The people who need to watch it won't, but IMO it's a five-minute acid bath for a lot of fantasies about the ways teachers, students, and classrooms work together.
Bravo! Thank you for highlighting the very real work of math educators who must continually nudge their students into their own brilliance. This work is not recognized or valued nearly enough.
This clip with your writing should be celebrated every day. This is teaching for democracy. This is teaching to support belonging. This is teaching inviting belonging to a classroom of learners and thinkers.
"If you want to help the 95%, you need to help teachers. You need to help people. People check kids out of their education so people will need to check kids back in."
This right here. 100% this.
When I was at Magoosh we ran an efficacy study that looked at both the 5% and the 95% and it was an eye-opening exercise. Overall we found that subject mastery and score improvement correlated with engagement with our platform, with students exceeding our recommended usage of 30 hours seeing the biggest improvement. Great! That tracked with our value proposition.
However, when we sliced the data by demographics we found that we weren't fulfilling our mission to improve outcomes for all students. The students that needed the most help — the ones with low scores, and those from disadvantaged and first-gen backgrounds — did not improve as much as the checked-in students who already had strong performance. Usage and engagement correlated with improved scores, but it also tracked closely with dimensions normally associated with achievement gaps. A student's motivation given their personal circumstances was the strongest factor influencing their score improvement. That is why teachers and instructors need to be central to any edtech product strategy.
It's really hard to get up the guts to look at the crosstabs like that, to learn who you are and aren't working for. Hopefully it's only the first of many steps towards doing right by more kids.
My sister is an elementary school teacher. The other side of the coin is edtech that's gamified: even if students use it, does learning take place? She described for me a software that the 3rd graders LOVED, and could use when their regular work was done. But, she was unconvinced much learning was going on and that it was a good thing: a student would complete 1 math problem and then spend 15 mins swapping out avatar clothing and exploring the virtual world...their platform usage levels would be high but I suspect impact on learning negligible.
In any classroom, you're going to have a student hierarchy - some students will be the 'smartest.' Like you said, others for many reasons, will be checked out. The only reason she could help him is because the rest of the class was participating - what happens when you have 2 or 3 or more who are checked out!? It is an art to manage and facilitate learning for all.
Another trend gaining momentum is negative impacts of overall time spent on devices by youth with brains still in development. I am waiting for a backlash not just against social media, but against tablet screen time IN classrooms. I wonder if we'll get to that point, where we balance real world, off-screen, group work, with solo device work...maybe.
I couldn't agree more with your second paragraph. About three minutes in, I thought to myself "huh, the time she's spending with this student is adding up fast." I love that she's doing it and I try to do the same; and I know that some of my less checked-out students can get almost resentful if I'm not super careful with the balancing act. I wonder who's going to swoop in and fix that :D.
The classroom management challenge! That so often gets overlooked, yes?
Years ago I visited with the principal of a successful local charter school and what he said about classroom management stuck with me always. At the time, he was not happy at all with Ken Robinson (educator, did famous Ted Talk and book on how schools are killing creativity). This principal felt strongly that "there isn't a teacher alive who's trying to kill off creativity in students," and spoke about the challenge of serving the needs of 20-30 kids - you HAVE to have classroom management - norms, rituals, structure.
This is exactly what is happening with my 2nd grade son and the RPG-game disguised as math learning they use. Even the questions that he answers are well below his level and are uninspiring.
Thankfully, he's meeting the standards for his grade level, but the real love of math as intriguing problem-solving that he's missing during that time is killing my heart.
right! Oof. Are you supplementing at home then? I know it's still far from ideal to have it come back to you as a parent to carve time to supplement, but so many amazing ideas out there... I follow a bunch of creative teachers just for fun. good luck
We speak mathematically as it arises, and I try to engage him with puzzles and content from the Beast Academy series during summer and other school breaks, but not a lot as he doesn't always jump at the opportunity. My focus has always been on secondary so I have a lot of content there, but not as much at the primary level. He can handle a good bit of the secondary stuff. Beast Academy has been absolutely great on that front.
Agree with second paragraph. That 1:1 help is HUGE but is really hard to come by when you have multiple students that are checked out. This teacher is amazing; has the patience to stay with the student and pull him back in. Food for thought for ME as a plan my instruction this summer.
Thank you for sharing... but now the elephant in the room is what do you do when you have multiple "Sams" in one class, all who need individualized, 1-on-1 teacher support? Or if most of the class is like that? Or the kids are motivated and are trying but need that support to understand? Or what about the students that do understand, and are ready to move on and get to more challenging curriculum? Managing all of these things in the classroom is the toughest part of teaching. As one person, you (the teacher) can only do so much. Time is finite.
I have another idea about a good portion of that 95%: they aren't engaging because the content isn't good so it totally isn't worth engaging. Yes, there are the ones that need to be convinced that any engagement even in an awesome lesson is worthwhile, but usually the lessons themselves are lousy.
Sal Khan had a minute or two of humility when he recognized in an interview that the numeracy problems were more complicated than he'd thought they were, but I guess he went back to his 5% and the "well, it's not working? How can we tweak the software???" instead of asking ... erm... teachers???? What would they know....
I don't really grasp your quote: "Edtech can't fail kids. It can't only be failed by kids." ?????
It's a play on an old joke about conservatism: "Conservatism can never fail, it can only be failed." Applies equally to other ideologies that don't admit the possibility that they might be mistaken.
Great as always, Dan. It's important to note that with Sal's comments, that's how he sees teachers - facilitators to Khanmigo. When KA's sales start to dip, and they push hard into marketing, I figure they'll get many districts to go along with their vision, and 50+ kids in a classroom + warm, adult body will equal "education." at a much reduced price, and Khanmigo never gets sick.
Dedicated education is attractive, but arguably this one is in service of exerting academic power. Undoubtedly he understands the equivalence of coin and currency. Making change is now a matter of mechanical and electronic intelligence. Where is the opportunity for the student to feel the useful power that learning math can provide?
That clip is the real deal. Best video of real teaching I've seen in a long time, maybe ever.
The people who need to watch it won't, but IMO it's a five-minute acid bath for a lot of fantasies about the ways teachers, students, and classrooms work together.
Bravo! Thank you for highlighting the very real work of math educators who must continually nudge their students into their own brilliance. This work is not recognized or valued nearly enough.
This clip with your writing should be celebrated every day. This is teaching for democracy. This is teaching to support belonging. This is teaching inviting belonging to a classroom of learners and thinkers.
Dan's writing in general! It's one of the few things I really look forward to in my inbox....
"If you want to help the 95%, you need to help teachers. You need to help people. People check kids out of their education so people will need to check kids back in."
This right here. 100% this.
When I was at Magoosh we ran an efficacy study that looked at both the 5% and the 95% and it was an eye-opening exercise. Overall we found that subject mastery and score improvement correlated with engagement with our platform, with students exceeding our recommended usage of 30 hours seeing the biggest improvement. Great! That tracked with our value proposition.
However, when we sliced the data by demographics we found that we weren't fulfilling our mission to improve outcomes for all students. The students that needed the most help — the ones with low scores, and those from disadvantaged and first-gen backgrounds — did not improve as much as the checked-in students who already had strong performance. Usage and engagement correlated with improved scores, but it also tracked closely with dimensions normally associated with achievement gaps. A student's motivation given their personal circumstances was the strongest factor influencing their score improvement. That is why teachers and instructors need to be central to any edtech product strategy.
It's really hard to get up the guts to look at the crosstabs like that, to learn who you are and aren't working for. Hopefully it's only the first of many steps towards doing right by more kids.
My sister is an elementary school teacher. The other side of the coin is edtech that's gamified: even if students use it, does learning take place? She described for me a software that the 3rd graders LOVED, and could use when their regular work was done. But, she was unconvinced much learning was going on and that it was a good thing: a student would complete 1 math problem and then spend 15 mins swapping out avatar clothing and exploring the virtual world...their platform usage levels would be high but I suspect impact on learning negligible.
In any classroom, you're going to have a student hierarchy - some students will be the 'smartest.' Like you said, others for many reasons, will be checked out. The only reason she could help him is because the rest of the class was participating - what happens when you have 2 or 3 or more who are checked out!? It is an art to manage and facilitate learning for all.
Another trend gaining momentum is negative impacts of overall time spent on devices by youth with brains still in development. I am waiting for a backlash not just against social media, but against tablet screen time IN classrooms. I wonder if we'll get to that point, where we balance real world, off-screen, group work, with solo device work...maybe.
I couldn't agree more with your second paragraph. About three minutes in, I thought to myself "huh, the time she's spending with this student is adding up fast." I love that she's doing it and I try to do the same; and I know that some of my less checked-out students can get almost resentful if I'm not super careful with the balancing act. I wonder who's going to swoop in and fix that :D.
The classroom management challenge! That so often gets overlooked, yes?
Years ago I visited with the principal of a successful local charter school and what he said about classroom management stuck with me always. At the time, he was not happy at all with Ken Robinson (educator, did famous Ted Talk and book on how schools are killing creativity). This principal felt strongly that "there isn't a teacher alive who's trying to kill off creativity in students," and spoke about the challenge of serving the needs of 20-30 kids - you HAVE to have classroom management - norms, rituals, structure.
Good question Rachel. So much of that clip shows the benefits from a positive relationship the teacher has built up with her students.
The student probably engaged with the lesson only because of that relationship.
You're right that students on the other end of the engagement spectrum also need reinforcement and personal connection.
This is exactly what is happening with my 2nd grade son and the RPG-game disguised as math learning they use. Even the questions that he answers are well below his level and are uninspiring.
Thankfully, he's meeting the standards for his grade level, but the real love of math as intriguing problem-solving that he's missing during that time is killing my heart.
right! Oof. Are you supplementing at home then? I know it's still far from ideal to have it come back to you as a parent to carve time to supplement, but so many amazing ideas out there... I follow a bunch of creative teachers just for fun. good luck
We speak mathematically as it arises, and I try to engage him with puzzles and content from the Beast Academy series during summer and other school breaks, but not a lot as he doesn't always jump at the opportunity. My focus has always been on secondary so I have a lot of content there, but not as much at the primary level. He can handle a good bit of the secondary stuff. Beast Academy has been absolutely great on that front.
Agree with second paragraph. That 1:1 help is HUGE but is really hard to come by when you have multiple students that are checked out. This teacher is amazing; has the patience to stay with the student and pull him back in. Food for thought for ME as a plan my instruction this summer.
Thank you for sharing... but now the elephant in the room is what do you do when you have multiple "Sams" in one class, all who need individualized, 1-on-1 teacher support? Or if most of the class is like that? Or the kids are motivated and are trying but need that support to understand? Or what about the students that do understand, and are ready to move on and get to more challenging curriculum? Managing all of these things in the classroom is the toughest part of teaching. As one person, you (the teacher) can only do so much. Time is finite.
This video reminds me so many similar experiences. I am applauding the teacher.
I have another idea about a good portion of that 95%: they aren't engaging because the content isn't good so it totally isn't worth engaging. Yes, there are the ones that need to be convinced that any engagement even in an awesome lesson is worthwhile, but usually the lessons themselves are lousy.
Sal Khan had a minute or two of humility when he recognized in an interview that the numeracy problems were more complicated than he'd thought they were, but I guess he went back to his 5% and the "well, it's not working? How can we tweak the software???" instead of asking ... erm... teachers???? What would they know....
I don't really grasp your quote: "Edtech can't fail kids. It can't only be failed by kids." ?????
It's a play on an old joke about conservatism: "Conservatism can never fail, it can only be failed." Applies equally to other ideologies that don't admit the possibility that they might be mistaken.
Notice that your statement says "it can only be failed." Here, it says it "can't only be failed." What *can* it be??
Well, you got me there :)
and it's fixed ;P
Dan was just givin' you a chance to demonstrate your knowledge.
Okay okay thank you both. Now I need to hack into everybody's inboxes.
Great as always, Dan. It's important to note that with Sal's comments, that's how he sees teachers - facilitators to Khanmigo. When KA's sales start to dip, and they push hard into marketing, I figure they'll get many districts to go along with their vision, and 50+ kids in a classroom + warm, adult body will equal "education." at a much reduced price, and Khanmigo never gets sick.
and there is the undercurrent of gently but firmly believing that Certain People Just Can't Do Math even if they were motivated.
Jalah is my new hero!
Such a good video. Love the groups at vertical whiteboards too. Will share with the rest of my math department.
Another amazing post.
Dedicated education is attractive, but arguably this one is in service of exerting academic power. Undoubtedly he understands the equivalence of coin and currency. Making change is now a matter of mechanical and electronic intelligence. Where is the opportunity for the student to feel the useful power that learning math can provide?
It's not a convincing argument. Actually understanding the value of change is extremely worthwhile, even if it can be done with a calculator.