Lessons Learned

This school year was very challenging, ramping up to my role and responsibilities as a Department Chair. In the end, I feel that it has really helped me grow professionally; I now think constantly of all students in the school as mine. I have a responsibility for the learning of each child, not just of those in my own classes. When I make an instructional decision in my class, I immediately consider how that impacts my colleagues and our collective pacing, in addition to how it impacts the individual child. I have learned to talk to student parents more effectively -- when to listen, when to acknowledge them, and when to explain our procedures in a gentle way that helps the parents realize that 1. we're working in the best interest of their child, and 2. the school makes the ultimate academic decisions regarding the child. I have had to deal with some unhappy colleagues. Being the middle-person between management and teachers, sometimes you have to communicate unhappy decisions and still find ways to hold everyone together. Some days, it was hard to respond to my students and my colleagues all at once, so I had to choose whom needed my immediate attention. I have had to become more organized. In addition to reminding myself of deadlines, I had to look ahead in order to plan for all of us and to communicate deadlines, expectations in advance. I had to also mediate conflicts, and sometimes to create them if it meant to stand by a fair decision.

Sometimes, some things may seem like a lot of detailed work. It's not easy getting 4 teachers to give an identical end-of-year exam, when they each customize pacing and content instruction slightly to fit their classes. It's not easy to all agree on project deadlines months in advance, and to sit down amid very busy times to moderate grading and to create class lists for next year. It's not easy to get teachers to grade consistently across different grade levels. But, the better you can coordinate these things which may seem like minor issues when taken independently, the better they will pay off in the long run, resulting in less confusion for students and fewer complaints from parents, and thereby less bureaucratic overhead for everyone.

Today, I was quite touched by my senior colleagues coming to me to say that they've really developed respect for me during the past year. Although I had never looked for it, it was a validation for the work this year had required of me. If I could go back, I would have waited until I was several years into the school to apply for the same position, because then my learning curve would have been a bit less steep. But, it was still a great (albeit challenging) experience, and one that will help me in the future to maintain a balanced perspective of all the considerations that go into a seemingly small decision at school. Most of all, I have appreciated the friendships that I have formed with these colleagues. In ways big and small, they have supported me as much personally as they have supported me professionally.

But, the departmental work is not over quite yet. As I'm counting down the weeks to summer, I'm also making a list of the endless things that still need to be done. Only about 3.5 weeks to go! That's hardly a blink away! This summer, I OWE MYSELF A VACATION!!*

*Obviously, this is not just because of the department chair work. I got married this year, found a job, did a bunch of prep work to move overseas, and had battled allergy for months. I think I have earned some time off this summer, just sayin'. 

Zero and Negative Zero

Today a random 11th-grader asked me what the difference is between zero and negative zero. He sounded so sure that there was a difference, that for a fraction of a second I had to double-check my entire logical understanding of numbers before answering him. I asked him what the difference is between -2 and 2, and he said that they're "...of course different. They are opposites!" And I asked him what the '2' means. He said, "Well, they are both 2 units from the 'center'." So, "OK," I said. "And -0 and 0 are both how many units away from the 'center'?" He said, "Zero units, but in opposite directions!" We went back and forth like this for a bit until I convinced him that -0 and 0 are the same using the number line as a reference frame.

Then, my colleague comes in and this student asks the same question to him. I didn't say anything because I was a bit curious what my colleague would say. My colleague invoked reflection on the number line to explain geometrically why 0 and -0 are the same, which is exactly the same explanation that I had given! Afterwards, we were both amused. My colleague says, "You see, there are some things that all math teachers can agree upon."

But, we are both people who are comfortable reasoning through number lines and relationships of numbers. In the end, we are able to provide an answer to the kid that is logically sound and coherent with other concepts that the kid knows and understands. The same question could easily have come up in a classroom (for example, of younger children perhaps) where the teacher is multiple subject-certified and perhaps not quite as comfortable with mathematics as they are with other subjects. In that case, what systems can we put in place in order to support those teachers to answering conceptual questions such as this? (I realize that elementary-school age children do not typically learn about negative numbers, but the same types of innocent questions can still very easily arise, with other math topics that they do learn about.) We want to encourage questioning and robust reasoning in mathematics, and that mode of thinking should be instilled starting at a young age. What can I do as a math department head of a K-12 school, in order to ensure of this and to help all teachers feel equipped to answer conceptual questions from curious learners?*

*For example, the art department head of our school regularly models lessons in the elementary school, in order to show the teachers how to deliver art lessons using the same general approach as in the middle- and high- school. But, I don't feel confident that I can manage young children or that I would be equipped to explain concepts at their young comprehension level. So, if that is not an option, then what is??

What does your school have in place in order to support vertical alignment and conceptual development at different ages, not just on paper but in tangible terms?

A Pause in the Moment

I really like this time of the year, because the kids are very motivated and I know all of them well enough to pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses, and I have worked with them long enough to see a pattern in their learning and to see if they are growing in their efforts, responsibility, and habits of mind.

One thing I am trying this year (sort of organically) is to have all assignments be a dialogue with the students. They turn the assignments in, I look at them, give them back with written comments, and if the student's work isn't up to par, then the student knows that they need to re-do it (because I say it to them, leaving no assumptions). I think this back-and-forth dialogue is a more natural way of learning, and as a result I am a bit more lax on the deadlines. Unless a kid's work is more than a couple of weeks late, it matters more to me that it's done well than it is done absolutely on time. And it also helps to instill a culture of quality over quantity of work.

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We have an intern in our department this semester, and talking to her is bringing back all kinds of memories of my own first year of teaching! (All the hectic schedule, the stress, that feeling of momentary panic when you're standing in front of the room and kids won't listen, etc.) She's great though, definitely much better/firmer than I was as a first-year teacher. She's also multi-talented, totally certified to teach math, science, and German all at once. I'm still working on my one semi-professional qualification of teaching math...

Besides that, I think our department is finally, finally at a smooth-sailing pace. We've finally recovered from the shock of the start of the year, when everything was constantly backlogged. It only took us 4 months to get to this place. I can only say that the next year will be better, because I'll already know my way through the start of the year, and I can prepare for it better. Being a department chair is definitely not easy, but I think people have gradually warmed up to me in the last 4 months (and I have gradually gotten used to the responsibilities). By that, I mean now they don't bolt out the door at 4:30pm at the end of the meeting. They actually linger until we're done with business... which is a definite sign of something good, however small. I think I have a good relationship with everyone in the department, which really, really helps to smooth things over when issues arise. I cannot wait to see what the second half of the year will bring!

Benefits of Shared Assessments

One of the things I really wanted to implement in the MYP (grades 6 through 10) this year is shared assessments across different classes. I cannot emphasize the importance of this, if you are are a department chair reading this. Our school is fortunate to have very strong, very experienced MS and HS math teachers with varying areas of expertise, but the danger of that is that you end up closing the door and teaching in isolation, because you don't need to collaborate with others. Before I came to the school, in most MYP grades there were already twice a year shared assessments (in December or January, and then again in May or June). This is pretty good for making sure that half-way and full-way through the year, we are more or less synchronized in terms of topics covered. But, what I personally found last year as a first-year teacher at the school, was that there was too much anxiety placed upon me and my students the month before those "big tests", to adjust our pacing and content to match the other classes. The truth is that no matter how thorough your curriculum documents are, they are still up to the teachers' interpretations; the only way to ensure that students are not missing any part of pertinent information is by looking at what is assessed, at the end of the unit, in each other's classes, and then adjusting instruction to fill in gaps in real time.

So, this year I recommended that at least 4 times a year (including the midyear and end-of-year exams), we try to create shared assessments. And thus far, this has been really great, because it has allowed/forced us as a department to dialogue on an on-going basis about what we are teaching, how fast we are teaching it, and whether we think our students are moving faster or slower than other groups in the same grade. This makes adjustments possible as an on-going process, instead of only twice a year when the crunch time rolls around. Also, because these smaller shared assessments are based on a single topic/unit only and each teacher can give it when they feel that the class is ready, we can really take the time to fine-tune their content to match the MYP expectations. (In the MYP framework, for example, each assessment must contain "new, unfamiliar" situations for applying the learned topics in order to encourage students to think flexibly beyond normal applications. When we each create assessments for our classes, it's time-consuming to think of good problems like this to use, but when we all collaborate, it's really not so bad.) Another hidden benefit is that shared assessments helps us to provide a shared meaning of grades (ie. a "5" means more or less the same in all classes in the same grade), as well as helps us to identify those kids who are truly behind or truly ahead in their classes, compared to peers across the entire grade. In short, good things are already coming out of this change, and I am feeling quite encouraged by the small changes that are, in the long run, making our students' learning experiences much better!

Another thing we have agreed to try to do this year is to build in a common schedule for MYP projects, which would be a couple of weeks (surrounding vacations) during which time each teacher will come up with their own favorite projects to use for their classes. We have not actually gotten around to doing this yet this year, but I am very interested in getting the conversation started very soon within our department about the particulars and logistics of projects. It will hopefully be another opportunity for us to share ideas on projects and to have a dialogue on what makes a good MYP project.

Questions

I have been thinking about a lot of things, because the types of issues that come across my desk are various, and in my ideal world I want to do something for every one of those kids.

Kids who need special attention, in my opinion:

• Very advanced children, who are 1 or 2 grades above grade level simply because of where they come from. Some of these kids are not especially academically independent, and they really need a lot of nurturing in order to continue developing in their current level of knowledge. They should be treated differently from gifted children, because these kids cannot often guide themselves through unfamiliar tasks. They should also be treated differently than regular students, because they should not have to sit through classes that merely repeat what they have already learned previously.
• Exceptionally gifted children who are very young still (ie. in grade school). These kids lack the independence as well to navigate through very complex tasks, and they are also emotionally drained/socially impacted by the fact that they are different from other kids. Sometimes these kids have very high conceptual understanding, but their skills levels still lag behind their intellect and bar them from learning higher-complexity content. We should aim to provide some significant enrichment for them without taking them out of the normal classroom, because at such a young age they still need all the socialization.
  
• Very, very weak students who have little to no conceptual understanding of basic arithmetic and its meaning, mixed in with a group of much higher cognitively operating kids. What do we do with these kids at middle- to upper- grade levels, if those gaps still exist? What is the right action to take, if they cannot even comprehend simple mathematics? Do we then pre-determine what is realistic achievement for them and teach them "basic / survival mathematics", or do we still try to offer them algebra to keep their future options open? Should we assess these kids differently?
  
• Children whose skills are weak simply as a result of constantly transferring between incompatible curricula (as a result of being children of diplomatic families). If the kid is only in the host country for one to two years, what is the correct way to handle their mathematical education? Should we try to offer them a menu of topics that is close to what they would have been studying back home, or is that an impossible quest that is difficult to scale to the number of international students that we receive?
• Students who are in career-bound programs. Should these kids still be learning the same abstract algebra concepts that they have tried to learn for years, or should we offer them a more realistic finance- and money management-driven curriculum? And if we decide to go with the latter, what topics should we cover?
• Kids who have special learning needs. Are they being supported adequately in the classroom? If they need a lot of hand-holding, is that provided through extra manpower? To what extent is it fair to expect a teacher to simply differentiate for kids with special needs, if they are grouped with many other students also with great need? What systems can we put in place to support these kids and to track their progress?
• If a kid joins a higher-track class based on their own ambitions, against the assessment-based recommendations of their teachers, what system should be in place to check in with those kids and to track their progress over time?

This is just a slice of the things I think about, separate from the logistics of more urgent issues...

Prepping for the First Days

I am roughly planning out my first days of the school year, but this year it's complicated because not only do I need to look out for my own classes, but I also need to make sure that the class lists for the department are made, the teaching assignments are equitable, the book checkout will be smooth for all classes, and I am thinking ahead to our next meetings already in terms of what we will need to discuss in relation to changing IB/MYP requirements and how we will look at/analyze our IB results from last year. --So, whew! A lot on my plate! I've barely had time to think about my own students, but tonight I managed to sit down and write out some thoughts. It's not worth planning concretely until my grade-level colleagues agree on how to start out the school year (ie. which topics make sense to come first), so I'll have to wait until after tomorrow's dept meeting and then scramble to get the supplies all ready before the next day, but I am excited about doing Row Game on Day 1 with grades 7 and 8! I'll make modifications to the normal Row Game only in the sense that I'll set up some "review stations" around the room with example problems and explanations. Kids who get stuck on their row game should go over to the tables and try to use the resources provided to review what they don't remember from the year before, thus leaving me free to observe and help diagnose misconceptions. By the end of class, I'll give them the first homework set to further review at home.

Besides that, tomorrow's the first full department meeting I'll be running! I am VERY excited. We've got some big things to do tomorrow, and I hope my colleagues will hear me out on my hopes and visions for our department. Today I had ironed over my first not-easy challenge as dept chair with reasonable success, so I feel pretty good about this moving forward!

By the way, this year I will be teaching all of grades 7, 8, 9, 11, 12 again. I look forward to improving and refining what I did last year. :)

Work relationship tips I'll try to always abide by this year as I tread along in my new position:

• If an issue is contentious, always talk it over in person rather than discussing it over emails. Emails escalate situations unnecessarily quickly.
• Within 60 seconds of talking to someone, find something that you can (genuinely) praise them for; this will help them to open up to what you have to say.
• If you do some casual "pre-talking" to people about their opinions before group meetings, you can help them to trim their thoughts down to key points, and therefore save time during the actual meeting / prevent drawn-out discussions. Most of the time people just want their detailed thoughts to be heard, but it does not have to be by the whole group.
• In the middle of mediating a conflict, giving someone recognition for something that they do well will help to immediately cool the situation.
• Ultimately, if you have to make a decision that is unpopular, you should explain the reasoning behind it and model your conviction in action.
• Early planning and specific, timely communication will both help to avoid avoidable conflicts.
• My personal relationship with IT, admin, facilities, etc. will have a bearing on my department's relationship with them!!