Vanessa Vakharia 0:02

I always say we're not all teachers of math, but we're all teachers of math attitudes, You believing in your students and making it clear that you think that they can make movement on their math journey speaks louder than any curriculum you're using, and you are already doing that. So take a moment to celebrate your progress, and take a moment to make a list of all of the stones that you can move this week and next week, even if you can't move that mountain.

5 strategies for finding The Middle Path

Vanessa Vakharia 0:32

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Math Therapy, and this one has been a long time coming. Okay, the school year is underway, and I know, because you guys have messaged me, that some of you are already feeling discouraged. You're already feeling like, "Oh my God, I feel like I can't do any of the stuff I wanna do in my classroom. I feel like all of the professional development and learning and reading I've done over the summer is just, like, out the window because I'm being forced to use a curriculum that I hate, and all that anyone cares about are test scores, and I feel like I can't do anything I wanna do." This episode is for you. If that is what you're feeling, this episode is directly a piggyback off of my interview with Chase. If you guys have been listening for a while, you know what I'm talking about. Back in June, I interviewed Chase Orton in front of a live studio audience, and it was a heated episode. It got twice as many listens as any other episode in Math Therapy history. The clip I posted has gone viral. It is now at almost 300,000 views on Instagram, and there are thousands of comments on Instagram and TikTok. Teachers saying they have never felt more seen than they felt while listening to my interview with Chase Orton, because that interview was about exactly this, the feeling that your hands are tied, you're being forced to use a curriculum you don't believe in, and all anyone cares about around you are test scores, and you're feeling like, "What the F am I supposed to do right now? Because what I care about is helping my students build a healthier relationship with math. What I care about is my students feeling they belong, they feel safe, they feel like they can change, they feel hopeful, and it feels like everything that's happening in my classroom and in my school is counterproductive to those things that I want. What do I do?" Now, in my episode with Chase, we argue the entire time about how it's even possible to use a curriculum you don't believe in and, you know, exist within the red tape of some of our systems, while also helping students foster a beautiful math identity. And in that episode, Chase argued that the only way to do it is go completely rogue and throw the curriculum out the window, and I argued that there must be another way. Now, the most beautiful thing happened when I posted that episode and clips online. Thousands of you responded. I have emails, I have DMs, I have messages, I have comments of educators being like, "Hey, I know how you feel. I've been there, and I have found a way. Here is my secret." So today, I want to give you hope. I want this to be a message of hope to anyone who is already feeling discouraged, that you can do it, and I'm gonna share five strategies to find the middle way, the middle path, the way to exist in this system on top of this mountain where our schools are built, and to slowly but steadily move the stones that are movable. While even though you can't, like, dig up the entire mountain, you can't excavate the entire thing, you can move those stones. And all of this is based on, this one time I heard Brian Buckhalter say, "If you can't move a mountain, move a stone." And you guys, thousands of you guys, have given me ideas of stones educators can move every single day, even when their classroom is built on top of that mountain. So let's get into it.

Define our terms: what is "the middle path"?

Vanessa Vakharia 3:40

First, let's start by defining our terms. What do I mean by the middle path? Chase and I talked about it a lot in our episode. By the way, if you haven't heard that episode yet, the link is in the show notes. Go listen to it after this. You don't need to listen to it to listen to this episode. If you wanna listen to them in order, go listen to that one first, and then come back here. The middle path or middle way is a core concept in Buddhism and philosophy that means, like, a balanced life that avoids extremes, right? It's the middle path. It's the balance. It's not, like, complete indulgence, and it's not complete denial, It's basically refraining from going from one extreme to the other. Education often presents teachers with two extremes, right? Like in education, we're often forced to choose, and that's kind of what Chase was saying. He was saying it feels like we're forced to choose. Choose between what? Being like a rogue rebel educator and ignoring everything, throwing everything to the wind, and being like, "I'm just gonna run this classroom the exact way I want to. I'm gonna pay attention to nothing outside of these classroom walls." Or being like a compliant curriculum robot. Those are basically our choices, right? It feels like it's either like you follow the curriculum with fidelity or you like throw caution to the wind and like toss the book out the window But how do we honor reality without surrendering our humanity, right? Like, the reality is that we don't all wanna get fired, right? Because if we all got fired, then who would do the work, right? So, like, we don't all wanna get fired, but we often have curriculum that we don't really believe in and that doesn't do what we're hoping to actually do for our students. So how do we find the middle path? And I believe there's a way, and you guys believe there's a way.

1) move stones, not mountains

Vanessa Vakharia 5:16

Strategy number one to find the middle path: move stones, not mountains. When we think about moving a mountain, it feels impossible, but we are all, first of all, moving stones every day. You're already doing it. You are already moving stones. I want you to actually focus on the stones that you are moving in- instead of the mountain that feels immovable Education conversations usually focus on mountains, right? Like standardized testing, curriculum mandates, district policies, political decisions, things you have no control over, and that can feel very overwhelming. But what are the things you can control amidst all that chaos that's happening with or without you? Well, I wanna read you guys a post by Kari Zitter, okay? She posted this on LinkedIn about this episode. She wrote an entire beautiful post, but this is the part that stood out to me, so I'm gonna read it to you. She wrote, "This morning after listening to your episode, the one thought that really stuck with me was, 'If you can't move the mountain, move a stone.' As I get ready to begin a new chapter in my career, I think about math reform and how I can inspire, encourage, and support teachers when it's all so overwhelming, and it's overwhelming because so much of education reform talk focuses on the mountain, the mountain being systems, testing, policies, and teachers have no control and feel it's impossible to shift these. But Chase and Vanessa, you reminded us that the stones matter, too. Here's what a stone might look like. Number one, building in five minutes for students to talk about their thinking before jumping to the answer." I'm gonna interrupt Kari right now and say, regardless of what curriculum you have, you can do this. This is a stone you can move. Next stone, "Choosing one non-curricular task that sparks curiosity instead of compliance. Number three, creating a moment of joy that tells a kid you belong here, even on a day full of standards to cover. We know in our hearts that these small moments add up. We know that this is how we can move the dial every day in our own classrooms, even when the mountain doesn't seem to budge." Honestly, it's so beautiful, and it's so true, and those are just three things. I want you guys to think about all the stones you're moving every day. I love that last one, creating a moment of joy for a student. No matter what curriculum you're using, you can create a moment of joy for a student. You can give a student a specific and timely compliment. You can validate their thinking. You can find ways to let them know that they belong, right? All of those things matter. Regardless of whether or not the mountain is moving, that stone is yours to control.

2) use the curriculum, don't let it use you

Vanessa Vakharia 7:42

The next thing you can do to help find the middle path is use the curriculum, babe. Don't let it use you. Okay, so Stephanie Keith Baysinger emailed me, a teacher I do not know but now do. Love her, such good vibes, and she emailed me to talk about how she uses the curriculum. Now, I have to tell you guys, this was a major theme in a lot of the comments I saw on Instagram, right? Where teachers being like, "Listen, we get it. We have to use curriculums we don't believe in and don't like, but let me tell you this, this is how I use it. And I think that's really, really important. The curriculum is a tool. I'm gonna actually back up and say, to me, I know this is different, but this is almost like calculators. Like, there is a way to use a calculator that is harmful to math learning, and there is a way to use a calculator that is productive to math learning. It is a tool, right? So we get to choose how to use that tool, and a lot of the comments I was getting were like, "Yeah, here are the things about the curriculum I use, so I'm still using it, but I use it in a way that is powerful to me." There's a false narrative that, like, we either have to follow the curriculum blindly with fidelity. You know what I mean? Like, we have to just do exactly what it says, no free will, no thought, or we throw the whole thing out and reinvent the wheel ourselves. But here's the middle way, and it comes from Stephanie Keith Basinger. She writes: "my teaching philosophy is not a choice between the rogue disruptor or the mindless drone. It is a homogenous blend of rigorous strategy, content knowledge, and community building, and a healthy splash of subversiveness. My subversiveness is related to time constraints. There isn't enough time to do every activity in the curriculum, and for effective learning, I have to let students drive the conversation. When I let the curriculum pace run the lesson, my focus shifts from helping students deeply understand concepts to simply getting it done. I experienced that chaos this past year, and it only added to the math anxiety of our classroom community. I've realized that I don't need to reinvent the wheel. I use the curriculum for materials, but I now see that it doesn't have to control my order of operations i'm officially dumping the sage on the stage identity and fully embracing the guide on the side framework. Start with you do by letting students engage in problem-solving activities where they talk about what they know, and their strengths and gaps will show in the process. This allows me to intervene in the moment during tier one while the gears are still oiled and rolling, theoretically dismissing the need to pull students out for remediation later. The secret to this shift is building a community where students feel safe enough to discuss what they know and try uncomfortable things." So, like, basically what she's saying there is use the curriculum as a resource, but keep your professional judgment. And I love how she's basically saying, "I just start with a small group discussion," or, "I start by getting them to do something." Right? Like, start with you do. Let them engage in a problem-solving task that has to do with what you're about to teach. They'll show you what they know and what they don't know, and from there, you can decide what you need to focus on, right? That way, you're not doing every single thing, some of which may be unnecessary, and you know where to spend most of your efforts. So I really, really love that. And some things you can do, like, yes, you're gonna use your curriculum. You can change the launch. You can change the way you launch that task. You can change the way you start the lesson, and maybe you change it by a you-do activity where students are just doing something on their own. They're discussing a concept. They're solving a problem on their own, so you can see what's up within the first five minutes of class before you start the lesson. Another thing you can do is change the discussion. And add student thinking before the instruction, right? So you're still using the curriculum, but you're changing the way it's delivered. You guys know if you listen to my interview with Allison Mello, who I am obsessed with and love, go listen to that interview because she talks about how the curriculum is the chicken, and you are the spice. I, I mean, she puts it better than that. The point is, it's like, yeah, we have this chicken, but there's a million ways to cook it. You can still serve the chicken, but you can serve it in a bland, ugh, way. That would probably be me because, like, I've yet to cook, like, a juicy chicken breast. Like, I just throw it in the air fryer, and it's always gross. Or a good way, a delicious way, and that's, that's all about you, babe. That's about you and your expertise and bringing that to that chicken The curriculum can be your resource without becoming your identity. Okay? So that's number two. Second way to find the middle path.

3) protect the first 5 minutes of your class

Vanessa Vakharia 12:00

Third way, protect the first five minutes. Honestly, this is a thing. Fine, whatever. Let's imagine your class is 50 minutes. 45 minutes is gonna be curriculum-driven. The first five minutes, you can do whatever you want. You have five minutes to do whatever you want, and that first five minutes is going to set the tone. I actually just recorded an episode about this, and I shared one of my top three strategies to do the first week of math class, and one of those is about what you do the first five minutes of class. And my strategy there was upgrading your attendance routine. Go listen to that episode if you wanna hear more about it. But it was about how we can use our attendance check as a way to name all students, to, to ask them a question, to hear an answer, and to validate their response. But literally, in the first five minutes, you can do something like that. But also, you can use the first five minutes to get students thinking. Now, I will say, in upgrading our attendance routine by asking a question to a student. So for example, a student walks in the room, you're doing your attendance check. You say, "Hey, Sophie, nice to see you today. Would you rather live without your computer or your phone?" They say an answer. You check them as here. They go sit down. That took three seconds. You've said their name. You've acknowledged they're in the room. You've asked them a question, which means they've had to think. They're already thinking. You've acknowledged their response, and you've validated their response by saying, "Great answer," or, "Me too," or, "That's so inter-" Whatever. Five minutes, the first five minutes of class, students need to be thinking. I don't care what they're doing. Well, I do. But it needs to be something where they are actively thinking That can be a notice and wonder. It can be a would you rather. It can be talk to a partner about the shape you see on the board right now. Whatever you're doing allow them time to think, and bonus if you allow them time to talk either to the group or in a small partner situation. They are using their voice. They are using their minds. They are thinking. They're already active. They're motivated because they are being valued, and they're actually doing something, and they're engaged. And now when you go to layer in your lesson, they're already primed and ready to go If you can't change the whole lesson, change the opening. Okay? That's strategy number three, protecting the first five minutes. It is helping you get closer to the middle path, right? That first five minutes is so valuable. It gives students a whole bunch of things that they need before you get into the curriculum stuff

4) build your community

Vanessa Vakharia 14:20

Number four, community is not a distraction from achievement. Focus on building your community. Okay, this is a big one. I want you guys to think about community. How often... Y- actually, actually, I've got a great story about this. I went to a fitness class today I hated it. I hated it because it was really, really hard. Okay? I go to this place that's like, it's in an infrared sauna. I don't understand these places, okay? This like h- everything's heated now. I don't know why we have to be so hot, but it's like a fitness class in like a heated room because apparently it's gonna help us like sweat out toxins. I think the whole thing's bullshit personally, and I'm like, "I don't need to be like working out in a room that's fucking 38 degrees," which by the way is like 100 something in Fahrenheit, okay, guys? Like, why do I need to be doing that? Whatever, fine. I'm there. I'm doing it. There's 10 of us in the class, and the teacher was kind of mean. Like, she was like... Honestly, I did get an amazing workout, so I'll say that, but she kept being like, "The clock stops as soon as somebody stops." Like we're in the middle of doing like, I don't even know what we were doing, like jump squats, and she's like, "Okay, we're doing like 30 of these." And so like we're doing them, and then like someone would have to take a break because it's like you're doing 30 jump squats in a heated room, and then she'd be like, "As soon as someone stops, we reset the count," which is actually bullying and very rude. Imagine you did that in math class. Never do that in math class. But we all would look at each other and like roll our eyes and be like, "Oh my God," and like we had each other's backs and like, you know what I mean? Like, everyone in the room was kind of like, "Oh my God, this teacher's fucking insane." And even though the class like s- was really hard and insane, at the end, we all felt good because we did it. But what got us through this like kind of brutal class was us all being together, right? And being like, "Oh my God, do you think this teacher is insane? I think she's insane." Okay. I'm realizing this is a weird metaphor because we don't want all your students bonding because they think you're insane, so I get how this is now sounding bizarro. But like, you know what I'm saying? My point is that when we have a sense of community, hard things become easier, right? Like, that's why w- we have classes for things. That's why we have art class. That's why people go do yoga together. That's why we have running groups and running clubs. This is why we have walking circles, right? It's because, hey, it's easier to do hard things when we've got each other's backs and we've got a community behind us. So you are going to create community in your classroom Remember, Stephanie said in her email that the secret to her shift was building a community where students feel safe enough to discuss what they know and try uncomfortable things. That's what we're trying to do here. Regardless of what curriculum you're using, you can do that, I promise you. It's not belonging or achievement. It's not community or rigor. It's not relationships or results. You can have both. We can have belonging and achievement. We can have community and rigor. We can have relationships and results. It is a false dichotomy that has been set up. We can bust that right now So think about what you're gonna do to build community in your classroom, right? Maybe it is during that first five minutes of student thinking, you're going to randomly group students into groups of three, so they're all getting a chance to know each other and talk together. Maybe you're gonna create a classroom agreement. Actually, listen to my episode, Three Things to Do During the First Week of School to Change Everything. Listen to that, because in there I talk about creating a classroom agreement, and I have a free download for you. Go to that episode, hit the link in the show notes. But let me give you a little summary right now. A classroom agreement is essentially a co-creation we make with our classroom that's a- all about what we wanna see in the class. We ask our students, "What are things that would make you feel good in this class? What are things you don't wanna see in this class? What are some experiences with math you would like to not repeat? What are some rules and parameters that would help you feel good participating?" We crowdsource those from the classroom. We create a living, breathing document that we all live by every day. That's a great way to create community. Whatever you choose to do, just remember, community building is one of the most important things you can do. When you have a culture of math therapy in your classroom, even when you are studying for a test, even when you're doing a timed assessment, even when you're doing things that have traditionally stressed kids out or maybe led to some math anxiety, they feel safer, they feel like they belong, they feel like they can try, they feel like if they make a mistake, it's not that big a deal, which kind of changes the temperature. It turns it down, and it changes everything. So community building trumps curriculum every single time. And you can have both. The middle path, there

5) redefine success

Vanessa Vakharia 18:57

it is. And finally, strategy number five, redefine success. Again, regard- I know I keep saying this, but I'm like, regardless of what curriculum you're using, you get to define success. You get to do it. You get to set the tone that, you know what success looks like in this classroom? It looks like making progress. It looks like taking a risk. It looks like helping somebody else. It looks like learning something you did not know before, regardless of when you learn it. It looks like you failing a test and a month later understanding that concept. It looks like you writing a test on finding the common denominator and completely failing it, and then writing a test on adding fractions and completely failing it. Yet, in that adding fractions test, you got every single common denominator right, and I'm gonna give you 10 gold stars even though I can't improve your grade. Or you know what else I'm gonna do? I'm gonna let you rewrite that common denominators test. I know you guys, some of you now are gonna be like, "We're not allowed to do that." But, like, can you do that? Think about it. Chase did something really amazing in our session together. He asked the audience to answer this question. He said, "Fill in the blank: It's a great day of teaching when..." And then educators answered, and here's what some of them said: "It's a great day of teaching when someone laughs. It's a great day of teaching when a student feels confident. It's a great day of teaching when a student expresses curiosity. It's a great day of teaching when I see my students collaborating. It's a great day of teaching when I see my students take a risk." If benchmark data disappeared tomorrow, how would you know you had a great day? How would students know that they had a great day? Take those things and formalize them a bit more. How can we help students feel successful when they show confidence, when they show curiosity, when they model risk-taking. The middle path is doing this, right? It is finding ways to celebrate those things, celebrating joy, celebrating student voice, celebrating those things you believe in. And how do you celebrate them? Well, we can't grade them all. It would be great if we could. And you know what? Fi- you can find sneaky ways to grade them. You can find sneaky ways. If you are allowed retests, if you can find a way to allow students to retake tests, that is a great way to celebrate and encourage progress and growth, right? If you can do that, you are showing your students that you value those things. Now, we can't grade everything, and we all have different red tape by which we're bound. But it might be a compliment. It might be a sticker. It might be pulling a student aside and being like, "I really love that you did this. This is a huge deal, and I'm seeing this progress." Like, or, "This is amazing," or like, "I love how you took that risk today." Like, you can do that. Again, no matter what curriculum you're using, you can let a student know that you think they're successful, and you can set the stage for what things you honor in your classroom, for what things you celebrate. You can celebrate whatever you want. No one can tell you what to celebrate. No one can tell you when you're allowed to pop a confetti cannon. That's actually not true. I've been told multiple times not to pop a confetti cannon, and there are signs in basically every single bar in Toronto saying, "No confetti, no glitter," because of our band, Goodnight Sunrise, because we popped one too many confetti cannons, and no one wanted to clean it up. That's not the point. Remember, what we measure grows. Yes, we're measuring improvement on math skills, but we're also wanting to measure those other things. We wanna show students that we think confidence, joy, helping one another, risk-taking, productive struggle, making mistakes, like all of that stuff, we wanna show them that we think it's valuable, and we think that they are a success when they do any of those things. So find ways to do that, right? Find ways to do that. I know it's not simple, and I know that many of us feel so frustrated and confused and hopeless and like, we're just, uh, uh, like we can't move this mountain. But I hope you guys are seeing all the stones you can and are moving. I think I wanna emphasize the stones you are moving, right? You are creating moments of joy for students. You are showing them that they belong. You are celebrating their progress. You are giving them these moments where they're like, "Oh my God, math doesn't suck," or, "Wow, I never thought I was gonna get that." Those things matter. I always say we're not all teachers of math, but we're all teachers of math attitudes, and I think that really applies right now, right? You believing in your students and making it clear that you think that they can make movement on their math journey speaks louder than any curriculum you're using, and you are already doing that. So please take a moment to celebrate your progress, and take a moment to make a list of all of the stones that you can move this week and next week, even if you can't move that mountain.

It's hard, but it's possible!

Vanessa Vakharia 23:27

Quick little recap because so much just happened. Remember, to find the middle path, even when you feel like your hands are tied, I want you to remember these five things. Number one, move stones, not mountains. Make a list of those stones. You're moving them, and you're gonna continue to move them. Number two, use the curriculum. Don't let it use you. Use it as a resource. Use it as the chicken, but bring your own spice. Spice that shit up. Number three, protect the first five minutes. Make the first five minutes yours to do whatever you want with. No curriculum for the first five minutes. Make it all about student thinking, curiosity, wonder, joy, whatever's important to you. Number four, remember, community is not a distraction from achievement. Work on that community piece. Find ways to build a strong community and math therapy culture in your classroom. And number five, redefine success and celebrate it. This goes not just for your students, but for you. Thank you guys so much for being here. Thank you for listening. Remember to hit the link in the show notes to listen to that episode with Chase Orton if you haven't already, because then you'll see where all of this stemmed from. I wanna end this episode by reading a comment I got on Instagram shortly after posting about my episode with Chase back in June. "Believe in yourself and believe in your students. There will always be outside noise, competing priorities, and parts of the system you can't control, but every day you walk into your classroom, you still have power, the power to ask thoughtful questions, trust your professional judgment, and make choices that put students first. You don't have to move the entire mountain. Just keep showing up, keep standing up for what your students need, and keep creating the kind of classroom you know they deserve. That's not a small thing. That is how change begins." Thank you guys so much for the work you do every day. It is appreciated by everyone more than you know. It is appreciated by me, and most of all, it makes a difference. You are having an impact. You are amazing. You are incredible, and I know that you are doing all of this against all the odds, so thank you. Keep on fighting the good fight. There is a middle way. I strongly believe it. Chase, if you're listening and you disagree with me, I'm ready for round two, I do believe there's a middle way. Fight me, but actually, non-violence, and thank you guys so much for listening. I can't wait to hear from you. Text the podcast. Let me know what you think. Happy back to school. Love you. You're incredible. There's no one like you. See you next week, same time, same channel.