"Making Math Curriculum Count" - The GIPS Cast, Ep. 059

"We have to be analyzers and problem solvers. So the 'how' that we're trying to create [with math] really help support teachers in the experiences we need to put in front of kids so that they [students] are having to grapple with that a little bit." 


Math deserves a better reputation. 


Dr. Buhrman, GIPS Math Curriculum & Academic Coach Coordinator, is on a mission to give Math the spotlight it deserves.  And it starts in every GIPS classroom featuring Math education with one simple concept:  We Are Mathematicians.


But she’s not along in that mission.  Dr. Buhrman is supported by a number of incredible teachers across the district to help champion math education making it meaningful and enriching for all students.


And that’s where we enter the conversation.


Dr. Buhrman and two other Math-minded Elementary Educators, Danielle Dudo & Andrea Hermance, join The GPS Cast to share the details on our upcoming Math curriculum pilot, how the district is navigating the need to update Math materials, and why GIPS is committed to give Math a better reputation.


Because it's all about teaching students that everything is figure-out-able. 

Listen to the latest episode above or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.

(Transcript may be found below the episode player.)

#WeAreGIPS  
 

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Podcast Intro  00:00

This is Grand Island Public Schools podcast, and these are our stories. We are learners. We are educators in teaching hearts as well as minds. We are 10,000 diverse voices, and we're changing the world together, one classroom at a time. These are our stories. We are GIPS. We are GIPS. Somos, que efe ese. We are GIPS. Somos, G, i, p, s. We are GIPS. And this is 'The GIPS Cast'!

 

Mitchell Roush  00:31

Welcome back to the GIPS cast, a conversation based podcast exploring the voices of Grand Island Public Schools in Nebraska. I'm your host, Mitchell Roush, the Communications Director here at GIPS, and as always, I am grateful to bring to you new stories from all corners of our district, because here we're driven by our mission of "Every Student, Every Day, a Success!".

 

Mitchell Roush  01:03

Math deserves a better reputation. At least that's what Dr. Danielle Burhman believes. And if you spend five minutes with her on the topic, you'll be convinced too. Dr. Buhrman is the math curriculum and academic coach Coordinator here at GIPS, and she's on a mission to give math a better reputation, and it starts in every GIPS classroom featuring math education with one simple concept, we are all mathematicians. But she's not alone in that mission. Dr. Buhrman is supported by a number of incredible teachers across the district to help champion math education and to make it meaningful and enriching for all students, and that's where we enter the conversation. Dr. Buhrman and the GIPS math Elementary Education Task Force are in the process of launching a curriculum pilot in four of our schools. Why? Well, as our district navigates the upcoming need to update curriculum materials. Our educators want to ensure that we're making an informed decision, one that's as informed as possible, and to ensure that that informed decision is anchored in empowering students to be competent, critical thinkers, lifelong learners and, yes confident mathematicians. So I sat down with Dr Berman and two other math minded elementary educators, Danielle dudo and Andrea hermants, to get their details on the upcoming math curriculum pilot and how GIPS is committed to giving math a better reputation. Give a listen.

 

Danielle Buhrman  02:48

I am Danielle Buhrman. I am an L-for-L curriculum coordinator, and I specifically oversee all of our mathematics and an academic support coaches.

 

Mitchell Roush  02:56

Oh, thank you for being here.

 

Mitchell Roush  02:57

No problem. Happy to be here!

 

Mitchell Roush  02:59

Yeah, I knew you'd say yes.

 

Danielle Buhrman  03:02

You mean I'd say yes to talking about math?

 

Mitchell Roush  03:04

All right. Specifically, we're gonna be talking about two things. We're gonna be talking about math task force and all of the huge work that you and your colleagues have been doing to do what we call a curriculum pilot. I wanna go deep on all of those things, but first, just tee up for me. Here a softball question for you. We are all mathematicians. It's like your ethos. Unpack that for me, why? Why is that a driving force behind the math support that we give in our district?

 

Danielle Buhrman  03:30

Well, first and foremost, don't think of that too literally. It's not like we're all gonna grow up and be like formal mathematicians, you know, like writing proofs or anything like that. It's really a way of being, and it's really thinking as more as I'm capable of doing really interesting mathematics. And we want ourselves, as adults, our learners, no matter the age, to really view themselves as a capable learner and DOER of mathematics, so that any situation they come across, they have, they know that they can persevere. They have the tools. They can problem solve their way through it. And so it's really about being a capable DOER of mathematics. And so we like to refer to ourselves as mathematicians, and get kids hyped up to, you know, I am a mathematician, and I can do this, you know, even though it might intuitively feel hard or I might make a couple mistakes along the way, we can do it.

 

Mitchell Roush  04:22

Absolutely and that bleeds into, like, all aspects of student and human development, not just math. So I think that's helpful in all regard.

 

Danielle Buhrman  04:31

Yes, well, I mean, you have calculators on your phones now, so we're trying to really also change the perception of what is mathematics, and really focusing on reasoning and problem solving. And so we want kids to intuitively feel like I can do that, yes, and I might take some missteps along the way. I might have to try a couple things, but I can persevere, make some connections. And because ultimately, when you enter the real world, right, you don't have a math teacher like standing right next to you saying, Oh. Just do this thing next and then do this thing.

 

Mitchell Roush  05:02

Carry the three. Yes, do that.

 

Danielle Buhrman  05:05

You know you'll have that in the real world. And so we really, we want kids to know, no matter that situation, that they've got the tools that they need in their toolbox to reason through that situation. And they're a mathematician.

 

Mitchell Roush  05:16

I'm here for it. Our teachers are here for it. Love it. Yep, I love it. So what is math curriculum? And why is that work important when it comes to the way teachers teach students?

 

Danielle Buhrman  05:27

So when you say the word curriculum, there's probably two things that come to mind, and there's two things that we're really working with, and one of them is standards, which is not probably what most parents are interested in, but it's the world that teachers live in right to make sure...

 

Mitchell Roush  05:41

The state says you have to do this, or the student has to learn this.

 

Danielle Buhrman  05:44

And so part of what we do, regardless of the content area is we utilize those state standards heavily across content areas, across grade levels, to know this is the learning outcome that needs to happen regardless of the building, regardless of the grade level, etc. So we have just really equitable outcomes that we're looking for across the district. And then the other thing that comes to mind when people think of curriculum is the textbook or the resources that you're now going to use as a teacher to bring those standards to life, to bring kids into the content, you know, the how, if you will. So you've got the standards that tell you the what, and then you've got the resources that help you with the how, and that really shapes the experiences that you want kids to have. We do have, like in mathematics as an example, we have state process standards, which do elaborate on the how, and those are probably the things that maybe are the most foreign to parents, you know, the What hasn't really changed, right? You know, like we're still like adding and subtracting, multiplying and dividing, working with decimals and fractions, working with functions in high school. But those processes that the state says that we have at the district level, we have math commitments, those processes might look a little different to to parents, they look different to me as an adult, right?

 

Mitchell Roush  07:06

So I'm so glad you brought this up, because this was one of the fun things to watch with my kid this year. So my daughter just finished third grade, which is a really big year for math. Aha, moments, as Danielle dudo was telling me earlier, right? Like light bulbs, so many light bulbs in third grade math, because it's like, you've got multiplication and division and fractions, and you're doing all of that in the same year. And it's been so interesting to like, again, the answers are the same, but I've been watching her or helping her, and she shows me how she gets to things, or the things that her teacher has shown her how to do. And I was like, Oh my gosh. I would have loved to have known how to find the answer in that way, when I was going through school, because she didn't just learn the answer. She learned how to find it. She learned how to get there.

 

Danielle Buhrman  07:50

And how to explain it and draw connections to things.

 

Mitchell Roush  07:53

Absolutely, she could show me. I was like, how did you get that? And she could draw it out for me or explain it to me without a hitch.

 

Danielle Buhrman  07:58

So the specific what at third grade for you, like, when you were a third grader, is probably not that much different than the what that she's doing now as a third grader. Yeah, but we're asking so much more in terms of how we get to that point. Because, again, like my teacher, my third grade teacher is not going to be standing by me as an adult Exactly. Just mimic me, right? And like, do the same things that I'm doing. We don't have that. We have to we have Google for that. We have aI now to do those things, we have to be analyzers and problem solvers. And so the how that we're trying to create, which the resources that we bring in, or the resources that we'll be piloting, really helps support teachers in the experiences we need to put in front of kids so that they're having to grapple with that a little bit, and they're having to explain, they're having to use that academic language. They're having to persevere through productive struggle and problem solve and really look at a situation and say, What do I know about this? What do I not know about it? What are some of the tools in my toolbox that I already know? And the teacher is there alongside supporting but it's not trying to mimic everything that the teacher did. We're gonna we're gonna acknowledge that we as learners, and your third grade daughter, you have a lot of knowledge and information already. Because the beautiful thing about mathematics that we so rarely talk about is that there's very few new things. Yeah, from one moment in time to the next in kindergarten, you got a lot of new like you're It's all new. You're forming the foundation. But beyond that, there's almost always a connection that can be made to something we've learned previously. And so those ideas of connections and making those connections is mathematical reasoning, and that's what our resources will come alongside and support our teachers and our students doing to help them really see and understand those connections, because that's what makes math beautiful and fun and less overwhelming for people too, like, right? Oh, this isn't really new. I've been preparing for this moment for the last three years. It's just this little, itty bitty part. Art that I add on, and so it's helping us see that and that, again, that helps us all view themselves as mathematicians as well, because it's when you think about us as adults. There's a lot of adults that have a lot of feelings about mathematics.

 

Mitchell Roush  10:12

Math gets a bad rap.

 

Danielle Buhrman 10:14

They we do and we shouldn't!

 

Mitchell Roush  10:16

We're fine. I think some, I mean, okay, I'm gonna Vamp a little bit right, like this is one person's opinion. I think some of that is because when you think about some of the other core curriculum areas social studies and English, Math has that inherent I think some would say the word struggle, but I would say more rigor, like math has that more inherent experience of like, you've got to work a little bit more, you've got to try really hard, and then you have this end result where, then when there's this light bulb moment, it's like you really feel like you've accomplished something, but like it gets a bad rap, because you kind of got to go through a lot of other stuff to get there.

 

Danielle Buhrman  10:50

And as adults, a lot of us have feelings, because the way we experience math was very much through that mimicking idea, where I literally was just copying down everything my teacher said or did, and if I didn't understand it in the exact way that they were doing it, I was like, well, you're lost. I guess, I guess I just can't do math, right? And so what we're really trying to frame is that there's a lot of different ways to approach a situation, and there's a lot of different there's a lot of different ways that you can add and subtract, and just because I think of it differently than you, doesn't mean that one might be better than another, sure one might be more efficient than another given the situation. And that's something that we want to talk to kids about too, is how do we know which strategy might be the most efficient in this situation? But it's really trying to help them gravitate and see like we can think differently. There's not one way to get to this solution and and that automatically opens the door.

 

Mitchell Roush  11:46

That's healthy, right? Yep, that's that's, again, talking about educating the whole child. That's just so healthy.

 

Danielle Buhrman  11:52

And I and it's so much more fun.

 

Mitchell Roush  11:56

And it's okay to say that learning can and should be fun. We want it to be fun for the kids, but I just I enjoy talking to you and the math folks here in our district, because I do think it is a natural connection to so many of the other things that are important to us when we talk about problem solving, growth mindset, life skills, after school, growing and development, all those sorts of things like Math is a catalyst for a lot of that.

 

Danielle Buhrman  12:22

A great example of this is I've, we've been working as a task force team the last week, and I have 35 kindergarten through eighth grade teachers and coaches in this room, and I did a number talk with them, and the I asked them to find the product of 14 times nine, like a third grade problem, right? Yeah. We spent 15 minutes on this problem because of the different strategies and the connections we could see. And we turned it from something that was just, just find the product of these two numbers into this very interesting problem where 35 adults who are in education are like, Oh my gosh, I've never even seen that connection that leads into seventh grade distributive property and like just light bulbs were going off for them too. And that's what makes it so fun and interesting, is when we're really opening it up to make those connections between multiple strategies and approaches that 35 people could think of a very straightforward problem on the surface like that in almost 35 different ways, and none of it was not right or wrong.

 

Mitchell Roush  13:20

It was the product is the same. But how you get there? It's the journey. Yes, and you learn so much more through the journey.

 

Danielle Buhrman  13:27

That feeds into connections as again, they build and build and build from year to year.

 

Mitchell Roush  13:32

So you talk about Task Force. I I want to go deep on this pilot project. All right, I know that this has been a Pilot project happening.

 

Danielle Buhrman  13:39

I had no idea.

 

Mitchell Roush  13:40

I don't know if you knew that you've been working on this for such a long time. So I know that it's a lot. And I was that guy that was like, hey, well, you're in the middle of all this. Let's talk about it. But especially for our families, because we have quite a few listeners that are parents in the district that listen to this episode, and I think this is a great opportunity for you, Dr Berman to help our families learn about what is the exciting thing we're about to undertake in the start of the next school year. So talk to me about the math curriculum pilot, why it's important, and what you're seeking to learn throughout the next year.

 

Danielle Buhrman  14:14

So, first of all, anytime you're using resources, you kind of go through this natural reflection process, we tend to look at resources about every six to seven years where it's like we reflect and we really think is the current resource we're using meeting the needs that we have right now, and if not, what do we need to do about it? So the first thing to realize anytime you go through a pilot project, regardless of the resource, is that it involves a lot of people, a lot of research, a lot of data, a lot of time all the things, and it's not a decision you ever go into without a ton of background work that people don't necessarily see. It's happening behind the scenes. We've had committees meeting of teachers and administrators and and coaches since November of last year, just to get us to the pilot process, and then we'll be. Continuing all of that work over the next year to make a decision about what the adoption is going to entail.

 

Mitchell Roush  15:04

So this is a big deal. It's high stake. So you've landed on two resources that you're going to be piloting. Talk to me about that.

 

Danielle Buhrman  15:11

Yes. So the committee has identified two. We're going to be piloting a resource called Eureka squared, from great minds at Newell Elementary and at Lincoln Elementary. Our skills Academy will also be involved in that, because they're currently housed at Lincoln Elementary and then star Elementary and students at Stolley Park Elementary, in addition to the newcomer program that's housed at Staley Park, we'll be looking at Amplified Desmos mathematics, which is based on illustrative mathematics that's been around for a while. Our high school algebra team, as an example, uses illustrative mathematics. They've just really incorporated the Desmos aspect to that which, if you're familiar at all with mathematics tools, Desmos is phenomenal. So we're really excited to kind of see how the digital, manipulative aspect married with illustrative kind of goes into play. So we've got, next year, we will have three resources kind of happening simultaneously at the district, with orego Kind of getting phased out over the next year and those four buildings, the teachers and the students at those buildings will be all in on those resources and giving us valuable feedback in terms of the experiences that are happening within The classroom to really help us decide which of those two is what we need to carry on moving forward for the next seven years.

 

Mitchell Roush  16:27

What did you and the curriculum group like? How did you decide that you needed to review or pilot two new resources, like you said earlier, wasn't meeting the one that you have now, maybe not quite exactly where you want it to be. How do you know?

 

Danielle Buhrman  16:43

Well, first of all, the one that we currently have orgo stepping stones was ending the year of its natural adoption cycle. So regardless, we weren't gonna have student materials, we were gonna have to spend money somewhere to either remain with what we were doing or move a different direction. So to make the decision on whether or not you remain with what you're doing or you're making you're moving into a different direction. You look at a lot of data like, what is our student outcome data telling us, in terms of our are those, what results we talk about in terms of the standards are, do we have enough proficiency around those things? We also think about the experiences that teachers and students are having when we think about those processes, our math commitments, the the way in which we want kids interacting with the mathematics that we've been talking about, is enough of that happening across the board, and is there enough support in the resource to make that happen? We also get a lot of feedback from teachers, of course, right? And principals and coaches, because they're living in this world. And so we want to know, is this the is this world you're living in? Is this meeting our needs, or is it not? And the overwhelming majority was Oregon was not meeting our needs anymore. And so we needed to make a direction moving forward. So then we formed committees. We look at lots of things. And so we really narrowed in on Desmos, math and Eureka squared, primarily because of that experience that we've been talking about. We, we there's a lot of times you can there's curriculum developers put a lot of things into the resource to make it shiny, right? And we really try to, for lack of a better word, ignore the shiny things and just really get down to, what is the what is the kid gonna be doing on a daily basis? What does that look like? What does that sound like? What support is there for the teachers to really understand the mathematics and to understand how to facilitate conversations with students around their strategies when students are struggling, when they're excelling, and we need to push their thinking more and then we really look at the mathematics. Is the mathematics at the level that we need it to? And are we shaping the the think those thinking processes, problem solving, mathematical reasoning are, is that the focus of the daily experience that students and teachers are having, or is it something else? So you really, kind of, you cut out the shiny and you just simply look at three things, what's the content, what's the support for teachers, and what's the experience like for kids? The tangible outcomes in the end, again, aren't going to be any different. So that's really important to know. Like, you're not you're not trying to raise the bar in one area or lower the bar in another area. Like, if your student is in second grade, regardless of whatever building they're in, they're learning the same content. In the end, the experiences might be more student centered, especially in the pilot buildings, because those resources are going to be really framing a lot more towards trying to get students to explain their thinking, make connections between those taking that ownership of their learning. Yes. So the how we get to that end result might vary from building to building depending on the resource that you're using, and that's really what we're going to analyze too, is making sure did, did each resource get us to the end point we needed to have, which would be consistent across all buildings? And then was the. Experience we had from beginning to end that journey to develop that content, is it aligned to what we believe is best practice, to getting a lot of feedback from teachers who are piloting the resources in particular, and so we'll be leaning into their expertise and the actual experience of what's happening in the classroom. So parents just need to know those outcomes are the same. Like, you know, there's taking the same benchmark assessments. We just got done finalizing all those. It's the same benchmark assessment regardless of the building. The state is going to give them the same nscas assessment in April, regardless of the building at grades three, four and five. We are really just trying to make sure that we identify the right resource that's going to have the experience with the mathematics, both for the teacher and for the student that we know is going to carry us and our students moving forward for the next seven years.

 

Mitchell Roush  20:51

My last question about the pilot is coming back to families. Is there? How can families support this work? How can, how can they get involved? Or how can they help support to make this a meaningful experience for their kids and their teachers?

 

Danielle Buhrman  21:05

Well, I think first and foremost asking your kid like, what are they learning about? Or what are the strategies? You know, we hear like social media likes to say, like, oh, this new math stuff. Well, there's it's not new math. Like, we just two plus two is still four. Just debunk that right now, but ask them, like, why or how do you think that? Like, I asked my kids all the time at home, you know, when they see something, I'll say, Well, what do you think that is, and what's going on in your head? And I'll be honest, sometimes it's really embarrassing, because I'm thinking, like the algorithm in my head and like carrying things, and they have this, like, beautiful strategies and ideas that they're generating.

 

Mitchell Roush  21:35

They've got a a strategy chart. They draw it on the piece of paper, like, I'll show you exactly.

 

Danielle Buhrman  21:42

You just taught me a couple things, and now I'm really embarrassed to share with you my ideas, because all I'm thinking about is carrying digits in my head, yep, but asking them to teach. Like, what are the strategies? What are you learning about that, that it's not just about, you know, I'm know that I'm adding, you know, two digit numbers together. But like, how are you doing that? Show me and let them teach you some of those strategies. So it's not just about getting an answer, it's about the thinking that goes along the way. That's the first thing that we can do as parents.

 

Mitchell Roush  22:11

So, Dr. Buhrman, I want to ask you my final question. I ask everybody, the guests on this podcast, the same question, because I love the answers. So I want to ask you, what is one thing about public education that you want people to know?

 

Danielle Buhrman  22:23

The work that we've been doing here is really evident in that there are so many people that are working together and collaborating to do what's best for your child to have, not just valuable learning outcomes, but valuable learning experiences. And it's not, you know, I might have the title of math coordinator, but I learned so much from being in this room that we've been in the last couple days with 35 people, right? And so there's so many amazing educators that come together in public education to collaborate, to learn from each other, to push one another. We don't make decisions in isolation. We make decisions with a bunch of people who might agree with us or they might disagree with us, and we have to come together, but it's a village, and it's a village that is constantly thinking about what's best for kids and keeping the student at the center of every decision that we make together.

 

GIPS COMMERCIAL  23:16

And can you believe it? The new school year is almost here. At Grand Island Public Schools, we're excited to welcome all of our students to our buildings in August before we kick off another year. We want to make sure our students, teachers and families have what they need visit, gips.org/back, to school for all your back to school info, school supplies, free, school meals, information, transportation, updates and more. Let's make the school year a great one. Visit gips.org/BackToSchool for all your back to school needs.

 

Andrea Hermance  23:58

I'm Andrea Hermance, I'm the academic support coach at Lincoln, and I've been with the district for four years.

 

Mitchell Roush  24:02

Thank you so much for joining the podcast. I'm excited to hear from you and talk math. So let's, let's dish on math. So talk to me a little bit about know, the importance of not just what you learn in math, but the how and the why when you're teaching math and getting kids to pick it up.

 

Andrea Hermance  24:24

So that's what's different about math these days than maybe what we would have learned in school, is it's no longer about memorization and finding the facts and making it really easy just to get through the class. We really want them to have that background knowledge and to understand exactly how and why something's happening within an equation or within a geometry problem. So we're trying to build all of that knowledge within that one simple con context or concept, and not just asking them to memorize facts. So they need to have the number sense and know how things are relating to each other, and they need to be able to connect their ideas. So how addition? Is related to subtraction, how that builds into multiplication and division, and you know that close goes clear up to high school with, you know, proportions and other things.

 

Mitchell Roush  25:09

That's huge. I love the way that you said that, too, about not just memorizing things like yes answers are still answers. But how do you get there, and why? And are there different ways for you to get there? I think is such an important piece to remember. So you've been teaching math right to elementary kiddos for a while. What do you see?

 

Andrea Hermance  25:27

So it's really cool when you give them a problem and you let them solve that problem, and you're kind of taking the pressure off having the right answer, but you're asking them to explain it, and you have one student who has all of a sudden, brilliantly, been like seven plus eight, while I know that seven plus seven is 14, and then eight is one more, so that's 15. To hear that, then communicate that back to you is one of those, like goose bump moments, or they're like, Well, I know that seven and three more is 10, and then that leaves me with five more for 15. So to hear them, be able to manipulate those numbers and use their strategies in their brains and communicate that back to me as first graders, is outstanding.

 

Mitchell Roush  26:01

Outstanding is a really good word for that, because they're, they're they're literally able to express to you, here's how I learned what I learned, or here's how I know what I know, which a common theme is I've picked up in my conversations with Dr Berman and with Daniel dudo as well. Like, that's helpful for math, but so much more than math too. Like, that's like a life skill, yeah. So what do you do with math tax Task Force? What's your role, and how does that help our classrooms?

 

Andrea Hermance  26:26

Yeah, so Task Force is really the place where we dive into math, like teachings, a very intricate thing, and for all of the teachers in Grand Island to be able to understand some of these things to the depth that's required is a lot to ask. So instead, you take this smaller group of people, like the task force, who split into different grade level teams, and Dr Berman really gives us what we need to know about. She's doing book studies with us. She's asking us to study the standards, to really look at the progressions, and we then can put all of that into digestible chunks for teachers, which sets them up success for success, and ultimately trickles down to those students. When our teachers know exactly what they need to be doing, when they have clear expectations, then it's so much easier for them to have clear expectations for their students and get the outcome that they're really wanting.

 

Mitchell Roush  27:06

Everything that you're doing with Task Force, what do you think is the thing that you're doing that is making the biggest impact in classrooms? I

 

Andrea Hermance  27:20

think that probably the newest and biggest thing is the learning progressions, which really just spells out what the standard is. So it's telling the teachers exactly what it should look like, what it should sound like for a student to be proficient, but it's also outlining what does that sound like as an advanced student, what does that sound like as a developing student, and then how are you going to get them to that proficiency level.

 

Mitchell Roush  27:41

I'm so glad that you teed up the learning progression piece. So we have a lot of listeners that are parents in the district, right? So, and they've probably heard that phrase before in their school or when they come to parent teacher conferences and everything. So what would your be? Your best way to explain a learning progression to a parent for their kid?

 

Andrea Hermance  27:58

Yeah, so I have to do this with my husband quite frequently. Learning progression is just based off of the standards which are given to us by the state of Nebraska. And then those learning progressions really is a progression of what is it at beginning? So a beginning student for addition or adding within 10 would be that they can identify the numbers right? A developing would be that they are able to start to compute those numbers in a certain way, proficiency would be that they are able to attain the correct answer using a set of strategies, and advance would be applying that to a higher level of learning. So it's just telling us, as the teacher, it's like our blueprint or our map for that one specific standard.

 

Mitchell Roush  28:36

Yes, absolutely. Before we wrap up here, Andrea, I like to ask everybody the same question when they guessed on the podcast, because I love the answers. So I want to ask you, what is one thing about public education you want people to know about?

 

Andrea Hermance  28:51

I think just the amount of love that's poured into every student every single day. When we say that every student matters, we really mean all. Means all. So it doesn't matter how a student comes to us or what they're coming with, every teacher that I've ever met loves every single one of their students like an incredible amount. So you even see that at the end of the year, when teachers are leaving and kids are coming and it can be sad for a lot of us, just because we love our classrooms like they're a family?

 

Mitchell Roush  29:21

Of course they are. And that's a common thing that I hear everywhere I go in the district, is those are not just the students I had. Those are my kids, and they're always going to be my kids, even when they leave my classroom. Yes, and I don't know how it couldn't be Y'all are so connected and deeply invested and emotionally driven by your work. Like, I don't know how that couldn't be the case?

 

Andrea Hermance  29:41

Yeah, my first Kindergarten group just graduated high school here in Grand Island that is wild. And so to like, see some of them or hear some of their stories, just it makes me tear up, because I haven't known them since they were five, but to see them become these successful people through our, you know, school system is amazing.

 

Mitchell Roush  29:57

Ye p, you you and you've played a key part in that journey and getting them there to the next step, which is really cool.

 

Danielle Dudo  30:08

Danielle Dudo and I teach third grade at Newell Elementary.

 

Mitchell Roush  30:12

Mrs. Dudo, thank you for being here. Absolutely. So we're gonna talk math. We've done this before, but we've got some new, exciting updates to dish on we do. Yeah, absolutely. So you're currently a third grade teacher at Newell, and you've been at Newell for a good long time, which is awesome, correct? You don't just teach math. You teach everything in the classroom, because you're at the elementary level. But talk to me really quick. Why is math your jam?

 

Danielle Dudo  30:35

Oh, math is my passion, just trying to build mathematicians. And I think I said this in the last podcast, I asked my kids every year who sees themself as a mathematician? And I have two or three hands that get raised every year, and that's my goal. Every year, I'm like, Yes, I have a whole class to work with that. I'm going to create mathematicians for my kids. And I think I love math because it's just it's a fun way to engage kids, and there's a lot of aha moments when you're teaching math, just because the kids are building connections, they're building those foundations, and it's just it's fun to see those light bulb moments when it comes to math, and it's just fun to build those mathematicians up, those aha moments.

 

Mitchell Roush  31:16

I really like the way that you framed that math kind of gets a bad rap, but you're breaking down those barriers, and they feel so proud when they catch it.

 

Danielle Dudo  31:22

Absolutely and that's our goal as educators, and especially as Grand Island Public Schools. That's our mission. Is we are trying to make all of our kids have that love of learning for math and just break, like you said, break down those barriers. A lot of them have those preconceived ideas of math, whether it's from their parents. They hear the conversations at home, oh, I was never good at math. Or it's just hard. and solvers.

 

Mitchell Roush  31:44

Yeah, problem solve, working harder. Growth Mindset, all that stuff.

 

Danielle Dudo  31:49

And that's what I love, the growth mindset, the grit, the perseverance. Because when they struggle through that, the productive struggle, and they get those aha moments, that's the most meaningful math that we can provide our kids. It's not the answer, it's the process to get to that answer that is the most meaningful.

 

Mitchell Roush  32:05

I love that. And so you kind of hit on one of the questions I wanted to unpack was not just what students learn in math, which is, I think, a surface level conversation very important, but it's, it's so much more than the what, it's the how and the why. So do you have more to elaborate on that, the how and why math is important?

 

Danielle Dudo  32:22

Yeah, I think just for kids to realize that everything is figure out able, I love that, and that's we say a lot, and Task Force, and it's like I said, it's not about getting the answers. It's not about just solving those algorithms. It's the problem solving, it's the life skills, it's the growth mindset, the Making Connections is what's what's more important than just finding that black and white answer for math? Well, not even in a math I mean, it's every day. Like, when I introduce problem solving in my classroom, I talk about the time I got locked in the coat closet when I was at Newell on a Saturday night. Like, what do you do? Like, it's those lifelong skills that you can apply in everyday life makes such a big difference today.

 

Mitchell Roush  33:05

Specifically, we're here because of your work on math task force, and I got to hang out for a little bit this morning see the action happening. I'm talking to a couple of other folks involved as well, so I'd like to hear from you as a classroom teacher, what is it and what is your work in this this vital part of the summer.

 

Danielle Dudo  33:20

Well, if you ask Dr. Buhrman, it is the room where the magic happens, like we are in the room that sets that foundation for the entire district k5 and then the middle school and high school has their own task force as well. But you know, as an educator, we're in the trenches every day, and so dr Berman is so good about we are doing the work because we're living it. We're breathing it every day, and so we are able to see what our kids need, where we want our kids to go, and aligning all that up. So it's really nice being involved in the task force, because you get a kind of a heads up of what's coming or what's expected, but that just helps you become a better math teacher yourself. You know, we're developing that guaranteed and viable curriculum. You know, we're setting the pacing, and we're picking out which standard should be essential for our students. So we're making a lot of decisions for our kids, but it's great that when we have those decisions, we know the best way to teach it, and we can provide that to our colleagues as well.

 

Mitchell Roush  34:22

To me, I hear that, and I just think about the tangible impact that that makes, because this is you and a little over a dozen of your colleagues from across the district doing this work. But this is impacting every K through five classroom in the district, right? That's kind of a big deal.

 

Danielle Dudo  34:36

It is, it is, and we do a lot of vertical alignment as well. So we, you know, I'm focusing on third grade, but I also look at fourth grade, and I look at second grade, and it also just helps me understand the standards better. As a teacher like I know where they've been and where they're going, and so it's great to be part of that process, to see the big picture. It's all connected. It is. We're all connected. Love it.

 

Mitchell Roush  34:58

And that man that sounds like a system. Right? So again, coming back to math task force, another big thing that y'all are getting ready to work on is this curriculum pilot. And I'm going to be talking at length with Dr Berman about this as well, but I want to hear from you, Danielle, as a teacher, the district is going to be piloting two new curriculum options over the next year to see what's going to be a good long term option going forward for our teachers and our students. So from your perspective as a classroom teacher, loving math, a veteran educator, what does this pilot program mean? What does it look like? Why is this process important?

 

Danielle Dudo  35:38

Well, I have actually been part of this process for like, three different pilots, and so it's exciting. You know, it's hard to change, and I think that's gonna be one of the biggest obstacles for our students and our families and our teachers, is change, but small steps make big impacts. And so I'm excited, just because we're looking for a resource that aligns with our GIPS philosophy and so really lining to those math commitments. How can we engage our students in the learning? How can we find a resource that's more rigorous than what we are currently using when we're looking spending a time looking at data, we are not closing the gap as quick enough as we would like between Grand Island and Nebraska schools. And so we realized, Okay, it's time. There's something we need to do to fix that. And so it's exciting. It's going to be hard, you know, you kind of get invested when you have a resource, like, I'm piloting one, but there's also another option on the table, so you kind of get invested in your pilot and but I think in the long run, the two resources we have picked out are phenomenal, and I think it'll be great for our kids.

 

Mitchell Roush  36:45

One thing that caught my my attention was when you talked about rigor, right? And that's, that's huge when it comes to, what are you helping students grow and learn and achieve? And there's, you know, everybody's talking about this concept of, we know that students can do it. We know that they can, so you want to make sure that the resources that you're using are helping them get there. Absolutely. Yeah. So along those same lines, you said you've been a part of a pilot process before. So again, from a classroom teacher perspective, what constitutes a smooth pilot so that you can ensure your kids are learning, but you're also gaining the insights that you need to make an informed decision at the district level.

 

Danielle Dudo  37:24

Well, I think it'll be nice that we'll have that professional development as far as how to teach the pilot. What does that resource entail? This summer, we just spent a day kind of looking at, I mean, everything's already no matter what pilot you pick or what resource you pick, the Nebraska standards will never change.

 

Mitchell Roush  37:42

Which is huge. Such an important thing for our families, especially, to remember the standards are still the same.

 

Danielle Dudo  37:46

Exactly, yep, yep. And so that's nice as a teacher to know that. You know what? The district's already set that groundwork for me. They have the learning progressions, they have the essential standards. None of that's changing. It's just we have a new resource to kind of hopefully bump up that reaching those standards. And so that's nice knowing that none of that will change. I mean, it will take time. The news, the new resources might teach it a little bit different, yeah, however, it's all figure-out-able.

 

Mitchell Roush  38:14

It is, it is. So this is, this is a journey that you'll be taking at Newell, which is awesome, which is awesome, which means your students and your families will be taking this journey with you. So as you've been thinking about how you're going to talk to your parents about this right in your classroom, how do you frame the pilot experience for those families?

 

Danielle Dudo  38:36

It's different. It's a change. But like we said, nothing that your kid is learning this year would be anything different if it was a pilot or not pilot, your third graders still going to get the same education as the third grader across the town or across the city. So it's nice knowing that none of that is changing. They're still going to reach the same standards, the same goals, but how we get there might look different, hopefully in a positive way and and luckily, these two resources have family letters and resources that we can send home to families so they kind of know what what your child is learning and what concepts they'll be mastering.

 

Mitchell Roush  39:13

Learning the same concepts they're still meeting the same standards. You're just taking a different path to get there exactly. And we're gonna, and we're gonna see the validity of it and how how exciting that is.

 

Danielle Dudo  39:24

Yeah, it'll be hard for kids. I mean, it depends what the classroom looks like now, but like we said, We want those kids to take that ownership and that learning, and so there might be a little bit more productive struggle this year for your child in math, just because it's a new way, a new approach to them learning. They're forming those connections rather than just sitting and getting they are the ones who are doing the work and making that math magic happen.

 

Mitchell Roush  39:46

So, Danielle, I like to ask everybody on this podcast the same question, because I'm always fascinated by the answers. So I'd like to ask you, what is one thing about public education you want folks to know?

 

Danielle Dudo  39:57

I think, as an educator. We are invested in your children, and I think we're invested in their futures. And we do the work we do because we know they can. And, you know, Grand Island, every student, every day, a success like I believe that truly. And I don't think it's just the academics, but it's the social and the emotional. It's everything. And so I think just for people to realize that educators, we're in it for the long haul, and we are there to invest in those kids, and even after long after they're long gone, I tell my kids like you are my kids forever, and I don't care what grade you are in, I it's just great that we have those relationships throughout their whole journey.

 

Mitchell Roush  40:42

I me, math deserves a better reputation. Y'all, and we are doing our part here at GIPS to be a part of making that happen. Thank you so much to Dr Danielle Buhrman, to Danielle Dudo, and to Andrea Hermance for joining this conversation and sharing with us the great, meaningful work that they're doing to champion math education in the district. And of course, thank you listeners for joining us here on the GIPS cast. We would not be here without you. We are grateful that you are listening along. If you enjoyed this episode, please give us a rating or a review on your favorite podcast platform, on Apple podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, wherever it is, you're listening to us, we would greatly appreciate the feedback. And your rating or review will help other people discover us along the way. It's a win, win. Be sure to check out our website, GIPS.org That's www.GIPS.org that is our district website and our hub for all of the information resources and things that you need to know about Grand Island Public Schools. It's back to school season, so be sure to go to our back to school page. That's GIPS.org/BackToSchool. Or, if you just go to our website home page, there's a back to school button in the top right hand corner, you can't miss it, and you'll find all of the information that you need. Thank you so much, listeners for joining us on 'The GIPS Cast'. We will be coming back at you soon with some more great stories from our district.