Musings from Mrs. Galvan

I look forward to going to the CATDC Women in Leadership workshop every year as I find it inspiring and reinvigorating to hear the stories of women who have sought out leadership opportunities. Their stories are powerful because they don’t hold back. They share, earnestly, stories of frustration, failures, risk taking and heartbreak, along side examples of opportunity, success and exacting positive change. This year we gathered at The Skirball Cultural Center and heard from several leaders in independent schools whose stories centered around the theme of Yes...and, culminating in an improv activity to encourage better collaboration and communication skills. From Dr. Bryson's slides We also heard from Dr. Tina Bryson who shared her research on the brain and how it relates to discipline and engaging cooperation. Her talk helped me to see the science behind attachment based teaching and parenting. Say your student (or coworker or child or spouse) is upset and behaving b...

I miss blogging. I enjoy writing and reflecting. It is how I think, learn and improve my practice. Given research projects for grad school, doing more admissions work and revamping curriculum, updating this blog has fallen to the bottom of my to do list. Sigh. So, quickly, here is my to blog list (that probably won't get done anytime soon): 1. The value of students reviewing homework in small groups over a student lead presentation 2. Game in geometry - Name that Congruent 3. Math talk in algebra for writing equations of lines 4. Add a presentations section to the blog navigation 5. Lego Space Shuttle Three Act I made up and used last week in geometry to introduce similarity. Space Dude is 4cm and the orbiter is 26 cm. Not to scale. 6. Oh, and write my personal mission statement for teaching, an updated philosophy of education that includes how and why I became a teacher linked to articles and research that informs my practice... (this has been on the list since I c...

It was so nice to meet my new students' parents and say hello to former students' parents on Saturday. Back to school day is always a joyful, energizing day, though rushed too as I attempt to fit a 20 minute presentations into 10 minute slots! In addition to introducing myself and discussing course content, I want parents to know why I teach the way I do. It is difficult to explain problem based learning, game based learning, digital portfolios, mindfulness, neuro-plasticity, cognitive science backed learning strategies, growth mindset and standards based grading in 10 minutes... From my experience the last few years, it is actually impossible! Hence, writing a blog post to sum it all up is on my to do list. For parents who missed my break-neck speed presentations, or for those who want to check out the information again, they are below. I am looking forward to a great year of learning with your kiddos!

I have been home for two weeks. It has been a quick transition to reality, both in regard to family and school. Today is my last day as summertime stay at home mom so I don't want to take up too much time writing a long, thoughtful post. Instead I will share my to do list: Finish interleaving algebra problem sets Watch Tinkerbell and the Neverbeast with the kiddos everyday Make posters for both of the classrooms I will be teaching in this year Write PD grants for conferences that I want to attend Finish presentations for back to school workshops Decisively answer continual requests to watch a show or to have snacks Swim everyday with kiddos Host casual dance parties to the music from Tinkerbell and the Neverbeast Finish writing learning targets for Geometry and make the course more fun Buy fancy shades for windows Renew passport Sign kids up for soccer Make family photo book for 2014 Clean the house (lol) Plan a trip to Lego Land Plan play-dates for...

How does a month go by without reflecting on what is and isn't happening in my classroom? Well this month's excuses include: getting sick, parenting (they still can't prepare their own food, come on, when I was 5...), teaching, prepping and grading for my UCLA class , getting sick again, general end of the year hullabaloo, grading finals, grading final projects ( like this one  and this one ) and spending quality time calculating grades. I did maintain a well used "to blog" sticky note, so there is that. Like last year, I had my students write a self-evaluation-ish reflection as their last blog post for the year. I made small changes to the prompt and gave them 25 minutes to start writing in class. Also, like last year, reading them made me tear up. I would like to share a few of them, but these posts feel a bit personal and I don't want to seem too self-aggrandizing by linking to posts that were complimentary. To sum it up, while not all of my 86 student...

After 6 months of using Standards Based Grading, and speaking to colleagues individually, I gave a talk to the World Languages Department about my experiences. I use Active Grade and showed my grade book during my presentation. Obviously, that link won't work in the presentation below. I will add screenshots to the slideshow... eventually.

Coming back after Thanksgiving, I decided to use the spare ten minutes of class time usually dedicated to homework review to do what my kids call "yoga". Really, we do a bit of stretching in our seats and I lead them in a brief mindful meditation . I know it is ambitious to expect 13-year-olds to refrain from giggling while also telling them things like, "just focus on breathing" or "pay attention to the rise and fall of your chest as you breath slowly," but my students are awesome. I of course have to give consistent reminders to close your eyes, but overall they are quiet, calm and engaged in the exercise. Today while finishing our meditation, I shared with them the story The Station by Robert J. Hastings: “The Station" Tucked away in our subconscious is an idyllic vision.   We are traveling by train, out the windows,   we drink in the passing scenes of children   waving at a crossing,   cattle grazing on a distant hillside,   row upon row of c...

So every summer I make a grand, dream to do list... ...then every summer reality sets in with this dilemma: I want to spend time with my kids and take care of my home (where regularly during the school year, mystery sticky spots on the counter remain for weeks). So the annual question becomes how do I balance my ambition to increase innovation in the classroom and spend quality time with my little ones in a (sorta) clean house (I read Lean In ; I know I can't really "have it all"). Arg. I am (again) running out of time. What should I focus on? Here is the list: 1. Study for and retake the GRE s (my scores have long expired) and start applying to grad school. 2. Plan more PrBL tasks and games for Algebra and Geometry, even more, I want to get better at encouraging students to own the process and ask the questions and discover the concepts (less lecture... oh but what about all those videos I made to flip my classroom a few years ago. Blended learning environme...

Today I started each of my classes with a discussion on failure. My students were immediately uncomfortable at the mention of the word. They prefer sugar coated versions like mess-ups or stumbles. We shared our typical reactions to failures. I shared that I typically get mad at myself and say something like, "Why I am so stupid?" Others shared that they cry or ignore the failure or laugh it off. Resilience is key for success in learning anything, math included . #Caedchat on Sunday reminded me of this great acronym. :) I am reading Creative Confidence at the moment so the importance of resilience in the face of failure has been on my mind. I shared with them a passage on pages 9 and 10 about "self-efficacy." If we are afraid to fail, we are afraid to take risks, afraid to try. The fear of failure can block our opportunity to Learn and Grow.

I have been saving interesting articles and blog posts lately that all point to the importance of certain non-cognitive skills for our students to be successful. Below are links to recent good reads. Also, discussed here on This American Life  and in my blog a bit here . Kids need these skills for success: Focus  - Avoid Distractions Positive Attitude  - Never saying "I'm bad at Math" Resilience  - I haven't mastered factoring YET GRIT , hard work, growth mindset matter most. As teachers, we can't just teach the concepts. We won't be successful unless we are encouraging these skills too.

Last Fall, we had an interesting speaker, Dr. Dan Siegel , come to speak at a joint faculty meeting. He spoke about mindfulness and how to embrace its tenets to enhance how the teenage brain works. One point he made that spoke to me, was the importance of spending time reflecting and relaxing. After his talk, I started leading my students in mindful meditations (breathing) before assessments. This fall, our speaker Carol Dweck , spoke to our faculty about fixed vs growth mindsets. While her research isn't directly tied into mindfulness, her focus on the importance of the process and not just the outcome, follows the spirit of mindfulness: balance is key to well being. My (naive) hope is that my students will focus on learning and growth, and not merely on outcomes and grades. I hope that they will leave middle school as good people, and not just good equation solvers. Perhaps an effort driven, balanced-well-being environment is a lofty (hippy-ish) goal, but one I (the hippy alge...

I have been asking my students' parents to refrain from telling their children if they were bad at math at Back to School nights for years. Why would kids want to try at a subject that is hard if their parents give them an out? Here is a good synopsis , backed up by a recent study linking the anxiety of parents to the performance of students, of how and why parents (and teachers) should change their tone and " jump into the subject they once feared with both feet."

Yesterday we had the pleasure of listening to a talk by researcher Carol Dweck at our faculty meeting. She spoke about her research on mindsets . I enjoyed her talk and I am eager to put it into practice, though I think encouraging growth mindsets in my students won't be an easy, instant change. I consider myself a positive person and I try to encourage my students to have positive outlooks for success. I have also spent the last 6 months reading parenting books that warn against praising actions and encourage praising effort or simply summarizing actions to build self-esteem. In short, I was eager to hear her talk to learn more ways to help my students (and children) to succeed. Here are my notes: Fixed mindsets = non-learners Growth mindset = intelligence can be developed People with Fixed Mindsets are concerned with not looking dumb , believe talent in innate and tend to hide mistakes. People with Growth Mindsets will learn at all costs, work hard, pushing them...

Today in our opening middle school faculty meeting, our head of middle school shared the following video and thoughts for starting of the year. I enjoyed it. Thanks Jon.

In the classroom and in life, I am continually frustrated by negative attitudes, so much so that I have the following rule in my syllabus: Never say "I hate math". I strive to encourage my students to see what is possible and not to get bogged down by what is challenging. For example, instead of saying, that they are bad at fractions, I make them repeat that they need practice  with fractions and remind them that saying is believing. I love reading this parenting blog - Short Fat Dictator . Not only is it is hilarious, but it describes my own home life as a mom of two small kids pretty accurately. I hope that this post about the writer's confident two year old will inspire my middle school students to start each day with this question: " I wonder how many good things are going to happen before bed today?"