Learning Math is Social: We Are in This Together

Note: I haven't blogged recently and these thoughts are a culmination of ideas that have been bouncing around in my head over the past few weeks.

When I first saw the rules posted online for a local high school back in July, I shook my head in disbelief. The rules have changed somewhat (masks always required in class), but initially it said something like this:

Students can take off their masks when seated as long as they were facing the front of the room. If they get up to move around the room, they must have their mask on. And teachers were told: Students will not to sit in groups during class in order to maintain social distancing.

What many school administrators, department of education leaders and school board members don't realize is that high school teachers have advanced their teaching methods beyond the 1950's. Classrooms are configured with tables or desks in pods. Learning is social and we want our students to work together. Even after teaching the same content for ten years, my students make new observations or connections and amaze me with what they are able to conclude. This would NOT happen, if students worked by themselves. Or at the very least, only the student that thought of the new idea would benefit from it.

Even within my synchrounous virtual classroom this fall, I use breakout rooms on a daily basis and students work together for 10-15 minutes on course content. They post in a common Google doc or move things on a Google slide or write on a common Google Jamboard. And then we debrief as a class after they return from their breakout rooms. Learning together is really that important for my students. Learning is social and teachers need to be given the tools to help their students learn together while being socially and often physically distanced.

Image from @NeONBRAND

Even as teachers work to modify their lessons, they get new restrictions being thrown at them almost daily. An AP Statistics colleague of mine said he will have 2 days of face-to-face instruction and 2 days of asynchrounous virtual instruction per week. That doesn't sound bad, right? But then he has also been told that new content cannot be taught on the asynchronus days. That could make it a bit challenging to teach the entire curriculum. But it could be done, maybe. But wait...there's more. He will only have half of his students in front of him on the face-to-face instruction days. The other half of his students will be working virtual on those days. This means each day, he needs to prepare 2 different lessons for the same class. And because of social distancing, he will need to create or find new ways to do things that would normally have students do while working beside each other. This is the stuff of teacher nightmares.

Will teachers survive teaching in the pandemic? Maybe some will resign, as happened in a district near Buffalo, leaving nearly 80 virtual teacher vacancies. Those who wish to survive will work with their colleagues. Some will reach out via social media or email or by attending free webinars, like this one offered by The Global Math Department on using Delta Math for Distance Learning: https://www.bigmarker.com/GlobalMathDept/Using-DeltaMath-for-Distance-Learning.

I recently shared a pacing guide for AP Statistics with a teacher who made a plea for help over an AP Statistics Teacher Facebook group. This led to an email exchange, where I offered the following advice for starting the school year strong.

1. Be up front with your students - teaching this way will be very different than what you or they are used to.  If something is unclear or is going wrong (I can't tell you how many times I was talking for 15-30 seconds before a student would unmute themselves and tell me I was muted), they need to tell you and you thank them for sharing.
2. Let your students know, even with 28 years of experience, this is your first time teaching AP Stats.  Tell them to think about something they learned for the first time (like riding a bike or learning to dive) and the fact that it did not go well.  They had friends to help them learn and you have friends to turn to for help with teaching AP Statistics.
3. Tell them that your goal is for them to succeed, and that you will work along side them, in a physically-distanced sort of way, for this to happen.

Although my students work together in breakout rooms and I can pop in their room to check on them, I miss the collective buzz and energy of math conversations. When I am in the same physical space as my students, I can quickly assess if I need to clarify an idea or if there is a pre-requisite idea that needs to be addressed. I can walk by 8 groups in less than 5 minutes and gather real-time data. I yearn for the day when I can be with my students again.

BONUS NOTE: If you want to experience how I use breakout rooms and teach with Desmos, join me for the virtual PD session offered by BER called, "Making Best Use of Desmos to Strengthen Math Instruction (Grades 6-12)" Depending on which session you choose and the time zone you live in, you might not miss a full day of school. Dates in November, but there will also be virtual sessions in the spring. Feel free to ping me on twitter @mathteacher24, if you need more information.