It's World Mosquito Day! Oh, geesh! How do these annoying pests get a day to themselves???
After Joel and Misty talk about their feelings and share some random facts about mosquitos, they have a conversation with Brandon Pelter, a teacher from Connecticut who recently attended the Academy of Best Practices for New Teachers. Brandon shares his story of becoming a teacher, how he got to ABP, and some of his big takeaways from the event. It's exciting stuff!
Then a math joke from Theresa!
Send Joel and Misty a message!
The More Math for More People Podcast is produced by CPM Educational Program.
Learn more at CPM.org
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
You are listening to the More Math for More People
podcast.
An outreach of CPM educationalprogram Boom.
An outreach of CPM EducationalProgram.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Boom, all right.
Happy August 20th.
What's National Day today, joel.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Well, today we're celebrating the state bird of
Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
It's World Mosquito Day.
Oh my gosh, that's a joke.
It was Mosquito Day.
Oh my gosh, that's a joke.
It was Mosquitoes are notactually birds.
That's true.
They can be pretty large inMinnesota and other places and
very plentiful.
Mosquito, but there's a WorldMosquito Day.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
World Mosquito Day.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Is it to just encourage us to try to eradicate
mosquitoes A little bit?
I understand we can't reallyeradicate, yeah, but they're
mostly terrible well it's.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
It's even suggesting celebrating by raising funds for
anti-malaria to learn aboutmalaria, to have malaria
awareness, because mosquitoescarry the disease, malaria,
malaria amongst many otherthings like heart's true.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Like heartworm West Nile virus.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
They're the world's deadliest animal.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, someone told me and I don't know how this is
possible and I also question howthey came up with this data
that there are 18 millionmosquitoes per person in the
world.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Oh, my gosh, I believe it.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I didn't really think that was possible to have that
many mosquitoes per person,because there's what 7 billion
people or something.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
So that's like I think it's possible.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I think it's what 7 times 8.
56 to the 15th.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
That's a lot.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
That's a lot of mosquitoes, and how do they even
figure out there's 18 millionper person.
How do you go about?
Speaker 1 (02:03):
doing a mosquito population count to begin with
one, two, three, I know no, theydon't they don't have you.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Have you seen estimating fish?
They don't estimate populationsgotcha.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
I know that I used to go with a friend to a cabin up
in northern minnesota and inorder just to sit out near the
lake on an evening, we would puton bee suits and we would have
full body bee suits just to beable to comfortably sit.
So I believe that there arethat many mosquitoes per person.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah, there's a lot of mosquitoes.
I mean so when I was in Alaskafor a while and doing some stuff
in July.
They have mosquitoes there Upin Barrow and we went into
Akasuk, which is in the tundrainland from Barrow, and we
similarly, like we went outsideto do some stuff and we had like
long pants and tucked them intoour shoes and gloves and
(02:59):
everything else, and then themosquito hats yes, Like with the
netting that you tuck in and wewere walking around and the
mosquitoes there's so many ofthem.
It's creepy because they'rebouncing off the net and all
these things and I was like, oh,it's so creepy.
But I also know they couldn'tget in Right Because we had done
a really good job, but they'rejust all over.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
And there's like a sound too right?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Oh yeah, because they're like they're like
actually like hitting the thing.
Yeah, they were, yeah, so 18million mosquitoes.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
It is a lot.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Per person.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
The hypodermic needle was inspired by mosquitoes.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Well, that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Today is also supposed to remind us to
appreciate scientists.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Oh, we should appreciate scientists, and they
were.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
It's one way of one way of knowing the world.
So mosquito bites right.
Some people aren't veryallergic to the saliva and some
people are crazy.
Allergic to the saliva.
Where do you fall?
Speaker 1 (03:57):
I'm on the lower end, I'm not very allergic.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Very allergic, yeah, so your mosquito bites are maybe
itchy, or Right?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Maybe, itchy.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
My brother, my mom's always the one that they would
always bite and my brother wouldhardly ever get bitten, though
he probably got bitten and justisn't allergic.
I'm definitely somewhere in themiddle.
It depends on how long theybite, if I catch them or not and
swat them away, but I'm waymore sensitive to no cm bites
like those are way worse really.
(04:28):
I get big, huge welts, but yeah, I don't biting insects not
cool I.
I had a quasi father-in-law atone point who was like and I
totally agree with him.
He said I will gladly give apint of blood for all these
blood-sucking insects, if theywould just not bite me.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Well, maybe we could have a parlay Give them all the
blood they want.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Just don't bite me to get it.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
We'll just parlay with them.
They're leaders.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
It's hard when there's that many of them, they
have a lot of enclaves.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Isn't that kind of how Jurassic Park started with
mosquitoes?
Didn't they find a mosquito?
Yeah, a mosquito in an amberyeah, something like that, and
it had the blood of the dinosaur.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Dinosaur it had bitten.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
So it could save us.
It could save us.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
We're carrying all our DNA everywhere Feeding their
babies.
Oh, here's an interesting fact.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Oh yes.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
So it's only the females.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Because they use the blood to quote unquote feed
their babies, they lay eggs,it's only when breeding Right
they're not actually going backand feeding them like little
birds?
Yes, but that was funny.
When I thought about that I waslike wait, but so what do the
males eat?
Speaker 1 (05:35):
I don't know, do they get fed also by the blood?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
No, they eat nectar.
Oh, I didn't know that they goand they get nectar from.
That's what I heard on aRadiolab episode and I so I did
not fact check it myself, butit's on Radiolab so I know they
fact check things.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
So yeah, I was surprised about that too.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Because sometimes insects that don't live very
long, because mosquitoes onlylive for a few days in adult
form.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
A few days, it's not like a season.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
No in adult form.
A few days it's not like aseason, like a?
No, they don't they.
No, they don't live even thewhole summer.
Oh my gosh.
And so they?
Yeah, I think they live.
I think it's three or four daysis what I think, and but some
insects that don't live verylong don't even have stomachs in
their adult form, like mayfliesthat only live for a day and
then lay their eggs and die.
They don't even have a stomachbecause they don't bother eating
(06:24):
.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
They're too busy.
Yeah, why would you?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Do other things and lay eggs.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
I would not want to stop my one day of life, just to
stop and have a meal.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
And have time to digest it.
Yeah, it's crazy the thingsevolution will do.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Well, that's interesting too that it makes
its way.
Malaria made its way to Europe,so its way to Europe, so it had
to start somewhere else.
So somehow that populationmoves, and if it's not, if, like
, an individual doesn't livevery long, you're breeding a lot
, you're moving along a lot.
That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
They're moving in new territories, laying their eggs
in new pools of water.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Have you ever had a bunch of water sitting somewhere
and you go and move it or likea bucket or whatever, and then
there's mosquito larvae in it.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
No, I've never had that.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
They hang out at the top of the water because, they
like breathe the water throughlittle tubes in their hind ends
or something, and then they'relike no, not at all.
Yeah, that's where you got toget them, that's where you put
the little stuff in, there tokill them.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Well, I'm going to celebrate by not going outside,
maybe.
How are you going to celebrate?
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Celebrate by putting on some natural repellent that
does not contain DEET andprobably be outside, because
there's not very many mosquitoeshere.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Fair.
There's not here either, yeah,but our friends where there's
mosquitoes take care.
We have friends in friendswhere there's mosquitoes, take
care.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
We have friends in mississauga, minnesota, that's
true.
I'm sorry it's now.
It's world mosquito day.
Yes, go avoid, okay.
(08:09):
So today we're here withBrandon Pelter, and Brandon was
recently in the Academy of BestPractices, which was in's
outreach programs works withteachers who are not teaching
CPM and are in their first fiveyears of teaching, and so this
(08:32):
is Joel and I.
We don't know what Brandon'sgoing to say because we don't
know Brandon and he was justsuggested to us.
So here we go, brandon, welcometo the podcast.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, welcome, Brandon.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Thank you for having me no worries, so let's just
start with yeah, welcome,brandon.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Thank you for having me, no worries.
So let's just start with.
Who are you, brandon?
Tell us a little bit aboutwhere you are, what you teach,
what's your personal story?
How'd you come to teaching?
Speaker 3 (08:57):
So I grew up in New York, westchester County, and
I'm now in Southern Connecticut.
So I live in Norwalk, I teachin Bridgeport Public Schools,
which is one of the largestschool districts in Connecticut,
but my path is a little lessthan traditional, I guess we
could call it.
I did my undergrad at PennState in communications and,
(09:19):
more specifically, working insports.
So I graduated and was workingin sports, working for teams on
the broadcast side, so doingplay-by-play for games, some
time in minor league baseballand working for some colleges.
I even got to work two SuperBowls while I was still in
college.
So some really pretty amazingexperiences there.
(09:41):
But fast forwarding to theteacher side, in 2021, after
that summer and baseball seasonwrapped up, my job was over in
central New Jersey, so I neededto figure things out, and so I
headed towards Connecticut withmy parents and, by chance, a
(10:02):
local district needed subs sobadly so that they were
canceling classes and so okay,needed a couple bucks.
Sure, it'll work, let's do it.
And instead I was placed as aparaprofessional, so full time
for the year.
For the year, and what began asa job just to make some money
(10:28):
while I was figuring everythingout turned into just a
life-changing opportunity whereI was in classrooms every single
day seeing what I liked, what Ididn't like, and I very quickly
made some of those judgmentsand also was really intrigued
into how I could help mystudents a little better.
So, before I knew it, I waslooking to just do better and
(10:51):
that led me into, hey, let's dothis full time.
So that's, I think, kind of theshort end of it what could be a
very, very long-winded story.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Sure, yeah, I want to have a whole nother podcast
conversation about working insports.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
It sounds fascinating .
So were you in a math classroomas a paraprofessional then, and
so I was in everything fromsocial studies to science.
But it was for me specificallythe math classroom, where, when
I pulled my students out and wetried things a little bit
differently, the one that I'llnever forget is percents.
My seventh graders were just itcould not make sense of it, and
(11:50):
it's very heavy proceduralfocus in class.
And when we talked aboutpercent well, century, 100 out
of 100 when they were able tomake that connection, it was
just the light bulb.
Oh, my god.
Okay, this isn't so bad.
And so that was just one of manyexperiences where I I realized,
without even having a name toit Now I know it's conceptual
understanding, but where I justsaw, hey, a little tweak can
(12:15):
make a huge difference.
And so, as I got more confidentworking with the students I was
assigned to, then if I had time, I would work with the rest of
the class, and it seemed to helpthem out a little more too.
So I knew when I was going intomy teacher prep program that I
wanted it to look a little bitdifferent, and I had a rough
(12:36):
idea of what that might be, butI also wasn't sure about the
research and everything else.
So I was just really fortunateto go into the program at Sacred
Heart University and work withDr Lindsay Kieser there, who is
great, and she did herdissertation on inquiry-based
teaching and teacher change, soit was just such an amazing fit.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
And so you went back to school with the intent of
being a math teacher then.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
That's right.
So I did a year-long programthat led to my master's and MA
in teaching and my initialcertification, and actually in
that program because I had theinitial experience I was I guess
I'm not a patient person Ididn't want to do student
teaching, I didn't want to sitwith a cooperating teacher, I
(13:24):
was ready to just hit the groundrunning, and so that's what I
did.
So I got an emergencycertification here in
Connecticut we call it a DSAPDurational Storage Area Permit
and I taught in Bridgeport forthat first year while I was
taking the master's classes atnight and hit the ground running
as best I could, and we figureda lot out on the fly, but I
(13:47):
wouldn't have it any other way.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, what's the timeline from when you became
the paraprofessional to going tothat program to like, where are
you now Then?
What then you're teaching?
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Yeah, so 2021, september, I guess, is when I
first moved to Connecticut.
I started that para job in the21-22 school year and then May
of 22,.
May-june was summer, onesession at Sacred Heart, and
fall of 22 was my own classroom,so it was pretty quick.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Yeah, really quick.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
It's like a baptism by fire kind of approach for
yourself there made itchallenging at some points when
you were looking for a littleextra support.
(14:43):
But 95% of the time to havethat flexibility to try some
things out, to get kids atwhiteboards to do things a
little different than anyoneelse in the building, that was
really special and that's whenyou do your most learning right,
when you get the opportunitythat's in the freedom to make
some of those mistakes and havesome people, especially Dr
(15:04):
Kieser, at Sacred Heart whocould kind of steer me and guide
me along as I continue to grow.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
So this is so 2022, 23,.
So this 24 is going to be yourthird year.
You're just about to start yourthird year, or maybe you have
started your third year.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Not yet.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
I have two weeks left , okay, but yes, going into year
number three, Okay cool.
So how did you find out aboutthe Academy Best Practice?
How did you get connected withthat?
Speaker 3 (15:33):
That was another pretty lucky thing.
That kind of came my wayLindsay Dr Kuser at Sacred Heart
was on someone's mailing listsomewhere and said, hey, this
looks really cool, forwarded itmy way and I applied and I think
for me I didn't know 100% whatto expect.
(15:54):
I knew it would be focused onteaching practices, but that's
pretty broad.
So getting to Seattle I wasn't100% sure what it would be, but
I was definitely excited and itlived up to and surpassed all
expectations.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Okay, all right.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
So tell us about it.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
How did?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
it go.
What did you figure out?
What happened?
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Feet on the ground in Seattle.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yes, seattle's amazing, by the way, I love
Seattle.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Yeah, and that was my first time.
It was the longest plot I'veever been on, my first time
heading out, uh, to the Westside of the country, um, west
coast, and it really wasbeautiful.
But I don't want to tell toomuch.
I have my notebook here fromABP and it is probably about
(16:59):
halfway full, so there's a lotin there.
Oh, wow, well, you get outthere.
But participants in California,ohio, kentucky I don't know if
we hit half the states, but weprobably came pretty darn close
to it and if you combine us withthe veteran teacher cohort, I
think we were almost there toall 50 states.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Yeah, cpm did an amazing job of spreading things
out, and so I think for me, whenI think about the takeaways,
first of all, it was just theconnections of people in similar
positions, newer to theprofession but really eager to
learn.
I mean, if you're there, ifyou're giving up a week of your
(17:40):
summer vacation, you really care, and so a room full of people
that were looking to grow, andlooking to grow in so many
different facets.
I've done more of the studentsat whiteboards and rich tasks.
That wasn't new to me, butthere was so much that I did
learn while we had.
We had newer teachers on thetotally opposite end of the
(18:01):
spectrum that were looking toget away from more of that
direct instruction, and so therewas a piece.
There was something to latchonto for everybody and I think I
have enough to latch ontoprobably the next 10 years or so
If I really dig deep into intoeverything that that we went
through and to really perfectthings because it is such a
(18:22):
craft.
But for me, I think one of thebiggest takeaways was thinking
about feedback to my, to mystudents, and I do so much to
give students autonomy, toposition them as thinkers, as
math doers, as mathers and asauthority figures whenever they
(18:45):
can be.
Hey, you need help.
Go talk to John, he already hasit figured out.
But I think that in how I'vestructured feedback in the past,
I haven't found that right wayto continue that, found that
right way to continue that.
And so having some really deepconversations about giving
feedback that's not just hey,really nice job, or you did
(19:08):
great or no, you didn't donumber three right.
Here's how I would have done itInstead giving them feedback
that they can actually act onand giving them time then to use
that feedback and not just hey,you got it, you got it right,
nice job or no, you didn't getit right.
This is how you should havedone it.
So really continuing that cycleof students thinking and being
(19:31):
as autonomous as they can be,and even if they get feedback
from me this year and they'renot really sure what to do yet,
go have some conversations withsome classmates.
That was one of my biggesttakeaways in my practice, among
too many other things.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
You're working with middle schoolers still, is that
right?
Speaker 3 (19:53):
High school, so the paraprofessional.
I was in the middle school butever since I've had my own
classroom, that's been with highschoolers and I've been
teaching mostly freshmen in a.
We have a pre-algebra courseand then algebra one.
So most freshmen come in andend up taking pre-algebra first
before they go into algebra one.
(20:15):
That's what I've taught thelast two years.
I think that's what I'm slatedfor again this year.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Okay, That'll be cool that you can take some of that
your notebook to your job andmaybe share a little bit with
some of the other teachers aswell, as those students move
into those classes that you'llbe able to share your knowledge.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
I think that that's really exciting is the idea that
not only will I take this intomy classroom, but I know that
there are a few things as abuilding that we can be doing a
little bit better for ourstudents.
So to have these ideas and havefleshed through them and have
some resources to go along withthem to get us started, is
(20:57):
really powerful.
And now I'm not somebody that'safraid to have those
conversations and push mycolleagues, but I can imagine
for some other newer teachersthat maybe haven't had that
confidence to try and push thedepartment forward.
I could see them leaving theAcademy of Best Practices and
(21:17):
now being a little more willing,being a little more confident
in themselves.
They know, hey, look like I hadthis experience.
Let's talk about it.
Let's talk about this shift wecan make in our classrooms,
whatever that might be.
So I think that that is reallypowerful.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
That's really cool.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Helps to position some newer teachers as leaders
across their campuses.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Wonderful, yeah, yeah , across their campuses.
Wonderful, yeah, yeah.
So I would say what's next, butI hear you say you're going to
bring this feedback piece in.
Is there?
Is there another piece thatyou're really like?
This is a thing I definitelywant to do.
I'm not sure I'm ready to do ityet, or I'm going to like keep
it on my list to do.
What other things are youcontemplating?
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Yes.
So the other big thing for meand really I'll say it's been a
really important piece to methis is one of the best things I
learned in my first year inthat emergency cert year is that
visual models, usually visualconceptual models, are so, so
(22:20):
important for accessibility and,frankly, anything that helps
our groups that are having a bitof a tough time with the
concept.
It usually helps everybody.
And so I've played around a lotwith tape diagrams and hanger
diagrams and double number lines.
I've played with that.
(22:41):
But we spent a lot of time eachday for about an hour of the
week in Seattle looking atalgebra tiles, the progression
of how you can use algebra tilesestablishing, starting with
just area and perimeter, all theway through polynomial division
(23:03):
, and the catch I thinksometimes with these visual
models is you have to studentshave to get comfortable with
them first and understand howthey kind of work, what they're
showing.
So to have one tool thatessentially can take you from
about sixth grade to algebra twoand not for everything but for
(23:26):
some core concepts each year, isincredible.
So that is is the other reallybig component.
I know how powerful they are, Iknow how they can, just
especially for students who havestruggled with kind of that
abstract component to math, who,when it comes to just numbers
(23:48):
and especially as an algebra one, teacher actions and why's we
shut down right?
What is that?
So to put a tangiblemanipulative to that that can
help you make sense of that, Ithink is so, so powerful.
So I'm really excited tocontinue.
Really, I haven't played withalgebra tiles themselves, so to
(24:08):
start to implement that in myclass and see how that goes and
also play with the progressionfrom starting with the concrete
and then building in a littlemore of that abstract, that's
one of the things I'm reallyexcited for this year because I
think that will be a little bitof a game changer for a lot of
my students.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Absolutely.
I was going to ask if you'veused them before at all or if
they're in your school at all.
So you're bringing that in new.
That'll be fun to hear how thatstory progresses.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Yeah, so the end of last year I think it was a
donor's choose that I had gottenthere was something where it's
like, oh, algebra tiles Peopletalk about those, I've heard of
those.
Sure, okay, let me order somealgebra tiles, I guess.
And they stayed in a box forthe last month or two.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
So I, fortunately have them, but now it's time to
really make use of them, yeah.
Yeah Well, and my experiencewith my students and you may
encounter this too is there'sthat initial ah, using
manipulatives, that's whatlittle kids do, right, it's this
(25:18):
piece of.
That's not the best kind ofthinking, or that's not the way
I should do it.
Doing it with just the paperand pencil is better, and for me
it was a lot of communicatingand getting my kids, my students
, on board with the idea that ifyou can understand these, it's
actually going to help yourbrain, right, it's going to help
your brain make sense of things.
(25:39):
Because even now, like one ofthe pieces of information I most
struck me was I'm sure I heardJoe Bowler saying it, maybe it
was that functional MRIs showthat when we think about adding
numbers, the part that in ourbrain that visualizes fingers
still lights up, so like we havean internalized concept of this
right and so helping kids geton board with that that these
(26:01):
are going to help you, yourbrain, understand it so much
better.
You're going to be doingalgebra the rest of your life.
You have this time to work withalgebra tiles and make really
big sense of helping get aroundsome of that resistance and get
them on board with it sometimesis really a big part of the task
, for sure, yeah I.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
I think some of it comes down to the framing.
So last year I really built inthe pre-algebra class a lot.
We do some fraction work andfractions are everybody's
favorite, right, but fractionsreally can make so much sense.
I truly believe that everyonecan understand fraction when
presented in the right way.
So I was able to get thepattern blocks and fraction
(26:42):
tiles and I did see a ton ofresistance.
So I was really happy to seethat.
But I also wonder if you know,going into this year just having
some of those conversations oreven framing it, as I love these
, these are my favorite.
They make the work so mucheasier.
It just makes sense to me If Istart there and maybe that will
help a little bit.
(27:03):
What also helps what I tried outlast year for the first time,
as I was able to get some moneythis was definitely through a
donor's juice to use CBRs,calculator-based rangers, and
for anybody not familiar, theyare essentially motion detectors
that plug into your calculators.
So we were able to explore theidea of rate slope, y-intercept
(27:26):
positive, negative's justanother opportunity to make
sense of something reallyabstract with something a little
more concrete, and the kidsloved those.
(27:47):
They thought it was the coolestthing ever, and so did I.
Frankly, they really, reallyenjoyed that.
That was a success.
But I am really glad to be ableto pair that, which is super
cool, with the algebra tiles,with the fraction.
I envision it all kind ofcoming together and every year
(28:07):
with opportunities like this atABP, just learning one more way
to take away a barrier for astudent or group of students.
It's like one more thing that Icould do to make things more
accessible, and that's exciting.
That is exciting.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Do you think that you met enough people and that
worked with enough people in thegroup that you'll continue that
relationship through this year?
Do you think that you'llcontinue those conversations and
such?
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Absolutely.
I think what was veryintentional in the structure and
really smart was our creation.
So throughout the week wecreated an action plan.
So, like we've been talkingabout here, there is so much
that we went through in the weekand different pieces resonate
(28:54):
differently depending on whereyou are as a teacher and how
much where you are as a learner,what you're really ready to
implement in your classroom.
So, in addition to theworkshops and the experiences
that we were having, we wouldend every day thinking about and
then working on an action plan,picking one or two at most very
(29:14):
specific goals, outlining whatthose are and how we're going to
implement them, with somespecific dates, how we're going
to get evidence of ourimplementation and how we're
doing, how we're going tocelebrate which another really
smart thing I never think aboutcelebrating the successes, but
you have to do that, and sothroughout that process we
(29:35):
paired up with some criticalfriends.
We called them, and so peoplespecifically that already are
familiar with our action planand that we'll be a little bit
accountable to, and so mycritical friend, spencer, is in
Wisconsin, so we've already beenback and forth a little bit,
and then there's also Adam is inKentucky and Sid is in
(29:59):
California, so a good group, andthat's just our little core.
There's certainly the wholegroup that's still been keeping
in touch as well.
So definitely that support isbuilt in and I think, like I
said earlier, you have newerteachers, so we are in kind of
(30:20):
similar spots, we're choosing tobe there, which that makes a
huge difference.
So we're energetic, we want tobe there and we were all there
to get better, to be better insome way at our craft, and so I
think that's a pretty goodrecipe for success in achieving
that people learning and growingas educators and also people
(30:43):
keeping in touch and kind ofbuilding a connection, because
we already had so much in commonjust flying into Seattle.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Well, we're getting close to our time on this
conversation, but we would loveto maybe touch base with you
sometime, you know, aroundJanuary or February, and see how
things are going and whatthings you've been implementing
and what things are how they'reworking for you, if you're up
for that.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Absolutely.
That'd be really fun and I willlet you know.
Especially those algebra tiles,I'll let you know how they're
going.
Yeah, yeah, totally, totally,and I just let you know
especially those algebra tiles.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
I'll let you know how they're going yes please, yeah,
yeah, totally, totally.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
And I just have one more question Just who is your
favorite facilitator?
I'm kidding, don't answer it,don't, no, don't say it, don't
say it, good.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
We'd have to cut that part out anyway.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Well, thank you so much for joining us on the
podcast and we look forward totalking with you again.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Looking forward to it .
Thank you, hi Misty, hi Joel,this is Teresa from Kentucky.
Do you know where math teacherslike to party In bar graphs?
So that is all we have time foron this episode of the More
(32:21):
Math for More People podcast.
If you are interested inconnecting with us on social
media, find our links in thepodcast description and the
music for the podcast wascreated by Julius H and can be
found on pixabaycom.
So thank you very much, julius.
Join us in two weeks for thenext episode of More Math for
More People.
(32:41):
What day will that be, joel?
Speaker 1 (32:44):
It'll be September 3rd, us Bowling League Day, and
I've always loved bowling sinceI was a little kid.
I remember my grandma wouldtake me bowling and I'd get a
Roy Rogers as a little treatbeverage.
And then I remember one time,though, I did drop the ball on
my foot, broke my big toe, sothat was exciting.
(33:05):
And then, as I got older, Icontinued to bowl,
recreationally of course, andthen I had some friends who
joined a league and in honor ofthe US Bowling League Day, I
actually have my USBL card and Iam a sub for that team, so
(33:26):
whenever they need somebody theycan always call me, since I'm a
member.
I have a handicap.
I have all the paperwork, allthe specifications needed to be
in the US Bowling League, so I'mhappy to celebrate this day.
See you in September, thank you.
You are listening to the More Math for More People
podcast.
An outreach of CPM educationalprogram Boom.
An outreach of CPM EducationalProgram.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Boom, all right.
Happy August 20th.
What's National Day today, joel.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Well, today we're celebrating the state bird of
Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
It's World Mosquito Day.
Oh my gosh, that's a joke.
It was Mosquito Day.
Oh my gosh, that's a joke.
It was Mosquitoes are notactually birds.
That's true.
They can be pretty large inMinnesota and other places and
very plentiful.
Mosquito, but there's a WorldMosquito Day.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
World Mosquito Day.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Is it to just encourage us to try to eradicate
mosquitoes A little bit?
I understand we can't reallyeradicate, yeah, but they're
mostly terrible well it's.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
It's even suggesting celebrating by raising funds for
anti-malaria to learn aboutmalaria, to have malaria
awareness, because mosquitoescarry the disease, malaria,
malaria amongst many otherthings like heart's true.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Like heartworm West Nile virus.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
They're the world's deadliest animal.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, someone told me and I don't know how this is
possible and I also question howthey came up with this data
that there are 18 millionmosquitoes per person in the
world.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Oh, my gosh, I believe it.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I didn't really think that was possible to have that
many mosquitoes per person,because there's what 7 billion
people or something.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
So that's like I think it's possible.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I think it's what 7 times 8.
56 to the 15th.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
That's a lot.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
That's a lot of mosquitoes, and how do they even
figure out there's 18 millionper person.
How do you go about?
Speaker 1 (02:03):
doing a mosquito population count to begin with
one, two, three, I know no, theydon't they don't have you.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Have you seen estimating fish?
They don't estimate populationsgotcha.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
I know that I used to go with a friend to a cabin up
in northern minnesota and inorder just to sit out near the
lake on an evening, we would puton bee suits and we would have
full body bee suits just to beable to comfortably sit.
So I believe that there arethat many mosquitoes per person.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah, there's a lot of mosquitoes.
I mean so when I was in Alaskafor a while and doing some stuff
in July.
They have mosquitoes there Upin Barrow and we went into
Akasuk, which is in the tundrainland from Barrow, and we
similarly, like we went outsideto do some stuff and we had like
long pants and tucked them intoour shoes and gloves and
(02:59):
everything else, and then themosquito hats yes, Like with the
netting that you tuck in and wewere walking around and the
mosquitoes there's so many ofthem.
It's creepy because they'rebouncing off the net and all
these things and I was like, oh,it's so creepy.
But I also know they couldn'tget in Right Because we had done
a really good job, but they'rejust all over.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
And there's like a sound too right?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Oh yeah, because they're like they're like
actually like hitting the thing.
Yeah, they were, yeah, so 18million mosquitoes.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
It is a lot.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Per person.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
The hypodermic needle was inspired by mosquitoes.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Well, that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Today is also supposed to remind us to
appreciate scientists.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Oh, we should appreciate scientists, and they
were.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
It's one way of one way of knowing the world.
So mosquito bites right.
Some people aren't veryallergic to the saliva and some
people are crazy.
Allergic to the saliva.
Where do you fall?
Speaker 1 (03:57):
I'm on the lower end, I'm not very allergic.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Very allergic, yeah, so your mosquito bites are maybe
itchy, or Right?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Maybe, itchy.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
My brother, my mom's always the one that they would
always bite and my brother wouldhardly ever get bitten, though
he probably got bitten and justisn't allergic.
I'm definitely somewhere in themiddle.
It depends on how long theybite, if I catch them or not and
swat them away, but I'm waymore sensitive to no cm bites
like those are way worse really.
(04:28):
I get big, huge welts, but yeah, I don't biting insects not
cool I.
I had a quasi father-in-law atone point who was like and I
totally agree with him.
He said I will gladly give apint of blood for all these
blood-sucking insects, if theywould just not bite me.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Well, maybe we could have a parlay Give them all the
blood they want.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Just don't bite me to get it.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
We'll just parlay with them.
They're leaders.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
It's hard when there's that many of them, they
have a lot of enclaves.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Isn't that kind of how Jurassic Park started with
mosquitoes?
Didn't they find a mosquito?
Yeah, a mosquito in an amberyeah, something like that, and
it had the blood of the dinosaur.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Dinosaur it had bitten.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
So it could save us.
It could save us.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
We're carrying all our DNA everywhere Feeding their
babies.
Oh, here's an interesting fact.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Oh yes.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
So it's only the females.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Because they use the blood to quote unquote feed
their babies, they lay eggs,it's only when breeding Right
they're not actually going backand feeding them like little
birds?
Yes, but that was funny.
When I thought about that I waslike wait, but so what do the
males eat?
Speaker 1 (05:35):
I don't know, do they get fed also by the blood?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
No, they eat nectar.
Oh, I didn't know that they goand they get nectar from.
That's what I heard on aRadiolab episode and I so I did
not fact check it myself, butit's on Radiolab so I know they
fact check things.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
So yeah, I was surprised about that too.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Because sometimes insects that don't live very
long, because mosquitoes onlylive for a few days in adult
form.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
A few days, it's not like a season.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
No in adult form.
A few days it's not like aseason, like a?
No, they don't they.
No, they don't live even thewhole summer.
Oh my gosh.
And so they?
Yeah, I think they live.
I think it's three or four daysis what I think, and but some
insects that don't live verylong don't even have stomachs in
their adult form, like mayfliesthat only live for a day and
then lay their eggs and die.
They don't even have a stomachbecause they don't bother eating
(06:24):
.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
They're too busy.
Yeah, why would you?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Do other things and lay eggs.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
I would not want to stop my one day of life, just to
stop and have a meal.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
And have time to digest it.
Yeah, it's crazy the thingsevolution will do.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Well, that's interesting too that it makes
its way.
Malaria made its way to Europe,so its way to Europe, so it had
to start somewhere else.
So somehow that populationmoves, and if it's not, if, like
, an individual doesn't livevery long, you're breeding a lot
, you're moving along a lot.
That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
They're moving in new territories, laying their eggs
in new pools of water.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Have you ever had a bunch of water sitting somewhere
and you go and move it or likea bucket or whatever, and then
there's mosquito larvae in it.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
No, I've never had that.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
They hang out at the top of the water because, they
like breathe the water throughlittle tubes in their hind ends
or something, and then they'relike no, not at all.
Yeah, that's where you got toget them, that's where you put
the little stuff in, there tokill them.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Well, I'm going to celebrate by not going outside,
maybe.
How are you going to celebrate?
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Celebrate by putting on some natural repellent that
does not contain DEET andprobably be outside, because
there's not very many mosquitoeshere.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Fair.
There's not here either, yeah,but our friends where there's
mosquitoes take care.
We have friends in friendswhere there's mosquitoes, take
care.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
We have friends in mississauga, minnesota, that's
true.
I'm sorry it's now.
It's world mosquito day.
Yes, go avoid, okay.
(08:09):
So today we're here withBrandon Pelter, and Brandon was
recently in the Academy of BestPractices, which was in's
outreach programs works withteachers who are not teaching
CPM and are in their first fiveyears of teaching, and so this
(08:32):
is Joel and I.
We don't know what Brandon'sgoing to say because we don't
know Brandon and he was justsuggested to us.
So here we go, brandon, welcometo the podcast.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, welcome, Brandon.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Thank you for having me no worries, so let's just
start with yeah, welcome,brandon.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Thank you for having me, no worries.
So let's just start with.
Who are you, brandon?
Tell us a little bit aboutwhere you are, what you teach,
what's your personal story?
How'd you come to teaching?
Speaker 3 (08:57):
So I grew up in New York, westchester County, and
I'm now in Southern Connecticut.
So I live in Norwalk, I teachin Bridgeport Public Schools,
which is one of the largestschool districts in Connecticut,
but my path is a little lessthan traditional, I guess we
could call it.
I did my undergrad at PennState in communications and,
(09:19):
more specifically, working insports.
So I graduated and was workingin sports, working for teams on
the broadcast side, so doingplay-by-play for games, some
time in minor league baseballand working for some colleges.
I even got to work two SuperBowls while I was still in
college.
So some really pretty amazingexperiences there.
(09:41):
But fast forwarding to theteacher side, in 2021, after
that summer and baseball seasonwrapped up, my job was over in
central New Jersey, so I neededto figure things out, and so I
headed towards Connecticut withmy parents and, by chance, a
(10:02):
local district needed subs sobadly so that they were
canceling classes and so okay,needed a couple bucks.
Sure, it'll work, let's do it.
And instead I was placed as aparaprofessional, so full time
for the year.
For the year, and what began asa job just to make some money
(10:28):
while I was figuring everythingout turned into just a
life-changing opportunity whereI was in classrooms every single
day seeing what I liked, what Ididn't like, and I very quickly
made some of those judgmentsand also was really intrigued
into how I could help mystudents a little better.
So, before I knew it, I waslooking to just do better and
(10:51):
that led me into, hey, let's dothis full time.
So that's, I think, kind of theshort end of it what could be a
very, very long-winded story.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Sure, yeah, I want to have a whole nother podcast
conversation about working insports.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
It sounds fascinating .
So were you in a math classroomas a paraprofessional then, and
so I was in everything fromsocial studies to science.
But it was for me specificallythe math classroom, where, when
I pulled my students out and wetried things a little bit
differently, the one that I'llnever forget is percents.
My seventh graders were just itcould not make sense of it, and
(11:50):
it's very heavy proceduralfocus in class.
And when we talked aboutpercent well, century, 100 out
of 100 when they were able tomake that connection, it was
just the light bulb.
Oh, my god.
Okay, this isn't so bad.
And so that was just one of manyexperiences where I I realized,
without even having a name toit Now I know it's conceptual
understanding, but where I justsaw, hey, a little tweak can
(12:15):
make a huge difference.
And so, as I got more confidentworking with the students I was
assigned to, then if I had time, I would work with the rest of
the class, and it seemed to helpthem out a little more too.
So I knew when I was going intomy teacher prep program that I
wanted it to look a little bitdifferent, and I had a rough
(12:36):
idea of what that might be, butI also wasn't sure about the
research and everything else.
So I was just really fortunateto go into the program at Sacred
Heart University and work withDr Lindsay Kieser there, who is
great, and she did herdissertation on inquiry-based
teaching and teacher change, soit was just such an amazing fit.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
And so you went back to school with the intent of
being a math teacher then.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
That's right.
So I did a year-long programthat led to my master's and MA
in teaching and my initialcertification, and actually in
that program because I had theinitial experience I was I guess
I'm not a patient person Ididn't want to do student
teaching, I didn't want to sitwith a cooperating teacher, I
(13:24):
was ready to just hit the groundrunning, and so that's what I
did.
So I got an emergencycertification here in
Connecticut we call it a DSAPDurational Storage Area Permit
and I taught in Bridgeport forthat first year while I was
taking the master's classes atnight and hit the ground running
as best I could, and we figureda lot out on the fly, but I
(13:47):
wouldn't have it any other way.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, what's the timeline from when you became
the paraprofessional to going tothat program to like, where are
you now Then?
What then you're teaching?
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Yeah, so 2021, september, I guess, is when I
first moved to Connecticut.
I started that para job in the21-22 school year and then May
of 22,.
May-june was summer, onesession at Sacred Heart, and
fall of 22 was my own classroom,so it was pretty quick.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Yeah, really quick.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
It's like a baptism by fire kind of approach for
yourself there made itchallenging at some points when
you were looking for a littleextra support.
(14:43):
But 95% of the time to havethat flexibility to try some
things out, to get kids atwhiteboards to do things a
little different than anyoneelse in the building, that was
really special and that's whenyou do your most learning right,
when you get the opportunitythat's in the freedom to make
some of those mistakes and havesome people, especially Dr
(15:04):
Kieser, at Sacred Heart whocould kind of steer me and guide
me along as I continue to grow.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
So this is so 2022, 23,.
So this 24 is going to be yourthird year.
You're just about to start yourthird year, or maybe you have
started your third year.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Not yet.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
I have two weeks left , okay, but yes, going into year
number three, Okay cool.
So how did you find out aboutthe Academy Best Practice?
How did you get connected withthat?
Speaker 3 (15:33):
That was another pretty lucky thing.
That kind of came my wayLindsay Dr Kuser at Sacred Heart
was on someone's mailing listsomewhere and said, hey, this
looks really cool, forwarded itmy way and I applied and I think
for me I didn't know 100% whatto expect.
(15:54):
I knew it would be focused onteaching practices, but that's
pretty broad.
So getting to Seattle I wasn't100% sure what it would be, but
I was definitely excited and itlived up to and surpassed all
expectations.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Okay, all right.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
So tell us about it.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
How did?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
it go.
What did you figure out?
What happened?
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Feet on the ground in Seattle.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yes, seattle's amazing, by the way, I love
Seattle.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Yeah, and that was my first time.
It was the longest plot I'veever been on, my first time
heading out, uh, to the Westside of the country, um, west
coast, and it really wasbeautiful.
But I don't want to tell toomuch.
I have my notebook here fromABP and it is probably about
(16:59):
halfway full, so there's a lotin there.
Oh, wow, well, you get outthere.
But participants in California,ohio, kentucky I don't know if
we hit half the states, but weprobably came pretty darn close
to it and if you combine us withthe veteran teacher cohort, I
think we were almost there toall 50 states.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Yeah, cpm did an amazing job of spreading things
out, and so I think for me, whenI think about the takeaways,
first of all, it was just theconnections of people in similar
positions, newer to theprofession but really eager to
learn.
I mean, if you're there, ifyou're giving up a week of your
(17:40):
summer vacation, you really care, and so a room full of people
that were looking to grow, andlooking to grow in so many
different facets.
I've done more of the studentsat whiteboards and rich tasks.
That wasn't new to me, butthere was so much that I did
learn while we had.
We had newer teachers on thetotally opposite end of the
(18:01):
spectrum that were looking toget away from more of that
direct instruction, and so therewas a piece.
There was something to latchonto for everybody and I think I
have enough to latch ontoprobably the next 10 years or so
If I really dig deep into intoeverything that that we went
through and to really perfectthings because it is such a
(18:22):
craft.
But for me, I think one of thebiggest takeaways was thinking
about feedback to my, to mystudents, and I do so much to
give students autonomy, toposition them as thinkers, as
math doers, as mathers and asauthority figures whenever they
(18:45):
can be.
Hey, you need help.
Go talk to John, he already hasit figured out.
But I think that in how I'vestructured feedback in the past,
I haven't found that right wayto continue that, found that
right way to continue that.
And so having some really deepconversations about giving
feedback that's not just hey,really nice job, or you did
(19:08):
great or no, you didn't donumber three right.
Here's how I would have done itInstead giving them feedback
that they can actually act onand giving them time then to use
that feedback and not just hey,you got it, you got it right,
nice job or no, you didn't getit right.
This is how you should havedone it.
So really continuing that cycleof students thinking and being
(19:31):
as autonomous as they can be,and even if they get feedback
from me this year and they'renot really sure what to do yet,
go have some conversations withsome classmates.
That was one of my biggesttakeaways in my practice, among
too many other things.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
You're working with middle schoolers still, is that
right?
Speaker 3 (19:53):
High school, so the paraprofessional.
I was in the middle school butever since I've had my own
classroom, that's been with highschoolers and I've been
teaching mostly freshmen in a.
We have a pre-algebra courseand then algebra one.
So most freshmen come in andend up taking pre-algebra first
before they go into algebra one.
(20:15):
That's what I've taught thelast two years.
I think that's what I'm slatedfor again this year.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Okay, That'll be cool that you can take some of that
your notebook to your job andmaybe share a little bit with
some of the other teachers aswell, as those students move
into those classes that you'llbe able to share your knowledge.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
I think that that's really exciting is the idea that
not only will I take this intomy classroom, but I know that
there are a few things as abuilding that we can be doing a
little bit better for ourstudents.
So to have these ideas and havefleshed through them and have
some resources to go along withthem to get us started, is
(20:57):
really powerful.
And now I'm not somebody that'safraid to have those
conversations and push mycolleagues, but I can imagine
for some other newer teachersthat maybe haven't had that
confidence to try and push thedepartment forward.
I could see them leaving theAcademy of Best Practices and
(21:17):
now being a little more willing,being a little more confident
in themselves.
They know, hey, look like I hadthis experience.
Let's talk about it.
Let's talk about this shift wecan make in our classrooms,
whatever that might be.
So I think that that is reallypowerful.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
That's really cool.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Helps to position some newer teachers as leaders
across their campuses.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Wonderful, yeah, yeah , across their campuses.
Wonderful, yeah, yeah.
So I would say what's next, butI hear you say you're going to
bring this feedback piece in.
Is there?
Is there another piece thatyou're really like?
This is a thing I definitelywant to do.
I'm not sure I'm ready to do ityet, or I'm going to like keep
it on my list to do.
What other things are youcontemplating?
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Yes.
So the other big thing for meand really I'll say it's been a
really important piece to methis is one of the best things I
learned in my first year inthat emergency cert year is that
visual models, usually visualconceptual models, are so, so
(22:20):
important for accessibility and,frankly, anything that helps
our groups that are having a bitof a tough time with the
concept.
It usually helps everybody.
And so I've played around a lotwith tape diagrams and hanger
diagrams and double number lines.
I've played with that.
(22:41):
But we spent a lot of time eachday for about an hour of the
week in Seattle looking atalgebra tiles, the progression
of how you can use algebra tilesestablishing, starting with
just area and perimeter, all theway through polynomial division
(23:03):
, and the catch I thinksometimes with these visual
models is you have to studentshave to get comfortable with
them first and understand howthey kind of work, what they're
showing.
So to have one tool thatessentially can take you from
about sixth grade to algebra twoand not for everything but for
(23:26):
some core concepts each year, isincredible.
So that is is the other reallybig component.
I know how powerful they are, Iknow how they can, just
especially for students who havestruggled with kind of that
abstract component to math, who,when it comes to just numbers
(23:48):
and especially as an algebra one, teacher actions and why's we
shut down right?
What is that?
So to put a tangiblemanipulative to that that can
help you make sense of that, Ithink is so, so powerful.
So I'm really excited tocontinue.
Really, I haven't played withalgebra tiles themselves, so to
(24:08):
start to implement that in myclass and see how that goes and
also play with the progressionfrom starting with the concrete
and then building in a littlemore of that abstract, that's
one of the things I'm reallyexcited for this year because I
think that will be a little bitof a game changer for a lot of
my students.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Absolutely.
I was going to ask if you'veused them before at all or if
they're in your school at all.
So you're bringing that in new.
That'll be fun to hear how thatstory progresses.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Yeah, so the end of last year I think it was a
donor's choose that I had gottenthere was something where it's
like, oh, algebra tiles Peopletalk about those, I've heard of
those.
Sure, okay, let me order somealgebra tiles, I guess.
And they stayed in a box forthe last month or two.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
So I, fortunately have them, but now it's time to
really make use of them, yeah.
Yeah Well, and my experiencewith my students and you may
encounter this too is there'sthat initial ah, using
manipulatives, that's whatlittle kids do, right, it's this
(25:18):
piece of.
That's not the best kind ofthinking, or that's not the way
I should do it.
Doing it with just the paperand pencil is better, and for me
it was a lot of communicatingand getting my kids, my students
, on board with the idea that ifyou can understand these, it's
actually going to help yourbrain, right, it's going to help
your brain make sense of things.
(25:39):
Because even now, like one ofthe pieces of information I most
struck me was I'm sure I heardJoe Bowler saying it, maybe it
was that functional MRIs showthat when we think about adding
numbers, the part that in ourbrain that visualizes fingers
still lights up, so like we havean internalized concept of this
right and so helping kids geton board with that that these
(26:01):
are going to help you, yourbrain, understand it so much
better.
You're going to be doingalgebra the rest of your life.
You have this time to work withalgebra tiles and make really
big sense of helping get aroundsome of that resistance and get
them on board with it sometimesis really a big part of the task
, for sure, yeah I.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
I think some of it comes down to the framing.
So last year I really built inthe pre-algebra class a lot.
We do some fraction work andfractions are everybody's
favorite, right, but fractionsreally can make so much sense.
I truly believe that everyonecan understand fraction when
presented in the right way.
So I was able to get thepattern blocks and fraction
(26:42):
tiles and I did see a ton ofresistance.
So I was really happy to seethat.
But I also wonder if you know,going into this year just having
some of those conversations oreven framing it, as I love these
, these are my favorite.
They make the work so mucheasier.
It just makes sense to me If Istart there and maybe that will
help a little bit.
(27:03):
What also helps what I tried outlast year for the first time,
as I was able to get some moneythis was definitely through a
donor's juice to use CBRs,calculator-based rangers, and
for anybody not familiar, theyare essentially motion detectors
that plug into your calculators.
So we were able to explore theidea of rate slope, y-intercept
(27:26):
positive, negative's justanother opportunity to make
sense of something reallyabstract with something a little
more concrete, and the kidsloved those.
(27:47):
They thought it was the coolestthing ever, and so did I.
Frankly, they really, reallyenjoyed that.
That was a success.
But I am really glad to be ableto pair that, which is super
cool, with the algebra tiles,with the fraction.
I envision it all kind ofcoming together and every year
(28:07):
with opportunities like this atABP, just learning one more way
to take away a barrier for astudent or group of students.
It's like one more thing that Icould do to make things more
accessible, and that's exciting.
That is exciting.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Do you think that you met enough people and that
worked with enough people in thegroup that you'll continue that
relationship through this year?
Do you think that you'llcontinue those conversations and
such?
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Absolutely.
I think what was veryintentional in the structure and
really smart was our creation.
So throughout the week wecreated an action plan.
So, like we've been talkingabout here, there is so much
that we went through in the weekand different pieces resonate
(28:54):
differently depending on whereyou are as a teacher and how
much where you are as a learner,what you're really ready to
implement in your classroom.
So, in addition to theworkshops and the experiences
that we were having, we wouldend every day thinking about and
then working on an action plan,picking one or two at most very
(29:14):
specific goals, outlining whatthose are and how we're going to
implement them, with somespecific dates, how we're going
to get evidence of ourimplementation and how we're
doing, how we're going tocelebrate which another really
smart thing I never think aboutcelebrating the successes, but
you have to do that, and sothroughout that process we
(29:35):
paired up with some criticalfriends.
We called them, and so peoplespecifically that already are
familiar with our action planand that we'll be a little bit
accountable to, and so mycritical friend, spencer, is in
Wisconsin, so we've already beenback and forth a little bit,
and then there's also Adam is inKentucky and Sid is in
(29:59):
California, so a good group, andthat's just our little core.
There's certainly the wholegroup that's still been keeping
in touch as well.
So definitely that support isbuilt in and I think, like I
said earlier, you have newerteachers, so we are in kind of
(30:20):
similar spots, we're choosing tobe there, which that makes a
huge difference.
So we're energetic, we want tobe there and we were all there
to get better, to be better insome way at our craft, and so I
think that's a pretty goodrecipe for success in achieving
that people learning and growingas educators and also people
(30:43):
keeping in touch and kind ofbuilding a connection, because
we already had so much in commonjust flying into Seattle.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Well, we're getting close to our time on this
conversation, but we would loveto maybe touch base with you
sometime, you know, aroundJanuary or February, and see how
things are going and whatthings you've been implementing
and what things are how they'reworking for you, if you're up
for that.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Absolutely.
That'd be really fun and I willlet you know.
Especially those algebra tiles,I'll let you know how they're
going.
Yeah, yeah, totally, totally,and I just let you know
especially those algebra tiles.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
I'll let you know how they're going yes please, yeah,
yeah, totally, totally.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
And I just have one more question Just who is your
favorite facilitator?
I'm kidding, don't answer it,don't, no, don't say it, don't
say it, good.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
We'd have to cut that part out anyway.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Well, thank you so much for joining us on the
podcast and we look forward totalking with you again.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Looking forward to it .
Thank you, hi Misty, hi Joel,this is Teresa from Kentucky.
Do you know where math teacherslike to party In bar graphs?
So that is all we have time foron this episode of the More
(32:21):
Math for More People podcast.
If you are interested inconnecting with us on social
media, find our links in thepodcast description and the
music for the podcast wascreated by Julius H and can be
found on pixabaycom.
So thank you very much, julius.
Join us in two weeks for thenext episode of More Math for
More People.
(32:41):
What day will that be, joel?
Speaker 1 (32:44):
It'll be September 3rd, us Bowling League Day, and
I've always loved bowling sinceI was a little kid.
I remember my grandma wouldtake me bowling and I'd get a
Roy Rogers as a little treatbeverage.
And then I remember one time,though, I did drop the ball on
my foot, broke my big toe, sothat was exciting.
(33:05):
And then, as I got older, Icontinued to bowl,
recreationally of course, andthen I had some friends who
joined a league and in honor ofthe US Bowling League Day, I
actually have my USBL card and Iam a sub for that team, so
(33:26):
whenever they need somebody theycan always call me, since I'm a
member.
I have a handicap.
I have all the paperwork, allthe specifications needed to be
in the US Bowling League, so I'mhappy to celebrate this day.
See you in September, thank you.
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