philosophy – lazy 0ch0

I have fewer desks than students. On purpose.

There is a growing number of shared public spaces that are popping up all over the world.

Cars, bikes, motorcycles, and pedestrians are forced to govern their own behavior. They have to make eye contact and acknowledge each other’s presence. There’s an inherent faith that folks will slow down and pay attention to each other. I bet they even greet one another way more than they would otherwise. It all makes for a more trusting and human experience. And, from what I’ve read, the number of injuries in these spaces has even decreased significantly.

Why can’t we operate on the same principle in our classrooms? Can we somehow use shared space in our classrooms to create a more personal and humanistic learning environment? Call me idealistic, but I’d like to think so.

That’s why last week I asked the custodian at my school to remove several desks from my classroom. I wanted to ensure that I had fewer desks than students. I didn’t want each student to have their own desk. Instead, because I have the room set up in groups, I have intentionally removed 1-2 desks from each group — but left the seats. The result is 6 groups of 4 desks with 5-6 chairs each. Here’s an example of one group:

It’s a small change (unlike removing all street signs from a busy intersection), but the idea is that in order to navigate their group’s space, students must purposely engage with one another on a regular basis. It creates a more communal learning environment and helps them take ownership of their workspace (and our classroom). It can get messy because they rub elbows, get in each other’s way, and have to constantly negotiate how they should use the space. But in the end, I 100% welcome these inconveniences. (Honestly, living with the ungodly congestion of NYC, my kids probably don’t even realize these things.) They create a greater degree of collective energy each day. Ultimately, my hope is that they will be more mindful of each other, to be more present.

A side note: This line of thinking is also reflected in the large whiteboards that I began using last year to de-front the classroom. These are communal spaces around the walls of the room that students used to publically display their thinking at any time — unlike having one greedy board at the front of the classroom that screams for attention (and a lack of optimal engagement).

In some ways, I see desks as imposing segregation on my students (and me). Despite being organized into groups, desks still create distinct social spaces for students to think individually. There’s a clear end to my space and a start to yours. Can this subconsciously establish a greater sense of independence from others in the classroom? Tables would probably be the best physical solution for helping create a more personal, humanistic classroom, but I doubt that I’ll ever convince my principal to get me those.

The case for disorder in the classroom

I’m going to go ahead and say it.

I think there needs to be more disorder in our classrooms.

By disorder, I don’t mean kids throwing chairs and running amok. Instead, I’m thinking about those instances when teachers give students largely unstructured time and space to land on their own ways of thinking the content. Those instances when the teacher, by design, fails to impose a rigid learning structure on student learning.

This is not a popular idea. It goes against pretty much everything teachers are told must happen in their classrooms every minute of every day. We must have structures, routines, and systems. We need tidiness. Students need to learn concepts linearly, there must be an obvious beginning, middle, and end to everything. It is our job to provide managed, predictable spaces for our students to work together and exchange ideas. For if we don’t do these things, our students’ will be distracted. They won’t learn. Unless its art, a mess is not welcome in the classroom.

Now I’m not saying that there’s no value in structured pedagogy. There is. I have lots of structure in what I do with kids. This includes approaches that range from “traditional” teacher-directed lessons to instructional routines to Desmos Activities to debate-oriented strategies like Talking Points. These are great and serve a purpose. They work to establish outlets for students to explore concepts in safe and dependable ways.

Yet with all the value of structured time, I would argue that messy, unpredictable time is equally important to our lessons and student learning.

By consuming ourselves with algorithmic structures, we teachers sometimes take away opportunities for our students to face problems openly. At times neutralize their brilliance and rob them of their natural inclinations — both intellectually and socially. By giving my students pedagogically less and expecting more individually and collectively, I’ve realized the importance of allowing my students to own their learning — to own our classroom.

For example, it’s now a regular thing for me to give my students a set of carefully constructed problems, whiteboards, and random groups as a means to learn new concepts. They are free to do whatever to understand the problems, including each other and the internet. If it was up to me, I’d even let them leave the classroom. Nonetheless, they are out of their seats for the entire period. I will aid with the math, but I indirectly encourage struggle. I’m there to help, but mainly around to support them to summarize and reflect on their work. It is their energy will make or break the room. It’s on them.

The result is often an untidy and confusing classroom. The uncoordinated, ambiguous, and disoriented learning environment it creates relies heavily on the cognitive diversity in the room. It’s an intentionally unpredictable and flawed approach, but something I’m learning to be good with. For me, it’s worth the tradeoffs.

Rarely does it end in rainbows and butterflies. But that’s kind of the point, though. Often times the kids walk out more confused than when they walked in. We might not get to an answer, let alone a correct one. This usually means that they don’t like me for a while (sometimes all year), that I won’t be on their list of favorite teachers. But in long run, it’s my belief that their discomfort will not only help my them understand the responsibility they have to themselves and their classmates when it comes to learning, but also the responsibility they have to make our classroom go.

Formal schooling sucks the instincts out of our kids. I teach high school and by the time my students get to me, they’ve internalized the classroom as a place where the teacher is supposed to direct their every action. They lose their ability to sense-make because they’re only concerned with “doing school.” They would probably stop breathing if I told them to (and then run to the principal’s office).

So while we thoughtfully select safe and comfortable approaches to student learning this school year, let’s make sure we don’t deprive our students of something they desperately need, which to experience disorder and be pushed out of their comfort zone. This means that they’ll be more tension, messy interactions, and awkward moments in our classrooms. And this will most likely require us to be pushed out of our comfort zones. And that’s a good thing.

Why am I all about chalk and t-shirts this summer?

I need to let this out of the bag.

This summer, I have had two things on my mind more than they probably should be:

using sidewalk chalk
buying t-shirts

Why? Hang on.

First here’s some of what I’ve done with the chalk:

And these are the t-shirts that I have bought:

Through both the chalk and shirts, I’ve found myself publicly advocating for math like I never have. Obviously, I’ve always been a proponent of math in my classroom, but now through what I subtly wear and create on the pavement in my neighborhood (and around my school), I’ve found myself attempting to transfer this passion more broadly…to the general public.

With the awakening of my social conscience during these last few years, I am more mindful of the damaging stereotypes and inequities that exist in and around the culture of learning math. Far too many people in society are put off with math as being a cold, lonely subject that is reserved for the elite. The reasons for this vary, but, as a math teacher, I think I am really coming to grips with the responsibility I have in reversing this trend, even if most of my effort goes unnoticed. There’s something bubbling up inside me to find and create small, practical ways to promote math as an accessible, friendly science…that go beyond the scope of my classroom.

It’s a very steep mountain to climb, but the hope with both the sidewalk math and my new t-shirts is to promote equity, access, and exposure to math in unique ways and to spark meaningful conversations about math (potentially with perfect strangers). Along with this comes helping to shift the mindset of how other people (young and old) view learning math and their own mathematical value.

I’d like to think it has worked…as both the chalk and shirts have elicited reactions from people I’ve encountered this summer. Two other teachers even liked my t-shirt so much that I went ahead and got them one. I guess that’s a good thing.

Come to think of it, this is really no different from Sara VanDerWerf’s call for math teachers to identify themselves evangelists.

Teaching & parenthood

At day 2 of the MfA Summer Think yesterday, there was a teacher poetry circle. The following was the result of the free write at the end.

Early in my teaching career I never thought that about being a parent. As time-consuming and energy-consuming as teaching is on a daily basis, I never thought that I would be capable of being a parent, fathering a child, tending to the everyday needs of another human. I, along with most other teachers I know, are completely drained at the end of a school day. As a parent, I would then have to go home and do something even more involved? Nah, I’m good.

I was so wrapped up in my own professional cocoon that I would privately question teachers who were parents. Was there’s a conscious decision to start the journey into parenthood? If so, WHY in the world would they do it? And how do they maintain their own sanity on an everyday basis?

Well, two and a half years ago I willingly turned my personal life upside down and became a dad. In addition to being the most awesome and adventurous ride I’ve ever been on, it also spurred a dramatic change in me as a teacher.

Before my son arrived, I was an impassioned teacher. I had the career that I had wanted since my junior year in high school. I loved my students, I loved my job. But after his birth, the love I developed for him was deeper and more compassionate than anything I had ever known before. For any parent out there reading this, you know what I mean.

Slowly, during that first year of my son’s fragile life, I began to see my students differently. This was both amazing and unexpected. I realized that the same love I had for my son was also felt by the parents/guardians of my students. In addition to every other aspect of their lives, these parents sent their children to my school, to my classroom, each morning wanting nothing but the absolute best for their kid. This desire was no different than what I felt for my son from the minute I held him in the hospital for the first time.

As a result, I began to see each of the 34 students in my class from the eyes of a parent, not just a teacher. This triggered a shift in mindset that transformed how I felt about teaching mathematics and, coming from a single parent household, why I taught. Because he gave me this beautiful gift of perspective, each one of my students has become a version of my own son.

So, now, while I fail often at meeting this standard, I teach my classes as if he was on the roster. I simply know no different.