Building Thinking Classrooms Toolkit 1

The first toolkit in the Building Thinking Classrooms (BTC) Framework consists of three practices that need to be implemented simultaneously, rather than sequentially.  They are:

1. Give thinking tasks
2. Frequently form visibly random groups 
3. Use vertical non-permanent surfaces

In Building Thinking Classrooms Peter Liljedahl states that "If we want our students to think, we need to give them something to think about - something that will not only require thinking but also encourage thinking."  In math classrooms this starts with highly engaging, non-curricular tasks (aka low floor-high ceiling tasks).  Liljedahl also emphasizes that we have to "go slow at first, in order to go fast."  This makes sense and also ties into what Sarah Carter wrote about in 2018 that we have to communicate with students from day one that "we do math everyday."  BTC has some great tasks after most chapters, so I think my next step, as I begin to think about the first few weeks of school is to do them myself.  The nice thing about NYC schools having one of the latest back to school dates in the country is that so many fellow MTBoS teachers have already started doing this with students.  A challenge I am anticipating is that using non-routine interesting problems for the first week or two of school is how I usually start the school year, and students seem to really enjoy them, and then the switch gets flipped and we start our first traditional unit, I think, for the most part, students (and parents) kind of expect that, but if I am committed to building a thinking classroom, I need to stop worrying about the curriculum.  Math is about problem solving, and problem solving takes time and can get messy.  In addition to the non-curricular tasks that are suggested in the book, I hope to use some from Sigma, Olympiad & MathCounts competitions, which my students have participated in since 6th grade as well of the problem solving resources that I have gotten through my MfA PLTs.

Forming visibly random groups is another practice that I tend to start the school year with.  My favorite method is to use two deck of cards (one with a card taped to each student desk, in groups) and hand the corresponding cards from the other deck to students as they walk into the classroom each day, so that they are not sitting in the same seats the first few days.  I have also done this my having each of my groups be labeled with a different Greek letter/symbol (Alpha, Beta, Delta, Theta, Pi & Sigma) and then handing each student a card with one of the symbols on it as they walk into the classroom.  My worry this year, is that last year, desks had to be in rows, 6 feet apart and sharing supplies was not allowed.  We are on track to start this year with 100% of students back in the classroom, but I worry about whether or not grouping will be allowed.  Also, again, this was a practice I would do during the first week or or so of school, until I created a seating chart, and if I am committed to BTCs, I will need to keep this practice up beyond September.

Lastly is using vertical non-permanent surfaces (VNPS) in my classroom.  I dabbled with something similar to this at my previous school a few years ago when I was trying out 360 Degree Math.  One of the things I love about MfA besides the pizza (at least when we could physically go there in person) was that almost every wall was a VNPS).  Unfortunately my classroom (on the 5th floor of a building with no elevator and no working AC) has a wall of lockers on one side and windows on the other, and the two walls that could be used for VNPs aren't really set up for it.  The other very real problem to consider is that in a typical school year, my students would come to my classroom, and last year, it was the teachers that traveled between classrooms, so I taught in several different classrooms, all with different set ups.  We don't have official guidance yet on whether students or teachers will be traveling, so this is something I have to really think about.  Based on what I've seen from other teachers Wipebook seems to be really popular.  Luckily being in MfA I get $2000 to spend on classroom supplies, so the money isn't an issue, although I would really only like to buy one class set instead of three or more, depending on how many different classrooms I will be teaching in this year. 

Slowly Getting Ready for the 2021-2022 School Year

I always have so many mixed feelings about this time of year.  We have been on summer break for seven glorious weeks now and have a little less than four weeks left before the school year starts up again.  Never has a summer break been more necessary than after the 2020-2021 school year.  I get exhausted even thinking about last school year & hope I never have to teach both in-person & via Zoom *at the same time* ever again.  I'm still not sure how we got through it all!  As we slowly begin to gear up for the 2021-2022 school year, there are a lot of mixed feelings... more than usual.  There is the usual excitement & hope that a new school year brings, but there is also a lot of fear & so many unknowns.  We know that the upcoming school year will not be a "typical" school year and we also know it won't be exactly like last school year, which makes planning for the upcoming school year challenging.  Something I am grateful for this upcoming year is that I will still have the support of the MfA community as I begin my second Master Teacher Fellowship.  In preparation for the new school year, I read Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics by Peter Liljedahl, after seeing so much buzz for it on the MTBoS, and it did not disappoint!  So many practical ideas about shifts we can make in our classrooms to support students in thinking about mathematics, all backed up with real classroom experience.

My 2021-2022 school year mantra: "...the goal of building #thinkingclassrooms is not to find engaging tasks for students to think about. The goal... is to build engaged students that are willing to think about any task." - @pgliljedahl #mtbos #iteachmath #mathchat #msmathchat

— Anna (@ampacura) July 27, 2021

While reading each chapter, I found myself saying "Yes!  I need to do this!"  After the insanity of last school year (and for the first time in my career, not being totally excited to go back to who knows what last summer, it was nice to be excited about all the ideas in Building Thinking Classrooms, which tie into so many aspects of education that I have always wanted to grow in - from building a classroom environment that is more authentic in doing real mathematics (and more engaging to students), to implementing equitable grading practices that support students in their math learning.

As exciting as it was to read and highlight the heck out of my copy of Building Thinking Classrooms, and tell myself that I am going to 100% jump into this (which is very easy to say when the school year is still 3+ weeks away) I am nervous, that like so many other past ambitious goals for the upcoming school year, it will fizzle out, as the year goes on.  The good news is that since I am starting my second MfA fellowship this summer, I hope I can use that to motivate me to blog more on here and share my learning experience, both the successes and challenges in building my thinking classroom this year and hope I can use this space to hold myself accountable in trying new things and not letting this opportunity go.

The Building Thinking Classrooms Framework consists of fourteen factors that have been found to improve thinking in the math classroom (see the image on the right), in that order (1-3, 4-8, 9-11, and then 12-14), with each group being referred to as a toolkit.  In order to be thoughtful in my reflection (and not to overwhelm myself) I think I am going to break up each toolkit into a separate blog post.

Lastly, I want to begin to formally think about my 2021-2022 goals.  Sarah Carter of Math Equals Love recently posted her 2020-2021 goals update and back in January of this year, I reflected on my own 2020-2021 goals on here.  Here are my 2021-2022 goals so far.  They are still very much a work in progress, but I decided to make the first four goals the Building Thinking Classrooms toolkits.  I am going into my fifteenth year teaching, and like any good teacher, I want to get better at what I do, and I am excited to improve the Building Thinking Classroom practices that I already do, and implement the others.  Part of my involvement in MfA this year will also co-facilitating a year-long professional learning team on formative assessment lessons and the TRU Framework.  I think my goal of building a thinking classroom ties in really well with the TRU Framework and I am really excited to do this work!

Summer Break 2021: MfA Summer Think 2021

It's been one month since the 2020-2021 school year ended, and after this past school year, teachers (and students) have never earned more of a break.  As someone who does much better with a set plan or schedule, I originally wanted to set out goals for each week of the break, but that didn't happen, so instead we are just going with the flow and enjoying actually being flexible.  Personally, I have been keeping up with my daily morning workouts (although not waking up at 5am to get them done has been lovely).  And I have been bringing my daughter to weekly toddler soccer groups, toddler dance class, toddler gym classes, the local pool, and the library, as well as our usual playground dates.  I've also finished seven books so far this summer (and am currently working on #8), attended the MfA Summer Think Conference, and am reading Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics.  Since I only have about ten minutes before my daughter wakes up from her nap (and we get ready to go to the pool again) I wanted to briefly check in about the MfA Summer Think conference & Building Thinking Classrooms book.  I know I won't have enough time to write as much as I would like to, but something is better than nothing.

Earlier this month I attended my third Math for America Summer Think Conference.  The conference was virtual this year and the themes were healing, recovery & transition and finding a way forward.  What makes Math for America such a great professional community is that it is run by teachers for teachers, so the Summer Think Conference was inspiring, practical, and good for my math teacher soul (as is almost every MfA session I have ever attended).  This year the sessions I participated in dealt with how to begin conversations around race and identity, reflecting on instructional practices during remote learning, reflecting on social emotional learning during remote learning, the difference between being burnt out & demoralized, and reflecting on assessment during remote learning.  Five years ago I applied to MfA for the first time, and despite getting an interview, I did not get in & I was heart broken.  I was starting at an (almost) new school (literally), teaching three different grades, and was the only math teacher, and was so discouraged to have made it so far only to not get in.  A year later (after applying again) I found out on the last day of school that I had been awarded a Master Teacher Fellowship.  Fast forward four years later (plus one daughter and a pandemic that would forever change education), to this year, I applied for my Master Teacher II+ Fellowship, and am so honored to continue to be a part of this amazing organization of math, science & computer science teachers for the next four years.

Unfortunately it is time to wake up my daughter from her nap, so I'll have to stop here for now.  I do hope to write some more some time this week, especially about Building Thinking Classrooms, because it is absolutely amazing and had really got me thinking about how I have run my class in the past and things I hope to change for the fall, and I want to be able to process & think through things on here.  But for now, mom-life (and pool time) calls and as much as I love my job, it's summer break ;) 

Reflecting on the 2020-2021 School Year & Life in General

Ahh the 2020-2021 school year.  Back in September I began by 14th year teaching math in NYC public schools.  I was also starting my first full school year as a full-time working mom and oh yeah, we were all trying to figure out how to effectively engage & teach both in-person & remote students at the same time... no big deal, right?

The beginning of the school year is always exciting & stressful, but September 2020 with all of the unknowns & "awaiting guidance" while trying to plan for a school year that was going to be unlike any other made it exponentially more stressful... we didn't even have a school calendar until right before the school year started.  I went into this school year knowing I would be teaching one section of 7th grade math and two sections of 8th grade Algebra 1 & would be teaching both in-person & remote students at the same time.  Students would be 6 feet apart.  Lunch would be a "working lunch" period for students.  Sharing manipulatives was not a thing.  Everyone would be in a mask all day and we could all go remote at literally any moment for an uncertain amount of time.  So many changes.  So many unknowns.  Not since my first year as a teacher, were there so many things I could not imagine.

This year has been exhausting to say the least.  This past month & week in particular has been extra exhausting as an 8th grade teacher.  I have a lot I want to say & hope to do so over several posts on here, but I want to take some time on here today to talk about the successes from this past school year.  So here they are, in no particular order:

1. First & foremost, I survived & got through it... somehow, someway
2. I got through my first full school year as a mom
3. I co-organized, not one, but two graduations (one virtual & one in-person)
4. I helped students put together our 4th yearbook (with no set elective time during the school day)
5. I prepared my 7th graders for the state test & my 8th graders for the Algebra 1 Regents
6. I applied for my second Math for America Master Teacher Fellowship
7. I was awarded my second Math for America Master Teacher Fellowship
8. Although it was last summer, I did get re-certified as Level 1 & 2 Google Certified Educator
9. Oh yeah, did I mention that I survived?

Like I said, I hope to go into some of these things more in depth, but I also want to be mindful of it being summer and to maintain a good work-life balance, so for now I will just share some things from this past school year...

• For the third year, I had my students create memes about this past school year and once again, they did not disappoint... it's always interesting to see what they come up with.
• I changed up my EOY student survey this year (I only had a chance to look it over for the first time this afternoon)
• This summer I am participating in my third Math for America Summer Think, as well as the AIM-TRU Summer Convening & will be co-facilitating next year's PLT on Formative Assessment 

On a personal non-work related note, some things I am proud of so far at the halfway point of this year are...

• Reading 33 books so far this year in the Goodreads 2021 Reading Challenge
• Working out almost every morning for the pas year thanks to Beachbody on Demand (I am currently on my third round of MBF but have done MM100, T20, MBFA and other programs)
• Logging more than 1,014 miles so far this year in the Run the Year 2021 Challenge
• Being a mom to a funny, sweet, silly, curious, brave, amazing 20 month old, who is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

"Regents Week" aka We're Halfway There

Individual Student Conferences:

It's hard to believe, but we have made it to the halfway point of this unique school year!  Typically in high schools it would be what is known as "regents week" where students only have to come in if they are taking a regents exam.  Even though I teach a regents course, since I have never taught in a high school, I have never benefitted from this mini-break.  However, since 6th-12 grade have been fully remote since November, I was able to make my own version of "regents week" for my 7th & 8th graders.  I decided that all of my math classes would be asynchronous this week, and I would schedule one-on-one check-in conferences with my each of my students during our regular class time.

Our periods are only 45 minutes long, so I estimated I could meet with about 7ish students/period, meaning I would be able to meet with all my 8th graders this week and most of my 7th graders this week.  I normally teach students math on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, however this week, due to the SHSAT (which I went into our building to help proctor) on Wednesday, I would only be able to meet with students for three days.  I explained what this week would be like for students and last week, instead of the usual weekly check-in on Google Forms, I had students complete a mid-year reflection on Google Docs, which would be used to guide our conferences.  My goal with these individual check-ins was to have a personal conversation with each student about how math class was going for them, what they were proud of, what has challenged them, and what is something they would like to accomplish before the end of the year, as well as letting them know their current grade in our class, and ending with some concrete next steps for each student. 

I used Google Classroom to let individual groups of students their check-in date & scheduled asynchronous assignments to be posted during our normal math time, including EdPuzzle videos, eMath handouts, and Desmos activities.  Each math period this week, I (and my co-teacher, in our ICT classes) would join our usual Zoom link, and then invite students in the waiting room in for their conference.  We still had some students log in not on their day (as well as having some students not log into Zoom on their day) and I took individual notes during the conference.  So far the conferences have been going well.  Most students have a positive feeling towards math class so far this year, and have enjoyed the projects that we have been able to do.  A number of 8th graders shared that working with functions is something that has challenged them so far this year, while 7th graders said the same thing about percents.  

Something that stood out to me about this experience are definitely the tech issues that some students have been struggling with this year.  Sometimes, when I would invite a student in who was in the waiting room, they would get booted out of the meeting, or when they were trying to connect to sound, they wouldn't be able to.  These were things that I knew were happening, but are easy to forget when I "admit all" in the beginning of our usual math classes.  Also, I wanted to make sure that I was being equitable with my time for all students, and not "rushing" the conferences for students who were "doing well" and spending more time with students who were not.  

I plan on finishing these individual conferences with students on Monday, and next week I hope to give out an anonymous survey to students to see how they felt about them.  I hope that they felt listened to and supported during our time together, and feel empowered to take on the rest of whatever this school year will bring.  Hopefully next week I can share those results.

One of my professional teaching goals that I set for myself this school year (see below) was to work on individualizing/personalizing my math classes, which I believe would fall roughly under the Agency, Ownership, and Identity dimension of the TRU Framework.  My initial plan was to have these type of individual conferences more frequently, but I am grateful that this is at least a start.

Being a Teacher-Mama:

This school year has been unlike any other, for obvious reasons.  But beyond learning how to teach remotely, asynchronously, blended, flipped, synchronously, and with a host of brand new technology, something that has also personally shaped my thoughts on teaching this year was becoming a mother.  Even though my daughter is only 15 months old, watching her explore her world and learn how things work and take in everything around her, has made me want my teaching to be more "like that."  She is always playing and trying things out.  She doesn't sit still.  She is happy.  She is learning.  And she loves getting read to and "reading" books.  I hope she never loses her curiosity.  I hope she never loses that passion.

I wonder, as a teacher, how can I spark & support that sort of curiosity and passion in my 7th and 8th graders in mathematics?

Too often I make decisions about what sort of activities I do in my classes based off what I have done in the past, and more often than not, by the the time students come to me in middle school, they already have their own feelings about school and math, and not always, but too often that spark is greatly diminished.  So I always want to keep in mind what can I do, to bring that spark back, and help ignite it into a flame?

Something else that is on my mind now, as a teacher-mama, is "Am I being the teacher that I would want my daughter to have?"  Am I showing up with energy for my students on days when I might be tired?  Am I showing up with passion & excitement for doing mathematics?  Am I listening to what my students are telling me?  Am I treating my students as individuals?  Am I creating a classroom (virtual or not) that is inclusive?  Am I laughing with my students?  Am I choosing activities that make them think?  Am I making it ok for students to make mistakes and be human?  It's so easy to get overwhelmed by the day-to-day, never-ending work-load of teaching, but we have to remember that at the heart of what we do is our students.  Every decision we make, both on small and large scale, affects them, and they need to be the reason that we do our very best every, single day.  Each and every one of my students is someone's daughter or son, and our future and we owe it to them to help support, guide, nurture, and  even on days when they are stressing us out, teach them.

Master Teacher II+ Fellowship Application

 Last week I started writing on here again & I gave myself the goal of taking some time to write on here at least once a week, so here I am.  I must say, since starting this back up again, I found found myself making mental notes throughout the day of "oh I should write about that" just because it is something that I get excited about and want to dig more into.  The challenge is finding (or rather making) the time to do it.  Teachers are extra busy this year.  Parents are extra busy this year.  We all have a lot going on, and especially now, we all need to remember that "Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.  Be kind.  Always."  So here I am, choosing to make this a priority, at least for right now.

Like I said last week, I was inspired to start writing on here again after working on and submitting my Master Teacher II+ Fellowship application for Math for America last week.   Fellow Master Teacher, Brian Palacious, who I've been lucky enough to take some courses with over the past four yeas, also submitted his renewal application and said it best in a Tweet last week...

@MathforAmerica Master Teacher fellowship applications trigger so much deep reflection for me. At the end of them, I'm always in a much better, more thoughtful place than when I started. #mfaproud

— Brian (@_b_p) January 16, 2021

And it is so true. Applying the MfA the first time was intense, but working on my renewal application this time around really made me think about where I currently am as a teacher, how far I've come, and where I want to go next as a professional.  Currently I am in my 14th year year teaching math in NYC public schools.  I have two Masters degrees, my School Building Leader certificate, and my Gifted Education certificate.  I have taught in three different public schools, and in addition, have, at times, taught visual art, led advisory classes, been a graduation advisor, yearbook coordinator, and NJHS advisor. I would be lying if I said that I haven't thought about leaving the classroom at various times throughout my career, but at the end of the day, I like being a classroom math teacher.  I like teaching middle school students.  It is not always easy, but I am very fortunate that I like my job and being a Math for America Master Teacher these past four years has definitely played an important role in inspiring me to continue working in the classroom, while at the same time working to change the way we talk about teachers and teaching.

A large part of my MTII+ application focused on my work in various professional learning teams (PLTs) on analyzing free formative assessment lessons in math for 6th-12th grade.  I have been a part of this PLT for three of my four years at MfA, and am currently on a year long PLT about it.  It has probably had the most direct impact on my teaching because as a result I have used the resources that we have been analyzing from the Math Assessment Project in my classes, I have contributed to the Teaching & Learning Exploratory at the University of Michigan, and MfA's Remote Learning Resources, and have begun to reflect on my teaching practice using the Teaching for Robust Understanding (TRU) Framework.  What makes this PLT so great for me is that not only do we explore math together, but we analyze quality resources and reflect on our own teaching practice.  Our work within the TRU Framework has also helped me reflect on my own math classroom within the dimensions on content, cognitive demand, equitable access to content, agency, authority and identity, and formative assessment.  One way that I have been thinking about recently about how to address these areas in my virtual classroom is through the 2nd Annual NY Times STEM Writing Contest.  I hope I can continue to make the time to write more about these dimensions in future blog posts.

I am a Teacher aka Starting Fresh (Kind of, Sort of)

It's hard (but not too hard) to believe that it has been over two years since I have written on here.  Life just happens.  But I have been wanting to get back into reflecting on my math-teacher-life on here for a while now, and finally found the motivation that I needed to do so in the form of submitting my Math for America Master Teacher II+ Fellowship this week.  It seems like just yesterday it was 2016 and I was writing on here how disappointed in myself I was when I applied for MfA for the first time and did not get in.  Fast forward a year, and in June 2017, after applying again, I became a MfA Master Teacher.  And here we are, four years later, and I applying to continue to be a part of this incredible organization that has been such an important part of my professional career these past four years.  However, whether I get to stay in MfA or not (don't get me wrong, I really, really want to) I think it's important for me as a teacher to find the space to reflect on my practice and make my voice heard, now more than ever.

A lot has changed since I last wrote on here.  Personally, I gave birth to my daughter in October 2019 and now view the world not just a teacher, but as a mother.  Professionally, I have learned to adapt to teaching in a remote, and then blended, and then remote again setting due to school buildings being closed because of COVID.   I am currently in my 14th year of teaching mathematics in NYC Public Schools.  I have taught in three different schools and have taught everything from 6th grade math to 8th grade Algebra 1.  When school buildings closed for the first time on March 13, 2019 (yes, I know, the day before Pi Day!) teachers everywhere were forced to rethink the "how" of their jobs.  I say "how" because even though how we did our jobs looked completely different, the "who" and "why" of our jobs, our students, has never changed.

For me, switching over to remote teaching in 2020 was just a new thing to learn how to adjust to last year since I had been out on my parental leave until mid-January, and had to learn to adjust to being a mom, while also being a full-time teacher.

While I have been able to stay active on Twitter, I haven't on here, and going through the process of reflecting on my last four years as a Math for America teacher as I worked on my MTII+ Fellowship application these past few weeks, has reminded me how important it is for teachers to make the time to reflect on what they are doing and how reflect on how are they changing the landscape of education, because teaching is the most important profession - the one that makes all other professions possible, and as professionals with skills, creativity and drive everyday, we have a responsibility and power to change the way we talk about teachers and teaching.  

I have started a list of topics that I hope to expand on more as I get back into writing on here.  Being a mom and full time teacher, my time is limited, so I am setting a goal of writing on here at least once a week, even if it is just a couple of sentences.  I am a professional.  I am empowered.  I am a teacher.