February Edition - Turns out teaching is a real world skill

Hello!

This newsletter barely qualifies as a February post, but there is good reason. I'm working with over 30 colleges right now and February has been hopping. Lots of math reforms happening with colleges in different stages. We're working on our back end processes as a business that will allow us to bring on more consultants, making serving more colleges possible.

You may have heard this:

Those who can, do.

Those who can't, teach.

Those who can't teach, teach teachers.

Not exactly words of encouragement for those of us who teach. And, better yet, it's not true. There are educators all of the country who have left the classroom and are using their skills in the "real world." What surprised me was to find out I'm one of them.

Last month, I mentioned how Almy Education is laser focused on helping colleges and universities get to math?success?at?scale. We do that through our intensive (for strategy and planning) and our accelerator (for implementation and iteration).

Here's the best news: they both work really well. But why?

Understanding what works allows us to help more colleges with just the pieces that move the needle and let go of the activities that waste time and/or resources.

I put my brain into analyze mode to figure this out. As I did, I noticed a theme:?teaching. I love teaching and have done it for 25 years. I remember teaching my dolls and getting a chalkboard for a Christmas gift. My family is full of teachers. It's what we do.

Seeing the same facets of good teaching also work to help colleges redesign their math programs has been quite a realization. And it's probably one of the reasons I enjoy this work so much. Here are some examples:

The intensive...

• is backwards-designed to meet the goal of?success?at?scale
• has multiple lessons each with specific outcomes
• Each lesson has activities, theory, and application
• Discussion and group work are the norm
• Lessons end with a realistic amount of homework that isn't busywork
• Office hours provide individual assistance
• Formative assessment is used and pacing is adjusted throughout

The accelerator...

• has additional resources to differentiate support for each college no matter their place in the change process
• Each systems-level session provides live accountability to make consistent progress
• Just-in-time instruction is included throughout
• Office hours provide individual assistance
• Meetings are regular and enough to sustain momentum but no longer
• Faculty get just-in-time professional development and time to work with peers on classroom-level issues

Beyond these structures that are like the classroom, so is the people element. Meetings remind me of classes with each group having their own personalities, needs, and priorities.

As someone who loves teaching but is on a break while I finish my doctorate, it's been wonderful to realize I'm still teaching every day.

Want to do SOMETHING to improve math outcomes, but not sure where to start?

We have a new free assessment that takes about 15 minutes to complete. Your time will be well worth it. When you're finished, you'll either know what you should do next to start improving math outcomes or you will have a chance to get my recommendations. If you would benefit from outside help, I'll suggest that. If there's something quick or easy that you can do without outside help, I'll tell you that as well. Anything I can do to get your college on its way to making math work at?scale, I will.

Click here to get immediate access to the assessment?along with a video of me walking you through how to complete it. In the video, I use a sample college's situation so you can see a realistic example.

Intrigued by our intensive or accelerator??Message me?if you'd like to learn more or want your college to participate.