Eye Podcast

Our school recently had an Academic Center added to it, which means that 7th and 8th grade were added and we are now a school that goes from 7th - 12th grades. We started with the addition of seventh graders and this year is our first year with full grades. Last year, when the 7th grade was added, two of our teachers saw the opportunity for a learning experience for some of our older students. An arrangement for seniors in the high school to serve as teaching assistants to the Academic Center classes would make for a mutually beneficial arrangement. These teachers put together a proposal, sat down with the principal, and made it happen. This year, there are seniors who work as Teaching and Learning Assistants for seventh and eighth grade classes. They meet during seminar blocks on our experiential days, and are otherwise programmed to be teaching in the classes that they are supporting. We had one of their teachers sit down with them as they responded to some questions we were curious about. Below you can read the questions that the students had the option to answer. Listen to the podcast to hear what they had to say! What made you decide to sign up to be a teaching assistant? What has been your favorite part about being a teaching assistant? What has been the biggest challenge of being a teaching assistant? Has anything surprised you? Has the experience made you more or less likely to be a teacher? Why? Are there any changes you would want to make to the program? The post TT0308: Students as Teaching Assistants appeared first on Teacher Tribes.

In episode 3, I talked about my plans to venture into uncharted territory (for me) by going gradeless and using SBG in my classes. Last week, we completed our first quarter which meant that grades were due for report cards. I wanted to give an update of my adventures so far. As with anything, the first time through is going to have some bugs. Everything takes some adjustment. In this case, it was an adjustment for me, my students, and their parents. My SetupI wanted to be very clear from the beginning about how class was going to be set up for the year and how grades were going to be calculated. Parents needed to know what to expect, so I sent out a long email at the beginning of the year explaining the new structure. Some parents I was able to speak with in person at Curriculum Night, but most just received an email. It was nice to establish communication with some parents from the beginning, in order to build those relationships right away. I got some responses and questions, but not a lot. I had students set up electronic portfolios and gave time in the first few weeks for taking pictures and uploading their work, in order to start to get them in the habit. I explained that their portfolio was going to be their place to keep track of evidence of their learning and mastery. They had the option of setting up a folder in Google Drive that was shared with me or using Seesaw as a platform. Either way, they were also supposed to share their portfolio with their parents, so that they could see their progress. The intent behind the portfolios was two-fold. First, I wanted parents to have a place to get information about their student’s learning since I wasn’t consistently entering grades into Gradebook. I wanted the focus to be on the work and feedback rather than the grade. The portfolios were also meant to be a place for students to gather evidence. This way, when it comes down to determining whether or not students had reached mastery on particular standards, they could cite specific evidence that they felt demonstrated their mastery. Most of my mistakes centered around managing time for this process. I feel like feedback and conferencing are two of the most important aspects this strategy, but they can also take an incredible amount of time. I’ll talk a little about the challenges I faced for each and then how I adapted things to try to make them better. FeedbackI wasn’t entirely sure how I was going to go about giving feedback. I tried to do some research and find different methods, but nothing seemed to fit perfectly. Also, I teach 4 sections of math and 1 section of science. Most methods I found were geared towards English teachers. For the first formative assessment I gave, I went through and put detailed comments on each problem. Most of my comments were questions, trying to guide them towards rethinking the problem and fixing their mistakes. I had also wanted to give some cumulative comments giving them my overall impression of what they were able to do and what they still needed to work on. However, all the comments I made on the individual questions took a really long time, and I just couldn’t go back and do more. It was too much. The feedback that I got from the students was that they needed to know if they got the problem right or wrong. Some really had a hard time not having a number on their paper. They wanted a concrete answer about whether they had mastered the standard or not. We had talked at the beginning of the year about possibly using a code just saying mastery, near mastery, or needs work, but the students pointed out that then they would fixate on that instead of the grade. We decided on feedback only. What I decided to do after that, and have continued to do since, is develop a code. This way, I was able to simplify what I was writing on each assessment, and make the process much quicker. This code I have used for math only. Since I only have one section of science, I decided to continue with the amount of feedback I was giving. A - Answer; this means that there was an issue with their answer, and it was likely wrong E - Explanation; students either did not explain or an important part of their explanation was missing W - Work; students either did not show work, or the work they showed had some errors G - Graph; this means that there was an issue with their graph, and it was likely wrong In addition to these codes, I might add small comments, or circle or underline the place where the error can be found. This way, students got the feedback about what was right or wrong, and were able to quickly identify which questions had problems that needed to be fixed. It seems to have worked pretty well so far, and it has significantly reduced the time it takes for me to give feedback. Conferencing and Determining GradesFive weeks into the school year, we had to enter grades for progress reports. I had given two formatives at that point, but I hadn’t entered anything into gradebook. Since I had only given feedback, I wasn’t really sure what to keep track of for my own information. The idea was that the students were supposed to upload their formatives into their portfolios so I would be able to look at them that way. I really wanted grades to be determined together with each student after an honest conversation about what they’d learned so far and how they were able to show it. I attempted to conference with students individually during class while the rest of the students were working independently. However, the conversations lasted longer than intended and I didn’t even make it through half of the students in a 104 minute block. I asked the rest of the students to email me what they thought they deserved and where I could find their evidence, but most of them didn’t. So Gradebook stayed empty and all students got a slash on their progress report, meaning a grade could not be determined. I also realized around that point that I needed to start keeping track of student mastery for my own information so that I wouldn’t be dependent on them uploading their assessments in order to be able to tell parents how their students were doing. I started keeping a spreadsheet for my classes where I entered a score in the 1-4 scale to show where I think they are in terms of mastery based on that particular assessment. This way, I could stay informed about my assessment of them, but they couldn’t see it, so they weren’t being distracted by the grade. As it turned out, our summative assessment corresponded with the last week of the quarter, so there was a bit of a time crunch to give feedback on 120 assessments, and then also determine final grades. As I mentioned before, I wanted students to have a chance to give their opinion about their mastery and provide evidence. I knew that holding individual conversations with each of them would be too time consuming, so I created a Google Form for them to submit. On the Google Form, students were asked to give themselves a mastery score between 1 and 4 on each of the 4 standards that were taught in that unit. They then needed to explain what evidence they had to support their score and where I could find it. To determine final grades, I went through every response to the Google Form, compared the grade that they gave themselves with the grade that I had given them. If we agreed on a score, that’s what I entered in Gradebook. If they had a different score than me, I examined their evidence to see if they could change my mind or not. For kids who had made minor errors and were able to show corrections that they had completed independently, some were able to change my mind. I found it really valuable to read their arguments and take a second look at their assessments and corrections, because of course I’m not perfect. There were some instances where I may have initially judged them more harshly than I should have. Taking a second look and giving them the space to advocate for themselves was a great reflective activity for us all. I also took notes for each student about what my reasoning when looking at their portfolio so that I could conference with those that wanted to and let them know why I made my decisions the way I did. For the most part, I feel like kids were really honest with their self assessment. There were still plenty who thought they were at mastery that weren’t, but when we were able to sit down and look at their mistakes, they were able to understand why and what they need to do to fix it. Quarter Grades and ReactionsOnce I combed through all of their responses, and determined final mastery levels for each standard, I entered them all into Gradebook. Then, depending on how many of the standards they had mastered, they received an overall letter grade. So, this first time around, there were a lot of F’s, but I also had some A’s and B’s. I emailed parents pretty immediately after putting in grades in order to try to explain grades in order to prevent a massive freak out. I emphasized that they should consider anything below a B as a “not yet.” Students have not yet mastered those standards and need to do additional practice and retake the assessment in order to get another chance at showing mastery. I explained to my students again the entire process and what it meant, and their anger dissipated a little. Many of them have been focused on continuing to work towards mastery. Overall, I’m really liking this process. There have been moments when it’s been a lot of work, but that’s mostly been either my own fault or just poor timing of things. I’ve seen some major shifts in students that I taught last year. The grading system last year shut many of them down. They thought it was unfair and so used it as an excuse not to try. Now, they feel more free to make mistakes because they know that they will learn from them and improve. The conversations I overhear when they get assessments back are so much more thoughtful. Students are given a voice, and I think they feel empowered by that. To have a kid come and passionately argue with me that he has mastered a standard and show me all kinds of evidence is way more satisfying than a kid begging for extra credit. I would love to hear your experiences! And if you have any advice for me, I’ll take it! Also, Teacher Tribes will be on a brief hiatus through the holidays, so this will be the last episode for a little bit. I’ll be back in January! I hope you all get some rest and enjoy the holidays! The post TT0307: Gradeless SBG Updates: Pros and Cons of the First Quarter appeared first on Teacher Tribes.

It’s one thing to get advice from other teachers, but how often do you ask your students for advice? So often, we forget to listen to some of the most important voices that we have in our school buildings - our students. Especially at the high school level, kids know what makes a good teacher. They may not always be able to verbalize what they need and ask for it, but you can believe that they are talking to each other about it. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to sit in with a group of girls at my school while they talked about some of their frustrations with school and their teachers. As they spoke, I listened and took notes. This week, we had a chance to revisit those notes, and they were able to turn their frustrations into advice. Here you will find some of the main concerns that they had and their thoughts on how you can address them. Productive Classwork - Amala and GabrielleEvery child has a different learning style and pace. As a school unit, every teacher should try their absolute best and beyond to accompany their needs. Some students are auditory, some are kinesthetic, and others are visual learners. In every type of learning group they have different paces. The students, as well as the teachers, can get frustrated for not understanding a lesson or each other. No student wants to be talked to like they are lower than everyone else in the class, which teachers unknowingly do. Patience is required in order to prevent frustration from becoming present. If both the teacher and student are patient with one another, things will be easier and smoother for the two. A way to give both the student and teacher a break from each other and different perspective on a subject is to have peer to peer help. The different perspective may allow the student to understand. A different tactics is to have a red, yellow and green zone. The different zones allow each student to work at a good pace for them and have people at the same level to work with. In order to find these groups after a formative a teacher can group the students based on the similar test scores. Staying on topic of a subject is a big thing as well. If not done, students can become confused and frustrated. Be mindful of the transition of a topic and allow students to know that you are approaching a new one. This can help prevent a misunderstanding among students and also teachers who don’t realize they’ve done so. Time Management - La’ChuntiSet appropriate timelines for projects/activities. Sometimes students need an exact time to turn a project in or it needs to be assigned closer to the day it’s due. Students can forget about the project and not do it and the work can get lost. Be aware of other loads/responsibilities. Some teachers give too much homework and it is due the next class. We feel like they don’t take our other homework into consideration. Teach time management. A big problem with getting work done is procrastination. We say we’re going to get work done, but we keep postponing the time. Teacher should be able to help us get into shape. They should do things to help us get used to turning things on time. Student Relationships and Grading - TabithaDon’t let feelings towards students influence grading. Most teachers give their students grades based off how the student behavior is towards them. The student could do their work in the class and it can be completed and correct, but since the child is disrespectful towards the teacher, they get a grade that they didn't deserve. Compared to the student who didn't complete their work and is never disrespectful to the teacher. The student attitude and the way the teacher feels towards the student should not influence the way the teacher grades the student. Be open to feedback/corrections from students. Teachers should be willing to accept feedback from the students if they're not understanding what's going on. For one, it's the teacher's job to make sure the students understand what's being taught.There are teachers that get frustrated with the students having feedback. It's your lesson that's being taught, so you should be willing to hear and respond to any feedback or correction pertaining to what you are teaching. This way, the students can have a clear understanding on what they are trying to learn. Once a student asks a question or has feedback and they see that you're frustrated when answering it, they are going to become a student who doesn't talk during class, doesn't ask questions when lost ,etc. Admit when you don’t know something. Keeping Students Engaged - Asia, Riley, and JourneyEngage. Don’t just tell students what to do and then sit down and do work, go around and talk to students and explain and give clarifications and ask questions. Re-explain multiple ways. If a student is not understanding don’t just repeat yourself, explain it in a different way. Even if it is not easy, please try, because repeating it over and over does not help anything. Make connections clear between transitions. Make sure that you make it clear that this statement has nothing to do with the topic and make sure that you cut the conversation off when people begin to ask questions that have nothing to do with the topic and get it back on track. Vary activities in blocks. Because of the 104 minute block periods, it is sometimes difficult to to pay attention for that long, therefore we should have breaks have time to rejuvenate and collect our thoughts. Are these the kinds of things you're hearing from students? Have you taken the time to listen? Let us know! […]The post TT0306: Student Advice for Teachers appeared first on Teacher Tribes.

Last episode we talked about leaving teaching, because it’s a reality that a lot of people are leaving. However, one of the goals of Teacher Tribes is to help find ways to support teachers so that they will stay in the profession. There are so many different things that contribute to whether a teacher is happy in their position. We can identify many aspects that affect professional satisfaction: support of administration, proper training, sense of community among teachers, materials and resources, and many more. For this episode, we’re going to focus on the sense of community among teachers, because that is something that we can work towards now regardless of the other factors. Your school may already have something in place, but there are always things you can add to make your school a happier place. Happier teachers = happier school. The thing is, some things are out of our control. What we need to focus on are the things that we can control and the ways that we can make a difference to make our school, and ourselves, happier. I’ve broken these happiness boosters down into four categories based on where or when they can be implemented: PD Days, Lunch, Outside of School, and General School-Based Incentives. These are all things that I have experienced at my schools in the past. Obviously, these strategies won’t fix everything if you’re in a really toxic school, but every little bit can help. Do what you can to improve your situation, and don’t be afraid to reach out and try to put these into place. It’s likely that if you need it, so do others. School-wideFirst up are the school-wide initiatives. At my first school, we recognized teacher morale dipping after we doubled in size. Those of us who had been through the first year together were deeply bonded and although we knew it was necessary to bring in new teachers, we were wary of them. We recognized that this was unhealthy, and worked on ways to heal our relationships as a staff. And thus, the SMILE committee was born. We formed a committee of teachers with the intention of bringing teachers together in the building so that we could become a united staff. SMILE was also an acronym, which stood for … Staff Motivation in Learning and Education. We created a system for teachers to leave notes of appreciation or inspiration for each other. There was a box in the teacher workroom with SMILE notes. Some of them were pre-printed with quotes about teaching, while others were left blank, giving someone the opportunity to write a more personalized note to another teacher. The SMILE committee was then responsible for taking the notes from the box each week and delivering them to the individual teachers’ mailbox, hopefully bringing a smile to their face. At my school now, we have a culture and climate committee. Its intent is similar to the SMILE committee. The goal is to create a positive culture at our school where teachers feel supported. They recently implemented an “egg of gratitude” slip that is similar to our smile notes. There is a box in the main office where both teachers and students can write a note of appreciation to another student or to a teacher. They also issue a teacher of the month award. At the beginning of each month, they send out an email to students and teachers, asking them to complete a form nominating a teacher and explaining why. At the end of the month, the Culture and Climate team goes through the nominations and determines a winner. The winner or winners are announced during morning announcements and some of the comments about them are read. Each teacher that was nominated also gets a copy of the nice things that others said about them, whether they won or not. LunchOne thing that teachers are always short on is time. Finding that time to interact can be a challenge. As a result, teaching can also be a very isolating job. I have taught with my best friends in the past, but still gone weeks without seeing them. We are surrounded by people, students, all day, but we don’t always get time to process and reflect with other adults. Sometimes we just need to have time to chat with someone who understands our job, our students, and the challenges we face. It’s so important that we make this time for ourselves, and find time to connect with others in our building. One of the best times available to us is lunch time. A lot of us work through lunch, but if we can at least work through lunch together, that can be an improvement. It’s not uncommon for a few of us to gather in one person’s room to eat lunch together if we have a common prep. Just finding out who has a common lunch period and designating a space for those people to eat lunch together if they are able can be a step in the right direction. The simple act of sharing space with others can sometimes be enough. Once you’re there, you can decide if you want to work, or socialize. The time is there as a break, so I strongly encourage you to take it. At a previous school, we had a lunch group. Each day of the week, someone was tasked with bringing lunch for everyone. We got to try things that we had never tried before, and it took off the pressure of us having to bring our own lunch every day. It also gave us time to decompress and spend time together. Sometimes people couldn’t stay because they had meetings or certain things to get done. Other times we might bring work and do it while we ate. But a lot of the time, we tried to hold that time sacred as time for us to take a break. Another option would be a lunch and learn. If there are topics people are needing help with, that could be a time to both socialize and improve your practice. This can double as professional development and social time. Outside of SchoolIf I’m being completely honest, one of the biggest bonding times for us as a staff was through weekly happy hours. We had a code for talking about them in front of students. We called it book club or game night, so the kids didn’t know we were going to have a beverage or two and talk about school. Now that I think about it, though, a staff book club or game night would be a great idea too! I think it’s important to recognize that not everything that we do together has to be about teaching. We are people outside of who we are as teachers. It’s important to talk to people who understand our perspective, but also encourage each other to explore other interests as well. We would have weekly get togethers and a few times a year we would have bigger celebrations. Sometimes we went bowling together, or just had bigger events in different places. We know that bringing work home is an unfortunate necessity of our job, especially grading. During times when everyone had a lot of grading to do, like finals week, grading parties are a good way to reduce the stress a little. If everyone has to do it, why not come together and get the work done in a common place. This makes the work a little more fun and also provides more quality time with colleagues. I know that there have been teachers who run and decide to form a group that meets up and runs together. Others have formed groups to just get out of the building and go for a walk during a lunch or prep period. My students have started a yoga club after school, and teachers are welcome to join that as well. I’ve known other teachers to set up work out dates, so they have someone to keep them accountable and go to the gym with after school. The possibilities are endless here. PD DaysMost schools have in service, or PD days scattered throughout the year, when students don’t attend, but teachers do. These can sometimes be some of the most painful days, but if you have a willing principal, there are ways to make it better. At the very least, this can be an opportunity for larger groups of people to share a meal. In the past, these have been the only days I was ever able to leave the building and have enough time to actually go out to lunch. It can be hard to put yourself out there and plan something like this, especially if you want to extend an offer to the whole staff, but all it takes is a quick email. On the last day of our summer professional development days, I sent out an email inviting everyone to bring their lunches to a central place so that we could sit together and get to know each other a little better. We were already gathering in the library for a staff photo, so it was easy to just stay there. At one of my schools, there were a couple of times when a full day PD day turned into a Wellness Day. Different people offered different stations: yoga, dancing, juicing, all types of things. We got to spend the day together taking care of ourselves and sharing space together in a fun, relaxing way. You would definitely need admin fully on board in order to pull this off, but it would definitely be worth asking. Finally, some time on PD Days could be spent on team building. I know these activities can be cheesy sometimes, but they can also be really helpful. They can get us all interacting in different ways and help us get to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. When it comes down to it, all of the staff that makes up a school needs to be a team. I think it’s rare that things feel that way, but these are some of the things you can do now to try to change that and bring people together. These are just some ideas that I’ve heard being implemented in schools. I know that as teachers we never feel like we have enough time. We give so much for our students and sometimes even feel guilt if we take a moment for ourselves. Here’s the thing, though, that’s not sustainable. If you are consistently draining yourself and depriving yourself of a break every day, you will ultimately not be serving your students. That pile of work isn’t going anywhere. When you’re scheduling your to do list, 30 minutes a day for yourself during the school day is not too much to ask. Structure your day, and your time, and give yourself a break!! What kinds of things are implemented in your school to bring teachers together? What do you wish you had? The post TT0305: 13 Ways to Increase Teacher Happiness appeared first on Teacher Tribes.

Teachers are leaving the profession in large numbers. Most teachers leave after 5 years of teaching. In many states there are teacher shortages, especially in certain content areas. Regardless of the reason, teachers are leaving. Some because they are overworked and overstressed, others because they need to make more money. Teaching is a complex profession in a difficult time. In this episode, we are going to talk about what it’s really like to leave teaching. Anyone in the profession can understand the desire to leave. We’re often stressed and overworked. A large portion of society believes that they know what we can do and that it’s easy. Many believe that we don’t work very many hours and don’t deserve the “breaks” that we get. If we were to listen to the media, the picture portrayed of teachers is not a pretty one. We know though. We know how hard we work and the great importance of our profession. The reward of seeing our students develop new habits and skills as a result of something we’ve done is an amazing experience. The relationships that we build are incredibly fulfilling. Watching students build their confidence and advance through the world can make us so proud and humbled. There are many positives to our job. Teaching is a unique profession. We are basically performing in front of an audience all day, every day. A very critical audience that expects us to know everything and be perfect. On the other hand, a lot of office jobs involve a lot of time spent sitting in front of a computer. Days might be monotonous, where every day is the same. People might be isolated and have minimal interaction with other people throughout the day. Human connection may be minimal. For teachers, every day brings a new challenge. There is no danger of boredom, because there are so many decisions to be made at every given moment. We spend nearly all our time surrounded by these young people yearning so desperately for attention and connection. We may never have a moment alone throughout the day. We may only get a few moments to sit down throughout the day. Our job require mental, physical, and emotional stamina. What is it really like to leave teaching?I’ve spoken with a couple of different people about their experiences with leaving teaching. For some, it was a change in life situation - a move or baby, or both, like Lulu! For some, it was some event that was the last straw. And for others, I think they just realize that it’s time to move on. I’ve left teaching twice. The first was after my first 5 years. Look at me, being a statistic. After 5 years working at the same school, I was let go. The events leading up to that  could fill many hours of podcast, so we’ll save that for another time. What I will say is that it was a difficult experience that left me with a lot of hurt and anger. I found myself without a job and uninterested in starting over at a new school at that point. I also had an opportunity to travel to Africa over the summer for a class about Diversity in Education. I decided to stay for a few months. I worked remotely for a tutoring and test prep company, writing practice ACT tests. When I got back, I continued working for the same company, but added after school SAT and ACT prep classes at a few different schools throughout the city. I had to use their curriculum, and didn’t like the freedom to decide on my own lesson plans. I decided that if I was going to be in a classroom in any way, I wanted it to be on my terms. When I got the opportunity to go back to the classroom, I went. The second time I left, I went to work at a science museum. I thought that it would be fun and a good application of my teaching background. I took a major pay cut and because of my experience level, the only positions that made sense for me were management or director positions. As it turned out, this meant that my job consisted of more planning and management tasks than being on the floor and interacting with the museum-goers. I occasionally got to get out to different schools and work with teachers, but for the most part, I was isolated in a cubicle at a desk, which is NOT for me! With both situations, moving out of the classroom led to more time in front of a computer instead of in front of other humans. That was definitely a challenge for me. I’m an introvert and I have no problem with alone time, but long days without much interaction was too much of a drastic change from teaching. That was definitely a difficult adjustment. I also found that the beginning of the school year was the hardest for me. Seeing all of the back to school posts on social media made me feel like I was missing out. I would get messages from former students and colleagues that they missed me, and that was definitely hard. Especially when I found myself in a new job that I didn’t particularly love. On the other hand, it was amazing to have my evenings and weekends back! When I left work, I left work completely!! I didn’t have to bring anything home. I wasn’t constantly thinking about students or my lengthy to do list. I had time to spend with my husband. I had the energy to cook myself a healthy meal for dinner. It was incredibly freeing. To me, that was the best part of not teaching. I think any teacher who decides to leave teaching will miss the students and the relationships that we are able to build. From the teachers that I’ve talked to, those are the biggest treasures and joys of the profession. When I asked a couple teachers what they would do if they ever left, both of their answers involved continuing to work with young people in some capacity. That’s what drives us. It’s all the other stuff that can wear us down. If you’re thinking about leaving teaching, I would encourage you to really weigh the pros and cons. Consider what other work you would enjoy doing and whether it will be able to fulfill you in the same way. Sometimes just thinking about the reality of what it would be like to leave can help you change your perspective to focus on the positive aspects of teaching. And sometimes, it’s just what you need to help you make a change in your life that will make you happier. We have an incredibly difficult job with a great amount of stress and small amounts of pay and respect. However, we also have one of the most rewarding jobs there is. It’s up to you to choose which one you focus on more. The post TT0304: What It’s Really Like to Leave Teaching appeared first on Teacher Tribes.

What do grades tell us about our students? Do they tell us that they are extremely motivated and hard-working? Or do they tell us that they are able to achieve anything we throw at them? Maybe it’s something in between, or many possible different combinations of characteristics. We are at the beginning of the new school year, which means there is an opportunity to frame grades a little differently this year. If you listened in to the last couple seasons, you may have heard us talk about our convoluted grading system, which was trying (unsuccessfully, in my opinion) to blend a traditional grading system with a standards based grading system. I tried multiple ways to make it work, and I don’t think it was successful in any iteration. Many students weren’t motivated to do the work to improve. They blamed the grading system and used it as a crutch. Despite the retake system and other supports in place, students felt defeated. This summer, I spent some time listening to other education podcasts. One of my favorites is Cult of Pedagogy, and she did an episode where she spoke with a teacher named Starr Sackstein, who was working to eliminate grades altogether. She teaches journalism classes and as the students work through projects, they have frequent conversations. Students are taught to self-assess and self-reflect regularly, as well as giving each other feedback and becoming feedback experts. I was really intrigued by this idea and thought it seemed like a powerful way to get students more engaged in their own learning. It turns out that there is a whole movement of “Teachers Throwing out Grades.” There is a Facebook group, a Twitter hashtag, and probably even more. There’s even a book for the Hack Learning Series, called Hacking Assessment. I’ve been digging into some of these groups and started reading the book. I became determined to try some version of going gradeless in my classes this year, despite not feeling entirely confident that I know what I’m doing. Here, I’ll give you a breakdown of the things that I think are important to put into place for this to be successful. As we continue through the year, I’ll get some experts in and keep you updated as to the results. All of this is a work in progress, but here are some of the things I’m implementing this year with these goals in mind. Norm setting around grades and what they mean (change of vocabulary)At my school, we already have language around mastery, but we still needed to discuss how it ties to grades, or rather, how it should tie to grades. We had a discussion around the following questions: What does it mean to get an A? B? C? D? Is it possible for people to get the same grade with vastly different abilities and efforts? Is that fair? What does it mean to master a standard? Is everyone capable of mastering the standards? How do you know if you’ve mastered something? What should you do if you haven’t mastered something? The goal here was to come to a common agreement about the characteristics, behaviors and accomplishments that lead to a student deserving each grade. I also wanted to again touch on the idea that everyone is capable and that there are systems in place to support them. They just need to recognize when they need them and then take advantage of them. After this, we discussed how they react when they receive an assessment that has been graded. Most admitted that they look at the grade and put it or throw it away, never to be seen again. They all knew that they should look at each problem to try to understand what they did wrong and fix it, but only a few were in the habit of doing that. I asked them how their actions would change if there was no grade, but specific feedback instead. Focus on feedback, not gradeIf there’s no grade on a student’s assessment, they need some other form of information to let them know if they’ve achieved what was necessary. Ultimately, students are always going to care about their grade, but a good grade should follow if they are truly focusing on learning. To be honest, I haven’t fully figured out how feedback is going to be structured yet. Mark Barnes has a model called SE2R, which stands for Summarize, Explain, Redirect, Resubmit. I will probably use something similar. What I proposed to my students was one section with feedback on things that they did well, and another on things they need to improve in order to achieve mastery. I will keep you updated on what I end up doing and how it works! Electronic PortfoliosOne of the ways SBG has been presented to kids at our school is as 100% summative, which makes the task of getting an A seem overwhelming to students. It sends the message that summative tests or tasks are the only thing that matter. I’m staying away from that language, but they can’t unhear it. Since homework doesn’t count as “a grade” and the emphasis is on performing well on assessments, students don’t see the value in practice. My plan to combat this mindset is to have the students keep electronic portfolios which will be where they keep track of all of their evidence of learning and working. Formative assessments, practice, corrections, and anything else. We did several activities in the first week to get at the importance of keeping track of previous mistakes and attempts, communicating, and being open to different ways of thinking about problems. I also presented the purpose of the portfolios to them as a way to communicate evidence of their learning, both to me and their parents. If there are no grades in the system, we need a way to inform the parents about their child’s progress. Electronic portfolios can be shared with the parents and are easily accessible. I also wanted to take the pressure off of the summative score, so the portfolio is another way they can demonstrate their mastery, or at least contribute to the overall conversation about what kind of grade they think they deserve. If they don’t have evidence to back up their argument, then the summative performance will have to carry more weight. Students were offered the options of sharing a folder in Google Drive with me, or creating an account in Seesaw and sharing that way. Again, we’ll see how it goes. TrackersWe encourage students to keep track of their own progress. In order to encourage that, we give them a tracker as a tool. It has evolved over the years, but it essentially lays out the standards required for each unit. Within each standard, there are some sub-skills that help guide the student to achieving the overall standard. Essentially, the tracker is a spreadsheet with those standards and sub-skills, as well as spaces for them to mark what they’ve completed towards mastering that standard and when. Like the portfolio, this is intended to help keep them organized and aware of their own progress. Additionally, it can help them plan what they still need to focus on moving forward. RubricsWe have relied heavily on rubrics in the past in order to ensure we were grading consistently across classes. They were also shared with the student in some way so that they would know what was expected of them in order to earn the highest grade. I’m torn about whether and where rubrics will fit in this new model. I’m concerned that they might just be a new “grade” for students to follow. Ability to retake/reviseI still believe it’s important for students to understand that an assessment is not the end all, be all. Just because they don’t perform well one day does not mean they can’t achieve mastery. If they have a full portfolio of evidence and are reflective about their work, there is no reason they can’t try again. They said it themselves, “Mastery means you can do it well multiple times, apply it to different situations, and explain your process.” Assessment almost has to be iterative in order to meet that definition. What do you think about the throwing out grades movement? Did I miss anything important? I’d love to hear your experiences! Also, if you know anyone who does this really well, send them my way. I’m looking for experts to be on the podcast. The post TT0303: Going Almost Gradeless with SBG appeared first on Teacher Tribes.

Every teacher I’ve met has at one point found themselves in a situation where they were expected to teach something outside of their comfort zone. As teachers, we are considered experts in our content area - at least by our students, we are. Kids think that they can ask us about anything even tangentially related to the subject area and we are expected to know the answer. Unfortunately, there’s no way that we can know everything! But lucky for us, we can learn everything. I’m going to be honest, I’ve found myself in this situation multiple times. I have a bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics and a minor in Physics. Originally, I was a Chemical Engineering major, so I have some background in that as well. So you would think I have a pretty well rounded body of knowledge when it comes to STEM. And I believe that I do. However, when it comes down to teaching high school, the degrees and certifications don’t mean that I have recently been fluent in every high school math and science topic. I’ve taught geometry when the only geometry course I ever took was my sophomore year of high school 10 years prior. Having only ever taken an online class through a city college with a crappy professor, I've had to teach statistics with very little notice. The only biology I ever took was freshman year of high school, but I had to learn to teach that too. I could list more, but I think you get my point. And I’m willing to bet that many of you either have similar stories, or will experience them at some point during your teaching career. So what do we do about it? How can we teach these courses without completely stressing ourselves out and losing our credibility with the students? Here are 6 tips to prepare yourself for teaching outside of your comfort zone. Stay Ahead of the KidsAs long as you learn what you’re supposed to teach before you have to teach it, you’re good. You don’t have to master the entire curriculum before the school year starts. Obviously, the more you know ahead of time, the less stressful it will be, but as long as you’re one step ahead, you’re good. Start with the first unit. When you’re about halfway through that unit, start studying the next. Use Your ColleaguesJust because you don’t know it doesn’t mean someone else on your team doesn’t. Ask around. Someone you know and love might have some awesome resources and tips to help you out. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Use the InterwebsI have found YouTube to be extremely helpful. TeacherTube, Khan Academy and any of the wide variety of tutoring sites out there could be great. Google is your friend. Use Your Process for Teaching StrategiesThe fact that you have to go learn this content can actually be extremely helpful to planning lessons. As you search for understanding yourself, you will get a feel for what your students are about to go through. Set aside videos and resources that help you gain an understanding and then use them in your lessons. Don’t Be Afraid to Not KnowIt’s important that our students trust us and believe in us that we know what we’re talking about. However, we are allowed to say “I don’t know” every now and then. You should be sure to get solid on anything that you are planning on assessing. It’s not really fair for you to expect them to master something that you haven’t yet. However, if the topic leads to other questions that you might not know, sometimes you can just say so. Use it as a Learning OpportunityAnother option if you don’t know the answer to something that a student is asking is to turn it back to them. “That’s a great question, maybe you could do some research on it and tell the class about it tomorrow.” They’ll either buy into it and everyone, including you, will learn from it, or they won’t want to do the extra work and will let it go. Either way, you’re off the hook for the moment, and can buy yourself some time to go google it later. Overall, you have the advantage because you're an expert learner! Which tip did you find the most useful? Do you have any additional tips? Let us know in the comments!! The post TT0302: 6 Tips for Teaching Outside Your Comfort Zone appeared first on Teacher Tribes.

To start off Season 3, I wanted to let you all know about some changes we’ve had to Teacher Tribes and what to expect with this new season and school year coming up. I’ve made some announcements on FB and Twitter and to our members via email, but I didn’t want to leave you out. You are important to us! We started this podcast a little over a year ago, and we’ve learned and grown so much! We started with just a few of our friends and family listening, and now we’re getting over 200 downloads of our episodes each month!! That may be small potatoes to some, but to us, it’s amazing and we’re so thankful for those of you that have taken the time to listen to what we have to say. And while we’re so grateful, we’re also hoping to ask for a small favor. We want to know who you are and what you’d like to hear from us!! One of our main goals of Teacher Tribes is to create community and support our fellow teachers. In order to best do that, we need to know what you think! Help Us Help You...And Other Teachers!! Let us know what you think by rating and reviewing our podcast. If you subscribe on itunes, it’s super easy and will only take a few minutes. We’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback. Plus, the ratings and reviews are what help make us more visible on itunes so that more people can find us. If you think other teachers would benefit from this podcast, rating and reviewing is a great way to spread the word!  Go to www.teachertribes.com and join our mailing list. This way you’ll never miss an important announcement, you’ll actually get it first! And it gives you a direct line to us. You can email us any time. And even better! You will get access to our free resources page where you can download the good stuff that we are creating just for you!  Join us on social media and say hey! We have a FB page, Pinterest boards, and we’re on Twitter. If you’re on there anyway, might as well connect with us! We will love you forever if you do any and/or all of these things!! More Exciting Announcements!! You’re going to be hearing a bit more of me as we get into season 3. In case you haven’t heard, Lulu has moved out of state and had a little baby boy! I’m super excited for her, even though I miss her terribly. While she’s getting a handle on motherhood, I’ll be guiding the ship here. Hopefully we’ll get her back on some episodes soon, but that’s still TBD. Because I’m on my own for the moment, I’m going to ease back a little on our schedule so that I can be sure to put out good content to you regularly. In the past we’ve done episodes every week, but I’m going to plan for every other week right now. I’ll update you if anything changes, but for now we’ll do every other. If you are in the Chicagoland area, this one’s for you! We have started a Meetup group for Teacher Tribes so that we can start having events to share space with other teachers and physically be in community. Again, community is hugely important to us, and we want to start where we are. We’ve had 2 meetups so far, and will be scheduling another soon. This certainly isn’t something only we can do. If you’re looking for physical community with other teachers in your area, go ahead and start one up, then let us know how it goes!! We’ll have a link for the Meetup pages in the show notes. Speaking of community, I’ve been brainstorming an idea that will allow us to develop some really strong virtual community in small groups. I’m excited to start building our Teacher Tribes family, so stay tuned for more announcements coming about that. We’re getting there, only a couple more announcements! In addition to the blog and podcasts, I’m going to be playing around a bit with video. Some of the podcasts will be available on video as well, so keep an eye on YouTube for that! And, finally, last but certainly not least! I started a new venture this summer that I think is a great product for teachers. I’m selling products by Senegence, including LipSense!! If you haven’t heard of it, it’s an amazing lipstick that truly lasts all day! I’ve never been one to wear lipstick at all. We don’t have time to reapply during the school day, so why even bother? But I’ve been having so much fun playing around with LipSense I want to share it with you all. It’s like a fun accessory that gives a little pop of color. Whether it’s a neutral barely there, or a bold red, it makes a difference and makes me feel good. I’d love to help you feel the same! OK, I thought this was going to be short, but there’s just so much going on! If you’ve read this far, you’re all up to speed on Teacher Tribes news, and you can look forward to the next episode of the new season in two weeks!! I know some of you are back to school already. I hope your school years are starting off with a bang! I’m going to savor my last couple weeks of freedom and get a ton of work done! Til next time. The post TT0301: What’s New with Teacher Tribes: Updates and more! appeared first on Teacher Tribes.

How do we keep parents involved and on our side? It’s important that we work together with them, rather than get involved in any power dynamics. Sometimes, it can be easy to have a contentious relationship with parents. They might not understand what’s going on or are only hearing what their children tell them. It’s important that we have consistent communication so that we can make it clear that we want to partner with them for the benefit of their child. This week, we are talking with Julia Ciciora, one of my colleagues and team members. Julia teaches freshmen integrated math and seventh grade science at our brand new Academic Center. Julia has had a variety of experience with parents in the past. Since we teach freshmen, and now she teaches seventh graders, we are the ones introducing our students and parents to new systems of learning and grading. In the past, conferences became long explanations of our systems which weren’t efficient. Instead of spending the time talking about what extra supports the student might need on both ends, the conversation was about logistics. This year, Julia shifted the conversation. In order to be more proactive, Julia started sending out regular emails to parents explaining the structures of the classroom. Additionally, Google Classroom has been a great resource for keeping parents in the loop. Some tips for proactive communication:Email parents about every 5 weeks (before a summative assessment, major due date, or a week before grades are due) Email may include a class update including: Grade breakdown Assignment logs with rubrics Retake policy Tutoring dates Invitation to engage in discourse Major deadlines, upcoming important dates, reminder of grade deadline Suggestions for how to improve performance in class Keep a folder for each year/class/semester that has the supporting documents you include in the emails. Also keep copies of the email in a document. This will allow you to easily reference these emails without having to dig through your sent folder. Think about the amount of extra time you might have to spend answering questions and putting out fires with upset parents. It may seem like extra work and organization to be able to communicate with parents like this. However, if you are proactive with your communication, you can avoid that extra time. Put the time in on the front end and it can make your conversations easier and more effective. You can focus your conversations on the needs of the student. What strategies have you used to communicate with parents? Let us know in the comments! The post TT0210: Productive Parent Partnerships appeared first on Teacher Tribes.

As our school tries to transition to full SBG school-wide, we’ve been trying to find ways to implement it incrementally. We’ve also had to work to find a way that makes sense within the confines of our grading software. We have a 4 point rubric that translates to a percentage system. Figuring out how we measure mastery has been a challenge. We’ve had issues with grade inflation and motivation. We want to find a way that is fair and reasonable. We decided that in order to show mastery, they had to be at a mastery level for each of the 4 questions on that learning target. Research showed that there needed to be a certain number of repetitions to show mastery. Another reason for 4 was that in math, there are often multiple applications and/or representations within a learning target. We wanted to make sure that we had room to account for everything we might need to see to satisfy us that mastery was achieved. The way that we decided to determine overall mastery of the learning target was meant to highlight any major misconceptions so that students would know exactly what they needed to focus on in order to improve. We have a retake system in place for a reason and don’t necessarily expect students to master on their first attempt. Needless to say, we got some pushback on our decision. From colleagues, students, and parents. Our principal had our back though. Throughout the year, some students started to get used to the system. Occasionally, I would have students break into debates when they got assessments back about how they favored one way of grading or the other. Believe it or not, there were students and parents who understood and appreciated what we were doing. But there were also still a lot of students who were not adjusting to the grading system. I still heard a lot of complaints. I hear students saying things like, “Well, I would have a better grade if the grading system was changed.” They kept asking for us to go back to traditional grading. Some of their arguments made sense, others really didn’t. It seemed like some of them were using the grading system as an excuse for not doing better. They believed that it was because of my choices of grading that were bringing their grade down, not the fact that they showed through their work that they had major misconceptions about the topic. Not the fact that they did very little work to ensure that they had a thorough understanding. They had some external force to blame for their failings, which allowed them to continue their poor habits. On top of that, I was hearing a lot of concerning comments about the depression they were experiencing as a result of their grades. Keep in mind, almost no one was failing. As long as they attempt every problem, the lowest grade they can get on an assessment is a 65%. The only way to have an F is to miss an assessment and never come take it. But our kids are used to being the top of their class and only getting A’s and B’s. Cs and Ds were causing some major mental health issues, despite the fact that they could fix any score by doing some extra work and retaking assessments. The Experiment?Concerned about my students, I decided to run an experiment. For a whole unit, I graded all of their assessments 2 ways: the way I had been grading, and as a traditional percent. We still had 4 questions per learning target, and I still graded each individual question on a 4 point scale. Their overall score is what was calculated 2 ways. They were able to see both scores when I passed back assessments, but I didn’t enter anything into gradebook yet. At the end of the unit, but before the summative, I created a spreadsheet of all of their scores. I calculated each student’s average grade for that unit with each method of grading, as well as class averages. In general, the traditional way of grading left the class averages about ten percentage points lower than the way I had been grading. There were only a handful of students whose scores would go up with the traditional method, and those were only minimally increased. The majority of students scores would decrease, many of them drastically. I gave each student a printout of the data from my three classes without names. I informed them that we needed to make a decision that would be the best for everyone. It was important that their feedback be about the data as a whole rather than their own wants for their own grade. On the other side, I asked them to give me some feedback and answer some questions about what they saw in the data, and whether it changed their mind. Ultimately, I wanted us to make a choice together about how we would proceed with grading for the rest of the year. The Results?Out of my 85 math students, 6 of them voted to change to the traditional grading system once they saw the numbers. 6 students had unclear answers. They wrote one option, but explained the other, or just didn’t have a strong opinion. Every other student wanted to continue as we have been. For most of them, they saw that they would be worse off with the grading system that they have been so conditioned to. I also got some good feedback about how they like knowing which problems they mastered or didn’t, to help them focus their attention. I’d love to say that this experiment changed all of the kids and now they completely buy into the system and do retakes and are mastering everything, but we all know that’s not how it works. They still complain, although it is less. If nothing else, I think it gave them a chance to see behind the curtain. They were given the opportunity to analyze the situation, and see what it’s like to have to make a decision that will impact many other students. They were given voice, and they were given a clearer insight into how their grades could be. I’m glad I did it. There are certainly still drawbacks to our grading system. I’m curious to learn more about other possible methods of giving students feedback to help them improve and achieve mastery. How do you determine mastery? How do you get kids to buy into how you decide to grade? Let us know in the comments! The post TT0209: What the Heck is Mastery and How Do We Measure It? A Grading Experiment appeared first on Teacher Tribes.

This week we welcome Katie Clark to the show to share her expertise. Katherine Clark is a Golden Apple Scholar, nationally certified instructor and history department chair at Brooks. She has been teaching for 16 years in Chicago and is an instrumental member of our leadership team. We are constantly stressing the importance of collaboration as a key to surviving the demands of our profession. There is never enough time for teachers to plan units or cover all the material AP courses or curriculum guides suggest in an academic year. Finding a way to help students transfer skills from course to course will help them master the essential standards selected for that grade level. We are going to share how we connect skills and align curriculum between departments without the planning time and resources. The key is just to get started, be flexible, and understand that what you are creating is a work in progress. You will need to share the standards and/or the themes you are covering in each grade level to merge curriculum. Knowing what the other grade level teachers are doing in their classes helps to show the students you are a team. By demonstrating how students can apply science skills in PE or English, it will establish relevance beyond the classroom. All teachers are reading teachers. Remember, it is not about your content, it is about the skills. When you focus on the skills, it will help you to create common language between the teacher teams. Creating questions surrounding your goals will help drive the instruction and reinforce the standards. You want students to be able to analyze a text and be a critical reader. The language and material will become almost irrelevant because you start seeing them transfer the skills to tackle the tasks. We notice that they begin annotating in every class because it has been engrained in the curriculum. Once this happens, you will start seeing ways to link and align various courses moving forward. Coming together will help you create meaningful lessons that engage students and share the workload with a valued colleague. Confidence, discussions, and scores increase when you start working together. Be sure to utilize the resources in your schools. Start small. Get into other teachers rooms to see what they are doing and/or how they teach a skill to get inspiration. When you observe other classrooms, you can develop a relationship with another teacher and observe students you have in common. Teachers can and should be resources to each other. You don’t need a lot of resources to start teaching the reading skills and SEL (social emotional learning). We suggest that you push your schools to have grade level teams to enrich teaching and learning in your community. Examples we used:-The science class learn about ecosystems before the English department began Lord of the Flies and we overlapped writing skills/standards during the unit because both classes we learning how to write labs and essays. -The history department finished talking about Totalitarian governments and English began 1984. -English was doing Devil in the White City and math did measurement on how to construct ___ - “From Scotland to China” 19th Century China and Macbeth. Once we saw the success of casually working together, we decided that we should try to find more ways to align grade level curriculum. The English and history departments in 10th and 11th grade became a humanities department to share the readings and skills as much as possible. When we started doing this we saw an increase in assessment scores, writing, and critical thinking. If you would like to see some of the ideas email Lulu at [email protected]. Do you have some cross-curricular units that you’re proud of? Tell us about your experiences! The post TT0208: Cross-Curricular Collaboration: The Benefits of Working Across Departments appeared first on Teacher Tribes.

Sharon Tillman has been a social worker in Chicago Public Schools for over 20 years and her expertise and experience has been invaluable to our students and staff. In this episode we will talk about the importance of SEL (Social and Emotional Instruction and Competencies) standards, utilizing a personalized learning rubric, recognizing when social services are needed, and tips on how to build relationships. Many schools are underfunded and don’t have adequate social services to support the demands and needs of their students. It is important for educators to develop some of these skills and know when to reach out for support of students at risk. Educators are vital to the development of academic and social and emotional skills. Building relationships may be hard for some educators but showing you care comes in many forms. Students are able to recognize educators who are genuine. The way we build our lessons, body language, and greetings go a long way in helping to connect with students. We have podcasts on these topics and resources on our website, but Mrs. Tillman stresses the importance of creating time and space for communication with students. It is important for both parties to express their feelings and rationale for behaviors and consequences to promote understanding. With the help of Mrs. Tillman and a variety of sources from the internet, we created a personalized learning rubric for SEL to try to help our students perform at their best and feel comfortable in the learning environment. Students will select three to four items from the different categories listed on rubric that they would like to improve on during the marking period. It is essential to have discussions with the students about their selections to ensure they understand their selections and they are selecting items that support and challenge them (see the action steps below). The purpose is for students to solve interpersonal problems and to make ethical decisions when facing adversity. Turning struggle into success is something our students need to understand and embrace. To help them with this there is a teacher SEL rubric where students will select items for the instructor to implement during the marking period. The instructor’s rubric is put together by the selections the students would like to see me implement for a productive and collaborative learning environment. Being vulnerable to your students will help them to better understand the growth mindset and that we are all constantly working towards improving. The conversations that come from these rubrics has transformed the way we relate to the students and understand. The post TT0207: Supporting Mental Health Through Social Work appeared first on Teacher Tribes.

As teachers, we are constantly under fire. Everyone thinks they know how to do our job. Each year is a new demand, as we're expected to do more with less. It's no wonder how many teachers are leaving the profession. But we know that what we do matters, and that we matter to our students. When we continue to show up for them every day, that means something. We need teachers to stay, which means we need good teachers to enter the profession. And then we need to make sure that they are supported and able to continue beyond the average 5 years. This week, we continue our conversation with Joshuah Thurbee. He has transitioned from being in a high school classroom to training new teachers and has some great insights about what works and what is necessary. What changes do you think we need to keep good teachers in the profession? What would you have liked to have added to your teacher training? Let us know in the comments below!? Joshuah's biography as found on kstf.org?Josh began his teaching career in Denver, Colo., where he taught middle school math and science at a small, independent school. Next, he returned to Chicago, Ill., to teach math at a large, suburban high school. In 2006, he helped to establish the University of Chicago Charter School, where he taught math and later served as department chair. Most recently, Josh taught methods courses and a course that explored issues of teacher identity, educational equity, and the ways that race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and culture affect both teachers and students at the Urban Teacher Education Program at the University of Chicago. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Josh coached beginning teachers and other coaches. Josh holds a B.A. in secondary education and an M.A. in school leadership, both from Concordia University. His areas of interest include math education, social justice, equity, teacher education and LGBTQ issues. Originally from West Covina, Calif., Josh enjoys exploring Philadelphia—where he now resides—and competitive rowing.? The post TT0206: Training and Retaining Good Teachers: A Chat with Joshuah Thurbee Part 2 appeared first on Teacher Tribes.

This week, we got to sit down and talk with Joshuah Thurbee, an amazing teacher and mentor. Morty is especially excited, because she worked with Joshuah for 5 years, and he served as her mentor when she was a beginning teacher.  In this first part of a two part conversation, we chatted a lot about vulnerability. Joshuah has a strong focus on identity and relationship and we were lucky enough to share ideas and work within a strong department. Collaboration and an open door policy were key. Joshuah recommends a 3 minute observation club that we hope to pilot at our school. It can be hard to be vulnerable to the opinions of others, but the more leaders we have willing to do it, the more we can expect to see others step up as well. Take a listen below to hear more about Joshuah's thoughts and ideas around identity, collaboration, and vulnerability. Joshuah's biography as found on kstf.org.Josh began his teaching career in Denver, Colo., where he taught middle school math and science at a small, independent school. Next, he returned to Chicago, Ill., to teach math at a large, suburban high school. In 2006, he helped to establish the University of Chicago Charter School, where he taught math and later served as department chair. Most recently, Josh taught methods courses and a course that explored issues of teacher identity, educational equity, and the ways that race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and culture affect both teachers and students at the Urban Teacher Education Program at the University of Chicago. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Josh coached beginning teachers and other coaches. Josh holds a B.A. in secondary education and an M.A. in school leadership, both from Concordia University. His areas of interest include math education, social justice, equity, teacher education and LGBTQ issues. Originally from West Covina, Calif., Josh enjoys exploring Philadelphia—where he now resides—and competitive rowing. Have you had a mentor that really shaped you? Share your story with us!? ? The post TT0205: How Vulnerability Can Change Your School: A Chat with Joshuah Thurbee Part 1 appeared first on Teacher Tribes.

We have discussed SBG in previous episodes that seem to be fairly popular, so we wanted to bring you more information about what our school has been doing with SBG (standards based grading) and CBL (competency based learning, fka personalized learning).Recently, one of our teachers held a community forum for students, parents, and teachers to […] The post TT0204: Student Voices: An SBG Community Forum appeared first on Teacher Tribes.

Why is recess one of the first things to get cut from our kids? Why isn’t P.E. valued? How can we expect our kids to sit all day, and punish them for needing to move?This week, we have the pleasure of inviting Elaine McCulloch back on the podcast to talk about her specialty: Physical Education […] The post TT0203: The Importance of P.E. (Not Gym!) appeared first on Teacher Tribes.

As teachers, it’s almost impossible not to also be activists. We are constantly fighting and advocating for our students to have the opportunities that they deserve. In many cases, we are also fighting for ourselves as well. Unfortunately, the public dialog about teachers is increasingly negative. We have to be sure that we are sharing […] The post TT0202: Off the Mat, Into the Classroom appeared first on Teacher Tribes.

Several years ago, our school adopted a retake policy. The retake policy and Standard Based Grading has been a work in progress. Many teachers have their own interpretations and implementation plans. Also, there is concern about the work load. Here, we’re sharing ideas about what we’ve tried, and systems we’ve put in place to help […] The post TT0201: Persistence and Personal Growth: How to Utilize Retakes in Your Classroom appeared first on Teacher Tribes.

Teaching is a rewarding and exhausting profession that requires community support to thrive. We love sharing our experiences with you to welcome you into our tribe. It is important to share best practices, new ideas, and concerns we have to promote longevity in our field. As we close out our first season, we wanted to […] The post TT017: This is Why We Teach: Season 1 Wrap-up appeared first on Teacher Tribes.

Education is a global strategy. As educators, we are always looking for ways to help our students become lifelong learners. Discovering the best practices in teaching and learning comes from application, experience, and learning from others. Since education is constantly changing, it is valuable to share our successes and failures in implementing these new strategies […] The post TT016: Education is a Global Strategy: A Chat with Elaine McCulloch appeared first on Teacher Tribes.

By now we have all settled into our routines and had our first meetings with parents at open house, report card pick up, or parent-teacher conferences. Just as teaching has evolved over the past decade, so has the way teachers communicate with parents. The biggest changes seem to be in how parents communicate with teachers […] The post TT015: It Takes a Village: Building Relationships with Parents appeared first on Teacher Tribes.

This week, we talk about how we can get students to understand the importance of struggle and adopt a growth mindset. We’ve each tried different strategies with our students to try to help them understand what learning really means. We want them to believe that struggle is not something to shy away from, or to […] The post TT014: Gettin Gritty With It – Helping Students Persevere appeared first on Teacher Tribes.

Despite all of our hard work and our best attempts, sometimes our students fail. Like, epicly, the whole class, fail. That can make us feel like failures too, but there are many factors to consider. Did we provide enough supports? Did the students do what we asked of them? We can’t force the knowledge into […] The post TT013: When Your Students Fail! 8 Strategies to Redirect After Failure appeared first on Teacher Tribes.

Personalized learning is one of the latest trends in education. At our school, we recently got an Academic Center, which means we have 7th graders for the first time. Since the goal of our school is to transition to all personalized learning, the 7th grade teachers are piloting the personalized learning experience. Through a grant, […] The post TT012: What Wikipedia Can’t Tell You About Personalized Learning appeared first on Teacher Tribes.