Fair warning: there are a lot of parentheticals in here, because I’m basically cracking open my skull and writing it down. Apologies in advance.

I’m fully in the 3rd-year weird realm that is a combination of constant innovation to improve my teaching practices and reach students combined with the millionth-COVID-year teacher that is constantly innovating to deal with student absences/distraction/whatever, while at the same time trying to institute this fictional thing called a “work-life” balance. It’s…a mixed success. 

The constant push (internal and external) feels like that classic thing you hear about sharks: that they have to keep swimming, or they’ll die. In this case, I see science education Twitter (thanks to a great Alludo mission!) doing amazing things, and feel like I need to implement them because it’s PERFECT for my current unit and current students- which means late-night lab creation and early morning shopping. Or I see Nicole Padia find an amazing way to integrate stop-motion into her Physics class and realize it would be the *perfect* thing for my students to show their understanding of gases. Or I know that my students are going to struggle with the math part of this unit (because they do every year), so I feel like I need to rework it again to try to differentiate for different students to give a variety of access points. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love (carefully curated) EduTwitter, and my crew has made me a far better teacher than I was (shout-out to Differentiation Crew!). They have both also made me see millions of ways to that I need to (or maybe just can?) tweak or recreate things to help the students in front of me- which being the person I am, means I feel the need to make it perfect-adjacent now.

Here’s the example that Elizabeth subtly alluded to in her previous Alludo post (pun definitely intended): Our crew decided to focus on using small group instruction, so I decided to try doing a station rotation for a final unit review day for students.  The students had a variety of stations to rotate through: one for doing color-by-numbers using the unit skills, one for self-selected EdPuzzles, one for a game to practice skills, one for leveling-up practice questions (thanks again EduTwitter), and a final one to meet with me.  I grouped them into sets of 3-4 who had similar rubric scores and similar past struggles with concepts, because I figured that they would ask similar questions. When they got to my station, they were all able to receive instruction about the same level of concept at the same time, AND they were able to prepare questions based on having visited all of the other stations first! The students with the most struggle saw me last, so they had a chance to get help through EdPuzzles, try practice problems, and really hone in on where they were stuck. This was a fantastic way of combining all the differentiation concepts, EduTwitter ideas, gamification, and other amazing concepts, and I really felt like the students were able to get the help that they needed at the level and focus that it was needed; it was also a massive amount of work.  Yes, I’ll be able to use it again next year. And. This was only one class session, and there is literally no way I can put this level of preparation into every single class period and maintain any sort of sanity. 

I know that EduTwitter and EduFacebook is going to show the best things that people come up with, as with any other aspect of social media. I simultaneously wonder about what my students are missing out on if I don’t implement the different teaching strategies, which pushes me to keep swimming, always keep swimming. Frankly, I’m exhausted by the constant push (internal and external) to innovate as much as I’m excited by it, and I know I’m not the only one. While I’m trying to hold the line and generally not work at home, it’s simply not possible to not work at least one day on the weekend and some weeknights if I’m going to be able to roll out curriculum and labs that are thoughtfully designed and that account for a new bell schedule – I literally haven’t had the same bell schedule any of the years that I’ve taught here, which means that even if I were to simply reuse lecture material, it simply cannot be thrown up onto a screen, because it won’t fit the time block or end at a place that will leave the students less confused than when they walked in.

Then there are the other days, where I’m reminded by all of the same resources and people that sometimes ‘just keep swimming’ means something else entirely- a day for students to work on a project without specific programming, or maybe letting myself use something that’s worked ‘okay’ in the past without worrying about it incorporating all of the eduspeak things.  

I don’t have any interesting conclusion here – but I do think that I’m not alone in this. So how do you decide when it’s okay to ‘just keep swimming’? How do you reconcile the push to keep innovating with the need to preserve some sanity and sense of self?

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In an interesting twist, I found out that the ‘fact’ that sharks have to keep swimming or they will die is actually a MYTH for many sharks! How incredibly appropriate for this blog post. Even better: the reason that they don’t have this problem is that their cartilaginous structures don’t compress under pressure, so when they sink to the bottom they don’t get crushed like fish would. Instead, they can simply rest under the pressure, then wake up and rise up the water column when they are rested. If that’s not an amazing analogy for this entire thing, I don’t know what is.

It’s time for March Madness in French class! Every year in March, we shake up the routine by introducing two songs a day for a few weeks. The 16 songs are organized in a March Madness style competition to be voted the favorite song of our French 1, 2 and 3 students. Check out the bracket on the wall outside of Room 28 in the academic building, and if you are interested, follow the progress of the competition. You might discover a new French-language artist that you enjoy.

I’ve been wading around in my goals doc lately, getting it ready for review, adding my links, seeking out feedback to see if it makes sense to anyone but myself. It has some gaps, some redundancies. I need to tighten it up but it is often at the bottom of my list of things to do.

As I prepare for the Manie Musicale, I see that it fits into my goals in several places. Our department goal this year is DEI. Music is a great way to bring a variety of voices to the classroom, and to engage with a multitude of perspectives. This year’s singers have all sorts of backgrounds and come from many different French-speaking places around the world. Their songs will give my students a glimpse into cultures and experiences beyond their own.

SEL is my crew, and my year-long goal is to explore ways to connect with the students who tend to remain unseen in the classroom. The shy ones, those not prone to joining a class discussion. Maybe they don’t have a friend in the room who makes them feel brave, or perhaps they are afraid of making a mistake so they don’t speak up. I hope to use the music to connect with some of these students – if there is something they particularly like, I hope it will foster a conversation. If there is something they don’t like, this can be a good jumping off point for a connection as well. I hope that the music will draw them into the class community and help them to feel seen.

And as for innovative teaching, my personal professional goal: each song contains not only the biography, culture and background of the singer, there is also the poetry of the lyrics and the message that comes through in the song. There are unlimited opportunities for class discussions, providing compelling input that leads to language acquisition.

If you are interested in any of this, join us! Here is a link to the bracket that includes links to the playlist and the music videos. Listen to the songs and fill out the bracket by Tuesday morning (March 1st). Bring it to me in Room 28 or put it in my mailbox. Vote along with us by filling out the Google surveys linked to the numbers on the bracket. Follow the progress on the bulletin board outside room 28, or on the bracket linked above. If you win, fabulous prizes await! (At least that’s what I tell my students.) Bonne manie musicale de mars! And good luck with those goals docs too.

 I took a sojourn up to Eugene this past weekend to visit my daughter at Oregon.  Long drive there and back, especially with Open House on Sunday, but it was a wonderful weekend.  

We sometimes lose sight of the wonderful things we provide for our students at Carondelet.  Students do tell us every now and again, as do parents, but as we move through the day to day things we do, I think we fall into the “same old stuff” mindset periodically.  And then, just when we least expect it, we get reminded of why we do what we do and how amazing we are at what we provide for our young women.  A few examples from my trip:

• Cassidy knew everything that has been going on at school, and not from my sharing with her; she checks our social media accounts to see what is going on
• Her roommates, who are a wonderful, told me repeatedly that they wished they had gone to Carondelet-clearly they are checking on what goes on with Cass and she has shared some of her experiences…evidently we need to start some outreach to southern California Jess.
• While walking around on Saturday, I heard, “Mr. Cushing, what are you doing here” from four of our graduates.  They love Oregon and are doing great, and they all stated how much they either missed Carondelet or how much fun they had here, and they asked about some of their teachers and staff members.
• I got back her for Open House and had at least a dozen families come up and tell me how amazing our campus is, how friendly our students are, and how great our teachers and staff are…and they are right.  

During the past couple weeks I met my students needs of wanting to know more about what happens after high school. Seniors where struggling with what to do in their college process and younger students had not yet started thinking about what comes next. Students wanted to see how math can be applied in the real world. This section met the students needs and was relevant to their current lives. 

Hello! 

Student engagement is so important to learning. Engaged students do not need prodding or coddling. They get into the work and often exceed my expectations. I know a unit is a hit when students become engaged. It is also obvious when a unit is not a hit. So why don’t I make all of my units engaging? This is where the moving target comes in. Student engagement is a moving target.

For several years I have been doing a car buying unit in my economics classes. It has always been a great hit. This year it was okay, but there was nowhere near the enthusiasm. What happened? My students this year are just not that interested in cars. I don’t know why the big change. These students see cars less as status symbols and more as utilitarian transportation vehicles. I guess that’s good for them, but it did not help my unit be a smashing success.

My home buying unit had the opposite effect. The students this year were really into it, more so than ever before. They wanted to know why prices per square foot so different in Oakley and Orinda, or Oklahoma City for that matter? So many questions from home amenities to the Subprime Mortgage Crisis. Most seemed worried about being able to afford buying a home. I could find no other reason for this high interest level. Whatever the reason, this was the best year ever for teaching this unit. Students have always liked this unit but this year was a notch above the rest.

Much to my chagrin, women’s rights has never been a captivating topic for my students. Year after year I have tried to find the magic ingredient that would make it a hit. This year my students are really into it, girls and boys alike. I did nothing different. Pow, there it was out of the blue. Maybe it’s the news coverage, but that’s been around for awhile. Whatever made the change, my students are finally with me on this one. I had no clue until the first lesson. For my next three lessons, I made some changes to focus on their interests and doubled down on the difficulty level. The summative assessment assignment is looking great.

What I have learned from this is that, if I want to engage my students, I must always be alert to their interests. These interests are a moving target and liable to change from year to year. I must be ready to adapt by changing units and modifying lessons, sometimes at the last minute. I have also learned that I can make the lessons more challenging when they are engaging. I can focus on the higher level thinking skills that make all learning easier. What I have not learned is how to predict what will engage my students each year. 

I think this is what makes teaching so fun. Along with the students, with their endless unpredictable and entertaining behavior, teaching is never the same. From the small tweaks to the total revamps, you just never know what the new year will bring. And, if you know how to predict what will engage our students, will you please give me a heads up. It will help me spend more time sleeping and less time making those last minute changes.

 Women in STEM

Applying real world applications into students curriculum is imperative to their learning.  Real world applications give students a reason to learn the material and it shows them that what they are learning is relevant later in life. This can be a hard thing to incorporate into students learning but in the end it is worth it. It takes time to develop a well rounded plan— which is not something we have much of. 

In the current chapter, pre calculus students learned all about triangles and how to find the angles, side lengths and area. One could think “How would I even use this in real life?”. Surveyor’s! They are not always given a square or rectangular plot of land that they need to find the area of.  So to find the area they break it up into triangles. Architects redesigning a building who do not have a 50 ft. plus tape measure can use a little bit of math and triangles to find the height of that building all just by standing on the ground. Which is exactly what my students did in their latest lesson! 

Each group was assigned different spaces and buildings around campus and sent off to find the area and height. I was able to acquire some distance measuring wheels from the help of NextDoor and a couple amazing women in STEM fields wanting to help. One women who donated is the owner of a surveyors company. She surveys land to know how many units of each crop can be planted and how to irrigate the land properly. I shared her story of how she uses the distance wheels and the progression women have made in the STEM field. Another women who helped out is an architect. She shared that to design modern day buildings she has to know the size of the land she is working with to be able to map out and plan the drawings. I wish I had been able to talk with them sooner because they would have been great real world application guest speakers for the girls to learn from and empower them as women.

Not only did my students have an engaging and interactive project that they got to work on together but they also learned how what they were learning applied to the real world giving it more meaning. Students left class talking about how exciting it was to learn math in real world situations. They felt lucky to be able to engage in the math they were learning in an interactive way. I was overwhelmed with joy as my students were excited to learn math and about amazing women working in the STEM field. 

Recently I have been in a battle (albeit mostly in my head) with a student in one of my classes. She is a very bright person, but seems tempted, as many of us can be, to take the easy way out. Her attendance in my class is inconsistent but her work is always turned in on time, resulting in a good grade in the grade book. This troubles me. What is wrong with the way I set up my class that a student can miss most of the instruction but still maintain an A?  I am embarrassed to admit this here, but I noticed my bias in grading her work as I looked for any reason to give her a lower grade. After much reflection I realized I am taking it personally that she doesn’t want to come to my class. But French class is fun! I’m a nice person! My students like me and they like my class! Uh oh… my desire to be liked and appreciated may be clouding my judgement a little.

As many of us are, I am a member of various professional groups on social media. This week I took my conundrum with this student to Facebook, to the group of teachers using the same approach and curriculum as I am in this class. I expected to hear commiseration.  “How could she not love your class?” “Why wouldn’t she want to be there every day?” “You are such a great teacher and everyone likes you and your class is their favorite!” (Well, maybe not that last one.) What I heard was, “We are in a pandemic, let it go.” “She is showing evidence of learning, that’s enough these days.” “I have this same situation and I am choosing not to worry about it.” I even got a shout out in the Facebook live last night from a teacher-trainer. Her advice was to roll with it with compassion.

I am still not sure how I feel about all of this and I am looking to you, my colleagues, for your input to help me as I sort out my thoughts. Yes, we are in unprecedented times and our students are suffering. We all understand the consequences of teens being cut off from their usual routines and their peer groups. Of course I understand the reasons for letting this type of thing go. On the other hand, I want my students to learn and progress. Where does character and accountability fit in with the grace we can offer right now? What is the right balance?

Are any of you seeing this type of thing in your classes? How are you handling it?