As we navigate all this unknown and scramble to find a normal, I wanted to share a few thoughts that may be helpful. Over the past few days I've been going back and forth in my mind, no less than a thousand times, about balance. I'm trying to balance comforting my kids in this time of uncertainty, finding my voice as both their teacher and their mom, making sure we have what we need for the upcoming days, and enjoying the sunshine while it lasts!
There are so many things I am uncertain of, but there are a few things I am quite certain about. I am certain that educators are amazing. I am stealing this sentiment from social media, but educators across the nation pulled off something spectacular over the past few days. Many have kept the focus of making sure their students know they are still here. And some are even busy creating content for their students and families because THAT'S WHAT WE DO. I am also certain that the silver lining in all this is opportunity. Opportunity for families to spend more time together. Opportunity for our kids to see how the adults in their lives deal with struggle, change and challenge. Opportunity for parents to get a more in-depth look into their child's learning. And an opportunity for our kids to learn and grow outside of school walls. Parents, my biggest piece of advice during this time, is to let them play, let them ask questions, and follow their lead. Take it or leave it, but hear me out. If we let them play (like the real kind of play - outside, with their siblings, with you, etc. - not with video games), they will ask questions. If they ask questions, we can listen for opportunities to engage them in learning. Before we know it, we aren't arguing about finishing a worksheet or reading a passage and answering comprehension questions. We are having real conversations about real things. We are researching their questions together with them and letting them ask more. Let them play and see what happens. And maybe we can learn a little bit too.
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To start off our school year, we all watched this video from Dan Finkel, Director of Math For Love. As grade level teams, we talked about what we will do this year to keep these five principles alive in our classrooms every day.
One of the ways we will do this is to have school- wide math norms. We decided to adopt the norms suggested by the authors of Intentional Talk: How to Structure and Lead Productive Mathematical Discussions by Elham Kazemi and Allison Hintz. Check out how the norms have been posted and are coming alive in different classrooms on our "Classrooms" page. |
AuthorI'm Stephanie, a math coach, parent and learner. On this site you will find resources for supporting students at home, and current happenings at our school. ArchivesCategories |