Episode 6.7: Serendipitous Back to School Ramblings

Serendipity gets tossed around as a synonym for “surprise,” but we want the real thing: the unexpected moment that actually matters because you notice it, connect it, and do something with it. We kick off on Serendipity Day with stories, definitions, and the funny contradiction of trying to “plan” a happy accident. 

That curiosity leads us straight into late summer and the start of the school year. We talk school start dates across the US, why some communities hold tight to a post Labor Day calendar, and why other places begin earlier based on climate, local norms, or logistics. From there we take on year-round school, not as 50 weeks of class, but as a different academic calendar with shorter, more frequent breaks. We also wrestle with a bigger idea: could more school days reduce stress if we stop packing every day like a sprint? The heart of the conversation is what a more human school day could look like. 

If you enjoyed this kind of practical, reflective talk about teaching, learning, and school systems, subscribe, share the episode with an educator friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What’s one change that would make school feel more human?

The More Math for More People Podcast is produced by CPM Educational Program.
Learn more at CPM.org
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Email: cpmpodcast@cpm.org

Transcript

Serendipity Day And Its Meaning

Joel 0:17

Listening to the More Math for More People podcast, an outreach of CPM Educational Program. Boom

Misty 0:31

OkAy, Joel,

Joel 0:32

Yes

Misty 0:34

it's August 18th.

Joel 0:35

It is August 18th

Misty 0:37

Do you know what day it is

Joel 0:38

I do.

Misty 0:39

than it's August 18th?

Joel 0:41

It's a

Misty 0:41

of a weird thing to say what, like, day it was and then ask you what day it is.

Joel 0:44

it's Tuesday.

Misty 0:46

Oh, It is Tuesday, August 18th. What is the day of... that we are celebrating

Joel 0:52

celebration of Serendipity Day

Misty 0:56

Serendipity Day. It's kind of fun, fun to

Joel 0:59

It is kind of as fast. I, I don't think I've said it out loud like that. It was fun to say.

Misty 1:04

Serendipity.

Joel 1:05

Yes

Misty 1:07

Okay, I wa- every time I think of serendipity, I think of the story of, of Archimedes,

Joel 1:12

Oh

Misty 1:14

right? Do you know the story of

Joel 1:16

The buoyancy

Misty 1:17

of Archimedes, yes, and when he, like, discovers buoyancy, and then he's so excited and he yells, "Eureka," supposedly,

Joel 1:24

Runs naked. Yeah

Misty 1:26

Yeah, this is, we all know this story, which is probably mostly false. But that, to me, was like when I... I think someone gave me that as a, an example, this story, as a, like, as a, uh, example of serendipity.

Joel 1:43

Okay.

Misty 1:43

Maybe it was a book I read or

Joel 1:45

I could see that. You don't, you don't celebrate Archimedes Day by jumping in the tub and then running through the streets

Misty 1:51

don't have a tub

Joel 1:52

Oh.

Misty 1:52

but I mean, even when I did, no.

Joel 1:55

All right. The

Misty 1:56

But now, uh, now, now that's not even possible

Joel 1:58

the thing I think about the most when I think about it is the movie

Misty 2:02

The movie

Joel 2:02

with, yeah, with John Cusack, Kate Beckinsale. Yeah

Misty 2:07

movie. Hmm. Okay.

Joel 2:10

comedy

Misty 2:12

That's, that's not surprising. I would've guessed any movie called Serendipity was gonna be a rom-com.

Joel 2:18

Did, well, did you see Serendipity

Misty 2:21

N- no. I haven't seen Serendipity one,

Joel 2:24

isn't, there isn't a Serendipity 2.

Misty 2:25

Oh. All right. Ah. So how do you ser- how-- I mean, so the, the thing with serendipity, right, is that it's not like... It's kind of like not really by accident. It's more by coincidence, right? Like this sudden, like, flash of insight

Joel 2:43

a s- it's a s- s- a surprise. Something unique. Yeah

Misty 2:47

So how do you plan something serendipitous?

Joel 2:51

Well, there's a way that you can celebrate here by, by, by engaging in expected Serendipity Day deals.

Misty 3:02

Expected Serendipity Day deals?

Joel 3:05

So if you go

Misty 3:05

flash deals or something,

Joel 3:07

so

Misty 3:07

like to buy things?

Joel 3:09

Etsy, Trader Joe's, gonna

Misty 3:11

have Serendipity Da- Day deals?

Joel 3:13

they have se- and you can plan for it, I guess.

Misty 3:16

Okay. All right,

Joel 3:19

Yeah. Interesting.

Misty 3:20

that's, uh... I mean, like I just, part of me is like, "Okay, but I'm gonna have to pretend I don't know about them

Joel 3:27

Mm-hmm.

Misty 3:28

in some way," and just be like, "Oh!

Joel 3:30

yeah, just we just got

Misty 3:33

And, and it still might be fun, but it would also feel a little

Joel 3:36

That's true. I feel like my-- I have like a daily fact calendar that's kind of serendipitous. Like I look, I forward to the day. It's a surprise of what information will be given to me

Misty 3:49

Hmm. Does it really-- Is that-- I mean, I don't think just, I don't think serendipity is just a surprise, though.

Joel 3:54

Hmm. Unex- well, it's unexpected

Misty 3:57

is like also like, like I always feel like there's like a flash of insight or making some connection or like going, "Aha!" Right? Like serendipity is not just, "I didn't know that Amazon was bringing me a package today. Look at, that's cool." It's, it's... I think it has a little more like... I don't know what I'm trying to

Joel 4:17

Yeah. Well, it's saying here that it's a, it's a way of life that

Misty 4:21

That's a what?

Joel 4:22

It's a way of

Misty 4:22

Serendipity is a way of

Joel 4:24

that you're on the lookout for unexpected

Misty 4:27

Oh

Joel 4:27

that will pleasantly surprise you.

Misty 4:30

I see. I see. I mean, I, you know, um, when I walk Bella right now, this is at, like, prime time to when I'm walking Bella to find crow feathers, I think the crows are molting right now, so there's, like, big crow feathers everywhere. And so I could consider it to be serendipitous that I found a crow felter, feather, but it doesn't do anything other than I'm like, "Oh, look, it's a crow feather." I don't know.

Joel 4:56

It's kind of serendipitous, I guess

Misty 4:58

serendipitous. I mean, it would be more like if I needed a crow feather for something, and then I was like, "Oh, here's one right

Joel 5:03

Yeah

Misty 5:04

That would feel more serendipitous in the context of serendipity

Joel 5:08

Hmm. Well, when was the w- word first used, do you think? In other words, when was it invented?

Misty 5:16

When was serendipity invented? Uh, I'm gonna say that seren- the word serendipity probably goes back to, like, ancient Greece or something.

Joel 5:25

Oh.

Misty 5:25

'Cause, I mean, again, I'm going with the Socrates thing. Or not the Socrates,

Joel 5:29

It could, it could have been, but it was recorded here in 1754.

Misty 5:33

But no.

Joel 5:35

when it, the word is first used.

Misty 5:37

the word. Oh my gosh. People... Someone just said it and everyone's like, "What does that mean?" And they're like, "It means this." And then

Joel 5:44

It's the, it's the United Kingdom's favorite word. I don't know if I believe that either. That's what it says. I don't know if I

Misty 5:52

These are very unsur-- these are surprising facts, but I would not call them serendipity, serendipitous. Oh my

Joel 6:00

How would you celebrate Serendipity Day?

Misty 6:02

Other than look for serendipity sales, um I, y- I'm, I... What else? I don't know

Joel 6:10

So you could watch a film about serendipity. So I mentioned one earlier called Serendipity. Um, the other ones, they also seem like ro- romantic comedies,

Misty 6:23

Interesting.

Joel 6:26

The Holiday, I saw that one. Leap Year, I did not see that one, I don't think. Or Sleepless in Seattle.

Misty 6:34

Oh, yeah.

Joel 6:35

Yeah

Misty 6:36

You-- I, th-- I, yeah, I can see that. Y- it's-- I'm, I'm amused that it does appear you have watched far more rom-coms than I have.

Joel 6:44

That's probably true. Well, I know it's true.

Misty 6:47

I'm

Joel 6:47

Yeah. We just experie- we just, uh, define that. So another thing you could do is you could go to a serendipity cafe

Misty 6:56

What, what does that

Joel 6:57

It says you can pay a visit to a Serendipity café closest to you.

Misty 7:03

Huh.

Joel 7:04

The closest

Ways To Celebrate Serendipity

Joel 7:05

to you listed here is Seattle, Washington

Misty 7:09

Oh, that's, that's pretty far. I'm not gonna go to Seattle for a

Joel 7:12

And it's called Serendipity Cafe.

Misty 7:14

Oh, wow. Okay. Is there like a whole bunch of them called Serendip- like that have the same name, like a franchise or something?

Joel 7:22

there's Serendipity III Cafe in New York.

Misty 7:27

Serendipity the Third?

Joel 7:29

there's Serendipity Coffee Company,

Misty 7:32

Ah,

Joel 7:32

maybe that's what it comes from. Or you can just do something unexpected and wonderful. J- just perform a random act of kindness

Misty 7:41

Okay, well, I just started writing serendipity into my browser, and I have learned that there is a Serendipity Spa Salon in Vancouver, Washington, which is not very far from me. There is also a Serendipity Ice Cream Shop in McMinnville, Oregon, which is a little bit further and would take longer to get to, but not very far from me either. Interesting enough. So I could go to the Serendipity Spa Salon

Joel 8:14

You could. Is that how you-- Is that what you're gonna do?

Misty 8:17

18th. I, I, I might. I might. I just might. What are you going to

Joel 8:22

I'm gonna leave it random. I'm gonna...

Misty 8:24

You're just gonna wait for something to serendipitously happen?

Joel 8:27

to do. I'm gonna do something serendipitous.

Misty 8:30

I

Joel 8:31

Yeah

Misty 8:32

cool. All right, well, report back.

Joel 8:35

will.

Misty 8:35

Okay,

Joel 8:36

See ya

Misty 8:54

Well, it's the middle of August, and some people have been back in school for, like, weeks. Yeah, I know. That's what I'm saying. Some people have been back in

Why School Starts So Early

Misty 9:05

school for, like, a month already or something. I don't know. That's crazy.

Joel 9:09

It's so different than when I grew

Misty 9:11

around here it's still, uh, Labor Day. People don't go back. I mean, if Labor Day is really late, like, as late as Labor Day goes, and sometimes it's, like, right before Labor Day, but it's not any earlier than that

Joel 9:29

I think this is one of those years where it's late

Misty 9:32

Mm, yeah, I think it's like the sixth or seventh. So they might start like... But still it'd be September 'cause, yeah. So

Joel 9:43

I know in Minnesota it was, I think it was written in the law, something about Labor Day, but coincided with the end of the state fair, coincided with like farming communities, harvest, all that sort of a thing.

Misty 9:58

Yeah, I, I mean, and, and that's still true most places here. I remember when I was still in the classroom, I think there was one year we started, like, August 31st or something like that 'cause it was, it was really late. And and it was, it was terrible because, like, only half the kids came that first week. Like, I remember they were all like, "Oh, no, we're still on vacation," you know? And they had vacations plan- you know, all the way up through Labor Day. So yeah, it didn't really behoove us to start, try to start earlier. So, yeah. It's, it is. I, I think it, like, I get it, like, in some places where, I mean, one of, like you're saying, like, for most people, kids aren't home working on the farms and so on through all the summer, and so we have this calendar that's still really tied to a more agrarian society, right? And which is not ne- not necessarily true from-- It is true in some places, but definitely not in most. And but I think that also, like, there's places I, I know, like in the deeper South and stuff, they start in, you know, July or whatever because nobody wants to be outside then anyway. Yeah,

Joel 11:05

Arizona. Yeah

Misty 11:06

the best time of the weather to be out there is in the spring or, you know, in the winter even, so

Joel 11:14

There's places here in Utah that have extra time off during the January time, go skiing and things like that, you know?

Misty 11:23

Yeah, there's a lot of, uh... So

Year-Round School And More Days

Misty 11:25

year, year-round school, do you think that's a thing that'll ever happen?

Joel 11:32

Well, it sort of is

Misty 11:33

widespread. I mean, it's clearly happening and so I didn't mean,

Joel 11:36

I gotcha

Misty 11:37

at all

Joel 11:39

I, I, I hope so, actually. I, I'm a believer that there should be more school days in a school

Misty 11:46

So you want it to be not just year-round, but longer year also. Interesting.

Joel 11:51

I think that would be good. I'm often, uh, I don't wanna say criticized, but often my teacher friends tell me, "What are you thinking?"

Misty 12:03

They don't want more days? Yeah. I mean, they...

Joel 12:08

More days seem good. Think of all the labs you could do or, like, think of all the thinking time.

Misty 12:14

I think there's this little bit of, like, there, if there's more days, in some ways, not every day has to feel so packed maybe as well, right? Like, there's, even in the, what are 180 days, 186 days, wherever it is in, in various places, there's a lot of days that are like, quote unquote, we'll say wasted, but like are used on other things that are not academics, right? Or disrupted or what have you. And then the other days become really packed 'cause they're like, "Well, we have to get all this learning still into the same amount of ti- you know, smaller amount of time." I really, I-- The thing that I think I would most want to be different about the school day is that there weren't so many, kids weren't trying to learn so many things at the same time. Like,

Joel 13:00

Hmm.

Misty 13:01

middle schools that I go to, yeah, and there's like, they have like eight periods every

The School Day Feels Inhuman

Misty 13:05

day

Joel 13:06

Right.

Misty 13:06

37 minutes, and I'm like,

Joel 13:09

And you're responsible for learning

Misty 13:11

reasonable for an adult brain, let alone a like 11 or 12-year-old brain. Yeah, and, and then, you know, kids can't sit still. They're like, they're just constantly, or they have like three minutes between classes, right? These kids are just like, you know. That, I would like to see that different, like the way the school day is structured be a little more human, you

Joel 13:35

Yeah. It's so-- It's interesting 'cause the-- I think that comes what? From the old days of factories and ti- there's a time and things like that, and you punch your time card, those sorts of things. But I-- it feels like business has kinda moved away from that, like I think of all the...

Misty 13:55

Yeah.

Joel 13:56

time, so... And our

Misty 13:57

there is, I mean, there is a piece of how schools were structured, yes, was to create, you know, a somewhat, this is per-- There's some opinion mixed in here, I'll say. But a somewhat compliant workforce, right? Who, like, shows up on time, does what they need to do, you know, learns things, able to, like... And, and I, I think our world is changing and different, um, in a lot of ways, and, and schools are, they're like, there's just this huge behemoth institution that's hard to... They don't shift and change very quickly. So,

Joel 14:27

No, there's a lot of cogs to that

Misty 14:30

a lot of implications, right? We start changing how we grade things, and then kids, you know, can't get into the university 'cause they don't have grades that match every way everyone else is being scored or what have you. So,

Joel 14:42

Totally.

Misty 14:43

Yeah. Well, and I, and I do think, like, b-back to the year-round school thing, I think one of the things that I... I mean, I've, I've interacted with a couple of different schools that do basically a year-round model. But it's not that they're just going to school 50 weeks a year. They're still, they're still going, like, yeah. There's like, oh, they're like two-week break into

Joel 15:03

two weeks here, two weeks there. Yeah

Misty 15:05

they do have breaks and things. They're just, they're just spread out more 'cause they're not really increasing the number of days really that the kids are going. A little bit, but not too much.

Joel 15:15

I, I like that model too. Just think if you were... 'cause there's families and y- as you know, that move around a lot. So what if you, like, started in a school that opened in July, but then you moved to a place where they didn't end till June? As a kid, you might feel

Misty 15:38

Egypt?

Joel 15:38

like sh-

Misty 15:38

don't know.

Joel 15:39

I got the, yeah, I got the slight, the slight end of that sword. Ugh

Misty 15:45

Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah. I mean, being able to, like, move between schools is a whole 'nother... There's a whole 'nother can of worms in there, for sure. Like, the number, you know. I mean, you know, as a person who went to seven elementary schools, right? Uh, I did, I did do the same spelling book twice. I remember very, very clearly. I was like, "I already did this spelling book," and the teacher didn't have any other option to give me. Like, this was whatever, you know. I'm

Joel 16:15

know you're a good speller

Misty 16:16

I mean, I learned those words really well.

Joel 16:20

Mm-hmm.

Misty 16:22

But, uh, yeah, like that, that whole sort of moving between schools is a whole 'nother, whole 'nother piece. But, yeah, there's, uh, there's so much around school structure, school days. How do we, you know, help kids become, you know, thriving people and adults? And, and it's frustrating to me that many of the structures that we put them in don't help them do that.

Joel 16:54

Well, and, uh,

What We Can Actually Control

Joel 16:55

I always find these conversations so awesome because then you start thinking about like, of the system, what can I

Misty 17:06

What's in my sphere

Joel 17:07

is my sphere of

Misty 17:08

sphere of control

Joel 17:09

Yeah. And s- and so then I'm-- am I just fitting into that system? Like, I mean, it's, it's tough the parts that you play in that, but to be reflective and think about how an individual can make a difference is... Those are good conversations to have too.

Misty 17:26

and I think that, I mean, as you're saying that, the thing I think of is that no matter what, one of the things that's, I don't wanna say in my control, but 'cause I, there's another person involved, but like the thing that I, things that I can focus on are the relationships I have, right? And what relationships I'm building with the kids, the people who are in my, in my classroom, right? In this space that I, you know, by and large have a lot of control over what it looks like, what it feels like, how we, you know, progress through each, each day, how people are treated, et cetera. That, and I think that's, that's probably, you know, I'm gonna say it's at least as important as the math.

Joel 18:12

Yes, if not more

Misty 18:13

wanted to say more.

Joel 18:16

Yeah

Misty 18:17

sure. That's, so yeah. So it's, but it's, it's interesting just thinking about, you know, all these different, all these different situations and then

Joel 18:29

Yes

Misty 18:30

trying to make it work.

Joel 18:33

Absolutely. And then I guess we're in that time of year, we were just talking like at the start of the school year and things like that. And I find the teachers I'm working with now, lots of optimism this time of year. And so as we work through the school year to keep up that, that belief that, um, students can learn and, and, and we can do it is sometimes hard, a hard

Misty 18:59

about, you know, that people you know, people sort of like, "Oh no, if we went to year-round school, but I need that, I need that break. I need that time off," 'cause, you know, teachers get really burned out by the end of the year.

Joel 19:10

Yes

Misty 19:11

but if we changed the system so that things were more year-round, right? Then you also have to change the structure. You also have to like say, you know, uh, more things so that, that, like change the structure so that it's not rat race, right? It's not just this like marathon to the end and then, you know, we, now we need, now we've all conked out, right?

Joel 19:37

And by no-- like I'm not, wasn't suggesting at all that we do more of the same.

Misty 19:42

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

Joel 19:43

Yeah. Let's, let's change it up

Misty 19:47

for sure. And there, I'm, I'm glad there are places that are really are thinking this way, you know?

Joel 19:54

Oh, yeah.

Misty 19:54

Anyway.

Setting Up The First Week

Misty 19:55

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So what, so when you started the school year, you know, neither of us are in the classroom anymore as teachers,

Joel 20:02

Mm-hmm.

Misty 20:03

what was like, what were like the biggest things you paid attention to? Like, you're like, "Okay, I'm getting my classroom ready. I'm getting ready for the school year." Like, what were the things that you, like really came to mind for you? Do you remember? Okay

Joel 20:16

space. I always-- I got rid of my teacher desk. I don't wanna say right away, but kinda right away. Like, there just wasn't enough space for me to be sitting down and doing stuff, so I... And we had a teacher's lounge where I had a space, so that, that was different. I-- And, uh, so I'd think about the physical space and how students were gonna interact with each other and how I was gonna interact with them. And then I also thought about little things about, what's a student gonna do the first day that they're in my class? And the answer for me was we're gonna engage in some mathematical thinking and some icebreaker collaboration, community building sort of stuff. And so I'd think about how that was gonna go. And I, I didn't worry too much about, um, the school stuff, sy- the syllabus or anything like that. And I, I had a limit, of course, that's where I could go, but I'd push that limit because I knew that my classes would change in two weeks. I would, I'd-- So I just didn't even worry about passing it out. I didn't need any of that sort of thing. So thinking about ways that I could change, thinking about ways that students could interact, and thinking about that, just that physical organization of how, logistics, I guess I'll call it. That, that's where my mind went those first couple days. How about you?

Misty 21:47

so a lot of my, like, preparing for the school year was like getting all the, like, the school things ready, right? 'Cause I generally knew who my students were, right? I knew, "Okay, great, we've got these students coming." Like, there weren't a lot of like last-minute registrations and, or new enrollments. Sometimes there were but not usually. It was more sometimes we were like, "Oh, we've decided to move this kid from the intermediate class to the middle school class." And so, so I, you know, had my school list and I would be, you know, labeling and getting all the various, all my, you know, supports ready, all the journals labeled, all the, you know, things so that everyone had it, everyone knew where their things were, so when they came, there w- all that was ready. So I did a lot of, spent time on that for sure. You know, I was in a middle school that was like a K-8, so I feel like, this is kinda funny. The beginning of each year, I think I was like, "Yeah, I'm gonna do bulletin boards this time." And I would like put up a bulletin board, and then that would be the bulletin board for the year because I would never do another bulletin board. I was pretty bad at bulletin boards. Um, so you know, there'd be something like that usually or some other like just what's, you know, what are the things that are gonna be up on the walls or whatever around the science we're doing and different stuff like that. And then I spent time with my cooperating teacher. We definitely planned out like what are we gonna do in the first week or whatever to like do some collaborative games, some problem-solving, some things to like build our, our class as, you know, a class all together, right? 'Cause we had sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. Some of the kids had been there f- in our class for two years by then, right? In their third year, and some kids were totally new. And so we always had this sort of like how do we help the kids that are new to the group feel included, belong, right? How do we make space? And, and there can be some really big differences in, uh, I don't wanna say maturity, but like how much you're a kid versus how much you're an adult between, you know, sixth grade and eighth grade, right? I mean, they're all baby adults, but there's definitely some levels of, um, childish, you know, they can be. Uh, and so it's, yeah, it was always, it was alway- it was always interesting. And I mean, it was a small enough group, like we, we could definitely build those kinds of things. Um, yeah.

Joel 24:14

That's cool.

What Students Remember Most

Joel 24:15

I l- I like the idea of small

Misty 24:17

No, that's, I still think that's, uh, I, I mean, small schools and/or at least small classes, right? Like, again, getting back to what I was saying about the, the relationship part, like, for me, that's, that's, that was the whole thing, right? Like, I- classroom management was not... I mean, we had various, like, throughout the time I taught, we had various sorts of like, you know, school-wide systems we used of like referrals and the, you know, whatever, you know, different ways of, of doing things to try and really help kids with their, you know, own decisions and things like that, and not just have a discipline system. And, uh, but really so much of it was around, again, around the relationships, right? It's like knowing, knowing my kids, talking to my kids every day. So, and that's really hard to do when you have 180 of them. Like in, that's starting to tax our ability, I, I like literally taxing our brain's ability to know that many individuals.

Joel 25:18

Well, and, um, I, I know that I always told my classes, my students, that they're-- they may or may not remember proving geometry, or they may or may not remember trigonometry. What-- I'm just thinking of topics. But they will remember how they felt in my classroom, and that could be good or bad. You're gonna remember 'cause I have those memories of my teachers and people that I've related or had relationships with, so

Misty 25:51

Indeed. Well, I think that's, I think that's our takeaway, right? Wherever you are, wherever you are, if you've started the school year already, you're starting it in two weeks, then yeah, this, you know, think through w- what's important for yourself and your classroom and, and we hope it's building relationships.

Joel 26:12

Yeah

Misty 26:19

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. and can be found on pixabay.com. 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?

Joel 26:46

It'll be September 1st, National No Rhyme nor Reason Day. we'll meet, we'll talk about things that just have no rhyme or reason. Things just happen for whatever reason that they happen, and sometimes that doesn't make sense. And then we'll make sense of them, but we'll acknowledge that that sometimes happens. So on National No Rhyme nor Reason Day, on September the 1st, we will see you then