More Math for More People
CPM Educational Program is a non-profit publisher of math textbooks for grades 6-12. As part of its mission, CPM provides a multitude of professional learning opportunities for math educators. The More Math for More People podcast is part of that outreach and mission. Published biweekly, the hosts, Joel Miller and Misty Nikula, discuss the CPM curriculum, trends in math education and share strategies to shift instructional practices to create a more inclusive and student-centered classroom. They also highlight upcoming CPM professional learning opportunities and have conversations with math educators about how they do what they do. We hope that you find the podcast informative, engaging and fun. Intro music credit: JuliusH from pixabay.com.
More Math for More People
Episode 4.7: Where Joel and Misty dream about root beer floats and talk with Ashley about connecting with parents
It's National Root Beer Float Day! Joel has, apparently, already been celebrating... Do you have a favorite way to enjoy a root beer (or other) float?
Then they have a conversation with their co-worker, Ashley Boyd, CPM Professional Learning Specialist, about things to consider as part of your communication with parents as you begin, or prepare to begin, the school year.
If you'd like to engage in the Public Relations On-Demand Module in the Professional Learning Portal, you can find that HERE. You'll need to log in with your CPM Account to enroll and have access.
Plus another letter to and response from Dear CPM and a math joke!
Remember you can reach out to Joel and Misty at any time via cpmpodcast@cpm.org - send us your Dear CPM letter OR your favorite math joke. Just be sure to include your name and location! Thanks!
Send Joel and Misty a message!
The More Math for More People Podcast is produced by CPM Educational Program.
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Speaker 2:Boom. Okay, here we are, August 6, 2024, and we're going to celebrate our National Day of so what day is it today, Joel. Today is National Root Beer Float Day Root.
Speaker 1:Beer Float Day Root.
Speaker 2:Beer.
Speaker 1:Float Day. Yeah, it says don't plan a diet today because you're going to enjoy that root beer float.
Speaker 2:What if my diet is the root beer float? Diet it?
Speaker 1:could be.
Speaker 2:I mean, it wouldn't be a diet for losing weight, it would be a diet that was fun to have. Root Beer Float. When was the last time you had a root beer float other than today?
Speaker 1:Yesterday.
Speaker 2:Oh wow, yeah, you were celebrating early Like that kid that opens all his presents on Christmas Eve.
Speaker 1:In my household we kind of celebrate when everybody's done with their work day and we're just almost ready for bed. We have a lot of root beer floats in this house. How about you? That's cool.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to remember the last time I've had an actual root beer float, like actually put ice cream and soda in a glass or whatever and have it that way. It's been long enough ago that I can't really remember when I've had it actually that way. And I it's been long enough ago that I can't really remember when I've had it actually that way, but I do remember well, I had it as sort of a root beer float, but it was like a porter and ice cream, so that doesn't really count, it was. I mean, it was okay, I was, it was, I remember, stout, but it was like alcoholic beverage and ice cream.
Speaker 2:So it's not probably, it's not really the same.
Speaker 1:That was years ago. I was going to say when did you think the float started, Not just root beer floats specifically, but yeah, like when did people start putting cream and stuff?
Speaker 2:I wonder, I mean, why did somebody even make this?
Speaker 1:I don't know.
Speaker 2:How does this taste? Is this good? Okay, I have several things I want to say. So one when I was a kid, we didn't really make root beer floats, but we used to take and put vanilla ice cream in the bowl and then we would pour soda over top of it.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:But we had like Craigmont pop, so it was like cherry or orange or different flavors.
Speaker 1:Is Craigmont a brand?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like a Pacific Northwest, like a store brand. Gotcha, gotcha it was at Safeway or something like that. So it was cheap soda because that's what we got with the kids and all kids should have soda, but it should be cheap soda.
Speaker 2:But we would pour it over it and then eat the soda or whatever out and then it would be crystallized into the ice cream and eat that part and then pour some more and just keep pouring it on until we eat all that, until the ice cream was so melty that it just kind of blended together. But yeah, I wonder, so I also think about. Do you remember the show Laverne and Shirley? Sure do Okay, do you remember Laverne's favorite drink?
Speaker 1:I don't.
Speaker 2:It was Pepsi and milk, oh really, which I tried when I was a't. It was Pepsi and milk, oh really, which I tried when I was a child. It's actually not very good, but like Pepsi and ice cream. Why would that be any different?
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, other than it's Pepsi Coke and milk sounds good.
Speaker 2:I know.
Speaker 1:We can go there, but we're not going there. No, al, that's just what they had.
Speaker 2:So yeah, it's interesting. So it made me think about I wonder if people invented root beer floats because they had ice, but they had ice cream. That doesn't make sense, Never mind. I'm thinking aloud.
Speaker 1:Huh, interesting. What year do you think it was invented?
Speaker 2:1756.
Speaker 1:1876.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, I was so close but I had all the wrong numbers. What are the number of roots and?
Speaker 1:herbs that make a root beer float or root beer.
Speaker 4:I should say 16. 15. That's good, oh that was close.
Speaker 1:That was close. What's the percentage that root beer makes up of America's soft drink market?
Speaker 2:Eight.
Speaker 1:Three what year. A key ingredient of root beer called the sassafras root.
Speaker 2:That's what I was going to say.
Speaker 1:It was banned by the FDA. What year was it? Was sassafras banned?
Speaker 2:Sassafras was banned by the FDA. Fda 1919.
Speaker 1:1960. I also notice, and this is interesting to me because we have a co-worker that's from the Philadelphia, pennsylvania area, and they have. Philly seems to take a lot of ownership over some foods like the cheesesteak. Cheesesteak yeah, there's.
Speaker 2:There's some other stuff is there others than that?
Speaker 1:there's um, well, there's a food called scrapple. I think we've celebrated scrapple, maybe oh you know, is that okay?
Speaker 2:philadelphia cream cheese. Do they take ownership of that?
Speaker 1:definitely sure, but they have they not just a root beer float, they have a philly float what?
Speaker 2:What's a Philly float?
Speaker 1:It's authentic root beer floats made with their own brand of root beer syrup and ice cream. Wow.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, so it's National Root Beer Float Day.
Speaker 1:National Root Beer Float Day I will still be celebrating, for the next two weeks or so at least, okay, if not longer.
Speaker 2:Maybe today I will have a root beer float like a genuine traditional root beer float. I'll have to go out and buy some root beer and ice cream because I don't have that at my house, but I could do that.
Speaker 1:I think it's worth the purchase.
Speaker 2:All right, tell us how you drink your root beer float. Send us a message. Yeah, so it's August. Yeah, I can't believe it's August already. That's crazy. Time is crazy. I know Time is crazy. Yeah, I can't believe it's August already.
Speaker 1:That's crazy, time is crazy.
Speaker 2:I know Time is crazy, and so Joel and I have been thinking about what kinds of things we should put in the podcast in August, when some schools, crazily enough, are already started In.
Speaker 4:July.
Speaker 2:And some schools don't start for a month, so we get it's all over the place In July side conversation around and more than just setting up your classroom, organizing things like that. We've talked about some of those things in the past, so if you're curious about those, you could go. Look at other August podcasts from years before.
Speaker 2:So we invited Ashley Boyd, one of our co-workers Hello, ashley, one of our co-workers on the professional learning team to come in today and have a conversation with us about a little bit around the ideas around how to. Whether it's the first time you've been, the first time this year that you're doing CPM or the 30th time that would be a lot because I think our company's only about 30 years old. But you know, like the many times that you've done CPM, one of the things that I know I always thought about every year is how to communicate to the parents of my students and my community various things around the curriculum and so on. So we that's what we're going to have a conversation around is like how to connect and communicate to parents community the stakeholders right like just yeah, the teachers even yeah, yeah, students around here went back to school yesterday.
Speaker 3:Their first day of class was yesterday, july 30th, so they're back in full swing.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness gracious.
Speaker 3:It's an exciting time of the year when students go back to school and school supplies are on the shelf and things like that. Teachers are ready sharing pictures of their classroom on social media and stuff. So it's an exciting time of the year.
Speaker 1:It is exciting.
Speaker 3:It's fun.
Speaker 2:So what are some of the ways that you thought about engaging with parents, community members, about what was going on in your classroom?
Speaker 3:I think the biggest thing for me was transparency. I wanted to be able to communicate to parents, let them know what was happening in my classroom, so I would send out an info letter about myself and what the classroom was going to look like. I would add some of the research from CPMs through pillars so they would know the classroom might look different and I just wanted them to know what the classroom was going to look like, sound like, feel like. So, as they hear it through their student's lens, they have a background knowledge of what they're talking about. So transparency was really big for me through communication.
Speaker 3:We always had a parent night at the beginning of the year and the parents would have to do the student's schedule. They got to rotate through their bell schedule to see their teachers and I would always set up my room much like my classroom with a task when they came in, and the parents would know what it would look like when they came into the classroom. So they would have another next level of what it looked like to be in the classroom to understand what their students were doing that year. Because it is a different style of teaching, having students work together in teams and formulate their ideas. So you want parents to know what's happening in the classroom. They just want to know what's going on, so being upfront with them was very important to me.
Speaker 1:How was it received?
Speaker 3:Parents do love their students, right, and they want to know what's going on. They like to know what's going on and on the first parent night when they would come to the classroom, so I have them do like a small math task and then hanging up on the wall right, and they would stay up all year long about what their parents could do in mathematics. So I would always refer to that about the parents that came in in math. It was well-received, Some students. Of course. It was a transition to get to where they would work, working together all the time and always having to do that and there's. So accommodations were made as we were getting comfortable, but parents always appreciated a conversation around it.
Speaker 2:I think that's one of the things that I, as you're talking about.
Speaker 2:That that I'm thinking about is that transparency, right Of hey, this is what we're doing, this is why we're doing it, this is what's happening and this is the reasons for it. So that, and acknowledging it's a change and that it might be challenging, is part of the transparency as well, and I think for me, there was also this piece the confidence that I could hold around. This is a good way to learn, as opposed to some like hesitancy oh, I don't know, we're going to try it and we'll see if it works out and then parents are not feeling comfortable. So I think it's important, even if you're not as the teacher, even if you're not quite sure, like you can say yeah, this is a new thing, we're doing it, and I think it's challenging, and hopefully you're on board with the research and the why, and you can put that forward as this is the why, and this is a good why, because I think that helps assuage a lot of fears, sometimes with parents. When you can be confident in it, go ahead.
Speaker 3:Another thing I was going to say is I'm definitely honest with parents about I'm going to have your students struggle, but that's part of it is that is the best, that is the way to learn me. Teaching them to mimic or just memorize what I'm saying is not the route to go. So letting them know your student is capable, and I do think they're capable, and I'm going to push them. I always use the Goldilocks reference I'm not pushing too hard, not pushing too little, but I'm going to try to find that sweet spot. So if they're struggling, that is something you might hear, but please keep them focused on the practice, just like they practice an instrument, just like they practice anything else. Just help that mentality around practicing that muscle. So yeah, just being honest about the struggle too, because parents do not like to know their students are struggling.
Speaker 3:So, as long as you're honest and you're confident that I'm going to watch them struggle but I'm going to help them and that's part of the process. Things I think makes a successful classroom is having great relationships with your students.
Speaker 3:no-transcript and they know what's going on, they can rally around it. Parents can relate to the teamwork aspect. You always have to work in teams. That's something we all relate to, even as adults working in teams, having jobs and things like that. So that is something they can definitely. Yeah, we're just trying to teach them now at this level how to work together, how to share ideas, how to operate, have discourse, things like that.
Speaker 2:So it's relatable and I think there's sort of two things, two pieces, that I was always prepared to answer to parents about the two questions I knew they were going to have. I wonder what they were around? Well, is my student going to just be the teacher? And so I would be prepared to talk with that parent around what benefits there were to further explaining, to explaining their ideas not always telling because I work with the students to like, okay, your job isn't to just tell each other what to do, it's to help each other understand. And the benefits for the student that does get it at that moment of explaining to someone else so that the other person can understand is, is really huge in their, in building their own understanding. Right, like we know, we all make connections. We I think there's so many of us were like, oh yeah, I finally figured out how, like how to divide fractions, when I went to college and learned why we do it and all these things there's all those parts of as a teacher.
Speaker 2:We get to explain all the time and we're always trying to make sure our explanations are understood and that builds our own understanding.
Speaker 2:We, you know, we benefit from that. And so helping that parent, so to speak, understand what benefits there were and letting them know I'm not going to let your child just fall into that place of always just being the teacher. That is part of my role to help them do that. And then I think there was the flip side of the parent whose child, historically, is not done and they're worried that other kids are going to make fun of them or they're going to not feel comfortable asking questions or they're just going to sit there and do nothing. And then helping that parent understand my part in that, my job in that part of hey, I'm going to build structures so that they can communicate to each other and talk to each other. I'm going to elevate their status in the classroom with various techniques and so on, and so I think there's something very clear about being prepared to talk to those two. The parents on the ends they're going to have those.
Speaker 3:Those questions are probably come up absolutely sure and I was thinking too that when we were first talking is like parents have this mentality. Maybe it's the group work, like old traditional group work, where one person does all the all the work and everyone's.
Speaker 3:You have to debunk that right. It's not that. It's about sharing their ideas, constructing things together. We're all working towards the same thing, so we should all have this common understanding. And the other second question I thought you were going to say is you're not teaching my child, that sometimes you're not teaching and that's an that's a good come. It's a good opportunity for a conversation to ask okay, so what do you think teaching looks like, sounds like, feels like, because it's. It tells me their child, it gives me information. The child might need more in the classroom. They might have a different perspective of what a classroom should look like. That is another thing, because working with a team constructing your ideas, versus being told what to do and just doing it a bunch of times, is a different structure than what they're used to this conversation.
Speaker 1:now in August is three weeks into the school year. I would, if I didn't address this at the beginning of the school year, I would think shoot. I wish I would have done that at the beginning of the school year and so our back to school nights very similar to yours, ashley, was we'd have a moment where everybody would come in and we would do a background of philosophy and this is how our math program works and things like that. And when they come to our classrooms then they would experience a math task. They could ask the logistical stuff like the percentages of homework versus assessment or anything like that, but more importantly, they could ask those questions, like Misty was just saying too, about how is my student going to fit into this and how can we help that to be successful.
Speaker 2:One of the things that I think the parents of my students like initially, kind of like what do you mean?
Speaker 2:But then we're like, oh my gosh, so relieved about what I would tell them, is I said I would tell them I don't want you to help your student with their math homework.
Speaker 2:I was like because two things One, the way I set up my independent practice. My homework was really about practice and it really wasn't about we didn't count up rights and wrongs when they came in. So that was one thing I needed to communicate to parents and let them know I don't want your student to just come with a perfect homework paper that you spent hours helping them do. That's not productive and that's not what we're trying to do and that's not the purpose and it's not going to impact them. And the other part of that is that if they come with this paper where that you help them figure all these things out and do those things, then I don't know what they don't understand and I need to know what they don't understand. I need them to come in and ask me those questions and do those things so that I know where the class is and what things people are not understanding, so that then I can help them.
Speaker 2:And that was a huge relief for a lot of my parents, particularly going into middle school where for some parents is that place where they're like, oh, I'm not feeling as comfortable helping you anymore and I'm like, nope that your job is to have them write down a question to ask Ms Nicola tomorrow. Your job is to help them structure a space and a time and a focus area and if they've worked for 40 minutes we had some limits on how much time they could spend Then you could just. Your job is to write a note. My students spent their time on their homework practice today Done and they get credit. We talked a lot about changing that viewpoint or that mindset around what homework is, quote unquote, like the independent practice and their role in supporting the student in that way as well.
Speaker 3:Because CPM does teach math a little bit differently. So parents will see problems and want to go back to that, thinking of they can't do it the way they know how to do it. So I do the same thing. They can struggle with their students, like I'm asking them. For students to do is try to figure it out, try to make sense of it or encourage their student to ask me a question or someone in their team they're working with, because we all should be able to share and think and be able to talk about the same idea because it does look different, it's so. Just we're not trying to make them do it traditionally it's not right or wrong, but we do want them asking questions critically to figure out the math content. Good point, that's a very good point, yeah.
Speaker 2:You're making me think of a good conversation maybe to have in your syllabus even is to lay that out.
Speaker 2:I don't want you to answer those questions, I want them, but then also to say your role is to actually acknowledge that this is a struggle and give some encouragement and give some ideas about supporting grit and perseverance and such Well, and helping them figure out what's a question you could ask or identifying where you're stuck, like all of those things are those meta-thinking tasks that are important in continuing to problem solve and not just sort of just yes, you might stop, you might pause, but you know it's not the giving up, they're like just in the time response Absolutely.
Speaker 3:And as the math gets harder, we might have to remind parents of this. So at the beginning of the year it's good to remind them, but then, as the content rigors up, just remind them. Hey, this struggle. So maybe have a night if you can get your whole department together to do a math night, maybe mid-quarter of the year, just to remind them of these things would be a great idea. Sending out parent tips I know CPMS has some great parent tips that you can direct the parents to so they're getting weekly information on how to support their students, because they're going to need some support throughout the year as their students are struggling too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally yeah, and I think that that goes along with the idea of mixed-based practice. Right, you tell them all this stuff at the beginning of the year and then you're going to have to remind them. You're going to have to say, oh, this is what we were talking about, this is where it is, and I like that. You talked about the parent tips. I think you could certainly send those out weekly or biweekly or whatever you want. I want to point out to you and let people know inside the professional learning portal, we have a public relations on demand module that you can self enroll for and then, kind of like, look through the things that are in there. The resources are there. Help with some ideas around teacher transparency and designing a parent night, a back to school night whatever you want to call it.
Speaker 2:So there's some resources there for you as well. Go check that out and we'll put a link in the podcast description for it.
Speaker 1:And I'm thinking also like we did have that back to school night and we did do something in mid-year and there were many people who attended, but there's also many people who didn't.
Speaker 2:So I had some strategies how to connect with those parents. Did you guys have any strategies? So some of it was just here's what to expect, here's what the assignments are, kind of thing like rough for parents to have an idea. But then there was also a part of talking about here's what's happening in the curriculum or here's what we're studying, and I could put some pieces in there, because it was just a pager that we did every week and then I could talk with them at parent conferences. We had parent conferences twice a year, ash.
Speaker 3:Oftentimes I would pick a problem for them to talk to another adult about.
Speaker 3:So there was another teacher, or maybe their parents at home or their guardian, and then that would be part of the conversation the following day. Okay, did someone talk to another person? What do they think about this problem? And bring that in just to include them in the math and everyone's a math person kind of keep that going. And then, of course, I did well, not of course, but I did monthly newsletters to the parents and let them know what was going on for the chapters and things like that. I was not good enough to do it. Weekly Kudos to teachers. I can get it out every week. That's what I did.
Speaker 1:Interesting. And I taught high school and as a parent, I can even say my involvement changed as my student kept growing and moving into the higher grades. But I guess, very similar to you I mean publicly facing a lot of emailing I would try and call folks as much as possible if I could, for good or bad reasons and good or bad meaning, maybe behavior in the classroom or something like that.
Speaker 1:But I'd always try to make an effort to connect with folks and I had a number like five a week or something like that that I would try and reach out to specifically. But that was my strategy is try to just make those.
Speaker 3:Parents do love a positive call home. So, teachers, here's your encouragement to do that. Pick things, tell parents, students, perseverance is showing, they're a great team member. They're great at helping the class function. I love hearing good things, so that's a good. It makes you feel good too as a teacher giving that gratitude and that positive stuff out. So as you're starting the year, that's a really good reminder. Joel, send out some good phone calls.
Speaker 1:We need it and I think start it early, start at the beginning of the year, so it becomes one of your routines.
Speaker 3:Get the parents happy early, that you're getting them to work together, getting them all shaped up for society. They're going to be great collaborators, that's right.
Speaker 2:Comes back to relationships. Well, thanks for joining us today, ashley, thanks for having me, and if you have more questions or anything, you can reach out to us through cpmpodcasts at cpmorg.
Speaker 4:Thank you, dear CPM. I'm in my first year of teaching and new to CPM. This year I'm teaching Integrated Math 1. My Integrated Math 1 PLC and I follow the pacing guide that CPM provides pretty closely, making small adjustments to fit the needs of our students and our school schedule. However, I am struggling to get through an entire CPM lesson during our 53-minute class period. When I don't finish a lesson, I usually pick it up the next day, which then puts me behind my PLC's pacing. What are your suggestions on how to get through a lesson in order to keep up with the pacing guide? Sincerely, pacing in Circles.
Speaker 4:Dear Pacing in Circles, I completely understand your situation. I would like to give you a few suggestions or reminders that may be helpful to you. Be sure to get into the lesson within the first five minutes of class. You may consider using a timer and when most teams are done with the problem, move them forward. Also, just a reminder that all teams do not have to complete every problem. In most lessons, the first problem of the next lesson can be used as a launch and if it is not a review problem, it's a problem that leads them to what they will be doing in that particular lesson. I hope these nuggets will circle you back to your intended pacing. This is Adam Varnes from San Dimas, california, and this is my math joke.
Speaker 1:Why were the Romans so good at algebra?
Speaker 3:Because X was always 10 for them.
Speaker 2:Oh goodness gracious, if you have a math joke for us or if you would like to send in a letter to Dear CPM, please record your joke with your name and your location, or record your Dear CPM letter. You can use your own name, or you can use an alias and send them to us at cpmpodcast, at cpmorg, and we'll feature them on the podcast. Thanks at cpmorg, and we'll feature them on the podcast. Thanks. So that is all we have time for on this episode of the More Math for More People podcast. If you are interested in connecting with us on social media, find our links in the podcast description, and the music for the podcast was created by Julius H. It can be found on pixabaycom. So thank you very much, julius. Join us in two weeks for the next episode of More Math for More People. What day will that be, joel?
Speaker 1:It'll be August 20th. We're mosquito. I'm interested to hear some stories about mosquitoes. I know I grew up in Minnesota and in Minnesota the mosquito is considered to be the state bird, of course, and we know many diseases come from mosquitoes. We're going to talk a lot about malaria, probably. I was grateful when I moved to Utah and camping here in Utah is much different than camping in Minnesota because less mosquitoes, a lot less water, all those kind of things. So excited to celebrate on August 20th, world Mosquito Day. See you then, thank you.