For a long time the words of activist and educator Myles Horton have hung on my wall: “We make the road by walking.” As I set out to teach 8th grade math in the fall of 2020, I can only see a few steps ahead of me. I teach public school in a small city on the west coast of Washington State. My students are distance learning until Covid transmission wanes. Without being able to see my students as they lope off the school bus to spend the day with me, I will have to trust them to log in and to show up as completely as they can. I will have to invite them to join me for support by phone, and hope that they trust me enough to accept my invitation. I will have to trust that they tell me when they are struggling and they will need to trust me to notice when they falter. Journeying together like this will demand deep, deep trust.
I have learned to hold softly to trust so as not to outrun it. Writer, activist and educator adrienne marie brown reminds me to always “move at the speed of trust.” In some ways this may be easier than in the past as I can only imagine the very first steps down this road. I will carefully curate the problems students do on the first leg of this trip. I want them to see the subject as open, visual and playful and one in which depth matters more than speed. I am leaning heavily on Marilyn Burns and the YouCubed team. I will drop in classics like Three Sacks, The King Arthur Problem, and Four 4s. To surface the global roots of mathematics, I will rename Latin Squares for Choi Seok-Jeong, the Korean mathematician who first wrote about them at least a half century before Euler.
I can bring these rich problems to life thanks to the lovely work of Dr. Theresa Wills. She has taught me to create an interactive environment with shared Google slide decks which everyone can edit while talking and listening to each other on Zoom. I will start each class by saying, “Let’s walk this road together. I look forward to seeing your footprints on this slide deck.” I will trust those who miss class to add their touch later.
Moving at the speed of trust will mean making sure everyone has their technology feet under them as we set out. In the first three weeks of school students will learn to co-occupy digital space as they have learned to co-exist in physical classrooms every year until now. They will play games together, learn about each other and extend communication to study pods and phone sessions. My eighth graders will learn to share their math thinking using keyboard, uploaded photos, and microphone. I will offer old fashioned emoticons to share in the chat to express how they are feeling [<3.] I will also teach them — and invite them to teach each other — all of the communication tools afforded by Google slides. They will learn to insert tables, use voice-to-text (direct to presenter notes,) create text boxes, and make comments. Sharing control like this will go a distance towards proving the trust I offer and ask of my students.
To help us remember that we walk together, we will exchange postcards — both digital and paper. I will ask that they say something about the why, the how and the what of each week’s problem solving. My para educator and I will answer in kind, as witnesses to their growth. We will see them as learners as well as people with stories that have made them who they are and people with stories about their journey of becoming. And we will invite them to be curious with us, all the while holding softly to trust so as not to outrun it.
Jana, what a beautiful post. I’m eager to hear more as things unfold on this journey you’re embarking on with your students. Thank you for sharing so thoughtfully and allowing us to learn alongside you.
It is great to hear from you Ruth! I am excited about having met families in their homes through Zoom last week. It has been wonderful to have a window into their worlds already.
I am going to hold onto these words, even beyond the pandemic. Thank you for sharing, Jana.
I appreciate this post. Thank you. I’ve been sharing my slide decks with students (college level) and it’s been working very well. I like that they have access to them, we can type notes on them for all to have and I don’t have my screen showing. It gives the students a little control to be able to move around the slide deck. I also like that they have access to the slide deck after class.
I too, am a fan of Burns, and YouCubed. I also use Which One Doesn’t Belong (WODB.ca) as a way to get conversations going in the classroom.
Jenny
Jana, you are always so thoughtful. This is definitely new territory for us as well. There are gifts with it. I get to witness my own children’s ahas daily and I also get to practice wait time and the power of productive struggle. Which is harder for me as a parent than a teacher. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us. I would say your students are blessed to have you, but I know you will say you are blessed to have them.
I’m excited for your students and for you! Can’t wait to hear all about your first day, and I feel so luck to be learning along side you.