Leadership 2019 - Wait 'til Next Year

At the outset, let me just say that the OAME/AOEM Leadership Conference is open for registration!!! You can check out the program here and register here (this link is also in the program). If you want to read about the process I went through in putting together the program for next year...read on. 

Grantland Rice had a short poem published in the Washington Times in 1914. The title of the poem was "July" and the subject matter had to do with the lost hope that many baseball fans feel in July as they realize that their club more than likely will not be in contention this season. It is a familiar feeling for many ball fans...especially Jay fans this year. Apologies...for those that know me - this is gleeful dig as my Sox sit atop the Bluebirds at this point in the season. GO SOX! The last line in the poem is a stubborn and defiant statement that next season will be different. You'll see - wait 'til next year.

The poem wasn't in my head but the idea of waiting for next year definitely was when I attended the OAME 2018 Leadership Conference in Windsor. The Leadership Conference is the brainchild of the OAME president each year. Browse through past OAME Leadership brochures and you will get a sense of what the vision was for each past president. Current pres, David Petro, did a masterful job of putting together a program that engaged all those who attended the conference. I think he would agree that when he woke up the next day that he felt a lot lighter knowing that the planning and running of the conference was all done...until next time. What do you think David?

The planning all happens in the year prior to the president's term but once a new school year starts, the big pieces are usually (hopefully) in place for the conference. I have had the honour of serving once before as OAME/AOEM president. It was during the 2014-15 school year and my vision was to dig deeper into the ideas of fixed versus growth mindsets that were just starting to take hold in many classrooms. I had been the co-chair of the 2014 OAME Conference with Dwight Stead (@DwightStead)...or as everyone else referred to him, "The Smart Chair" and the program committee got Jo Boaler to come up for the first time and many agreed that it was the highlight of the program. And so I wanted her back as well for the Leadership Conference in 2015 as well as having key presenters from our own backyard like Amy Lin, Shelley Yearley and Dr. Cathy Bruce. The last time it felt so easy to put together the leadership conference. 

Fast forward to November 9th in Windsor and my thoughts turned to organizing the leadership conference for 2019. Truth be told, I was not looking forward to it. The winds of change were starting to blow and I had no idea what the landscape would look like by the time November 2019 came around. As the months wore on, the thought of leaning into this uncertain time started to solidify and rather than shying away from what might be, I wanted to embrace that uncertainty. The uneasiness of what the provincial landscape would look like, who would be able attend, what funding would be available, and so on brought me to the conclusion that more than ever, we need to come together as leaders in the math community and talk about how to lead in these uncertain times. And so the theme, "Paying Attention to Leadership in Mathematics" emerged. I wanted the speakers at the event to address as many of the of the facets that as a community within this province we attend to in our roles. Instruction. Assessment. Equity and Access. Administrators. Innovation and Design. How do we continue to press on and advance the good work of the past into the future under challenging circumstances? 

My hope is that the program for the OAME/AOEM 2019 Leadership Conference that has been assembled will do that and that delegates will have the opportunity to network and discuss strategies for moving forward. I also hope that the learning won't stop there. I am hoping to extend what is started at the conference into the remainder of the year with other online learning opportunities open to those who attend. Next year will be tough. But I am reminded of the Margaret Mead quote whenever things get tough. "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." That may be a tad dramatic but the stakes are indeed high. We owe it to our colleagues, the teachers we work with, the parents we serve and most of all to the students in the classrooms to continue to strive for a mathematics education that is informed by good research, that serves and honours ALL of our students, and enriches all of our lives (students, teachers and leaders). It is a system that is the envy of so many globally no matter how many may argue the opposite. I hope to see you there in November so we can continue the great work of teaching math in this province.

Its deja vu all over again...

Rummaging through old files I came across this letter to the editor that I wrote in response to another letter that appeared in the local paper. I don't recall the gist of the letter that prompted my response but I think you get the gist from my rambling response. Those were bleak times. Teacher bashing was the rage (not sure that if it ever went out of style). The government of Mike Harris was leading the charge in making teachers and other members of the public service the scapegoats for a bloated fiscal deficit. And while our backs were turned and focused on overpaid and lazy teachers, doctors, nurses, etc. they ensured that tax cuts went to their corporate cronies.

A few days past, our school learned that 17 teachers were losing their jobs. In my department alone we are losing 6 full-time math teachers. My hope is that in the coming weeks or months that this loss will be minimized. But that is as likely as the Leafs making it to the second round in some playoff series in some season in some year in some future. The government has announced an Attrition Protection Allocation which sounds interesting but I still cannot fathom how an increase in class sizes cannot decrease the number of full time teachers needed. I cannot express how much of an impact this will have on my department, on our math program and most importantly on OUR STUDENTS. These are teachers who were coaching teams, running clubs, attending professional development, providing extra help and just doing an amazing job. In all my years of teaching I haven't seen a group of young teachers as talented as the group that joined my department. And with the stroke of an idiot's pen, poof. They are pulled from a department and a vocation that they are committed to more so than any of the those that signed the documents resulting in this job loss. It was just two days after the news had been delivered to these teachers that ALL 6 sat with me at a professional development session on exploring issues surrounding math and black students. I am not sure I would have had the stomach had I been in their place but they were there. This is what we are losing. And apparently this is just the start. Next year will bring more!

The letter and the news of recent weeks have provided a pause for reflection on what the heck is going on. Each time it crosses my mind I come to the same conclusion and that conclusion is that Doug Ford (like Mike Harris back in the day of the letter above) is an IDIOT. This is going to sound like a rant from Howard Beale in the classic movie Network (if you haven't seen it...check it out) and so my apologies but I am tired of candy coating what is an obvious conclusion from the facts presented. I am tired of being polite and genteel about this. I am tired of being the punching bag for whoever thinks I have it made in the shade. I am tired of decision making based on justification such as what is good for other jurisdictions should be good for us. We have a world class education system in our province because we have forged our own path and not followed the hyper-testing, charter school, increased class size, squeeze more out of less mindsets of other education systems. Based on the decisions of the government of the day, led by Mr. Ford, there is no other way to put it. He is an idiot.

Why do I attend T3 International Conference?

I started writing this post when I arrived at the T3 (Teachers Teaching with Technology) international conference on Thursday and this is my first chance to really sit down and finish it. At the start of the conference, maybe out of a sense of nostalgia, I was really stumped trying to go back through the years and recall the first one I attended. I think my difficulty recalling that is attributable to many factors but top of that list is my trouble recalling anything now. 

As the days wore on and I connected with more and more colleagues I realized it was 2007 in Chicago. I recall driving to Chicago from Brampton, an 8 hour trek, right after school. Not too sure what I was thinking. I do know that I was eager to see what teachers were doing with the latest in handheld technology, the TI-Nspire CAS. But here I am in 2019 and this year's conference, the 31st, took place in Baltimore, and I ask myself the question, if I was not a T3 instructor, would I have come back to this conference?

Over that time, the sessions on the program have changed to reflect a changing focus in the math classroom. The TI-Nspire technology itself sustained a period of learning and creativity with its document model that connected a variety of applications. You could graph a function but also have it available for calculations on a calculator page or a spreadsheet page. As a teacher of data management, the device liberated me from the need to book a computer lab in order to work with data. There was a period where teachers across the globe were creating advanced constructions with the technology to make math more visual.

  

The technology advanced each year and opened up new opportunities. The ability to embed graphics into documents, the ability to collect real-world data with probes, the ability to code on the same device that you calculate the sine of an angle and the use of interactive math boxes (a small change that reaped big rewards). This is just a sample of the changes made to the technology but this ignores what else was being introduced to support teachers. The ability to monitor student progress using Navigator as students were interacting with the math gave teachers a tool for formative assessment. And the most recent advance has capitalized on the programming platform within the technology to embed more experiential learning with the use of TI Innovator and Rover.



The learning beyond the technology has also been rewarding. This year especially I was impressed with the closing keynote from Dr. Valerie Camille Jones (@drvcjones). An amazing amount of content and inspiration packed into only 45 minutes!

I have been fortunate enough to attend the conferences and see what this technology is capable of but that is NOT why I go back to this conference. It is of a course a part of it. The opportunity to see something that I haven't seen before that I can bring back to my own classroom and share with others is a big reason as to why I attend but I would say it is secondary to the primary reason and that is the community of learners that attends with me. I would venture that this is the reason that many of us attend any conference. The learning is essential but it is the network of contacts with committed and passionate educators that makes the experience truly meaningful. I know that in my time organizing conferences that the feedback that tops the list from attendees is the opportunity to share and talk with other teachers. And so it is with me and T3. The opportunity to sit and talk with Canadian educators like Tom Steinke (@tomsteinke), Rick Snow (@ricksnowaputi), Darryl Marchand, Fred Ferneyhough, Jim Nakamoto, and Kevin Spry (@kspry) to name just a few. There are friends scattered across the states that I look forward to seeing and learning from like Michelle Reinhart (@HowWeTeach), Todd Morstein, Betty Gasque, Corey Boby and the list could go on and on. This is the reason I scrambled to make my plans for the days I would be absent and rushed to the airport for a flight to Baltimore this year (being away from the cold and snow played no part in it). And this is the reason I will go back again. There is other technology out there and I know it does amazing things. But more important than what the technology can do is who is using that technology and how are they using it. It is that committed community that sees the potential to impact student learning for the better that drives me (and I would say all of us) to take the risk and become a learner again.