Where am I now?
A true leader elevates the practice and craft of all members of their team. Including themselves.
I am sitting in my home office. I am calm and a little concerned about the spring (given the furloughs), but right now in the short term I am in a good state.
My six objects (it’s tough to call them random, because I certainly choose them from a group of like a 1000 objects!) are all connected to me somehow, either in my professional or leisure time. My carkey allows me to travel places in less time than otherwise, the puzzle of wooden cubes can change shape and is neat to configure in multiple ways. The book is a neat scientific curiosity that helps me think of the natural world, the wooden elephant figure has moved with me several times and comes from when I collected African wooden animals. The hat with the lion comes from ultimate Frisbee, I bought the hat to help support a Colombian team that had come to the states and it’s one of my favorite hats. The lighter is there for all of my fire needs, which include grilling and fixing pilot light issues with our heating (I was not so calm two days ago…)
With this project, I became more aware of how I configure my space. What is important to me? Is it the things that are easy to reach than others? My key, hat and book are all within arm’s reach, but the other objects required me to move around the room. I believe a leader impacts the room by accommodating and engaging those who are around him/her. They are all within arm’s reach, so to speak. A leader’s presence can be felt, but it should not be domineering. I feel most engaged and positive when I understand that my leader wants me to be part of a successful team. My thoughts matter and I have responsibility to my team and my leader. I feel most frustrated without an overall goal, a sense of delayed gratification for hard work now.
My six objects (it’s tough to call them random, because I certainly choose them from a group of like a 1000 objects!) are all connected to me somehow, either in my professional or leisure time. My carkey allows me to travel places in less time than otherwise, the puzzle of wooden cubes can change shape and is neat to configure in multiple ways. The book is a neat scientific curiosity that helps me think of the natural world, the wooden elephant figure has moved with me several times and comes from when I collected African wooden animals. The hat with the lion comes from ultimate Frisbee, I bought the hat to help support a Colombian team that had come to the states and it’s one of my favorite hats. The lighter is there for all of my fire needs, which include grilling and fixing pilot light issues with our heating (I was not so calm two days ago…)
With this project, I became more aware of how I configure my space. What is important to me? Is it the things that are easy to reach than others? My key, hat and book are all within arm’s reach, but the other objects required me to move around the room. I believe a leader impacts the room by accommodating and engaging those who are around him/her. They are all within arm’s reach, so to speak. A leader’s presence can be felt, but it should not be domineering. I feel most engaged and positive when I understand that my leader wants me to be part of a successful team. My thoughts matter and I have responsibility to my team and my leader. I feel most frustrated without an overall goal, a sense of delayed gratification for hard work now.
Rocking the Boat (Tempered Radical)
Rocking the Boat: How to effect change without making trouble is all about Tempered Radicals: who they are, what they do, what motivates them, how they are effective, and why that is important. The author, Debra Meyerson, presented several case studies of employees of large organization who are tempered radicals. A tempered radical is someone who works within a large organization to effect change. This is in contrast with a (non)-tempered radical who advocates for change from outside the organization, and see the organizational structure as an obstacle for their agenda. In that sense, a tempered radical really puts the ‘b’ in subtle. They have a very long view about progress and they strive to educate and convince their coworkers and managers in a non-threatening way. A tempered radical is someone who maintains a careful balance; they are at the same time a productive member of their company, but also an advocate for a cause that is close to their heart. Meyerson told stories of tempered radicals who worked to increase racial diversity amongst their colleagues and managers, who worked for flexible hours to accommodate employees with growing families, who worked to include LGBTQ non-discrimination in official company policy. Along the way, Meyerson explores the constant challenges that such employees face from their “behind the scenes” work.
How am I different? I actually see myself as the image of dominant culture in many ways. I am young, male, white, straight and able-bodied. I haven’t been discriminated against in any way shape or form, and I have benefitted from a significant amount of privilege. I don’t identify with any established minority, and my identity comes from my passions: math and math education, ultimate Frisbee, and my wife. Of those 3, I view myself predominantly as a math educator in a professional setting. I am the son of immigrants, and education was a huge priority throughout my entire life. Actually, when it comes to math, I am most definitely in a minority across the country in that “I don’t hate math, it brings me joy.” So, I see myself promoting math literacy and a joy with math to people that genuinely believe joyful math is an oxymoron. In particular, I believe I can effect change by introducing more racial minorities and women into STEM careers. I have been asked why I chose a career working with students who do not look like me. My response has varied over the years, but right now, I would simply say that it’s much more interesting and enriching to work with people who are different from you.
Where do I see myself on the continuum of a tempered radical? I actually think I’ve always been some sort of a tempered radical. Well, probably not as a child, but at least once I understood that human beings react better to honey than vinegar in the long run. Internally, I have very strong opinions against keeping things the way they have always been, especially if I perceive an injustice or inefficiency. I was that kid in class who always thought about the rules and policies and questioned the academic to the procedural. Yet, I never openly rebelled by quitting the system altogether. In fact, I get more satisfaction from the long game. It’s easy to just quit and blaze full steam ahead with little regard to the system but it’s harder and perhaps more rewarding to convince and bring people from within to your goals. As a math teacher and department chair, I will advocate for math, and growing the entry points for students to get excited about it. I will bring in other departments and ask, how can the math department help you? Are there some areas where we can collaborate? I want to rethink the way education is put together as compartmentalized and think about what truly interdisciplinary learning looks like…..while of course advocating for math along the way (Math is #1, everything else close 2nd )
How do I deal with some of the challenges? I think it’s important to step back and look at a larger picture here. As much as there are challenges promoting math within a school (it’s not just teachers who hate math), there are broader challenges with our education system. Indeed, I will continue to advocate for math, but as I write this I have just learned how the Board of Ed has cut 50% of our school’s non-payroll spending. So buses, field trips, professional development, equipment purchases for next year are all cut down 50%. Every teacher I know is angling for some sort of grant to bring funds into their classroom. At the same time, how do I act as a tempered radical within this system? I think we all have a role to show and advocate that public education, especially for black and brown children is not just a handout from the state, but it is completely negligent to have a regressive education formula in this state.
How am I different? I actually see myself as the image of dominant culture in many ways. I am young, male, white, straight and able-bodied. I haven’t been discriminated against in any way shape or form, and I have benefitted from a significant amount of privilege. I don’t identify with any established minority, and my identity comes from my passions: math and math education, ultimate Frisbee, and my wife. Of those 3, I view myself predominantly as a math educator in a professional setting. I am the son of immigrants, and education was a huge priority throughout my entire life. Actually, when it comes to math, I am most definitely in a minority across the country in that “I don’t hate math, it brings me joy.” So, I see myself promoting math literacy and a joy with math to people that genuinely believe joyful math is an oxymoron. In particular, I believe I can effect change by introducing more racial minorities and women into STEM careers. I have been asked why I chose a career working with students who do not look like me. My response has varied over the years, but right now, I would simply say that it’s much more interesting and enriching to work with people who are different from you.
Where do I see myself on the continuum of a tempered radical? I actually think I’ve always been some sort of a tempered radical. Well, probably not as a child, but at least once I understood that human beings react better to honey than vinegar in the long run. Internally, I have very strong opinions against keeping things the way they have always been, especially if I perceive an injustice or inefficiency. I was that kid in class who always thought about the rules and policies and questioned the academic to the procedural. Yet, I never openly rebelled by quitting the system altogether. In fact, I get more satisfaction from the long game. It’s easy to just quit and blaze full steam ahead with little regard to the system but it’s harder and perhaps more rewarding to convince and bring people from within to your goals. As a math teacher and department chair, I will advocate for math, and growing the entry points for students to get excited about it. I will bring in other departments and ask, how can the math department help you? Are there some areas where we can collaborate? I want to rethink the way education is put together as compartmentalized and think about what truly interdisciplinary learning looks like…..while of course advocating for math along the way (Math is #1, everything else close 2nd )
How do I deal with some of the challenges? I think it’s important to step back and look at a larger picture here. As much as there are challenges promoting math within a school (it’s not just teachers who hate math), there are broader challenges with our education system. Indeed, I will continue to advocate for math, but as I write this I have just learned how the Board of Ed has cut 50% of our school’s non-payroll spending. So buses, field trips, professional development, equipment purchases for next year are all cut down 50%. Every teacher I know is angling for some sort of grant to bring funds into their classroom. At the same time, how do I act as a tempered radical within this system? I think we all have a role to show and advocate that public education, especially for black and brown children is not just a handout from the state, but it is completely negligent to have a regressive education formula in this state.
Missional Thinking
By the end of the next 6 months, I will have nearly finished the summer and I will have started thinking about planning for next year. I have been thinking about how to change the AP Calculus so it is a bit more robust and we can focus on solving problems and projects during class. I would like to have at least few lessons for every unit planned so that students can see a small video lecture and then we can work on solving problems in class. So, my short-term goal is to start planning a few days of a flipped classroom. I know that I have been thinking about this for more than just this year, but I believe I can commit to it this summer, to set up the framework for recording a few videos and lessons. I think it will benefit my class because I can maximize the amount of time in class working on problems, and working through misconceptions together, for immediate feedback.
As a long term plan, I have been thinking about how to implement competency based progression. Currently, every class at Lindblom is set on a proficiency based system. There are a certain number of performance indicators (standards) and students strive to achieve mastery in the performance indicators. Competency based progression involves students moving through the performance indicators at their own pace, so it is possible to have students working on different performance indicators in a given room. We are working towards acquiring more laptops so we can have a class set in each room. These laptops will be useful for small group learning, especially when a group of students is ready to work on another performance indicator. Lindblom Math Department is going to be part of a pilot program for this, and I want it to be manageable, scalable, and useful for teachers.
As a long term plan, I have been thinking about how to implement competency based progression. Currently, every class at Lindblom is set on a proficiency based system. There are a certain number of performance indicators (standards) and students strive to achieve mastery in the performance indicators. Competency based progression involves students moving through the performance indicators at their own pace, so it is possible to have students working on different performance indicators in a given room. We are working towards acquiring more laptops so we can have a class set in each room. These laptops will be useful for small group learning, especially when a group of students is ready to work on another performance indicator. Lindblom Math Department is going to be part of a pilot program for this, and I want it to be manageable, scalable, and useful for teachers.