I sit here on a Saturday morning after four weeks of teaching at Lick and taking some time to reflect on my first month at the school. This reflection actually is congruent with a huge push in the Mathematics Department. After working by myself for the past six years, I've joined a department that has a very strong focus on teaching mathematical (and it turns out schoolwide) habits of mind. IMAGINE, INQUIRE, COLLABORATE, PERSIST and REFLECT. These words are posted throughout the school and we in the Math department have brought those words into the classroom. I've always claimed that I've worked on teaching students how to think, and in someways I do, but in comparison to many of my colleagues, I've got a long way to go. I simply don't have the patience to observe my students struggle through the process of self-discovery...and so I very often jump in and "tell" them. Part of it stems from my desire to "get on to the next topic" but a lot of it is also how excited I am to teach them interesting things that I think are cool.
On the collaboration portion of the habits of mind, in teaching my 10th and 12th graders, I am seeing how their teachers on the other classes (both Math and other subjects) have really done a fantastic job of teaching students to work together effectively. I am teaching a 9th grade Algebra 1 class and when I ask students to collaborate, it doesn't look like what it does in my other classes. It's clear that I need to teach this skill and I don't really know how. I'm experimenting and I'm learning (in my reflection upon this first month) that I really have to EXPLICITLY tell students, "do this." I need to do this as it's the Lick way, to have a great deal of collaborative learning and I need to join the team on this one.
In teaching Algebra 1, I was worried that I would run out of things to teach because it's really so simple in my mind. But we, meaning my teaching partner who teachers the other section, are really working on teaching students to write out their answers and to explain more deeply their understanding. For instance, 4-(-6), why is the answer 10? Well, in the past, I would have just let students get away with knowing what to do, but for the first time I have taught it on the number line and it comes from understanding. In fact, I've now officially learned why as well. So my understanding of the material is deeper than it used to be. This has also happened in my 10th grade Algebra 2 Accelerated course. In teaching with my partner, we have shared perspectives on problems and I am teaching more difficult material, because I'm being pushed to do so, than I ever have. So, remember when I said it was important for me to teach again with other colleagues, this is exactly what I wanted. I'm learning from my colleagues and teaching them as well, at least I hope. I'm being challenged in my teaching for the first time in years. And that's a good thing.
As for the school itself, the focus of the school is different that Head-Royce. At least I think it is...I can't discern if things have just changed so much in schools in the six years I've been gone, or whether it's the school cultures themselves. If I were to have to say one thing that is a truth, it's that HRS admits first on academics. For instance, at least when I was there, every 9th grade student was expected to have finished Algebra 1 upon entering the 9th grade. The fact that there are 21 out of 128 in the 9th grade that are in Algebra 1 is a sign to me that Lick admits on the whole student. It's a clear statement on the fact that equity of access is at the heart of the mission of the school. I like it as it's challenging to teach a student population that is so heterogeneous. In fact, it challenges me to face the fact that I might just not be sensitive to issues of economic diversity and race. I have also realized how abundantly clear that I am a product of independent, private education and that it's the only thing I've known. In many ways, I'm like one of those wealthy people know doesn't know what it's like NOT to be in the world in which I've lived. Also, I've found that the faculty, unlike HRS, comes from all different places in the world and educational backgrounds. Nowhere have I found that document stating where teachers got their degrees. Many of the teachers on the faculty come from public teaching backgrounds and a number from parochial backgrounds and because of the Technical Arts requirement, many of those teachers come from the professional world.
Lastly, what's amazing, and am not sure if this would have happened at another school, but this fall, we had a students come out as transgender. The support from the administration and the subsequent faculty meetings to answer questions and to field suggestions as to what kind of training we might need to better support this student as well as other potential transgender students in our midst is amazing. Part of this is the school but the fact that the school is in San Francisco makes it a liberal haven within the incredibly liberal haven of the Bay Area.
This is a fascinating place to work....and my eyes are wide, wide open. My ears are always picking up on things that make me go.....WOW. I will try to remember them and report back in future reflections on this new teaching position. It will be interesting to see how, in time, they become the norm to me.
On the collaboration portion of the habits of mind, in teaching my 10th and 12th graders, I am seeing how their teachers on the other classes (both Math and other subjects) have really done a fantastic job of teaching students to work together effectively. I am teaching a 9th grade Algebra 1 class and when I ask students to collaborate, it doesn't look like what it does in my other classes. It's clear that I need to teach this skill and I don't really know how. I'm experimenting and I'm learning (in my reflection upon this first month) that I really have to EXPLICITLY tell students, "do this." I need to do this as it's the Lick way, to have a great deal of collaborative learning and I need to join the team on this one.
In teaching Algebra 1, I was worried that I would run out of things to teach because it's really so simple in my mind. But we, meaning my teaching partner who teachers the other section, are really working on teaching students to write out their answers and to explain more deeply their understanding. For instance, 4-(-6), why is the answer 10? Well, in the past, I would have just let students get away with knowing what to do, but for the first time I have taught it on the number line and it comes from understanding. In fact, I've now officially learned why as well. So my understanding of the material is deeper than it used to be. This has also happened in my 10th grade Algebra 2 Accelerated course. In teaching with my partner, we have shared perspectives on problems and I am teaching more difficult material, because I'm being pushed to do so, than I ever have. So, remember when I said it was important for me to teach again with other colleagues, this is exactly what I wanted. I'm learning from my colleagues and teaching them as well, at least I hope. I'm being challenged in my teaching for the first time in years. And that's a good thing.
As for the school itself, the focus of the school is different that Head-Royce. At least I think it is...I can't discern if things have just changed so much in schools in the six years I've been gone, or whether it's the school cultures themselves. If I were to have to say one thing that is a truth, it's that HRS admits first on academics. For instance, at least when I was there, every 9th grade student was expected to have finished Algebra 1 upon entering the 9th grade. The fact that there are 21 out of 128 in the 9th grade that are in Algebra 1 is a sign to me that Lick admits on the whole student. It's a clear statement on the fact that equity of access is at the heart of the mission of the school. I like it as it's challenging to teach a student population that is so heterogeneous. In fact, it challenges me to face the fact that I might just not be sensitive to issues of economic diversity and race. I have also realized how abundantly clear that I am a product of independent, private education and that it's the only thing I've known. In many ways, I'm like one of those wealthy people know doesn't know what it's like NOT to be in the world in which I've lived. Also, I've found that the faculty, unlike HRS, comes from all different places in the world and educational backgrounds. Nowhere have I found that document stating where teachers got their degrees. Many of the teachers on the faculty come from public teaching backgrounds and a number from parochial backgrounds and because of the Technical Arts requirement, many of those teachers come from the professional world.
Lastly, what's amazing, and am not sure if this would have happened at another school, but this fall, we had a students come out as transgender. The support from the administration and the subsequent faculty meetings to answer questions and to field suggestions as to what kind of training we might need to better support this student as well as other potential transgender students in our midst is amazing. Part of this is the school but the fact that the school is in San Francisco makes it a liberal haven within the incredibly liberal haven of the Bay Area.
This is a fascinating place to work....and my eyes are wide, wide open. My ears are always picking up on things that make me go.....WOW. I will try to remember them and report back in future reflections on this new teaching position. It will be interesting to see how, in time, they become the norm to me.
