SPOTLIGHT: Match Associate Teacher, Secondary

Name: Bridget Serpe

Title: Match Associate Teacher

School: Match High School

Why do you want to be a teacher?

For me, teaching was not something I always knew I wanted to do. In 2018, I was an AmeriCorps member working as a tutor at Match High School. I had planned to take a year off after my year of service and then go to law school. However, during my year as an AmeriCorps tutor, I fell in love with teaching and working in a high school. I was a study skills tutor working with kids on their executive functioning skills. I also worked as the US History teaching assistant, for which I helped 11th grade students learn the history of our country from an amazing teacher who helped to spark my love of teaching. As the year went on, I started seeing myself as a teacher more and more, so I applied to Sposato’s MAT program. Ever since then, my decision to become a teacher has been affirmed while enrolled in the Sposato and while teaching 12th grade history in my second year at Match High School.

Compared to the start of the school year, how have you grown as a Match Associate Teacher (MAT)? How is teaching similar or different from what you imagined?

I’ve grown immensely since the start of this year. Taking classes and practicing what we learn is at the forefront of that. Teaching is different from how I imagined because I thought it was just something you had to do for a long time to get better at. However, taking classes in Sposato has made me realize that is not the case. There is also pedagogy and things you learn outside the classroom that really help you with the balancing act that is teaching. 

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Bridget recently took over @MatchEducation’s Instagram to showcase a day-in-the-life of a high school MAT - check it out here!

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What is your favorite part of the program?

My favorite part of the program is working with my advisor and coach. My coach, Laura, comes into the classroom where I lead teach, observing me and coaching me on how to improve. We meet twice a week to game plan for the week and talk about what she observed. Sometimes we will role play solutions to problems I am having in the classroom, or brainstorm how to make my teaching more student-centered.

Any advice for those who might be considering applying to become a Match Associate Teacher?

When I started, I was not 100% sure of my life’s path, and I still am not. I did, however, have this notion that I had to have my life planned out in order to be teaching and in the position that I am in. That is not the case, and it is something I wish I knew before I started. I know I want to be teaching now, and for the next couple years. This program meets me where I am and helps me figure out my next steps. 

If you are interested in learning more about the MAT program and applying for the 2020-2021 school year, click here.

SPOTLIGHT: Match Associate Teacher, Elementary

Name: Ayanna Robinson

Title: Match Associate Teacher

School: Match Community Day

Why do you want to be a teacher?

Teaching is honestly a passion I happened to stumbled into. I worked my first job as a camp instructor during my sophomore year of college. I had one of the best summers of my life teaching computer science to girls. I didn’t understand the entirety of my impact until the next summer when so many of the girls told me they returned to camp that summer because of me. Since then I’ve spent every summer teaching my girls and watching them grow.

At the same time, I was beginning to fully understand the privilege I had been given with my educational opportunities. My mom struggled to ensure I could attend the very best private schools and participate in the most interesting extracurriculars. Education was made to be fun for me almost every step of the way, and I developed an intense love of learning. As I grew up, I realized that my experience was a unique one, but it shouldn’t be. If more students had the same access to loving teachers that I had, perhaps they would be better equipped to finish the race towards a college degree or even become more confident in whatever career they decide to pursue. Teaching allows me to be the adult I needed when I was younger. 

Compared to the start of the school year, how have you grown as a Match Associate Teacher (MAT)? How is teaching similar or different from what you imagined?

My class presence has improved exponentially. At the beginning of the year, I would get nervous whenever I had to teach in front of a class, but now I can do it at a moment’s notice. I think that I’ve also worked enough on my presence that I can command a room much more quickly than before, leaving more time for instructions and fun. Group of Six had us really dive deep and dissect the art of classroom management, so now I feel like I have the “cheat codes” to create harmony within my golden hour room. 

Teaching is pretty similar to what I expected. This is the youngest group I’ve ever taught, so it’s been an adjustment, but in terms of teaching strategy and approach, it’s been exactly as I imagined it would be. 

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Ayanna recently took over @MatchEducation’s Instagram to showcase a day-in-the-life of an elementary MAT - check it out here!

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What is your favorite part of the program?

The Residents of Color program within Sposato is definitely my favorite aspect. My mentor has worked on everything from planner design to stress management with me. I feel that navigating this year without her would have been impossible. She’s opened her classroom to me during the day to discuss any part of my experience that I’ve needed to, and she’s always ready with advice when I need her. 

What has coaching been like? How has it impacted your experience as a student in the Sposato Graduate School of Education?

Coaching keeps me from thinking too much about my teaching performance because I know (at least this year) I’ll always have an unbiased viewer to give their take. Working with a coach has been a great learning experience and tool for me, as someone who tends to get in their head too much. Hearing my coach’s feedback on my lessons has helped me to strengthen some of my stronger areas and become more aware of my weaker areas. 

For example, before coaching I wasn’t aware of how much time I wasted in my framing and transitions. I love thinking of coaching as my own personal instant replay. 

Any advice for those who might be considering applying to become a Match Associate Teacher?

Invest in really solid relationships with your host teachers. The year is difficult but can be made so much simpler by forming strong bonds with the people on your team. My team genuinely wants to see me excel, and their support has gotten me through 100% of my bad days.

If you are interested in learning more about the MAT program and applying for the 2020-2021 school year, click here.

Culture, Community & Context

Panelists at the final Culture, Community & Context class: Ariella Silverstein-Tapp (UP Academy-Holland), Anjali Nirmalan (UP Education Network), Edverette Brewster (Lila Frederick Pilot Middle School), Jawad Brown (Sposato), Simone Esteves (BB&N)

How should teachers have answered students’ questions the morning after the 2016 presidential election? When an unarmed black man is shot and killed by police, how’s a teacher to respond? In the wake of controversial policies, such as President Trump’s “Muslim ban,” what responsibility do educators have to help students process the news?

Teachers are trained to teach math or science, English or humanities, but the realities of the classroom – and our world – dictate that they end up navigating much more than the academic disciplines in which they are trained. Kids are exposed to adult issues through social media, the internet and television, no matter how much we might prefer to shield them from ugly, painful stuff in the world.

This year, Match’s Sposato Graduate School of Education (SGSE) included a required course in its curriculum, SPO 100: Culture, Community and Context. (The class is a refined version of a similar course that Sposato has taught for the last two years.) 

Case study used in SPO 100 for in-class discussion.

Taught by Sposato faculty Elena Luna and Jawad Brown, the purpose of the class was to train rookie teachers how to confront their own biases and prepare their students – who are overwhelmingly students of color from low-income backgrounds – to navigate the “culture of power,” that in our society is European-American, white culture.  

Over six three-hour classes, Luna and Brown lead Sposato students through a series of readings, exercises and frank conversations designed to help them understand inequity in education, interrogate their own biases, and explore how their personal identities influence their relationship to the culture of power. Rookie teachers were also encouraged to teach their students to identify cultural and institutional inequities and to advocate for social change. And they learned how to build relationships with students and families, by venturing outside the walls of classroom and into a student’s life, by spending time on their home turf – at a soccer game, a family party, shopping. “It’s amazing what information you can gather from seeing students in their own communities,” one Sposato student explained. 

The final class of the semester featured a panel discussion among educators who regularly hold courageous conversations about race. These conversations were often in response to an incident (such as a police shooting or the election), but also came about in the course of class discussion. The deaths of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice and Eric Garner, the mass shooting at the AME church in Charleston, SC, the ongoing political debate about our country’s immigration policy – all events that occurred outside of Boston – were topics of discussion. 

Sposato students discuss a case study in class.

The goal of this final SPO 100 sessionwas to create a forum where Sposato students could ask tough questions and hear how veterans handled these situations from the real-world. 

Here are a handful of key takeaways from the session: 

Have the conversation. The overwhelming message from veterans was to give students the space to discuss difficult news and events. They are experiencing trauma, and need a safe place to emotionally process and understand what they are seeing in the world. Be prepared to dive in.

Help students understand the facts. All sensitive conversations should be grounded in facts (an increasingly challenging ask in a landscape ripe with “alternative” facts). “Emotions run hot in first grade,” Silverstein-Tapp said, describing some of her students’ reactions to news of the Muslim ban; some worried about what might happen to members of their own families. “I did a ton of reading to understand what was going on, so I could answer their questions accurately,” she said. “I wanted to be factual, but not neutral.” 

Be sure to listen and validate students’ feelings. Conversations about race can become emotional among adults; imagine trying to keep a classroom full of 12-year old emotions in check. “I encouraged students to express how they were feeling, instead of saying, ‘you guys are XYZ!’” Brown said. That approach cut down on finger pointing and made conversations more about an internal exploration. Brown also gave everyone two minutes to talk, even if they opted to remain silent.

Teachers can introduce complexity into the conversation. Veteran teachers said it was important to remain true to their own emotions – in a way that was honest and age appropriate– but to also help students lean into the complexity of these issues. “Your job is to facilitate a conversation, and to help point out misconceptions, fears and lack of knowledge, and information is power” Luna said. Esteves doesn’t shy away from allowing students to share their thoughts – and pushing for clarity – and then allowing them to be held accountable by their peers.

Positive classroom culture is essential. Unless a teacher has already established a trusting, safe classroom culture, productive conversations about sensitive and emotional topics just aren’t possible. “Teaching and learning should be reciprocal, and that should be transparent to students,” Anjali Nirmalan explained. “I start with the basic questions: do you know what happened? How do you feel? Can you explain why you are upset?” Brewster added. “I run lots of Socratic seminars in my class and want my kids to know that I am comfortable having these discussions.” 

It’d be unrealistic to think that one seminar course could prepare rookie teachers to successfully navigate the complexities surrounding race and culture in the classroom. But it’s a start. And we hope the sheer awareness of their own biases – and the biases inherent in white, European-American culture – will enable them to run more effective classrooms and build stronger, more trusting relationships with students and families.

If you’re interested in some of the readings we assigned in SPO 100: Culture, Community & Context, here is a partial list: 

•  “From the Achievement Gap to the Education Debt” by Gloria Ladson-Billings.
•  “An Appeal to Authority: The new paternalism in urban schools” by David Whitman
•  “The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People’s Children” by Lisa Delpit
•  “Beginning Courageous Conversations about Race” by Glenn Singleton and Cyndie Hays
• “Speak up at school: how to respond to every day prejudice, bias and stereotypes” by Teaching Tolerance 

Coaching Teachers

Laura Mahajan, the director of coaching at Match's Sposato Graduate School of Education.

A young teacher, Ms. M, was struggling to hold the attention of her sixteen elementary school students. The kids were chatty, fidgety and off-task, failing to follow along with the day’s reading lesson. No matter how many times she said, “Eyes on me” or reminded students to “keep voices off” they wriggled on the carpet. Sitting cross-legged among the throng of little bodies, was Laura Mahajan, calmly and persistently redirecting students.  

Mahajan is the director of coaching at Match’s Sposato Graduate School of Education. She’s the coach of the coaches (she also observes and coaches graduate students, like Ms. M). 

(If you’re sensing a theme in our recent stories, about the time we spend coaching teachers at Match, you’re not wrong.) 

Mahajan describes the job of teacher as “master juggler.” “Teachers are using so many discrete skills all at the same time,” she told me. “There’s so much going on that the skills can become invisible, so it’s hard to actually pull them apart and isolate any single one.” 

Mahajan has all training and academic credentials you’d expect of someone in her position: B.A. from Princeton, M.A. in teaching from Columbia, teaching experience in a high-need, urban school. What makes her good at her job is her intuitive understanding of the alchemy of skills that makes for an effective teacher. And, most important, her ability to pull them apart: to prioritize the key element of a teacher’s practice that is off track at a particular moment and deliver concrete, actionable feedback to immediately address it. She translates this skill to her coaches -- master teachers in their own right -- helping them better advise their trainees. 

In one coach-the-coach session, Mahajan complimented the coach’s method of answering a trainee’s questions in a way that put the hard thinking back on the teacher. But she also cautioned her not to slow down the conversation too much and to do more direct narration, to ensure the trainee understood the larger principle of the “teacher move” in question.

With Ms. M, who like many rookie teachers was struggling with the basics of classroom management, Mahajan focused on helping her improve her ability to use nonverbal cues, including proximity, touch and frequent but fast redirection of students’ noises.

Here are Mahajan’s notes from that day’s coaching session: 

When there are noises that prevent you from teaching, neutrally state: “Noises off and tracking the page, please, so we can read the words together.” Then:

1. Quietly narrate 2 friends with noises off.
2. Quietly redirect each friend making noises with a What to Do.
3. Move towards friends who continue to make noises and use non-verbals to get them back on task.

This incredibly detailed feedback is the magic of Sposato training. Here the philosophy is that smart, hard-working people, with proper training, adequate practice and an ability to digest criticism, can become effective teachers. 

The entire program is oriented around a near-consistent loop of practice and in-the-moment feedback on everything from a trainee’s intellectual preparation for a lesson, to her tone and physical presence with students, to the way she goes about engaging kids in a productive in-class discussion. Those practical, repeatable skills, in our view, are more valuable to a rookie teacher than the more esoteric conversations common in a traditional graduate school of education. 

Mahajan should know. She has a degree from one of the nation’s storied teaching colleges. “I knew I wanted help with the practical aspects of teaching, but that’s not what I got at all,” she says about her graduate school experience. “I had none of the skills of a 5th or 6th grade teacher need -- I didn’t know what I was doing in so many ways.” 

As the no-excuses charter movement has evolved, so has Sposato. The school has a much greater focus these days on helping our graduate students learn how to build strong relationships with kids. “Ross Greene, in his book Lost & Found, talks about the idea that kids do well if they can, not if they want to,” Mahajan says. It’s an important shift in thinking. 

It’s also the big thing holding back the young teacher, Ms. M. Mahajan and her team of coaches are working, one session at a time, to help Ms. M internalize the idea that young children are still developing the skills to sit still, and not talk, and read along. (Their fidgeting isn’t personal.) At the same time, the Sposato coaches are helping her see the connection between the relationship she has with her students and how they interpret her direction. “It’s not just ‘cause I’m telling you to do it, right? It’s important that they're able to hear the words,” Mahajan told her. “Get kids invested in the purpose of the expectation (‘Ms. M is helping me read, she has my back!’), instead of going to consequences.” 

Building relationships with students doesn’t always come naturally to first-year teachers, who are worried about the zillion other things they have to master about their new craft. But it’s a critical skill. “Teaching is maybe the only profession where you have to willfully smile at a kid who is scowling at you,” Mahajan says. 

Reimagining the Classroom at Match Next

Garrett Schilling works with one of his students.

Garrett Schilling is a tutor at Match Next this year. He has hipster beard and a brown leather notebook with refillable paper he carries from class to class. Garrett grew up all over the United States, but calls Oklahoma home. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Science from Southwestern Oklahoma State University and after several stints as an outdoor educator, decided he wanted to become a teacher. He applied to the Match Teacher Residency – the first year of Match’s Sposato Graduate School of Education – and asked to be placed at Match Next, because he knew it would require even more one-on-one interaction with students than Match Corps tutors do. 

Match Next is Match Education’s latest K12 innovation: it’s our effort to reimagine how to organize the human resources in a school. Instead of the traditional classroom, with one teacher in a room of 25 students, we’re building a new model. In one grade, three master teachers oversee 30 tutors (all AmeriCorps members), who work with 100 students. In a typical class period, students are organized into groups of three or four, overseen by one tutor. 

To see Match Next in action is to see a totally different kind of classroom, one with a lot more adults than a normal classroom has. Students and tutors sit at desks configured into pods. Every kid has a Chromebook and all of the class materials – lessons, assessments, classwork, homework, etc. – are housed in the cloud, on Google Classroom. Master teachers check in on students individually and spend a few minutes with each pod of kids to see spot-check their progress and check for understanding.  

This year, Garrett has worked one-on-one with 10 fifth graders in English and social studies. He spends hours with his kids each day working through the day’s lessons and independent work. He talks and texts regularly with their parents. As a result of spending so much time in close proximity, Garrett and his kids know all sorts of things about each other: favorite bands, interests, food, weekend plans, siblings, struggles at home.

Garrett spends a lot of time on his right knee during the day, kneeling down next to his students as they get to work. “About 60 percent of my job is poking and prodding and course correction,” he says. The group of four boys he’s working with today have diverse needs – one student is a plodder; another works fast (Garrett describes him as a “grumpy old man in a 10-year old body”); the third boy is capable, but has a hard time staying on task; and the fourth boy, who is new to Match this year, is catching up academically and adjusting to the high expectations of his new school. 

He has a few constant refrains (he must say these things hundreds of times a week): “What are you having a hard time with?” “What is this trying to teach us?” “You can do it, try again.” “I’m not telling you – look it up.” “Ok, that’s pretty good!”  

The big lesson students are working on today is identifying and interpreting poetic devices in songs. Each student was supposed to bring in a song from home to analyze – those who forgot to pick a song are given a copy of “Happy” by Pharrell. As class gets underway, Garrett reminds his students to pull out their poetry glossaries to use as a reference tool. He pushes them to think through the use of things like repetition, metaphor and simile to influence the mood, tone, theme and point of view of the song. 

Garrett has learned a lot about teaching and about how to connect with kids this year. But one of his biggest lessons has to do with how he presents himself. At the beginning of the year, Garrett’s eyebrows were permanently furrowed, his mouth fixed in a perpetual grimace. It was a look of concentration, and he was concentrating a lot! Sposato faculty identified this tendency and gave him feedback. “I think I was scaring the kids,” he says.  Now he smiles more and tries to ensure his “resting face” is a friendly one. It seems to be making a difference in his daily interactions with his students. 

The hardest part of the work for Garrett has been learning to not give kids the answers. His teacher persona is athletic coach – firm, but fair, and caring. “I’ve learned that it’s a long game to get kids to do the work themselves,” Garrett explains. “At the beginning of the year I was doing too much scaffolding - too much work for my students - but now they’re developing enough stamina to do their own work.”  

Next year, as a second year graduate student at Sposato, Garrett will be teaching middle school science at UP-Boston in South Boston. Meanwhile, the work at Match Next will continue. Over the next couple of years, we’ll integrate some of the best practices we’ve learned about technology in the classroom and individualized learning at Next across all our grade levels.