grade class, blotchy and sniffling.

    Decades later, I still feel things strongly, but for a different purpose. Today, I watched this on the drive home from downtown.

     

     

    That caused me to scream curses at my dashboard and sulk the rest of the evening.

    A year ago, I confessed to my wife, “Babe, I’m worried about Trump. He has a casual relationship with the truth, but he speaks with authority as if all his statements are verified and factual. What if people believe the crazy shit he says?”

    And here we are. In the video above, President Trump equates a small crowd of white supremacists with a smaller crowd of people there to start fights with white supremacists. In the mind of the President, they both share the blame for a violent clash that left dozens wounded and oneB dead.

    He’ll likely be re-elected in 2020 by a large demographic who views his words as truth without question.

     

    Recently, a friend of mine caught up with me. It had been a few years since we talked face to face, and he mentioned, “So I see that you’re posting more… um… racial stuff… on Facebook.”

    My friend is white, but you could probably guess that.

    And he was right; my journey to becoming more “woke” toB my own white privilegeB began fairly recently. As a kid, every member of my middle school classes was white, and I heard a dozen racist jokes before I even entered high school. My high school and college were both north of 90% white, as wereB my church, family, and co-workers.

    It wasn’t until halfway into my first year of teaching that I realized, “I’m the only white person in this room. That’s… probably never happened before.”

    That began a shift for me. But I’m hitting a wall now, years later.

     

    One of my favorite podcasts in Code Switch from NPR. In a recent episode, a Charlottesville resident said this:

    This [protesting Nazis] is easy, because it’s something that everyone’s for.
    Once this goes away, how we deal with other race issues is what really matters in the long run.

    My life is easy. Everyone on TV looks like me, people making decisions about our nation look like me, and no groups or legislation are calling for my rights, citizenship, or humanity to be diminished, overtly or otherwise. That’s my definition of privilege: theB little advantages that I didn’t earn or deserve that make my life easier.

    And there are dozens of them for me. Truly, it’s like I’ve won blackout inB Privilege Bingo.

    So I must be hyper-attentiveB when other groups cry, “oppression,” and I listenB in closely and shut up.

    While I can pat myself on the back for my tweets getting a lot of traction with people I respect, there’s probably very little net impact from that.

    Further, I have a bunch of relatives who post … insensitive… content on Facebook.
    Not all of them respond well when confronted about it. Some do.

    All of this makes itB really tempting to tune out, sterilize my social media feeds, and just listen to podcasts about architecture and sociologyB instead of politics and race relations (all real things in my feed).

    If I only hear about happy things, then I won’t be burdened with discomfort about my privilege.

    Even writing this post, I’m feel compelled to give examples of my digital activismB becauseB white folk love to take credit for being “one of the good ones.”B Do I link to the times that I called out toy companies for lack of representation and retweeted #EduColor?

    Districts want to hire consultants that just talk about math education, not tattooed punks who useB words like “patriarchy” when discussing equity in education. And on my day job, I serve hundreds of white teachers, not all of them are comfortable discussing the topic of race and privilege. Some of them just wanted help getting their work email on their phone.

    So I feel a little bit uncomfortableB all the time around the issue of race relations, unsure how often to address this issue that I care about that makes some of my peers, friends, and family squirm.

    I’m a little bit uncomfortable all the time.

     

    And that.

    That right there.

    That’s the price of my privilege.

    I feel uncomfortableB sometimes,B but I don’t get backhanded compliments for being “well-spoken.”
    I feel uncomfortable sometimes,B butB I don’t get unfairly policed. Ever.
    I feel uncomfortable sometimes,B butB I don’t draw suspicionB when I walk into expensive stores.
    I feel uncomfortable sometimes,B butB I don’t get shady eyes from white folk in traditional neighborhoods.

    And so on.

    So white people, I encourage you to join me. Lean into that uncomfortable feeling and listen. Ask friends and family what they mean when they say, “those people.” Call out microagressions when you hear them, even if it’s just asking, “What did you mean by that?”

    Not everyone has the option to tune out.

    I’ll close with this quote from Lori Lakin Hutcherson, in the article linked above:

    As to [white friend] bbeing part of the problem,b trust me, nobody is mad at you for being white. Nobody. Just like nobody should be mad at me for being black. Or female. Or whatever. But what IS being asked of you is to acknowledge that white privilege DOES exist and to not only to treat people of races that differ from yours bwith respect and humor,b but also to stand up for fair treatment and justice, to not let bjokesb or boff-colorb comments by friends, co-workers or family slide by without challenge, and to continually make an effort to put yourself in someone elsebs shoes, so we may all cherish and respect our unique and special contributions to society as much as we do our common ground.

    ~Matt “Privilege Bingo” Vaudrey

    *If I’m missing something, feel free to mention it below. This post is public, and I want any input to be public, too. Even if it makes me more uncomfortable.

     

    UPDATE 18 August 2017: Hank Green and I are on the same path.

     

  • How I MTBoS [Part 3]

    Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

    Lane Walker tweeted earlier this week.

    She’s not the first to posit that the whole is the sum of its parts (much like b some might say bB an elephant). I shan’t be so bold as to imply that I’m doing it right (more on that later), but I only know what I know.

    To that end, here’s how I engage in the Math Twitter Blogosphere (or #MTBoS for short).

    These are my methods; all are welcome to critique, copy, and hold me accountable toB them.

    Be Vulnerable &B Accessible

    Earlier this week, I was in Utah with John for the Utah Council for Teachers of Mathematics. Sitting next to a woman in the back row of a math-coaching session, we were joking, sharing our thoughts on the day, and chatting about the presenter’s ideas. Things took a turn when she asked what part of Utah I was from.

    Vaudrey: Oh, I’m from Southern California
    Diane: Oh! … Why are you here?
    Vaudrey: I came up for the day to give some workshops and … um… the keynote tonight.

    When I paint myself into a corner and have to make braggy-sounding comments like that, I squirm every time. However, it’s my hope that people who meet me in person are then more likely to see me on stage (or wherever) and feel like we’reB on the same team.

    That’s my favorite part of the Math Twitter Blogosphere. That’s why I attend conferences, volunteer at the booth, give books away to new teachers, and generally want to improve education for as many teachers (and students) as I can.

    Megan Schmidt noted, after returning from Twitter Math Camp 2014:

    Itbs a network of teachers across the country that come together over mathematics, but truly bond over their inherent desire to help all students succeed. And itbs open to anyone who has the desire to be one of the connecting threads.

    That’s why every workshop I give ends with, “And I want to help you with all of this stuff. I offer lifetime technical support on all these items, and herebs my informationB <projects slide on screen>. Contact me if it goes well, if it goes poorly, or if you get stuck.”

    And many do. I get emails on the regular about Desmos, Musical Cues, and Classroom Chef. And several that say, “I joined Twitter for the first time!” Which has been an encouragement from me for years.

    Hear and Engage Varied Viewpoints

    Harry O’Malley holds that subdividing the all-encompassing MTBoS into several dozen smaller hashtags by region and content increase the feeling of belonging. I’m probably not going to do that, for two reasons:

    1.)B It sounds time-consumingB to consult a catalog of that size for every math-related tweet.
    2.) The enormous reach of the hashtag is part of its appeal for me.

    My whole family is straight, middle-class, WASPs. So is most of my church, most of my friends, and most of my colleaguesB at work. All of the above groups care deeply about other perspectives, and I can use Twitter to curate a steady stream of people that are unlike me.

    In addition to math educators who continue to significantly impact my practice, I follow some of the voices in #EduColor and #SoJustEdu. Since I haven’t experienced oppression firsthand, IB must listen when I hear about it, ask questions to understand more, and take action.

    Truth be told, I follow people like crazy, then unfollow them when I feel like my professional journey isn’t being advanced by their message.

    Relatedly, I can peek over the shoulders of many more math teachers byB looking through #MTBoS than looking through dozens of other, more-specific, hashtags.

    Do You, Boo-boo

    AllB eleven years of my career, I’ve had this blog. AllB eleven years of those posts are still up, and I’ll occasionally drift across something I wrote in 2009 that still resonates with me today. The same core of 2009 Mr. Vaudrey hums within my 2017 frame, and it’s my hope that the blog and twitter feed both show an evolution of common values.

    That I’ve always been me, and I’m a little bit betterB me every day.

    Teachers I respect occasionally “lose” followers. So do I. That’s okay. The goal here isn’t to have a loud megaphone but to have a calm discussion that everyone can listen to.

    Blog and tweet true to yourself every time, and stay positive.

    Share, Thank, and “Yes, and…”B Often


    You never know how a small act of kindness will make someone’s day. Relatedly, some of the more interesting additions to my tweeted lesson plans involved someone on Twitter tagging on. I so appreciate that, so now I offer “Yes, and…” to teachers who ask for it.

    Because we all want to feel like our work matters, right? We all want to feel like we’re making a difference, not just for our students, but for education as a whole. So I give out back-pats like I’m Oprah.

    I have a medium-sized megaphone, so I amplify quiet voices.

    Adding to my Routine

    All thisB recent chatter (and b honestly b writing these posts) has gotten me thinking about other ways to make #MTBoS more inviting and more inclusive, so I’m adding these habits:

    1.)B Kate suggested following up any mention of #mtbos with bMath Twitter Blogosphere,b which I think is a fair and accessible suggestion.

    Clue the noobs in. Itbs a kindness.

    2.) I added my name to Mattie’s list, so I’ll be welcoming newbies once a month. I also installed Dan’s Chrome extension that highlights new users.

    3.) And IB followed ExploreMTBoS on Twitter, which b frankly b was long overdue.

    What’s missing here? What have I forgotten?

    ~Matt “Always nearing, never arrived” Vaudrey

  • I belong. You do, too. [Part 2]

    Part 1 here.

    The last day of Twitter Math Camp (yes, that’s a real thing), I sat next to Ellen, who had just finished her first year of teaching. We watched [keynote speaker]B Carl Oliver show data about how the Math Twitter Blogosphere (#MTBoS) has grown and spread over the last few years.

    During a few of our turn-and-talk-to-your-neighbor breaks, I learned about Ellen’s foray into Math Teacher Twitter, her shyness in crowds, and her feelings of inadequacy around such “well-known” and oft-tweeted names. She said this:

    Much has been shared in the last couple weeks about making the online math community more inclusive, and I want to define some terms:

    I take inclusiveB to meanB “a group is welcoming of all who want to join.”

    And relatedly, inviting means “the group is appealing and accessible to those who want to join.”

    One of those is about culture, the other is about marketing.

    Inclusive, but not Inviting

    When I was in high school, I went to a lot of concerts. In a large crowd of sweaty teens in baggy shirts, we jumped together, yelled together, and bumped into each other. Often, we’d leave together and get late-night food with people who were strangers hours earlier, but now bonded through mutual interest.

    I dressed like this, but with more piercings.

    Very few people in IHOP asked my surly crowd of boys, “Hey, can I join you?”

    My new friends b the fellow fans of Five Iron Frenzy or Reel Big Fish b were veryB inclusive, but not veryB inviting.

    Inviting, but not Inclusive

    My daughter (4.7 years old) loves to walk the food court at our local mall. Her favorite part is getting a tiny cup of Jamba Juice or Orange Julius.

    As we walk by, a perky teen in a paper cap asks, “Would you like a PowerBlast ChiaStrength smoothie?”
    “Yes, I would!” responds Pickle, taking the cup.

    She then holds the cup and asks, “What’s your name? My name is Cadence and I really like fun juice like this.”
    The teen says with a firm smile, “My name is Amanda,” then turns to another passerby and asks, “PowerBlast ChiaStrength?”

    Yep. Making that face.

    As I herd my daughter away, I say, “Drink your juice, honey. Let’s go find you a different friend.”

    What confused my daughterB was howB inviting Amanda appeared to be, but b since she was at workB b she wasn’tB inclusive.

    Math Teacher Twitter

    There are … let’s sayB thousandsB … of teachers on Twitter, sharing, discussing, asking questions, and generally bettering each other. For free. It’s decentralized and easily adaptable (a “starfish” organization; more on that here), and has mutated to fit the needs and strengths of teachers.

    In the last month, complaints have surfaced about howB invitingB the community is or isn’t. Immediately, many responded with stories of theB inclusiveB community: hosting events for first-time attendees of TMC, building websites full of resources, and browsing the #mtbos hashtag to offer help and support.

    “We’re not inviting enough.”
    “We’reB totally inclusive!”

    Arguing different things. Tracy noticed this, too.

    Belonging

    While at TMC, I was talking to a fellow attendee. They posit thatB Math Teacher Twitter isB inclusive, but they didn’t care whether or not it wasB inviting.

    “You’re a grown-ass adult. If you want a personalized invite to join a public forum, you gotta suck it up and dive in.”

    While I don’t share the tone, I kinda see the point. And Dan Meyer (arguably the most influential contributor to Math Teacher Twitter) points out we should be the #mtbos we want to see.

    Want an inviting community? Be inviting.
    Want an inclusive community? Be inclusive.

    I’m proud to contribute to the #MTBoS by sharing everything on this site for free (and this site for free), welcoming new people on Twitter (see Dan and MattieB for theirB work for this), sharing free resources in workshops (home and abroad), and welcoming and responding toB every person who tweets to me with an education question.*

    I care about anB inclusive community, so I spend my digital dollars there. TheB invitingB part comes along, and there are steps we can take to make that work, too.

    At some point, teachers that want to get involved will get involved. I’m going to be as inviting as I can (in real life and online), so all teachers can belong to this fantastic community.

    So we can all be b as Ellen said b “one of *these* people.”

    Taylor Belcher threw his figurative hands in the air and wrote, “Fine. It’s a club. And we want you in it.”

    I like that.

    Tomorrow in Part 3, more on how I attempt to be both inclusive and inviting.

    ~Matt “@mrvaudrey” Vaudrey

    *Except white supremacists and ad-bots.

  • What is a Mitt Boss? [Part 1]

     

    “Look at all my mitts! I’m a Mitt Boss!”
    image: Pitch In For Baseball

    Itbs exciting (and a little weird) to subscribe to a group with no membership dues.

    To say, bIbm a part of this group that has no mission statement and no list of members and no president,b is to place on onebs chest a badge written in another language, and be asked to translate that language whenever someone asks about the badge.

    Another analogy:

    My daughter has a book called Seven Blind Mice, which is featured in the video below:

    The weirdest thing about trying to describe to people the #MTBoS (shorthand for Math Twitter Blogopshere) is b at best b a blind mouse giving its best description of what it knows. The wild-and-wooly world of Math Teacher Twitter is vast and far-reaching, and there is no Sunday mouse that can see, understand, and adequately describe the whole as the sum of its parts. No doubt, there are factions and viewpoints that I havenbt seen, being a white, male, blind mouse in Southern California.

    So Ibll define it in terms that I understand, knowing that the other six [thousand] blind mice have their own perspectives.

    Ibm proud of my participation, and herebs how I pitch it in every workshop I give to teachers:

    Now is a great time to be a math teacher. When I began my career over a decade ago, there was no Twitter and very few blogs. If I wanted fresh perspectives or ideas, I had to go door to door for advice.

    And I got a lot of garbage advice.

    Now, I can send a tweet using a few hashtags (they’re like categories for Twitter) and thousands of other math teachers from around the world can interact with me. Itbs like a staff lounge, except I can ignore the grumpies without appearing rude.

    Herebs an example.

    Itbs the middle of my career and Ibm teaching slope. Ibve done it a few times, but itbs just not… landing this year. So I send out a tweet with a few hashtags that I know will get the word out to teachers who will teach my age group. Within 24 hours, I got responses from dozens of teachers across the continent, leaders in math education, the CEOs of curriculum companies, and b most importantly b other math teachers who have better ideas for teaching slope than I do.

    All because I sent out a tweet, asking for advice.

    Now, that community has begun to organize itself, writing books, having a presence at large math conferences, and even hosting their own free event every summer. That group of teachers who care deeply about kids, teaching, and self-improvement calls itself the Math Twitter Blogosphere, mercifully abbreviated the #MTBoS. Everyone say MITT-boss.

    Teachers in attendance: MITT-boss!

    Not all the participants in the MTBoS blog often or at all, not all of them tweet often or at all, but all of them (dramatic pause) want to be the best teacher they can be, (dramatic pause) and thatbs a group that Ibm happy to join.

    And it doesn’t cost anything.

    The hardest part of that pitch is when people say, bSounds great! How do I join?b

    Because we (Americans, Westerners, Educators, etc.) have ideas of bmembershipb that look like this:

    Where therebs some kind of a ring around those who are binsideb and another ring for those who are breally inside.b There are some math teachers on TwitterB who actually feel this wayB and thatbs a real bummer.

    When in reality, the #MTBoS looks more like this sexy visualization of data from Judy Larsen:

    Judy isB a Sunday mouse in this scenario.

    UPDATE 08 August: And she tidily summarized the sentiment here:

    Boom. Perfect.

    Since the group has gotten large enough to have this kind of identity crisis, itbs now having to decide what kind of group it wants to be.

    More on that tomorrow in Part 2.

    ~Matt bGreen Mouseb Vaudrey

    *Okay, Ibm able to embellish a bit since itbs a blog post and not the 7th hour of an intense full-day workshop for math teachers. Check out the thread and sub-threads on that slope tweet, though. Mind-blowing.

  • Greener Grass

    What gets measured… gets noticed.

    Told to me byB the first administrator I had who was data-crazy, and she was mostly correct, with one tweak:

    What getsB affirmed…B gets encouraged

    You want more high-fives? Start giving high-fives.

    You want students talking? Thank them for sharingB every time.

    You want more respectful students? Treat students respectfully and insist they do it, too.

    You want staff and students to take risks? Take risks, and do it publicly.

     

    That’s it.

     

    ~Matt Vaudrey

  • Krispy Kreme Me – Third Grade

    Today, we mushed together four of my favorite things from #mtbos:

    Since there are loads of adorable student talk in this post, Ibll take just two lines for background here: Liz and Monica (third-grade teachers and #bonitians) approached me and said, bWe want to do math teaching better, is there some kind of database or model for ways to teach outside of the book?b

    animated GIF of Aziz Ansari looking at the camera excitedly.

    Herebs how it went down in Lizbs class. In the dialogue, shebs the T, as in Teacher.

    Notice/Wonder

    Four people stand around an enormous box of donuts.

    T: Boys and girls what do you notice and what do you wonder?

    Immediately, the murmur of 8-year-old chatter bubbles throughout the room.

    I wonder how many donuts that is.
    Itbs a lot of donuts.
    It doesnbt stop at the edge, like it keeps going underneath.
    Itbs like some cereal because the donuts are round like this in a box like cereal.
    We already know how to solve the problem!

    T: Boys and girls, I hear a lot of interesting noticings and wonderings. Letbs put some together. (moves to poster paper)
    Jen: I wonder if itbs perimeter or area.
    Elise: I wonder how many donuts are in the box?
    T: Who else was wondering that? Thumbs up.
    [Lots of thumbs]
    Marie: I notice that there are more donuts inside than we can see.
    Jane: There are two pairs of right angles.
    T: We have a lot of notices and wonders today! Keep bem coming!
    Tim: If you see the whole box, you can just count the donuts how high and across.
    Bella: I notice that it takes more people to hold it than usual, because like on a normal box it only takes one person to carry it.
    Diaz: I wonder if theybre actually fresh.
    Jolene: I notice that the box is square.
    T: So youbre noticing the shape of it.
    Student: Itbs a quadrilateral!
    Jeremy: There are lots of people and not much donuts.
    Christine: I wonder if therebs more than 100 donuts in there.
    Isabella: Why is the box so big?
    T: Thank you everyone adding, I know you have more to say than I can recordb
    Student: Is the box real?

    T: I notice your groups had one main question: How many donuts [dramatic pause] are in the box? Did you all have that question?
    Students: Yes!
    T: Now I could have had you write these down on your paper, but we did it all together. Go ahead and write down at least one Notice and at least one Wonder on your papers. Theybre in the middle of the table.

    [PE Teacher bursts in to announce the results of the Track Meet]

    Teacher: Boys and girls, if you wrote several Noticings and Wonderings, please circle this one.

    Two columns, one says NOTICE with the student comments, the other says WONDER with student questions

     

    Estimation

    image of the donut box and the "barbell," two boxes with a line running between them.

    Teacher: Boys and girls, look down to the barbell. Let’s try to answer the question, “How many donuts?”
    What is a number that is too low? Put that number b without saying it b into this box right here on the left.
    Now that you have that number, think of a number that would be too high, and write it in here on the right. This is just your thinking.

    Several students' work, the "too high" numbers range from 900 to 5 million

    T: Somewhere on the line between them, put a hashtag and write in your guess.
    Student: Hashtag school
    Student: Hashtag math

    The teacher stands at the board near the image of a huge box of donuts.

    Act Two

    T: Is there any information that you need?
    Tim: We need to open the box.
    T: Why is that?
    Tim: We need to see if there are more on the edges.
    Marco: I agree with Tim because there might be some hiding below.
    Tyler: There might be some hiding on topb
    T: Can you go show us on the board?
    Tyler: There might be some hiding on top, like out of the green line.

    a student points at the top of the huge box of donuts, projected onto the whiteboard

    T: I hear some of you saying, “Ohhh,” like you noticed what Tyler noticed. Well, other people were curious about those things, too. So they emailed Krispy Kreme and were sent this email.

    an email from Krispy Kreme, describing measurements of the box, but with the number of donuts blocked out.

    T: (pauses for 20-30 seconds as students read) Oh, some of this information is missing. In this part, theybre showing blank times blank for each layer, so theybre multiplying. Is there anything here that is important that you took away? Jen?
    Jen: The times signal
    Tyler: 3000 millimeters
    Dan: 2300 millimeters
    Jolene: Three times layers

    After writing their information on the board, Liz says, bLet me show you some more info.b

    The same birds-eye view of the huge donut box, but with 25 and 32 to show the measurements.

    Jim: What?!
    Tyler: That cannot be true!
    T: I see youbre thinking. Letbs attack this problem; flip over your paper and let me see your genius.

    Ibve been sitting in the back, pecking away at the keyboard this whole time. Monica joined me shortly after she dismissed her class to P.E.
    Monica leans over and whispers to me, bThat boy there is just staring. I would nudge him and ask what hebs thinking, or maybe say, bTalk to your partner.b to keep him moving.b
    bMaybe,b I respond. bOr maybe he needs more thinking time and is formulating his idea in his head.b
    Monica giggles, bBut I want talk-time right away, so I assume that all my students want that.b
    bMe, too!b I whisper.

    T: Tyler, why are you counting?
    Tyler: b& because these two sides are blank (points to the arrow going down and right)
    Dave: I wanted to see if there was 25 donuts there or if only at the top there was 25 donuts.1
    T: Ah, okay! Carry on.

    Two students at the board, counting the donuts they see

    T: Boys and girls, let’s look at some of what our classmates are doing. Michael, what did you do here?

    Michael: On the box, I saw 25, so I added 25 for the top and the bottom. Then I added 50 + 32 and got 82


    Cairo: I built a box and I put 32 + 25 and got 57 and I tried 32-25 and then you took it away.
    T: Any questions for Cairo? [pause] Okay, I have more. This is Christinebs.

    Christine: The 25 I counted on the other side and I added them up and it says 3 layers so I added 3 to it.
    Doug: Why did you write …umb& whatever that is by 114?
    Christine: I wrote bnot answerb to remind myself that Ibm not done yet.
    T: Look at Dave’s work.
    Class: Whoa!

    T: Dave, Ibd love to know what youbre thinking, Dave.

    [bPlease excuse the interruption. Teachers: we are on a Rainy Day Schedule for lunch.b]]

    T: Now, look at Davebs math. Dave what are you up to here?
    Dave: That may look like more than ten 3s, but itbs ten 3s. …Actually, itbs more than ten 3s. Ibm writing out twenty-five 32s, then Ibm gonna add them all up.
    Charlie: Why are you adding them all up?
    Dave: Because I heard that there was 3 layers, there could be a lot lot lot more donuts around here and I figured there could be a lot more 32s around here. Then Ibm gonna add them all up and see what my answer is and see if they put more donuts here.
    T: So youbre thinking twenty-five 32s.
    Doug: Why did you do twenty-five 32s instead of thirty-two 25s?
    T: What do we know about math? Will that work?
    Doug: Itbll be done faster and you can figure out the other sides and that will bring you to the answer.
    Dave: At the end, Ibm gonna put the answer times three.
    T: Whybs that?
    Dave: Because therebs three layers.
    T: What are they telling us with those numbers here?
    Dave: There are 32 like this and 25 like this. (points to rows and columns) Opposite sides are equal and then times it by three.
    T: Letbs take another 5 minutes of quiet thinking

    Vaudrey: I notice that you were counting the dots, what made you choose to count the dots?
    Doug: I thought that each dot could be a donut and if they go in this way, they could make an array.
    Vaudrey: [Stunned that the third-grader knows the word barrayb] Did you find that the dots were 25 just like the column of donuts here?
    Doug: Mm-hmm.

    At this point, Liz had been deep in Act Two for about 20 minutes. Maybe a third of the class has a method that will lead them to a helpful answer. Liz crosses to me in the back of the room.
    T: This might be a little high for them. We have a few more minutes, I think webll get there.
    Vaudrey: This is the wild-and-wooly part, where theybre working in different directions. You gave them 5 more minutes, that should be enough for them to get deep into their method or to find some limitations.
    Lee: Okay, good. Itbs so hard to not steer them toward my method.
    Vaudrey: Totally, youbre doing an excellent job of affirming all their responses and not giving any indication which one you want to see.
    Lee: Itbs so hard!
    Vaudrey: (laughs) I know! And you even put some information on the board thatbs not important and some that is. That was a good call.

    T: Tim, Leadora, Jen, hand me your papers, Ibm gonna show your work up here. Everyone turn-and-learn.
    (Students all put down their pencils and face the board.)
    T: So, walking around, everyonebs doing great math work. Herebs one, by your dear friend Kaylon. 32×25 and all this math. Do you mind telling us about your thinking?

    Kaylon: I was adding up 32.
    T: How many times?
    Kaylon: Twenty-five.
    T: Any questions for Kaylon?
    Michael: Where did you get the numbers from?
    Kaylon: I was doing 32+32 and got 64, thenb& um…
    T: …added another 32 and got his answer, and another 32b& slow and steady wins the race.
    Jen: I…umb& I had all that then three times.
    T: Why three times?
    Jen: Because therebs three layers.

    Tim: I added 32 + 32 and got 64, then I added 64+25 and got 89 and 12 and got 101.
    T: What questions do you have for Tim?
    Vaudrey: (Waits five-Mississippi) Why 12?
    Time: Umb& I donbt know. I just added a 12.

    T: Ibm gonna give these back to you to put under your doggies. Webll have some more think time on this later this afternoon or tomorrow.
    Class: Thatbs dangerous; doggies love donuts.
    Teacher: What questions do you still have?
    Bella: How many donuts are in it?
    Doug: The truck was quite wide and the box filled the whole bottom. The box was this wide and the truck was this wide and it fit perfectly.
    Michael: There was three times layers, from above it kinda looks like more than one layer.

    four people load a huge box of donuts into a truck.

    Ethan: In the beginning, I wondered if they were delivering the donuts. I wanna order that.
    T: It does look like that! I have a little tidbit for the end I canbt wait to show you.
    Tim: Ibm wondering how much the box costs.
    T: I bet we could figure it out once we know how many donuts are in there.
    Tim: If we know how much one donut is worth, we could figure that out.

    Debrief

    Monica: Those students that were sharing, are those the students who score the highest usually?
    Liz: No, theybre just out-of-the-box thinkers.
    Vaudrey: Liz, did you feel like the task gave all your students equal access to the material?
    Liz: Oh, definitely! Like Ethan hasnbt done very well on his fluency checks this month, but he dove right in. I think he enjoyed talking about donuts!
    Vaudrey: Totally. And thatbs the point of class; the entree was donuts, and the math helped them answer a question they had about donuts.
    Liz: So now what? We didnbt quite finish; should we come back this afternoon or tomorrow?
    Vaudrey: Either one, but some kind of resolve should happen Theybre gonna want to answer the question bHow many?b but they might also want to get answers to some of their other bwonderings.b
    Liz: (deep breath) This collaboration is so powerful. I feel like I have so many more things I wanna try already.
    Monica: I wonder how a 3-act would look with both our classes together. Like a huge, co-teaching lesson.
    Vaudrey: Ibm down. Howbs next week?
    Liz: We could to it on Friday? Pull both classes into one room and do a big lesson?
    Monica: Great!

    Also in that conversation, Liz asked me to make a graphic so kids could describe the various types of arrays they used and . I made this.

    an array of 25 rows of 32 columns of donuts

    Liz is planning to project it onto the board and let students draw their rectangular groupings onto the board around the donuts. If needed, a different student couldB decompose the array into

    Resources

    We reformatted the Problem-Solving Framework from Robert so it fit our classroom. Click here for your own copy of our version (and please share if you make any improvements).

    Grahambs full 3-Act lesson is here: Krispy Kreme Me. I highly recommend his database of Elementary 3-Act lessons here; Graham is a thoughtful and intentional teacher who cares deeply about kids and learning math.

    Also, here’sB more on Notice and Wonder from Tracy Zager‘s companion site to her paradigm-shifting book.

    Finally, if you’ve never seen this lesson, here’s the grand reveal.

    ~Matt bPut this under your doggiesb Vaudrey

    1. This was my favorite piece of student talk. I assumed that students would read the Act Two image with the red arrows as “25 rows of 32 columns.” It never occurred to me that students would seek more specificity, that they might assume it’s only 25 from the middle up or 32 from the middle to the right. As always, students find new and exciting ways to interact with content. Teaching is just the funnest job.b)

  • Teaching is Mistakes

    One of my favorite teachers is Alicia Saldana. She teaches some of the most needy students in the school and requestsB to have them every year. She sometimes shares brain-dumps with me, and it’s my privilege to learn from her.
    This is what she sent me recently.

     

    Today, I let my best self be overshadowed by my lack-of-patience self. My self that has been state testing for 3 weeks and has a 4-month-old that decided during this, the most stressful and exhausting time of year, to sleep only 2 hours at a time. My self that is human (and totally imperfect) snapped at a kid when he tried to explain to me why he was bullying another student.

    Now snapping isn’t something I normally do, ever, but it was a perfect storm. It went something like this.

    bHaha! You got [student] in your group!b

    bExcuse me, this is a safe space. We don’t talk like that.b

    bMrs. Saldana, I said it because –b

    bThere is no excuse!b I interrupted. bYou can’t talk that way.b

    His head hung. He walked back to his seat and refused to work.

    Luckily for me, I work with a special education teacher who told me, bYou gotta let him tell you.b

    She was right. This wasn’t any kid making an excuse for bad behavior. It was a student who lives in a group home who rarely gets heard out and needs love, not a teacher snapping at him. In fact, his circumstances don’t matter. Any kid trying to explain behavior is an opportunity for me as a teacher to teach, not snap.

    Yes, he was wrong. Yes, he was being a bully. But there was no excuse for me not to hear him out.

    I approached him, knelt down at his desk, and apologized.

    bI’m sorry I snapped at you. I absolutely shouldn’t have done that.b

    No answer.

    bI want to know why you said what you said.b

    No answer. I waited. I wasn’t going to get frustrated. We were both going to learn from our mistakes.

    bI just said it because [other student] was saying that he wasn’t doing any work and she didn’t want to be in his group.b

    bBut was what you said helping or hurting?b I asked.

    bHurting,b he answered with finality.

    bAnd what should you have done instead?b

    bIgnored her.b

    bIt’s okay. We all make mistakes. We can both try harder tomorrow. I am really sorry I snapped at you. Webre okay?b

    bWebre okay.b He said

    I held out my pinky finger for him to promise that we were okay. We both walked away better people.

    Teaching is mistakes. It’s learning. The best way to teach kids that we can learn from our mistakes is to model that behavior.

    Yes. State testing has got me down. Yes. I’ve had a rough end to the year. No, this won’t be the last time I have to apologize to a student. It won’t be the last time I snap.

    But every time I do, I hope I’m always a brave enough, strong enough teacher to apologize and learn.

    ~Alicia Saldana

     

  • Growth and Humility

    Arrogance sits at the core of traditionalB education. The idea thatB the teacherB knows something andB the studentB needs to understand it.

    One sees this arrogance in many traditional classrooms; an authoritarian adult keeps children in an orderly array and provides tasks for them to complete. Dispensing knowledge like food from his/her vast coffers, teachers areB benevolent dictators at best and draconian Supreme Leaders at worst.

    A new teacher’s understanding of this idea is betrayed by their language, with phrases like,B “I struggle with keeping the classB under control.”

    Veteran teachers’ language shows that same ego, however: “I’m not giving you an A unless youB show me you deserve it.”

    In contrast, modern education isB [becoming] an environmentB of questioning and collaboration, where the ego of knowledge is dispersed among the students.

    Inward-facing desks is a start, but humility in a position of authority is tough to fake. The teacher must actually feel that students have value to add to learning, and that they can lead and follow each other, not just the adult in the room.

    Since humility requires practice,B I do my level best to find rooms where I ain’t the sharpest one.

    NCTM_R_LogoandName4C_L

    A month ago, I traveled halfway across the country to learn from other math teachers whoB also traveled halfway across the country; we all converged on Texas forB the largest gathering of math teachers on the continent. I watched from an enormousB crowd as speakers explained books that I had never readB and instructional strategies that I had never tried.

    I appreciate these chances to realize how big the world of education is. How exciting that there are new things to learn and new methods to try and new people to meet!

    In the face of such overwhelming ignorance, one’s ownB arrogance can’t survive; weB must replace it with humility and get to work.

    While I can certainly point to my favorite moments from the week, the general feeling of pre-enlightenment is my favorite part; not so much that I learned new things (I did), but that I learned how much more there is to learn.

    That is an exciting proposition.

    As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it. (Albert Einstein)

    ~Matt “I’ve never heard of that, can you show me?” Vaudrey

     

  • Channel Your Inner Jeremiah

    Today was day 1 of CUE Rockstar Math, where 120 of my fellow nerds descended on Dana Middle School in Arcadia to discuss math education with me and some Twitter friends.

     

    Thankfully, CUE starts these events at 9:00, which gave me time toB rinse diarrhea crumbs off my baby (not an idiom; actual baby, actual poo) and make it there in time to give hugs and high-fives to a room full of people who are just like me: math teachers who want to become better at their job.

    Class Culture of Critical Questions

    As with all Rockstar events, I gave two 2-hour workshops on the same topic, separated by lunch. The second round ran pretty well off of my phone, because I tripped on my cord and…

    That’s not the point of this post, but it was one of the moreB eventful parts of the day.

    The workshop starts with a demo lesson, modeling the 3-Act lesson from Graham Fletcher called Krispy Kreme Me. After the lesson, we make some notes about what phrases and procedures got everyone interested in sharing.

    It was pleasant, fun, and not a great representation of an actual classroom.
    Let’s turn it up a notch.

    “In my hand are a stack of yellow cards,” I say to the room. “Half of the cards say General Ed Student, and the rest have some kind of instructional challenge for the teacher. I’m going to pass them out to each of you. Keep them to yourselves.”

    As I walked around b grinning like my daughter before Gramma comes over b I went a step further.
    “In order to make this more like a real class, I want you to channel a student that you have currently or had in the past. When you saw the card, you thought of a kid. Be that kid during this next lesson.”

    Invariably, teachers begin to tilt their heads, smirk, and ask, “Really? You want Jeremiah in this room?”

    And I grin right back and say, “Yep! Let’s go!”

    Then a room full of adults get to make silly jokes about cheese, ask to go to the bathroom, bring up YouTube videos on their devices.

    They also hesitate with big words they don’t know (EL Student), get distracted easily (Quick Finisher), or cry out, “I can’t see!” (Vision Disability). It’s one of my favorite things to do; flex my teaching muscles and be vulnerable.

    BecauseB afterB that…


    We make a list of culture-building stuff they saw me do with the “real class” and things they would add, subtract, or change.

    It’s powerful to hear a grown adult say, “I was the English Learner and you went way too fast for me.”

    “That sounds awful.”

    Yeah. Before the “channel your inner Jeremiah” part of the workshop, I’m honest with everybody: “This might go horribly wrong, but I’m gonna do it anyway.”

    It’s my hope that, even if overzealous or skeptical teachers channel Jeremiah on a no-meds, skipped-breakfast, mom-yelled-at-me-on-the-drive-to-school day, all of the attendees still get to see the teacherB take a risk and be vulnerable, maybe even look silly.

    That’s kinda the last few chapters of Classroom Chef.

    I want y’all to see me reach for something ambitious, even if I fall on my face afterward (which happened in Salinas).

    Resources

    If you want to take a bold risk with your staff, click here to get your own copy of my yellow cards, which I printed twice and laminated, so I have 40 cards.*

    The quick lesson that we did together was Day 28 from Estimation 180.

    Also, special thanks to Josie forB really going for the gusto. I’m almost sorry I sent you out of class on an “errand.”

    ~Matt “Josie, can you take these Post-Its next door?” Vaudrey

    *Dang, that means we had 36 people channeling Jeremiah today. Cool.

  • When Twitter Ain’t Enough

    three tweets, where I note that something is lost when interactions only happen online
    (click for link)

    There are dozens of math teachers that I admire from afar, many of whom converged on San Antonio this week for NCTM. I got to sit at the feet of these b my teacher-crushes b and hear firsthand what they may not share in print.

    That’s the point of conferences, right? To confer.

    Online, I get a two-dimensional view of these educators. For some, itbs a highly-curated image of their best work, best screenshots, and best writings, edited to perfection. Therebs a degree of anonymity online, where I can choose to show only the best parts of myself.

    Look at that picture to theB left. Thatbs the best picture of me that I have, so of course that’s the one I share.

    But when Ibm sitting six feet from Elham Kazemi, listening to her description of the five (six?) methods of student discourse, itbs a completely different experience than just reading her book.

    In literature, the digital persona would be called a bflatb character. Two-dimensions, no depth.

    By spending time in real life with colleagues from home and abroad, I can repaint them in my mind as broundb characters, full of life and detail and minutia that donbt come up in a tweet or blog post.

    Chris buys me a drink as soon as I arrive, then asks, bIf you could be any rockstar for a night, who would it be? Ibm asking everybody here.b
    Our new friends at the bar pitch their workshop toB Stephanie, who listens intently and offers thoughtfulB feedback.
    Ethan beams as he shows me pictures of his kids.
    Karrine b who Ibd never met b comes in for a hug: long-overdue, since she translated the Mullet Ratio into French for use in her schools in Ontario

    There are also imperfect parts to our round-ness, stuff you see from staff at your day-to-day, but not from teacher-crushes.

    Gray hair thatbs more prominent than it was when that headshot was taken.
    A foul mouth with a foot regularly placed in it.
    A laugh thatbs a little too loud for the room.

    (Some of those are me.)

    TheseB traits, the good and the fallible, are what make us real, what make us into actual people. These are people with whom I can have personal relationships based on professional interests.B An online network of math teachers is great, but shaking hands and being a smartass in person is important, too.

    See yball in Atlanta this summer.

    ~Matt bInterrupts sometimes and has a moleb Vaudrey