Moving On!

Nearly a decade ago, I stepped into the role of Primary Years Programme (PYP) Coordinator in an International Baccalaureate (IB) school. A significant aspect of my responsibilities involved fostering connections among the teachers I collaborated with, aiming to disseminate best teaching practices. While predecessors had opted for newsletters, I envisioned a broader reach, extending beyond the audience of my school's educators.

Thus, the blog "Making Teaching Visible: Observing and documenting best teaching practice in order to connect one good idea to other educators" was born. Infatuated with the book "Making Thinking Visible," many of the initial posts revolved around the thinking routines advocated by authors Ritchhart, Church, and Morrison. The blog's title obviously paid homage to these influential figures and their groundbreaking work.

Over the years, this blog facilitated connections with educators globally and served as a platform for analyzing and reflecting on the essence of effective teaching. My goal has always been to share practical ideas that could make teachers' jobs easier and their efforts more effective.

However, my journey has evolved, and I am no longer in the role of a PYP Coordinator. In the past four years, I've returned to the classroom, and the need for this blog has waned - along with the time I have to write posts! The transition of domains has rendered many embedded pictures as mere "!", serving as warnings that the images are no longer available. I've explored alternative avenues, such as TikTok, to share the ideas I've been learning and implementing - check me out there. Given the lapse in regular updates, I believe it's an apt time to officially bid farewell to this blog.

While I acknowledge the wealth of valuable ideas archived in the over 100 posts on this blog, I've decided against archiving the entire thing. No new posts will be added, at least for the foreseeable future. It's time to embark on a new chapter, and I appreciate the enriching journey this blog has afforded me. Thank you to everyone who has been part of this endeavor. It's time to move on!

Be an Inquirer

Teacher leaders embrace an inquiry stance to focus on learning while not stopping forward progress.

As a former Primary Years Programme Teacher and Coordinator, I know that taking an inquiry-approach to classroom instruction is fundamental. However, inquiry shouldn't just happen in front of students. It's about taking an inquiry stance all the time, which means being a curious learner as a teacher leader, with oneself and with one's students.

As a leader, if you notice something happening in a mathematics classroom that confuses, angers, frustrates, or saddens you, your first steps should be to ask questions to understand. Avoid blaming, shaming, sharing your anger, belittling, or accusing. Instead, ask simple, open-ended, non-confrontational prompts like "Can you help me understand?" As a teacher leader, your goal is to ask questions not to challenge, but because you're curious.

This inquiry stance should also be applied to your own classroom. When something doesn't go quite right, ask yourself, "What can I learn from this experience?" Instead of getting bogged down in shame and embarrassment, focus on what you can do to improve.

To model this inquiry stance with students, start by showing them how to be curious and how to ask questions. You can also model how to solve a problem and the questions you ask yourself as you tackle it. When asking students questions, try to understand their thinking instead of trying to fix it.

You’ll also want to keep in mind the balance of confusion and understanding in your classroom. As MaryAnn from the Making Meaning of Operations case book said, "This situation made me wonder about the wisdom of leaving students in the middle of a misunderstanding," (Case 14, p. 52). We need to find a balance between acknowledging when students' lines of thinking are incorrect with not stopping their forward progress. And as case 18 and case 9 from the same book illustrate, we can find fascination and value in discussing different ways to approach a problem and different perspectives. By embracing an inquiry stance, we can create a more collaborative and engaging learning environment for ourselves and our students.

Repeat to Understand: Improving Math Discussions through Repetition

When students share their mathematical thinking in a group, it's important that everyone's voice feels heard. One effective technique to ensure this is to have another student repeat the thinking of the person who shared. This strategy, which we saw in many Developing Mathematical Ideas (DMI) videos (as part of the Master of Arts in Teaching Mathematics at Mt Holyoke College), was also recommended by my colleague Louisa for my Student Thinking Assignments in the 2021-22 school year.

There are several benefits to using this approach. First, it amplifies the voice of the student who originally shared their thinking and communicates to the class that their ideas are valued. Second, when a student's thinking is repeated, more students have a chance to hear and understand it. In a busy and distracting classroom, hearing ideas twice can help students pay closer attention. Third, repeating the thinking provides an opportunity to check for understanding. If the repetition is incorrect, we can quickly identify any misunderstandings or communication issues.

Echoing student voices by having another student repeat their thinking is a simple and effective technique to use in your elementary math classroom. It promotes inclusion, helps clarify ideas, and encourages active listening among students.

In your next math class, give it a shot and see how it goes. Then leave me a comment and let me know how it worked for you!

Questions to Reflect & Refine

• In what ways could echoing student voices benefit my classroom math discussions? How could it support student learning?
• How might I use or adapt this technique to suit the needs of my classroom and my students? How might I regularly incorporate this strategy into my practice?
• Can I think of any other strategies to ensure that all my students' voices are heard in math discussions?

Ideas that came up based on feedback from others:

• When students are hesitant or afraid to vocalize their ideas/processes, being the "repeater" is actually much lower stakes. They can still be a part of the conversation, but they don't have to vulnerably share their own ideas if they aren't ready to, yet. (Larry)
• This technique is described above in the context of a small or large group, but could also be a strategy students would use in pairs as a way to show their partner was actively listening. The way the technique is used is dependent on the purpose. (Melissa)
• What happens if the math thinking originally shared is incorrect? Do you still have that thinking echoed? (Melissa)
• Repetition is a super important technique. Students teaching, after gaining expertise, can really boost the repetitions. Giving students multiple modeling opportunities advantages all. (Amy)
• This community has potential to build community. (Judi)
• An important precursor to using a technique like this is to lay out norms and expectations for the group. It is also important students know the purpose; to amplify voices, promote inclusion and clarify ideas. This "echoing" technique shouldn't be looked on as a listening quiz, but rather a chance to restate and reframe. (Louisa)
• When students get used to listening to other students' math thinking and sharing their own thinking, the ownership for learning, thinking and teaching shifts towards the students, giving them agency. (Jennifer) 
• This strategy would be useful in other areas as well, not just in the mathematics classroom (Ashley)

The Horse & Rider: A helpful metaphor for emotional regulation

Being able to regulate your emotions is a learned skill, just like being able to multiply or decode multi-syllabic words. Helping students develop this skill of emotional regulation is just as important as literacy and math instruction. And one helpful part of teaching students this skill is helping them understand what's going on in the brain.

Now because I teach elementary-aged students and because I am no brain expert myself, I rely on metaphors to help me understand and communicate that understanding to my students.

What follows are three ways of thinking about what's happening in the brain when we're emotionally regulated that I have found extremely helpful. I've labeled them as good, better and best.

Good: "The Lid"

Image taken from https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zJqH_Ogxle0/maxresdefault.jpg on 6/28/2022

When I first learned about emotional regulation during a Conscious Discipline training, I learned about the hand model of the brain. Watch Dr. Becky Bailey from Conscious Discipline explain this hand model.

With this model, the thumb represents your limbic system, which is the emotional part of the brain. Your prefrontal cortex, which is represented by your middle and ring fingers, is the thinking part of the brain. When you're in your thinking state, your prefrontal cortex regulates your limbic system and in the hand model of the brain, your middle and ring fingers physically cover up your thumb. To show emotional dysregulation, your fingers come up and we say, "you've flipped your lid." When we're in this state, we are driven by our emotions.

Better: "The Balance"

Image taken from https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1585031 on 6/28/2022.

In fourth grade at my school, we teach students a different metaphor using the social-emotional learning curriculum called Second Step. In the unit called "Emotional Management" we teach the students about the balanced brain. Just like with Conscious Discipline, the students learn about these two states of the brain, but the Second Step curriculum uses the language of "logic center" and "emotion center".

A further difference is that rather than talk about one system regulating or taking over the other, we talk about how both the logic and emotion centers of our brain need to be in balance. These parts of our brain need to work together so that we can make good decisions. We shouldn't ignore either part of the brain.

I prefer thinking of keeping these parts of our brains balanced, instead of one system taking over or regulating the other one, but Second Step doesn't provide a helpful visual metaphor to easily talk about or communicate this idea to kids. That is why I prefer this last way of thinking about the brain and emotional regulation.

Best: "The Horse and Rider"

Image take from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2006-07-28_-_United_States_-_Wyoming_-_Cody_-_Rodeo_-_Cowboy.jpg on 6/28/2022

My best friend Brenda, a mother and nurse practitioner, shared a way of thinking about the thinking and logic centers of the brain in a way that I have used in my classroom ever since. Just like how the fingers rest on top of the thumb in the hand model of the brain described above, we can think about the logic center as being the rider on top of a horse, which represents the emotion center. Both horse and rider need to work together to be successful.

The horse needs the rider to help know where to go and the rider needs the horse to get places quicker. When the horse bucks off the rider, it runs wild and won't be very successful until the rider gets back on. When this happens, we're emotionally dysregulated and we can't get regulated until the horse slows down. This is a key aspect to this metaphor and it is why I LOVE it so much. We can not think or communicate logically when we're dysregulated - when our rider is off the horse. So our first order of business when this happens is to breathe, slow our horse down and get the rider back on so that we can get back into balance.

These three metaphors that I have learned along the way help me think about balanced and regulated brains. What are ways you have learned that you use in your practice?

Teaching Signposts with Patricia Polacco

Several years ago, along with friends and colleagues, I learned about "signposts" by reading the book Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers and Robert E Probst.

Image retrieved from https://www.heinemann.com/shared/covers/9780325046938.jpg

Close Reading

Close reading is a process that typically involves re-reading a text to progressively dig deeper. The initial pass allows the reader to understand what the text says, which correlates with the first three Common Core Reading Standards: key ideas and details. The second read compromises an analysis of the author's craft and the text's structure (CCSS standards 4-6). Last, students are invited to revisit the text for a third time to integrate knowledge and ideas (CCSS standards 7-9).

Image retrieved from https://www.smekenseducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/CR_3_PhasesMini_Poster.jpg

In their book, Beers and Probst argue that whereas these three reads help students examine texts more closely, the process is often teacher-driven and doesn't provide a gradual release of responsibility so that students eventually apply these reading behaviors independently.

Instead, they suggest readers look for six signposts that "alert readers to significant moments in a work of literature and encourages them to read closely."

To introduce these signposts to my fourth graders in the middle of our author study on Patricia Polacco, we read Pink and Say, a book where all six signposts were present.

Image retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/Pink-Say-Patricia-Polacco/dp/0399226710

Introduce the Signposts

First, I divided the class into six groups and assigned them each a signpost. They were responsible for defining their signpost to the class, along with sharing the question readers are to ask themselves once they've identified a particular signposts.

• Contrasts and Contradictions: Sharp contrasts between what we expect and what we observe characters doing or feeling.
• Why is the character doing that?
• Aha Moments: Characters’ realizations that shift their actions, understanding or thinking.
• How might this change things?
• Tough Questions: The characters ask questions that reveal their inner struggles.
• What does this question make me wonder about?
• Words of the Wiser: Advice or insights wiser characters, usually older, offer about life to the main character.
• What’s the life lesson, and how might it affect the character?
• Again and Again: Events, images, or particular words that repeat over and over again.
• Why does this show up again and again?
• Memory Moment: Recollections by a character that interrupt the forward progress of the story.
• Why might this memory be important?

Identify the Signposts

Next, I hung up six pages from the book around the room. These were selections from Pink and Say that represented each of the six signposts. I asked the groups to find the page where their signpost was and be ready to justify their selection to the group.

Once every team was stationed at a page, we went around the room to see if the students had correctly identified the signposts.

Invitation to Independence

To finish the mini-lesson, I gave students a signposts bookmark (printed on cardstock) and encouraged them to look for these signposts in the texts they read and those that are read to them.

Since that initial lesson, we continue to look for signposts in the books I read aloud to them (first Front Desk by Kelly Yang and now Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins), along with books we read in book clubs. The conversations we have, spurred by the signpost questions, are some of the deepest, most student-driven conversations that I have had in my 16-year educational career.

Using Chalk Talk to Set Distance Learning Norms

From Hybrid to Distance

After roughly 10 weeks of teaching fourth graders in the hybrid model (half the class in-person, two days a week), our county has superseded the COVID infection rates that make it safe to continue in-person teaching and learning. So, we're shifting to distance learning, which will mean new routines, new procedures and new norms.

Essential Agreement

Just like at the beginning of the year when we collaboratively created our classroom norms, we needed to collectively develop agreements about how we would behave in our new online setting.

At the beginning of the year, we agreed to be empathetic, responsible, helpful and trustworthy.

Chalk Talk

During our last days of in-person learning, we used the thinking routine "Chalk Talk" from Making Thinking Visible (Ritchhart, Church and Morrison) to get our thinking out on paper about how we will continue to honor our essential agreement in our new distance learning setting. This routine worked particularly well as the two cohorts of students contributed their ideas on two different days. I enjoy this routine because it is a silent conversation; it gives time and space for students to think, contribute their own ideas and respond / react to others.

To facilitate Chalk Talk, follow the directions from the book Making Thinking Visible:

Looking at the topic or question written on the chart paper:

• What ideas come to mind when you consider this idea, question or problem?
• What connections can you make to others' responses?
• What questions arise as you think about the ideas and consider the responses and comments of others?

The following four charts represent my class's collective thinking about how they will be on Zooms so that we can continue to learn, think and grow.

Respond in a happy, clear voice
Mute yourself when others are talking
Think about other people's feelings
Golden rule
Use the blue hand
Have a nice and loud voice when you talk
Don't blurt
Listen to other people
Wait to talk. It could hurt someone's feelings if you don't.

Make sure you don't do funny business on Zoom
Do not unmute when its not your turn
Listen when someone is talking
Stay muted unless called on
No backgrounds
Do your best
Try your hardest
Keep your head in front of the camera
Be in a quiet place
Be on time
Do what the teacher says
Use the buttons instead of talking
Come prepared

Listen
Sit still
Raise your blue hand button
Do your best to not screw off
Don't do funny business
Remind people to grab something if they forgot it
Help kids that are stuck
Don't interrupt and talk nice
Help others
Only unmute if you're allowed to

Do all assignments
Be on time
If the teacher asks you to do something, you do it
Don't play with the buttons
Do not unmute yourself if someone else is speaking
Don't do funny business
Be ready before the call
Always be nice and just unmute yourself if someone says you can talk
Be prepared
Don't lie
Be prepared

Making students' thinking visible helps me as a teacher because it allows me to respond appropriately. and in a timely manner. Using the thinking routine "Chalk Talk" to set distance learning norms gives students voice in this process and helps me best understand their thinking as we shift from hybrid to distance learning.

Windows & Mirrors in Planet Omar: Accidental Trouble Magnet

Windows and Mirrors

In an August post (Organizing a Representative Classroom Library During a Global Pandemic), I wrote about the importance of making sure that the books available for students to read are both windows and mirrors; books in which students can see themselves (mirrors) and also books that help them see the world's different perspectives (windows). This metaphor was originally used by Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop to explain to educators, librarians, parents, and children themselves how we must read books that are self-affirming and books that offer us views that differ from our own.

A display in my classroom library. Credit for the images goes to Grant Snider. 

To make these books available to children certainly is a good first step. But giving students the opportunity to reflect on the ways in which the books they read are both windows and mirrors is a critical part of the reading process.

Global Read Aloud

During the 2020 Global Read Aloud (sadly, its last year), I read Planet Omar: Accidental Trouble Magnet (written by Zanib Mian, illustrated by Nasaya Mafaridik) to my fourth grade students. During the Global Read Aloud, our school's learning model was hybrid, meaning half of my students were always at home when I was reading aloud to my in-school students. A shout-out to the 24 other educators from across the globe who helped record chapters of the book so my at-home students could still keep up with the story!

Theme

After we finished the book, we reflected on the book's themes. By identifying these timeless, abstract, universal and transferrable ideas (aka concepts), students were able to more deeply connect to the text. To help students identify the themes, I ask them, "What do you think Zanib Mian wants us to understand? What is she trying to teach us?" Students respond by using the sentence stem, "The author wants me to understand that ..." During this brainstorming process it is imperative that students give evidence from the text that backs up their theme idea.

Themes students brainstormed are pictured below.

Students' Thinking

Next, I asked my fourth graders to thoughtfully answer these two questions:

• In what ways was Planet Omar a window for you?
• In what ways was Planet Omar a mirror for you?

For those in-class, we quickly made our thinking visible on a t-chart. For those learning at-home, I gave students the option to share their thinking in whatever way they wanted. I intentionally left it open-ended, so students could creatively respond. The following are some examples of responses I received.

"It was a window to me because it gave me a view of what some people experience when they’re different from us or from different places. And that did give me an experience of how some people might feel because they’re bullied because they’re from a different place. Kind of like Omar was bullied from Daniel. But that can all change. Just like how Daniel did. So I’m pretty sure this is more of a window to me."

Other video responses that thought the book was more of a window (I'm including the transcript of the students' responses here, as they recorded themselves and I'd like to protect their privacy)

• Omar is a window for me because he’s from a different culture. In that way, it is pretty interesting to read a book about a different culture from us.
• Planet Omar was a window for me because I don’t celebrate Pakistani traditions or any traditions like that, but I celebrate different traditions like Christmas and Halloween. I’m sure some Pakistanians do celebrate those.
• I’ve never been to London. I’ve never been out of the United States. I’ve never had a bully either.

Video responses that thought the book was more of a mirror (I'm including the transcript of the students' responses here, as they recorded themselves and I'd like to protect their privacy)

• Omar is a mirror for me because he showed me that standing out is not always a bad thing.
• Planet Omar was kind of a mirror for me because I can relate to him having to move to a new place and go to a new school and being kind of worried because I’ve done that a bunch of times.
• Omar’s parents are scientists, my grandpa is a scientist. He studies rocks and stuff.
• When I was in first grade, someone was mean to me and then they were nice to me.

When we expose children to all kinds of books - ones that reflect their experiences and ones that let them live through new situations from perspectives different their their own - we give them the opportunity to learn more about others and more about themselves. Helping students reflect on the ways that the books they read can be both windows and mirrors is an essential part of the reading process that we must lead students through with the books we read to them with the ultimate goal of them independently reflecting with the books they read on their own.