The beauty and power of public education and math education

"I believe in the beauty and power of PUBLIC education and MATH education. Get the right math to the right student at the right time" - Noah Sharrow (on Twitter)

A fellow math teacher tweeted this and it got me thinking.

I've always thought of learning as both beautiful and powerful.  I was one of those curious kids who always wondered about everything and wanted to learn about everything.  I still am.  And growing up going to a public school in my neighborhood and being in college track classes, my experience validated my belief in the beauty and power of education.  I sat in classes with 98% white students from middle class homes in a suburb of Minneapolis, MN.  Every student planned to go to college and just about every student took their learning seriously.  There was very little yelling and no fights that I ever saw.  Most students did their homework.  There were study parties for every test.  That was the culture.

Starting to teach in Mississippi, I knew I would find some type of power in Mississippi public education (Public education inherently has power because it's an enforced law for children to be at a school in the US).  What I had some doubts about was finding beauty.

Mississippi is ranked 50th out of 50 states in public education.  High poverty rates and lack of access to quality health care  are also currently part of Mississippi's reality.  To me, that's definitely not a beautiful reality. 

Yet now, after my first quarter of teaching, I can say with certainty there's a lot of beauty in Mississippi education and, therefore, a lot of power too. 

First of all, the community involvement at our school is amazing.  Parents and guardians are at the school all the time making sure their students are working hard and doing their homework.  I've had phone conversations with guardians of over half my students and at least 90% of the guardians I talked to specifically told me to call if there's any concerns about their child and they'll make sure to their child improves.  I've talked in person with at least 50 guardians and the vast majority expressed support in getting their child prepared for college and beyond.

So first and foremost, our community has a lot of beauty.

Our students, of course, bring a lot of energy that enhances our learning environment.

I hear staff members sharing laughter and supporting each other every day.

The farm land that we're surrounded by brings a lot of natural beauty to our eyes.

So yes, there's beauty in Mississippi education and we're working to prove that to the rest of the country with an improved education ranking. 

I wouldn't be surprised if next year we're up a few spots...I expect next year that we're up a few spots.

Community grit, college and careers

One thing that happens in my classroom that's unique is the emphasis that we place on grit and community.  Grit is the determination to keep moving forward even when there's obstacles...to always have a goal that you're working towards and to work towards that goal through anything that happens in life.

In my classroom we are gritty together as a community.  We work through math problems together.  We help each other.  We grow together.  We support each other.  We dream together.  We are a family together.  To foster transformational change we need to all rise up together.

A second unique part of my classroom is the focus on college and the expectation that all students will attend college.  Throughout the year students take five practice ACT math tests (one at the start of the year and one at the end of each quarter).  I also plan to have various weeks during the year where the lessons are all on ACT material and provide a refresher on previous math courses (algebra I, geometry) that are part of the ACT.  During these ACT weeks I plan to place particular emphasis on word problems, something a fair number of my students struggle with.  An additional part of my focus on college is that whenever we do a review game (about once every two weeks) student teams choose their college team name.  Doing this gives students a reminder at least a few times a month that the focus for our class is developing the skills and abilities that will make students successful in college and beyond.

A third unique part of my classroom is the emphasis on STEM careers.  Every week I aim to provide students with information on STEM careers related to the subject we're learning about.  This allows students to explore future possibilities and understand how math relates to the real world.

Turn Up!

Hey y'all,

I'm setting up this blog to start writing about my experience teaching math in Rosedale, Mississippi and to connect with the community of math teachers online so that we can collaborate and share resources.

I'm excited about starting this!  I encourage you to leave a comment on posts and let me know what you think.

Thanks and looking forward to writing/thinking/collaborating/supporting/inspiring us all for the benefit of our students!

Jon