Rooted in REAL: Culturally Responsive Practice – Thursday Edition

How this part of the year breaks you, and how to keep it together through June.

The REAL Story

Nobody warned you the hardest part of the school year would be right now.

And you are probably wondering why?

For starters, September was relentless because you rebuilt everything from scratch, learned 150 new names, figured out who needs the window seat and who cannot sit next to who. And you sat through the same bullying and gang awareness professional development you have sat through three years in a row using the yellow Post-it note with the actual answers still folded in your work bag because nothing has changed except the slide colors.

October came and the honeymoon died fast, the 504 you never knew existed showed up six weeks in, and the students you thought you had figured out showed you entirely new sides of themselves.

November and December had you riding high on holiday cheer, excitement in the building, and the kind of energy that has you temporarily blinded to everything. Seasonal depression creeped in like a thief in the night and honestly it still wasn't cold enough to pull out your winter clothes bin, but did it really need to get dark the second the last bell rang at 2pm?

January arrived and you did not come back rested because you finally made it to the doctor and dentist appointments you rescheduled 4 times because their office hours are your work hours. And as the days drug on, you were constantly wishing on a star for a snow day though it seemed pointless since after the pandemic you no longer have real snow days because you earned your certification to now be an online, Zoom instructor for students who log on mostly to see your child or your dog. They have absolutely no questions about the math task.

February you opened your pacing guide and it showed you that what you planned to cover and what you actually covered were two completely different documents, right. And around the same time the mother of the student who had failed every marking period emailed you getting smart as if you had never once tried to reach her. She completely ignored the 6,739 emails and 200 voicemails from you that had been sitting in her inbox since September.

And now it is March. Some of you are heading into spring break, some are on it, and others just came back, but almost all of you are staring down a testing booklet with a roster that is not ready and pressure coming from people above you who have no real idea what it actually takes to pull off a successful test administration, and are even less concerned with how you are going to survive the rest of the year after it is over.

The finish line is visible and your tank is empty and the math is not mathing because though the finish line to the school year is so close, it's also sooo far away. That gap between how close the end looks and how impossible it feels to reach is what breaks teachers every single year.

So here is what will actually get you to June.

💡3 things that will actually get you through the rest of the year

1. Stop trying to finish or complete everything, because the reality is you probably won't.

And if you were somehow magical enough to cover every standard the district math coordinator told you to get through, the same person who has not been in a classroom in ten plus years and has not stepped foot in your building to watch anyone teach math this year, it still would not be enough for some people. Do not let that be the thing that takes you out. I covered exactly how to prioritize what matters most before testing and through the end of the year in Tuesday's newsletter. Start there.

2. Find one real moment every week that reminds you that you are actually good at this, and then give yourself your flowers.

I do it with a pint of Ben and Jerry's strawberry cheesecake ice cream and I have zero regrets. The moment itself matters more than the celebration. If it’s a student who finally got something you have been teaching for three weeks, a lesson that landed, a hallway conversation that reminded you these kids actually do listen even when it looks like they are not. One real moment a week is enough. Look for it on purpose.

3. Tell at least one person the truth about where you are.

Please do not tell the peanut gallery on social media because it’s usually a group of people who honestly don't care. But find someone in your building you can trust, like a mentor or mature teacher, who understands what this season actually costs. I’m pretty sure almost everyone around you is running on empty and they are not saying it out loud because everyone assumes they are the only one barely holding it together. You are not the only one. Find your person and just say it out loud.

Close

June is coming and I know it feels like it is taking its sweet time but it is coming. You are going to get there not because you found some hidden reserve, but because you have already survived every version of this year that tried to take you out.

But didn’t. So hold on.

New and Early Career Math Teachers in Urban Classrooms

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been reminded how rarely teachers are given space to slow their thinking down and talk through the work without being handed another strategy. Because of that, I opened a free, private LinkedIn group for new and early-career teachers navigating urban classrooms.

This is not coaching or PD. It’s a reflection space — a place to talk through what you’re implementing, hear how other teachers are thinking, and not feel alone in the work.

You can request access here:
​https://www.linkedin.com/groups/16349025/​
​(Manual approval is on to protect the space.)

Tiffany Smith, Ed. D., Culturally Responsive Math Specialist

Founder, Education Evolution, LLC | Creator, The REAL Framework™ | Creator of Mind the Gap Curriculum™

Know someone who’d find this helpful? Forward this email to a colleague or friend who’s passionate about creating real change in the math classroom.

Or tell them to sign up with this link: https://education-evolution.kit.com/a3118d8126