If you only knew the Twin Cities through a 15-second Reel, you’d think we were a constant hellscape. You’d see the pepper spray, the shouting matches in parking lots, and the tactical gear. You’d think the air here is made of nothing but tension.
In many ways social media is telling the truth and, in others, it’s missing the mark. The videos are true and those moments exist. I mean, what do you think will happen when you force a bunch of Feds on a city that didn’t ask for it? We may be a bunch of liberals but we’re still Americans. “Don’t tread on me” is part of our collective ethos, woven into each and every one of us as Americans.
But most people in the Twin Cities are not out protesting. The untold story is so much deeper.
It’s in the love and anxiety of a mother whose children now carry passports in their backpacks on the way to school—just in case.
It’s in the tears of a person who pulls me close when I tell them, “Estamos pensando en ustedes.”
It’s in the classrooms that sit half empty and the teachers, who clearly weren’t doing enough, now organizing grocery runs for families unwilling to risk leaving their homes.
It’s in the use of anonymous names and encrypted chats because of the fear for our safety and the safety of our neighbors.
It’s in my own tears driving to work, praying that this will all end soon; in the knot in my stomach, knowing that life carries on regardless of the chaos – a normal workday as if everything is the same as it has always been.
It is the sick feeling that arises when you leave the grocery store only to find ICE agents taking a man who just stepped off the bus. I don’t feel safer. I find myself watching over my shoulder – for myself and for my neighbors.
There is also the continuation of life as usual. The unsettling juxtaposition of watching someone swept into a car by masked men and then flipping to my budget app to remember how much I just spent on bread.
It’s the exhausting balance of sadness and productivity, fear and hope. It’s the life we are actually living in the Twin Cities—the parts that aren’t loud enough for an algorithm, but are heavy enough to weigh us down on a daily basis.
Lately, my phone has been a bridge to two different worlds. My conservative friends reach out to offer perspectives or point out hypocrisy; my liberal friends reach out in a firestorm of anger. In the middle of it all, I am simply grieving.
To my conservative friends, I understand you see what is unfolding through your life’s lens, grounded in your experiences and your beliefs.
I’ll speak for myself – in this moment, I’m grieving. Grieving for this beautiful country full of love, compassion, innovation, and endless optimism that is hard to recognize. Grieving for the parents separated from their children, for the fear young children have walking home from school.
What I hear from you and conservative pundits is, “It was a tragedy what happened, but…”
Right now, what I’m asking is to pause with the “but”. I don’t have the capacity to process the ‘but’ right now. I’m not going to hear it. It’s not the way the brain works when grief and trauma hijacks the brain.
Sit with me in my grief. Pray with me. Let your heart feel the pain and hear the cry of the many that yearn for a better world. That’s what I need from you. Love me for who I am in this moment without worrying about if you’re right and I’m wrong.
To my liberal friends, take a deep breath. Our anger and frustration are only helpful if it motivates us to make the world a better place. I understand your frustrations and, I too, want to lash out at the lack of humanity we’re seeing and channel my frustration at folks who voted for Trump.
But to shout that out on social media and then go back to your everyday life, holding those emotions, changes nothing. If anything, it makes things worse – that’s not healthy for you or the way to make a change in the world. Take a break from social media. If you’re like me and are dragged down the rabbit hole of horrific reels, I implore you to shut it off, take a break.
A colleague reminded me today that joy is an act of resistance. Find joy this weekend outside of a computer screen. Join a rally. Go for walk. Take a deep breath. Joy and self-care are more radical in this moment than another angry post.
My Challenge to Everyone
When our country was founded E Pluribus Unum was added to the great seal – Out of Many, One.
Despite our differences and disagreements, we must learn to come together and to see the decency in one another. It begins with our community and ourselves. Get to know your neighbors, attend local city council meetings or school board meetings, shovel your neighbor’s driveway. Try out a new idea “I disagree with you but I’ll sit with you in these emotions”. Hell, name your own emotions that are coming up. Host someone to watch a playoff game*. Offer to babysit someone’s kids. Learn a new hobby.
To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing – Raymond Williams
One thing I’ve tapped into for my own healing this week is music. Here’s a little Johnny Cash that I hope both liberal and conservative can enjoy.
For those whose hearts and prayers are with Minnesota, thank you. It is a dark moment in our city and state.
We are still healing from the reckless murder of students in a church just months ago. Now, we find ourselves mourning again – this time, a mother killed by the very government sworn to protect its citizens. For this reckless murder, it is difficult to imagine there will be justice. For this reckless murder, cowardice will be spun as self-defense, a murderer painted a hero that saved precious lives rather than ended one.
We mourn our neighbors that are being abducted by cowards unwilling to show their face. Our hearts break for the families torn from each other’s arms and the children assaulted in a school parking lot for just trying to be kids but were born in the “wrong place”.
But to those not here, in Minnesota, also know that our community is strong and organized. There is strength in our community and enough love to outshine the darkness. I continue to remind myself that community is the antidote to despair and grateful to work with and know so many of the good people serving at a time where it’s easier to hide behind a screen.
When I feel anger and hate bubbling up for all of those causing the pain in our city, I challenge myself to be better. Better than the hate and fear that is the goal of the darkness. To hate the actions of the federal agents and the entire system that has led them here and at the same time consider how to love their humanity in hopes that one day they may recognize the humanity in those they cast out.
Only when I am reminded of the most difficult command – to love my enemy – am I able to come back down from the suffocating clouds of rage and fear in order to step into action. I can once again recall the gratitude I have for my community and continue with the work ahead.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. – Martin Luther King Jr.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” – J.R.R. Tolkien
Thank you for reading or sharing. We shall overcome. Let’s get to work.
These are a list of questions to ask schools in an interview to make sure the school is the right fit for you and that you can be as knowledgeable as possible when you start the role.
Staff Culture + School Organization
What is the staff culture like – is it more collaborative or more independent? How do teachers collaborate?
How is the school organized/structured (teams/departments)? Why?
How do you collect feedback from teachers? What do you do with that feedback?
How are decisions made at the school? (Ex: How were schedules planned for distance learning?)
How do you spend PD time?
What opportunities exist for teacher leadership? How can teachers make change in the school?
Is there a culture of observation at the school? What does that look like?
How is the schedule determined? Why?
Student Support
What structures for student support exist? How are Ss needs’ supported? Who on staff (in addition to teachers) is available to support students?
Follow up: Do you have an advisory system? What does it look like? (If not) how is student support structured?
What resources are available to students who are struggling?
Is push-in support available? From who? How is this organized?
What supports are available for English learners and/or recent immigrants?
What percentage of your students fail classes? Why do you think they fail?
Who do you think are the school’s least-served students? What is the school doing to support them?
How are students celebrated at school?
Different ways of asking one question around behavior:
What is your school’s model for handling behavioral challenges?
What is your school’s disciplinary model?
What happens at your school when a student is having challenges in class or a bad day?
How are behavioral challenges managed at the school level? How are relationships maintained?
Ask for an example?
Equity and Identity
How does your school implement systems/structures to ensure equitable learning for all? How do staff work to disrupt inequities in their classroom/their own practice?
How are teachers pushed to examine their identity and how their decisions support/disrupt inequities in their practice?
How are issues of race/class/gender/identity discussed among staff?
How are issues of academic and/or social status addressed in (and out) of the classroom?
Policies/Rules
Are there any policies around behavior and/or attendance that have led to conflict and/or been changed over time? What policies/why? What might be changed in the future?
What policy has been particularly difficult?
Cell phones????
What does the end of the semester look like? Summative assessments? Exams, portfolios? Celebrations?
Is there a grading policy? What is the philosophy around grades? What are teachers asked to do?
Who decides policy or restrictions around ______ (EL, special ed, etc)? What are the constraints for teachers?
Is there tracking? How? Why?
General Big Questions
What are the biggest problems/challenges at your school? What are you doing to fix these?
What are your school’s strengths?
What do you hope to change/work on in the future? What’s in the plans for the next few years?
How do you build community at school? What does positive school culture look like?
What does family engagement look like?
What are your school values? How are they enacted?
How do you work to honor Ss in school and make them feel smart / make them feel like they belong?
What in your opinion makes an extraordinary teacher? What are you looking for in your teachers?
What are some books you would recommend to better understand your school?
To ask students
What do you like?
What do you wish you could change? Magic wand…
Do you feel successful?
What is a problem in your school?
What is important to your teachers/Do your teachers care about you?
One of the biggest learnings I had as a teacher is that EVERYTHING needs to be taught, modeled, and explicitly shared with students. As a new teacher I expected students knew how to enter the classroom, complete classwork during work time, and work with others.
It turns out each of those and so much more need to be explicitly modeled and taught. I learned to never assume that students knew how to do what I expected of them. I came to find it equally important that I teach student HOW to learn as much as WHAT to learn.
It’s a long process to figure out what works for you and your students. In the effort of thinking about how to share some of these practices and earlier reflections, I recently returned to some of my template slides I used to ensure students knew exactly what I was expecting of them. Starting class, working in groups, even turning in homework – I had a go-to template slide for all of them, so that by the end of the year students would see the slide and know exactly what to do and what to expect. I encourage anyone to browse, copy, or edit any they would find helpful.
1. Making observations. What do you notice? What do you wonder?
Provide something straight forward and familiar for students to engage with but allow for space for deepen the conversation mathematically.
In the example below, some students might say “I see squares” and “I see rectangles”. That’s the most basic observation. Others might also point out the colors or wonder why some are different colors or different shapes.
If this is an introduction to a new concept, you can leave it wide open. If it is a review of the day’s previous skill you can gear the conversation toward the math ideas or vocabulary you practiced the day(s) prior.
2. Disappearing Words
Think of six to seven vocabulary words or mathematical expressions you expect students to be using. Write them on the board in marker. (Note: it might be helpful for yourself to have the list in order on a paper in your hand.)
Tell the students they are going to practice some math vocabulary and test their memories. First, model by reading each of the words out loud (this helps students hear proper pronunciation).
Then, explain that the entire class is going to say the words together but need to wait until I point to the word. I point to the first word and the class repeats it. I do the same for the next few but then pause to make sure they are waiting to say the word until I point to it. (Note: otherwise there will be a few kids that read through the whole list quickly and ruin the activity). Continue until the class says all of the words.
Now, you choose a students to pick one of the words. Once they pick it, you erase that word from the whiteboard and tell them that we are going to say the words again but we have to remember the word that was erased and say it when I point to the blank space. After doing another round, ask another student another word that should be erased. Run through it again until all of the words are erased. In that final round, you are pointing to multiple blank spaces on the board where the words once were and students are repeating the words and trying to remember what the order is.
Have some fun with this! This allows students to practice saying the important vocabulary and storing it in their memory. Obviously, you still need to work on what they mean and how to apply them, but it’s a great way to start class and introduce/ remind students of the explicit mathematical language that is expected in class.
3. Split Dictation
A split dictation is a chance for students to practice speaking, writing, and listening to math vocabulary (and English, in general, for multilingual learners). It’s an excellent way for students to get a quick introduction to a unit or a lesson by talking with a peer rather than hearing it from the teacher.
How: First, write a short paragraph that explains an important overview of a unit or lesson (2 – 5 paragraphs). Keep sentences short to the point so it is accessible for all reading levels and English proficiency.
Then, make a copy of the paragraph – one will be read by partner A and the other will be read by partner B. Go through partner A’s copy and find a handful of words that you deem mathematical or at least connected to the academic language needed for the unit or lesson. Delete those words and leave a blank space in the paragraph where the students can write the word.
Finally, look at partner B’s paragraph and find alternative words to delete and leave a blank space.
Tell students: Partner A will read first. When they get to a blank space, partner B will have the word on their page and need to share with partner A. Partner A will write down the word and then continue reading, filling in the missing words with the help of partner B along the way. When partner A finishes, partner B will read their paragraph and ask partner A to share any words needed for their blank spaces.
For partners that finish early, ask them to identify any words that are new to them or which ideas they think will be the most important from the paragraph.
4. Estimation
After watching a video, viewing a photo, or listening to a prompt or audio clip, ask students to make an estimation. The estimate will set up the math that will follow in the lesson and begin with a conversation where all students have access to share their answer and attempt to support it with evidence.
5. Leveled Reading
Give students a chance to come in and read about what they will be engaging in today. The reading gives students a chance to be grounded and gives the teacher a chance to check in with students as they come in. Recognizing students might be at different reading levels and English proficiency, create a few different levels available to students. Be careful not to assume which level students would like – give them the choice and you’ll be delightfully surprised how many students want the added challenge.
6. Partner Practice
Rather than having problems up on the board and expecting students to complete them in their notebook, turn it into a partner activity.
7. Card Sort
Card sorts are a great way for students to make sense of what they’ve learned . It can be a way of looking for patterns or identifying key features of visual representations.
Card sorts can ask students to match the algebraic expression with the written form of the expression in words.
Another is to give an image and ask the students to sort them into common groups. For example – “sort into graphs with (1) positive slopes, (2) a slope of zero, and (3) negative slopes”. You could also show tables, graphs, equations, and a story and the students’ job is to find which combinations are matches. There are quite a few possibilities for card sorts.
Teachers and everyone need to stand up and speak out.
They need to have the conversation – first with themselves, then others – to let people know where they stand. The number of people that say “I don’t want to make the news” in fear rubs me the wrong way, although I completely understand the sentiment.
We are Americans that have freedom of speech. We are all responsible for our words and actions; but if we are silent now, how can we take pride in what we believe when it’s easy?
We show who we are in the moments of trial. This is a moment of trial.
Listen to others, speak your truth, and expect criticism. Like any muscle, we must continue to develop our ability to stand strong for what we believe and be there for each other in community when we find ourselves attacked for what we believe.
We can no longer be afraid to speak up in meetings. If there is something or someone that you love that is under attack, now is your time to lead. Even something as simple as saying, “I disagree” without further explanation can begin to curb the worst excesses we may soon experience.
Let me make the news, and let us stand as shield for one another. We have a right to free speech, we have a the right to pursue a more perfect union, and I will fight along side my brothers and sisters of this country for these rights. We will not be silent. We are the United States of America. We are Americans.
Here’s an email I quickly wrote sharing my general ideas of group work with another math teacher. Similar ideas from a few years back can be found here.
Nice to meet you. Group work is a process that takes time to develop, especially if other teachers in your school don’t lean into the structures as much. I recommend trying it on and seeing if a small group of other teachers are willing to try it out too.
Here are the group roles I use.
I lean heavily on task managers to get the group started quickly. If you’re curious about the cups I use for resource managers reach out @ulrichedu. While the kids are doing group work I usually narrate what I want to see the different managers should be doing/ saying like “group managers, check in with the group and make sure everyone understands. If people are copying they may not understand.” I also try before we start to share the norms for the given activity as well as the math ideas students will need to be successful. Here’s an example from today:
Here’s an example of a reading guide I gave out today: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RGcFv-MDFtkaq5EQDqLx1lwE8f1r8W351c5IeCQLIPI/edit?usp=sharing I also modeled the positive things groups were doing with Mr. Pinsky (online tool – see this for more) and wrote some Huskies (PBIS) to celebrate the strong work I saw. It’s a process and takes time in a classroom to develop the culture, especially if your team isn’t as aligned around group work strategies. Always happy to share resources or chat. Let me know if you’d like to connect more or collaborate in the future! @ulrichedu
The time spent with you, I will remember all my life. Both in my memories and in the way I bring myself into the world; my life is forever altered by spending time with you and the people that call you home.
My first memories of the drive were breathtaking. The small river tucked away in the mountains; the giant redwoods wider than my car; the expansive bridge that glimmered in the bay. Needless to say, you made a lasting first impression.
But then, I felt as if I didn’t belong. Somehow everyone else seemed to belong; but not me. I smiled and tried to fit in, to work hard, to say the right things. California is not Wisconsin.
I found myself lighting up when I saw an Illinois license plate, making friends with people from Minnesota and Michigan. What was happening? You see, people from Wisconsin have beliefs about people from Illinois, from Minnesota. That they are different; that they are other. And yet, you brought us together; you showed us how similar we are; how much we are the same.
Soon, you taught me to value the things that make people different. I thought that my Christian identity didn’t have a place with you and at times people saw me as an outsider, but soon I realized one’s identity was nothing to hide in the shadows; on the contrary, it should be shared, explored, and celebrated. I learned to feel a renewed sense of pride as a Christian, and now have a deep sense of honoring people’s differences and traditions whether they share my own or not.
You opened my eyes.
By bringing together people different than myself, with different life experiences, you opened my eyes to the human beauty in this world. Across culture, across language, across sexual-orientation, gender, or geography, you placed in my life people willing to share their stories and to push me to learn more about myself and the world. At first, these differences made me uncomfortable, but soon I realized at the core of discomfort lies strength.
You opened my eyes to the possibilities of nature. The highest and coldest mountain peaks, the lowest and hottest valley basins. The majesty that makes you feel small and insignificant while at the same time leaving you in awe and thankful for time on this Earth. The rivers that bend; the pines that sway; the trails that go on forever. Over each hill and around each bend you opened my eyes to an unending horizon of beauty and possibility.
You gave me the confidence to create change.
I came to you with a quest to change the world; to change the country. I quickly learned that change has long been sought and many have tried with little success, or at least, you taught me success may look different than imagined.
You taught me that creating change does not happen over night. As the mountain and valleys form slowly, we too spend our lives taking small steps toward change. You taught me the strength and power in diversity and solidarity; the voice of the many; the voice of the forgotten. You showed me that I may not have all the answers and that listening to others is just as important as speaking up.
I am grateful for our time together and the adventures I had with you. You challenged me, you left me in awe. I felt success. I felt failure. I felt alive.
