Teachers in America
Education is ever evolving. On Teachers in America, we connect with real educators and ed leaders to provide practical instructional tips and talk about the latest teaching trends to help you stay on the forefront of what’s new in education. Tune in to learn from educators who are embracing innovations, rethinking their approach, and focusing on what moves their students forward in learning and in life.
Teachers in America
The Power of Mindset with Camyrea Barnes
Ms. Barnes encourages students to see math challenges as stepping stones to mastery.
Today we are joined by middle school math teacher, Camyrea Barnes from Michigan. Camyrea believes that with the right mindset and community support, students can take on any math problem. As a leader on her school's positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) team, Camyrea is also dedicated to fostering a supportive classroom environment. In this episode, Camyrea shares strategies for fostering a growth mindset, like journaling and one-on-one conferencing. Plus she discusses how to build a supportive community for both teachers and students.
Teachers in America profiles K–12 teachers across the country. Hear firsthand from the people who are shaping young lives in the classroom every day. If you or someone you know would be a good candidate for Teachers in America, please email us at shaped@hmhco.com.
I really found a lot of my success really introduced our growth versus fixed mindset within our community building. So during my lessons, my language to them is centered around a growth mindset and they can understand. Oh, ms Barnes expects me to think this way and not just to say I can't do this, but instead say you know what this is challenging, but I'm going to keep working at it.
Speaker 2:From paper and pencil to Wi-Fi and AI. Education is ever-evolving. On this new season of Teachers in America, we'll keep you on the forefront of what's new. We connect with teachers and ed leaders to talk trending topics and real issues, bringing you inspiring ideas that will influence the future of your teaching. This past summer, host Kaylee Rhodes connected with fellow middle school math teacher, Kamaria Barnes. Kamaria teaches eighth grade, pre-algebra and algebra in Wayne-Westland Community School District in Michigan. She believes that with the right mindset and community, students can take on any math challenge. As a leader on her school's positive behavior interventions, andorts team, Kamaria is also dedicated to fostering a supportive classroom environment. In this episode, she shares how she nurtures a growth mindset and builds community with her students and peers. Now here's Kaylee and Kamaria.
Speaker 3:Welcome Kamaria. I'm so excited to have you on the podcast.
Speaker 1:I'm excited to be here with you. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Okay. So, Kamaria, where are you joining us from? Like? You look like you're kind of in a so you like, unfolded a giant manila folder behind yourself.
Speaker 1:I'm at the Cannon Public Library in my area, so I went to the library to do this podcast so I can have distraction free. Plus, I'm on summer vacation, so I've been in the house for a couple of days now and I'm like I need a new scenery. So this is what we did.
Speaker 3:We came here any reason you're not joining us from your classroom it's too soon.
Speaker 1:Give me to August. Late August, late August, late late August. Give me to that, then you'll see me back in my classroom. But our last day was this past Friday, june 7thth, and once I turned my classroom keys in, I'm like I'm not turning back unless my principal tells me to, but if she's not telling me to, I will be out of the classroom.
Speaker 3:I was like the opposite. I like had this weird, like love for my classroom during the summer because it was empty, which is like a dangerous feeling to have, because then you like get attached to it empty, and then when the kids come back, you're like what are y'all doing here? This is my giant office.
Speaker 1:Not gonna lie, that classroom piece, that empty classroom piece, is surreal, like during my prep hours or after school. I love the piece of an empty classroom, especially when it's your classroom and you can see all the details you put it to the boards, the decorations, the meanings of why you put the posters up. My kids be asking, ms Barnes, why you got this poster up here. It don't got nothing to do with math. I'm like it's because I like it, I want to see it, it's for me, it's for me, so I love it. I just I love that empty classroom piece, so I hear you with that.
Speaker 3:Let's jump into some questions. But speaking of middle school, middle school math is so unique. So, um, as a math teacher myself, I started at in English and then I was like one of those people that never thought of myself as a math person, which now I know to never say around my kids. Um, but finding myself in the math classroom was the best thing that ever happened to me. Um, so why for you? Why math? How did you end up as a math teacher?
Speaker 1:So I've always been a numbers girl. I love numbers, I love the arithmetic. I played the violin when I was younger and I realized me counting the beats and counting the measures. I love that. So I've always been into math and I was like, okay, so I want to do something math related for a career. So I was thinking to myself, what can I do with math as a career? So then I also admired my mom a lot. My mom was a huge public servant in Detroit public schools and she served a lot of families with children with special, with disabilities, and she was an advocate for them, showing families how to ask questions during the IEP, how to have conversations with teachers about their child's 504 plan, empowering kids like me, little black kids like me, empowering them on how to advocate for themselves in the class. And I just saw my mom mom doing that. I'm like, oh, maybe I could do something with public service and math.
Speaker 1:But I never thought about math teacher. It never clicked to me, math teacher. But what clicked to me was when I was in high school, my senior year, I had a job where I worked at a summer math camp as a high school teacher assistant and I got to teach middle school math, middle school students math over the summer and I fell in love with the craft of teaching, not just the concept of math, but just the building, the trust, fostering community, having relationships, connecting with people that you would never thought you would connect with. I fell in love with that and I was like, wow, like I can be an inspiration and do math at the same time as a math teacher. So all that whole experience is how I end up here same time as a math teacher. So all that whole experience is how I end up here as a fifth year math teacher.
Speaker 3:That's beautiful, I mean, and hearing you talk about like the relationship building and math. Can you speak to a little bit about how necessary it is to build those student relationships and really foster that community uniquely in the math classroom and the math classroom space?
Speaker 1:Right, it is so important, like I don't think people realize, like people think math is just like straight up, like numbers, like you get straight to one answer, which a lot of times it can be like that. But math is such a challenging subject where if you feel defeated, you're not going to be able to do as well because of that defeated or fixed mindset.
Speaker 1:So, as a teacher, even like during my years of preparing to be a teacher, or even in my classroom experience, I realized how it's so important for me to connect with my kids when they have those discouraging moments. Me just giving them a lifting word and saying, hey, you got this, like you already on the right track how that life would go off for them and they will literally be a whole different mindset, a whole different framework to just start hitting the ground running with all of that. So I was just super, super grateful to just be able to experience that relationship building with them in the math classroom. And if you don't know your kids, if you don't know your students, you can't expect them to be able to be fully motivated or to be able to have that. What's the word for that?
Speaker 1:work ethic or that effort to want to be successful in math.
Speaker 3:There's something weird about math where it feels more exposed than maybe other subjects. Are you seeing that in your students or do you feel that as a teacher?
Speaker 1:When you say exposed. Can you expound on that for me a little bit?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it seems like the failure to success ratio in terms of emotions in class. Coming from the English classroom, it felt like having students sometimes even like read a poem in front of the class that they wrote. I was like they're probably really scared. And then I became a math teacher and I was like they are way more afraid to come to the math board and do and do an equation on the board than like read a poem they wrote. And so like this, like this fear or this, like feeling very exposed in the math classroom, like how do you, how do you see that as a teacher and how do you, how do you confront it with that growth mindset for your kids?
Speaker 1:So it's interesting because during my first year of teaching what you just said, exactly what I experienced my first year of teaching. So when I came into my classroom, you know I was that first year energy, like, oh my gosh, I'm going to change the world and be an inspiration for my kids, I'm going to teach them math and I'm going to be able to do so many great projects and they're going to make a movie of me, exactly, I'm going to be Instagram famous and they're going to want to invite me on the news station to show how great I have changed these kids' lives.
Speaker 1:And when I tell you that first week of teaching actually that my first math lesson I did, it was a lesson on teaching the kids or just doing some review on like seventh grade math, reviewing adding and subtracting integers I'm like okay y'all, so can we all come into the kids? So I have a volunteer come into the board to show me their work. We all come into the kids. So I have a volunteer coming to the board to show me their work. Mute, no one didn't want to come up and I was like, okay, uh, I was like, okay, how about you? So I saw, I saw your work. It was great. How about you come on up?
Speaker 1:They came up, they put the wrong answer up there and at first I was gonna, I was about to say something. Then their other class is saying man, that's wrong. Like there was just like really like tearing the student down, and then the student and the two students started going back and forth with each other and I was like, oh, this is not how it turned out it was a nightmare, my dreams of being on the news stations.
Speaker 3:I'm going to be on the news for a different reason Exactly.
Speaker 1:It just went all the way out. So I was just so in that moment I was like, ok, so maybe calling the kids up on the board wasn't the best thing to do right then and there, but at the same time I was like I want my kids to have that exposure, to be OK to make mistakes. So I believe in that moment I took that moment as I could laugh about it now, but back then I was really like embarrassed, I was shocked, I didn't know what to do. But in that moment it taught me and it showed me like, okay, kamaria, we have to think about something different, like we need to do something different to try to get these kids to be not afraid to mess up. And that's when I started my whole journey of researching ways, having conversations and just thinking of different methods to encourage kids to be okay to fail or be okay to mess up. And that's when I started learning more about fixed versus growth mindset and effort in the math classroom.
Speaker 3:Do you talk with your kids explicitly about fixed versus growth mindset?
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely I do. That's one of the that's actually during my first two weeks of teaching. I don't teach no kind of math. All we do is classroom building, setting up expectations for our classroom, creating a classroom culture and talk about growth versus fixed mindset, and something I do in my classroom called effort level, and we talk about explicitly what a fixed mindset is, where you have a mindset that, oh, your abilities are fixed, there's no purpose of growing, you're born with your talents, you cannot grow, or anything Versus a growth mindset that says you know what, if I keep practicing, if I keep trying, if I keep putting that effort towards this task, then I can be successful.
Speaker 1:And I have that conversation with my kids explicitly during the first two weeks where I introduce it to them outside of the math context. When we talk about you know, I have them break up into groups where I show them videos or clips and different episodes and TV shows of different characters showing. Yes, it's amazing and I love it so much because the kids, I break them up into groups where they have to watch the clips. I show the clips to the entire class and the kids and their groups have to determine if it's a fixed versus growth mindset at the character's display and they have to write a reasoning as to why and after that, the next day we start talking about okay y'all.
Speaker 1:So, based on these examples, can you name specific times what you yourself has had a fixed mindset or a growth mindset? And I have them reflect it, they write it down and then they pair up with a partner and they share it with their partner, and then sometimes I'll give them the autonomy Okay, if you'd like to share, just raise your hand. If not, then you share with the partner. And I told them we just have like full-on discussions about growth versus fixed mindset. And then I asked them okay for math this year what do?
Speaker 1:you believe is the perfect mindset to have when you are doing math. And I'm glad I do it before I introduce the math to them, because a lot of times I feel like teachers or educators. They introduce them to growth versus fixed mindset while they're teaching a curriculum. And when you're teaching it to them, when you're teaching it to a growth versus fixed mindset before, like, why are you teaching about hard content? That's going to discourage them a little bit more. It's going to be hard for them to really apply what they are learning.
Speaker 1:So, I really found a lot of my success really introduced that growth versus fixed mindset within our community building. So during my lessons, my language to them is centered around a growth mindset and it can understand. Oh, ms Barnes, expect me to think this way and not just to say I can't do this, but instead say you know what this is challenging, but I'm going to keep working at it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it feels like you're so right to speak to the intentionality of like.
Speaker 3:I think a lot of us of educators are really reluctant to like give up content time, but I'm so fascinated about how teachers kick off their year because it's so important to invest in stuff like that at the top of the year so that kids really understand that you're not introducing growth or fixed mindset, you know in in month two as a response to how they're not doing well or something.
Speaker 3:It's like laying the red carpet for like. This is the path we're going to walk, no matter if you have no idea what kind of math I'm about to show you two plus two or like define X. You don't know. So, either way, you have to approach it with this mindset. And it makes me curious about this um, this group that you lead of, uh, positive behavior interventions and supports how much I mean like. I imagine it's very difficult for you to not bring in all the skills that you have from that into your math class. But can you talk to us a little bit about just like that isolatedly and like what that's about and maybe how it shows up in your math class as your skillset?
Speaker 1:Of course. So one thing that I do so. As you just said, I'm the leader of our positive behavior intervention supports team at my school and we are a group of teachers who basically are trying to create strategies to support students in the classroom and we usually focus on behavior. But the behavior goes to the academics because if you have instruction consisting in your classroom it transfers to the student's work ethic. So a lot of times in that group I'm with my peers, I'm with my administration, I'm with my behavior team and we all talk about different methods that we as a team can present to our staff at staff meetings, methods and strategies they can use to promote a positive culture within their own classroom setting. So that's so. That was definitely transpired into my classroom a lot, because a lot of those strategies that we talk about I do try in my class.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you pilot them.
Speaker 1:Exactly piloting. So, for instance, there is one time where I wanted to pilot a chance for students to take a break in my class, because we had a big thing at our school where teachers wanted to send kids out when they were being disruptive or not a task. But a lot of us on the leadership team said, well, if we do that, are we really doing restorative practices with the kids instead of just sending them out? So what I do is I try to have the kids take a break where, if I'm sending them into the hall I didn't know're coming right back in after 60 seconds 60 seconds two minutes.
Speaker 1:you're coming right back into that classroom. You're not going to stay out in the hallway for the entire time. You're coming back in and when I come to talk to you, it's going to be a conversation as to what happened. What can we do to relieve the issue? What frustrations are you having? And what I notice is when I ask my kids those questions, instead of automatically putting them as the target or like they're the issue, they're like the problem but, I'm addressing it as is like there's a problem that they're having and they're having a hard time processing.
Speaker 1:They were able to answer those questions where I would have students telling me you know, Ms Barnes, this math is really complicated, I don't get this, I don't understand this. It's boring, and I say thank you for that feedback. So what can I do as a teacher to try to help you become more engaged? What can we do right now, in this moment? Sometimes the kids will say they'll give me a reason. Sometimes they'll say I don't know, and I'm saying, well, let's do it this way. Can we just do this for today and we'll think of something else in the near future?
Speaker 1:And doing that conversations helped me build rapport with my students and they created a positive classroom environment and that was a strategy that I was able to use and take from our leadership team when we talked about it and present that in my classroom and then, when I saw that work, I was able to tell my other staff members like hey, like this is a good strategy to use, just talk to the kids. When you talk to them, they will tell you a lot more than you would actually think or perceive.
Speaker 3:It seems like what you're also telling the kid like us following a kid out, us sending a kid out in the hallway is like I don't want you it out. As sending a kid out in the hallway is like I don't want, I don't want you, I don't want you here, you're be gone. But like allowing them 60 seconds and then going and retrieving them with a conversation, is I want you here, how can I keep you here? And even if their answer is I don't know how, it's like the fact that you go and seek them out and like make them feel wanted and like a part of the classroom, I imagine is pretty transformative.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's why I always say this is something that I will say I learned within my first five years of teaching is the fact that our classrooms are the most transformative place ever. We as teachers, have the power to do so much great work in the classroom, despite the uncontrollable factors that come to play. Like I'm a public school teacher, so a lot of the things that happen that are out of my control, due to things that are happening on the state or federal level, I have no control over. But what I can say is you know, I'm going to do everything I can within my space to make sure that I'm still promoting that positivity and because that positivity can help transform a kid into being the person that you know that can be, to help them recognize their own greatness and be successful.
Speaker 3:And want to come to class on Monday. Yes, because you will notice that they're not there.
Speaker 2:Right on Monday? Yes, because you will notice that they're not there, right? Hey, teacher friends, if you're an HMH user, did you know you have access to Teacher's Corner on Ed Included with every HMH program? Teacher's Corner is a community of teachers, learning experts and instructional coaches gathered in one place to support you with a new kind of professional learning Bite-sized, teacher-selected and teacher-driven. With on-demand sessions, lesson demonstrations, program support and practical resources. Teacher's Corner lets you choose how you interact with our content. I like to think about it as inspiration on demand.
Speaker 3:Well, speaking of like, just going back a little bit to math, finding you know we were talking about your first day when you had them come to the board and you're like, well, this is maybe not the first thing I should do. Um, and I completely resonate with that. Like, day one of my math class was never math, it was, it was always about um. I wanted to find out, like their math trauma, the math trauma they were showing up with in my class, cause I taught foundational math most recently and it was um, it was just they. They came in with so many math scars. They're just like, so beat down about their math ability and getting them in the room and being like, let's just reset.
Speaker 3:Let's me, I don't. If you have math nervousness, if you have math anxiety, math trauma, cool, great, no, no problem. But as teaching algebra one in a middle school, which a lot of some middle schools don't even have algebra one, not even offering that level of math at that age. Yet I imagine, though even pre-COVID, but especially post-COVID, they're coming in a couple grade levels below that ask, and can you talk about like, bridging those? What foundational skills are you noticing Like you've, no matter what year, no matter what you know you're going to have to hit, even though it's not on that algebra one curriculum. Do you have any secret sauce that you're pouring all over that kind of foundational stuff and what's that looking like? Bridging that gap?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I want to speak on you bringing up math trauma, because that is a big thing. A lot of people don't realize the math trauma that kids experience from their peers, from parents or guardians, from teachers like me, saying I'm not a math person is a fixed mindset.
Speaker 3:If I said that to my kid yeah, that exactly.
Speaker 1:So you bring up the whole bridge in the gap part. A lot of it is. It's not like a where I have like a secret form, like, oh, like, if you do like this and put this and that together, you get to have an amazing classroom. It's just more so, like you said, addressing that math trauma. So something I do at the beginning of the year with my algebra one kids at my school.
Speaker 1:That's considered the advanced math class so there's for all the eighth graders and then algebra one for my um advanced. I use quotation for advanced.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're quoting right now for advanced um for my eighth graders and a lot of them do come in with some gaps from missing from whatever they missed from seventh grade, sixth grade, fifth grade, whatsoever. One of the things I know a lot of my kids do not have the ability to achieve yet is a lot of times just making connections from what they previously learned. So something that I do with my kids often is they reflect. I have my kids reflect and my kids say all the time Ms Barnes, you always have this writing as a math class. Well, you're going to continue to write because in the math class you need to write.
Speaker 1:And if your teacher doesn't make you write in the math class, then you need to ask them. You can start writing because when they journal and they reflect on what they've learned and think about what level of understanding that they're at, it helps them. See, okay, I know I need to understand. Let's say, for instance, you're learning about graphing, I need to understand the coordinate plane. If I don't know how to plot a point on the coordinate plane, I cannot graph a linear equation. So I do a lot of journaling and I prompt them to journal every time I do a lesson, as an exit ticket or even like as an activity. I have them sit for two minutes and I have them write down in their notebooks or on their bell worksheet. I want you to. I tell them, write down. What level of understanding do you believe you are? Do you believe at the beginning, approaching proficient or skilled or not skilled? Mastered?
Speaker 1:where I have them write down what level they believe they're at and how can you make sure you can get to that master level?
Speaker 2:why do you believe?
Speaker 1:you're at that level, what skills do you believe you are missing, based on the lesson we just did with this concept, and what can you do to make sure you get to that ultimate level of master where you can be the teacher and give the spark a break, that's like.
Speaker 1:But but me doing that, um, knowing and expecting that from my students and being realistic with myself, because I feel like a lot of times teachers we have, we can have some unrealistic expectation for our kids, which is not, you know, and not a bad thing to a degree, but at the same time, it could cause us for not being able to be open and vulnerable and honest with our students when it comes to engaging them with their content right and it can make us feel like a failure because they're not at this level that that the standards are indicating that they should be at and I'm doing air quotes now should be at this grade level, and that's a challenge for teachers everywhere.
Speaker 3:It's a challenge to see the standards feel like we're not teaching the standards, feel like our kids aren't at the standard, feel like they didn't arrive in our classroom ready to learn that standard. Talk about mindset we have to have it, you know. We have to have a growth mindset and also like be incredibly compassionate towards ourselves as educators, because we're moving mountains, because every child is a mountain. We got to move them all.
Speaker 1:No, I agree with that most definitely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so when I bridged the gap for my algebra one kids, so that was like so for me it comes down to like the abstract part of teaching, the concrete part, the abstract part is that reflects where I'm really taking time to understand, where they're at Me, having one-on-one conferences with the kids on a certain days of the week where I will just meet with kids one-on-one about their test scores, talk to them about what they believe like, what happened for them to achieve that test score. Are they satisfied with that test score? Sometimes the reflection is individual, sometimes it's peer to peer reflection, sometimes it's a whole class reflection and we have some straight up, honest conversations. I'll pull up the class NWA scores, like their district assessment scores as a class. What that class score meant. Is the class at grade level? If the class is at grade level, what areas do we need to focus on to improve it? Or what areas do we need to stay? Do we want to grow more in?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm like what's working? Why are we here? Why is it working?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we have some really transparent conversation. I've been asking the kids. I have conversations with the kids about their barriers to success. What is causing you to be not successful? Is it you? Is it you come to class on time, keep you from being successful? Is it you um talk with a friend like, what are you doing in class? Are you actively taking notes? Are you asking questions? I, I point, we, I point it all out with my kids. We, as a class, we have those conversations to let so they can see, for one, miss barnes wants to see them succeed. But for two, for them to see for themselves that they have the power to be successful. It's all lies within them.
Speaker 3:It's just my job and you're there facilitating it. It just seems like you are, like, you are offering consistent, like um resetting judgment, like you're not, you don't like have a rap sheet, you don't have a ledger, no, you know, just every day like what's going on. Come back, come back, come back, reflect, reflect, reflect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's a lot of reflection and I noticed that I did a lot more reflection these past two years of me teaching and I noticed a big shift in my kids when it came to their math goals Like, for instance, this past year I had about close to 60,. I have close to about 70% of my kids meet their district assessment goals and that's a huge deal for my kids because they're kids that people would not expect to even care about math, to even care about school in general. But I had kids who were literally going from like a fourth grade, fifth grade level, ending the school year with a sixth grade, seventh grade level and even though it may not be an eighth grade level, it's way higher.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's all about that growth and I would tell the kids I've shown them their score. I'm like, look at the amount of work y'all have done and that reflection was a big thing for them because they were able to say they can communicate. Ms Barnes, I'm at a beginning level because I missed these two days of lessons. I need to go into a small group lesson with you. They're telling you what they need. Yeah, exactly, and that's the goal I believe every teacher should want to have for their students, especially at the middle school level. Students need to learn how to advocate for themselves. They're about to go off to high school. They're about to go off to high school. They're about to be adults. I know my personal goal is that I want my kids to be able to be champions for themselves and advocate for themselves, because we live in a world where not everybody's going to advocate for them. We have to be your own advocate and be your own support to survive and to manage in the society we live in today.
Speaker 3:Yep, that was amazing. It kind of bleeds into your future educators class. You teach a future educators class. Can you tell me what that's about? Who's in it? What are you doing?
Speaker 1:All right. So future educators is a class of seventh and eighth graders.
Speaker 1:just teaching them about the world of teaching, oh my God we're getting them that young, the eighth graders, just teaching them about the world of teaching.
Speaker 1:So, oh my god, we're getting them that young. Oh yes, and I love it because I, because in the class we started this is my first year of teaching it and in the class I tell them we teach, we learn about the different paths teachers take. So, whether you want to do secondary, post-secondary, elementary, um, infant, preschool, and then on top of that, we talk about the abstract and concrete parts of that. We talk about the abstract and concrete parts of teaching. So we talk about lesson planning, what teachers do during conferences, but we also have the abstract part about being a community. Why is it important for teachers to understand the students' social and personal identities? At the beginning of the year, in the future educators class, the kids were able to do an identity activity where they had to list out their personal and social identities and how those identities will come up in a classroom setting with their students. So how can I, as a teacher, make that kid feel supported in my classroom?
Speaker 1:So, that right there was so powerful because, for one, I wasn't really saying much. The kids were able to. I introduced the topic and the kids just facilitated the conversation themselves and it got them to be closer with each other when they got to see how those personal identities, like their personality traits and their social identities identities that we can't we were really born with, that we really can't change how those identities interact and how they coexist in the classroom space and also have them looking at, reflecting on how some of their teachers interact with them in those spaces, and then we will have conversations about you know what happens in a class and space and how can teachers improve or even make better or keep doing what they're doing to make their classmates feel welcomed I mean, this is stuff that I did in my graduate studies as a teacher.
Speaker 3:Can you imagine if we had access to that kind of thing in middle school?
Speaker 1:It would be amazing. I love it so much.
Speaker 3:I imagine that it transforms them as students too? Yes, it does. Their presence in a classroom, the way they show up in a classroom, is completely different. I imagine their empathy for the teacher is like through the roof.
Speaker 1:We had a discussion one day with my students and I talked to them about you know, my struggles as a teacher. I just came from my class the previous hour. They were just really not the best that day. They weren't showing at their highest level that day. So when they when my future teacher's class came in, I was like you know y'all I'm going to just let y'all know like my last class was really like this today. It made me feel very disappointed, overwhelmed. And they were talking.
Speaker 1:We had a whole conversation about you know what happened in that class period and how that affects teachers and their overall work ethic and how that can drain the teacher's energy and the kids. They were understanding and some of the kids gave like some feedback. It's like you know what I could tell my teacher's having a bad day because of how they interact with the class, interact with that class right after it and I said well, do you think that's the right thing for the kids, for teachers, to do? Do you think teachers have a right to let out their frustrations or to be upset? And we had a whole productive conversation about teachers and the amount of work and expectations we have, that we have on ourselves and it was just so powerful and transformative for us to hear them talk about you know, to just to hear that empathy and that connection with that being validated, like who's getting more out of this?
Speaker 3:you or them, right? I think we all.
Speaker 1:I think it's just like a whole, like collective, like healing kumbaya. But I love those kind of moments because it brings us closer as a class and community. And people tell me all the time, like Miss Barnes, like your classroom is always quiet, they're always on task. I don't really hear about kids misbehaving. I'm like, well, I don't have a magic wand, I just I know the importance of building a community and making sure kids feel safe. If I don't feel safe in my classroom, then I know my kids most definitely don't feel safe in that classroom. So we all gotta be on the same page, as teachers and students, to build that culture of care and that culture of compassion.
Speaker 3:Listening. It sounds like you listen to them just as much as they listen to you, which is like the key.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, speaking of keys, what is your, uh, what's your advice for new teachers? What's your advice? So I consider myself a new teacher still cause I'm like I'm only five years in, but you know, that's amazing.
Speaker 1:Like the national average, you're above it. So I met the goal, I met the, I met the benchmark. So but you know what like that?
Speaker 3:perspective of like humility probably keeps you really sharp. So like when you've been a teacher for 20 years, keep thinking you're new right, yes, so, uh, I have a couple of things.
Speaker 1:So one thing I would say is, as a new teacher, be authentic, be yourself, know how you are showing up. In the classroom setting we got to reflect as much as the kids need to reflect. When I first started teaching, I had to realize that, okay, I'm showing up as a young Black female teacher and I have a sister and I'm a daughter, so I'm showing up as that. And when I recognized how I was showing up, it kept me to be authentic with myself and finding ways to connect with my kids, who probably share those same identities, and also for me to put the work in for kids who may not experience those same things.
Speaker 1:Another thing to my vice principal, my first year teacher. She sent me an article called Find your Marigold and in the article it talks about how new teachers have to find their mar-go-olds. Find your people who make you happy, who bring you joy, and that's the advice I would give to any new teacher. Find people in your school or, if there's nobody in your school, join an organization. Find people who you can vent to, but they will problem-solve with you. I was very fortunate, and I am still fortunate, to have people at my school who I can vent to and they will problem solve with me. They won't spew out more negativity and complain with me, and they won't tell you to stop, they won't tell you to not vent Like cause.
Speaker 3:That's not the, that's not the answer either.
Speaker 1:Right, they will give me some strategies. They'll listen to me Like I have an amazing instructional coach. She I'll call her my work mom. She is legit.
Speaker 1:Yes, I have to shout out Robin, to be fair, she is an amazing instructional coach and she legit allowed me to have a space to vent.
Speaker 1:But then what problem solved is strategizing me on different methods of teaching, when I would have those frustrations of having students three grade levels behind and I'm expected to still teach a grade level course at the same time and still trying to meet all the standards and hit the standards so I can still meet the quota. But having those group of people there to strategize me and to encourage me, to let me know I'm still doing a great job really helped me during my first few years of teaching. So I would say that to any new teacher out there like keep being your authentic self. Don't let anybody at your school, your family, discourage you from teaching. If you know that you still want to show up despite the challenge, then do it and find people who will consistently and motivate you and empower you to keep doing that, because we got the power as teachers we do and I I feel like, even in in any, in any workplace, like we can even just talk about, like maybe, like my mom, my mom was a nurse and she had really similar advice.
Speaker 3:She was like you know, this is a hard profession. Nursing is a hard profession, just like teaching, and so they're. Because it's hard and because, you know, if we, if we had magic wands, we would be waving them all the time at everything, every direction, bippity, boppity, everything. And and she was just like you're going to, you're going to be around people who, um, the negativity is going to feel seductive. It's going to feel like the right place to go because it is there is hardship, so it is going to feel seductive. It's going to feel like the right place to go because it is there is hardship, so it's going to feel real. But I love your advice about find those people, even if they're not at your school, even if they're online they're all their educators that you meet on social media, that let you vent and then problem solve. I love that advice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was most definitely. I feel like if I didn't have that, I would not have this much wisdom or expertise in my belt without that Excuse me, without that group of people.
Speaker 3:You're Mary Golds.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my Mary Golds Shout out to my Mary Golds and they know who they are too.
Speaker 3:Well, actually we're going to probably move into rapid fire questions and I'll just reorder one of these. So I'm going to ask you like three that are like sentences, they're not single words, so they're a warm up to our rapid fire round. We'll do the first one. Any favorite teacher, colleague, instructional coach, mentor, shout outs that you want to give.
Speaker 1:Well, I just gave the shout out to Robin Tuperville, but I'll do it again. Shout out to Robin Tuperville, my instructional coach. I call her my work mom. She's amazing. I love her so much, and any school district or school who has her. You're blessed. It's a privilege to have Robin to the middle. So that's that's how I want to shout out right now.
Speaker 3:Wonderful. All right, are you ready for question number two? Yes, warm up question Um kind of segued from your advice to first year teachers. What rookie mistake did you make? I'm looking at your face. Are you reliving it? What rookie mistake did you make I'm trying to think about?
Speaker 1:I'm trying to I'm trying to think do I want to share the one that's most embarrassing or the one that you know is pretty courteous Both Okay.
Speaker 1:So I'll share, okay, so I'll share, like the teaching mistake and then like the whole embarrassing mistake, so teaching mistake that I made. So when I first started teaching out, I didn't realize the impact and how important it was to tell students what to bring to class because I was automatically expecting them to bring stuff to class. So literally, I kid you not. Like the first two weeks of school. I'm like why these kids don't got no pencils, they got no notebooks, no, nothing. They should know to come to school with it. So that third week of teaching I was so upset and then one of the kids they were saying well, ms Barnes, you never told us to bring a pencil and a notebook to class. I'm like you know what I should have told them to bring it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's no such thing, as y'all should know, and unless we've said it yeah, and we don't.
Speaker 1:And exactly, I never said it. I'm like you know what you're right. I never told y'all to bring a pencil and notebook to class, you know. I just expect that y'all know to bring a pencil notebook to a math class. You know stuff like that and we've got to make instructions explicit right, that part, yeah, that part, and then, um, the second embarrassing question, the second embarrassing thing that happened to me. So when I was teaching I had on press on nails. I flung my finger, I flung my finger, my press like gesturing gesturing, something I think I was getting really into the lesson.
Speaker 1:the kids were grinding, grinding. We were in the lesson I fling my finger. It's good Right, I fling my finger, my press on nail fell off and it landed in the middle of the floor and I can't even like play it off or anything, because the kids, they saw it, they just looked at me and I was glad that none of my kids said anything in that moment, only a couple of girls came to me like after bringing me my nail back and I'm like thank you for not doing that to me in the moment because that would have been so embarrassing.
Speaker 3:But listen these kids. They can like love on us in unexpected ways.
Speaker 1:It's weird it's weird, so you can't predict it. You can't know exactly, you can't. If you're gonna wear nails, make sure your nails are secure and make sure sure your hand motions are in slow motion.
Speaker 3:Exactly that part that is so funny. Last longer warm-up rapid-fire question. Okay, describe your preschool morning routine, including your go-to teacher outfit.
Speaker 1:Got you Okay. So my preschool morning routine when I wake up I do like a morning devotional, pray, reflect, then I do a 30, 35 minute workout, hit the shower yeah, I have to keep up. That's like my my morning times. I like my Wu-Tang moments before.
Speaker 1:I go into my job, so 30-35 minute workout, stretch, shower, eat breakfast and then I put on my go-to work, my go-to work outfits. I have like a. I don't have like a necessarily a per se outfit, but I will say my style is very like vintage, kind of retro. So I'm the type of person who will wear like a nice little blouse with the um suit pants or the trousers and a cute little pair of sneakers, and I try to accessorize. Yeah, yeah, I that's cute.
Speaker 1:I like to look nice at work, but that's kind of like my style it's like business break dance yeah, yeah, basically business break dance and you know I like me a nice little pair of jeans or some in the winter time, so Michigan jeans or some boots and then a nice little sweater, but still like that retro style. So that's kind of like what I would say my style at work is, but still comfortable, because I do not believe in people who wear flats like those brown flats or the heels to work I would never do that as a teacher.
Speaker 1:you would see me in some gym shoes or some canvas and as a teacher you would see me in some gym shoes or some canvas, and if I'm wearing sandals, there are those plush sandals where you could walk in there. Your feet would not be hurting Because no matter how working and standing I do in my job absolutely not.
Speaker 3:No, I'm going to make a controversial statement. I'm going to say my feet are warmer in a flip-flop than in a flap.
Speaker 1:You know what I can see that I'm not going to be flattened around in Michigan?
Speaker 3:Absolutely not. I don't do anything in Michigan.
Speaker 1:Unless it's warm. No, you know what? It's warm in Michigan right now. It's 90 degrees right now today, but in the winter months it gets cold. But you know what it's Michigan One day it's cold, but then it's warm.
Speaker 3:I'm going to come visit you when we've got a 60 degree forecast. Are you ready for rapid fire?
Speaker 1:Yes, I can do some rapid fire.
Speaker 3:One word only.
Speaker 1:Okay, I mean and you know. Okay, I got you you know I'm looking at you like one word?
Speaker 3:Fill in the blank.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:I want my lunchbox to be packed with blank, and I don't want it to have a single blank.
Speaker 1:I want my lunch packed with pretzels and I don't want to have a single ounce of mayonnaise no mayonnaise.
Speaker 3:You're not dipping those pretzels in mayonnaise. No, I do not like mayonnaise at all no. All right, here we go. Favorite school supply.
Speaker 1:Highlighters Least favorite school dress up day. You know what? At my school we did a movie character day. Actually, no, scratch that pajama day. And I did not care for a pajama day only because that's controversial so I know it's controversial, but sometimes it depends on the kind of pajamas people put on. There are some people who wear a set of pajamas that I was not expecting to see, and it don't be the kids sometimes. Sometimes it's about staff and people who participate. I'm like I didn't ask, I didn't ask, I didn't ask.
Speaker 3:We need some stipulation. We need some stipulation. How about, like commercially approved pajama day, like you're going to be in like a commercial for books for your kids? Those are the pajamas you can wear.
Speaker 1:The cozy and comfy pajama commercials you see on TikTok. We like those, those, only those.
Speaker 3:Only Some of the other ones I don't be a big fan of I can tell you've had that for a couple decades and it shows this is the first time that you've I'm a, I'm a convert. You're right, it's a tricky one. All right, and last rapid fire question what would you be teaching if it wasn't math? Or future educators?
Speaker 1:I'll teach law. Yes, that psychology law psychology. It's when I first, when I was a kid, I actually wanted to be a lawyer. First, when I was thinking about public service, I wanted to be a lawyer, but then my mom told me no, because lawyers lie, and she said she does not want to have a daughter who lies.
Speaker 3:You heard it here first, folks.
Speaker 1:And that was. That was her, that was her reasoning, that was her reasoning with her Christian church background. She's like you don't lie, you're my daughter and lawyers lie. And I was in the second grade so I was like, oh my gosh, I don't want to lie, oh my God, that is adorable.
Speaker 1:That was so amazing. So that's how I went from wanting to be a lawyer to going into like math, but I still like to read like law, psychology books, so I will most definitely teach something along the lines of like law one-on-one or psych one-on-one. I actually have my minor in psychology, so I will most definitely.
Speaker 3:Future educators is the first semester. Future lawyers or future psychologists is second semester.
Speaker 1:I love that. You know there we go Teach our kids how to you know Vanessa Finagle their way around. That's right.
Speaker 3:Cause they're not already good enough In the non-liar way. Oh my gosh, it has been such a pleasure having you on this podcast. You are clearly like a leading light and in both like your, your behavior and your mindset and your attitude, but also in just like your deep ingenuity of like teaching a future educator class, like I hope our listeners are like I can do that and like it would. It's literally like this, um, this like giving a there's like circle that you're creating of just like hey, you want to make our students better, help them understand teaching better. Oh, it's so beautiful, kamaria, I'm so glad that you had joined us. Um, any last words you have for our listeners as a teaching populace of listeners?
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, thank you for one for having me on the podcast. Thank you so much. One thing I would probably just close out with is some of my teachers out there are young and veteran. Keep being your authentic self. Don't allow what you see in the classroom to discourage you that you're not making an impact. You are making an impact. All the connections, the words, the actions that you say. It is hitting the kids way more than you realize. And just really, I kept saying it, just really be a marigold, find your marigolds, but be a marigold too in your setting. Be a marigold, find your marigolds, but be a marigold too in your setting. Be a marigold, and then you'll be surprised to see the amount of growth and change you can do in a class within a year. And that's what I would close off with.
Speaker 3:You heard it here, folks, be a marigold. Thank you so much to our listeners. Thank you so much, kamaria. We'll see you later.
Speaker 2:If you or someone you know would like to be a guest on the Teachers in America podcast, please email us at shaped. At hmhcocom. That's S-H-A-P-E-D. At H-M-H-C-O dot com. Be the first to hear new episodes of Teachers in America by subscribing on Apple Podcasts, spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed today's show, please rate, review and share it with your network. You can find the transcript of this episode on our Shaped blog by visiting hmhcocom. Forward slash shaped. That's hmhcocom. Forward slash s-h-a-p-e-d. The link is in the show notes. The Teachers in America podcast is a production of HMH. Thank you to the production team of Christine Condon, tim Lee, jennifer Coruvo, neil Fry, thomas Velasquez and Matt Howell. Thanks again for listening.