Latest / Math Therapy / How to treat math like a team sport & help every kid find their role w/ Kallen Currie

Transcript

How to treat math like a team sport & help every kid find their role w/ Kallen Currie · Math Therapy

• 0:03
  Kallen Currie: it's not gonna happen overnight.
• 0:04
  Kallen Currie: It's not gonna happen in a month, a year.
• 0:06
  Kallen Currie: It's building that repetition, the relationships with your students, It's not gonna happen now, but could happen later.
• 0:12
  Kallen Currie: And when it does, it's probably gonna be the best feeling you've ever felt, right?
• 0:15
  Kallen Currie: Kids read off your energy 100%.
• 0:17
  Kallen Currie: Like, if you show up to work being neutral, maybe dismissive with the kids, it's not gonna create positive energy in your class, right?
• 0:25
  Kallen Currie: Positivity.
• 0:26
  Kallen Currie: Like, you're the role model, too, right, at the end of the day.
• 0:28
  Kallen Currie: So if they see you being positive to, them, they're gonna carry that on to their peers, right?
• 0:36
  Vanessa Vakharia: Hello, and welcome back to Math Therapy, guys.
• 0:39
  Vanessa Vakharia: I'm your host, Vanessa Vakharia, and today I've got something a little different for you.
• 0:44
  Vanessa Vakharia: So I met today's guest, phys ed teacher and sports coach Kallen Currie, at a conference in Saskatoon.
• 0:50
  Vanessa Vakharia: And if you're like, why is there a phys ed teacher on Math Therapy today?" Well, this episode is especially for you.
• 0:57
  Vanessa Vakharia: Kallen is a physical education teacher from Mistawasis First Nation in Saskatchewan.
• 1:01
  Vanessa Vakharia: And here's the thing: he uses sports to help kids build confidence, deal with failure, manage anxiety, and most importantly, guys, find their place on the team.
• 1:12
  Vanessa Vakharia: Kallen has me fully convinced that maybe we need to start treating math class a little more like a team sport.
• 1:18
  Vanessa Vakharia: See, in sports, nobody expects every kid to be the same kind of player.
• 1:23
  Vanessa Vakharia: You need different strengths and different roles, and everyone knows you're gonna screw up and fail along the way.
• 1:27
  Vanessa Vakharia: But somehow in math class, we've convinced kids that, like, everyone should be good at the same things in the same way, at the same speed, and that getting something wrong might mean you're not a math person.
• 1:39
  Vanessa Vakharia: Kallen and I talk about why a disengaged student might actually just be an anxious student.
• 1:43
  Vanessa Vakharia: We talk about how we can make failure feel safer, why belonging has to come before performance, and how one kid finding the right position on a lacrosse team completely changed the way I think about what it means for a student to succeed.
• 1:56
  Vanessa Vakharia: Also, okay, this is weird, but apparently telling a student they have 1,000 aura, is a legitimate teaching strategy.
• 2:04
  Vanessa Vakharia: So you're welcome, and sorry in advance.
• 2:06
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay, let's get into my live conversation with Kallen Currie Kallen, welcome to the podcast.
• 2:15
  Kallen Currie: Thanks for having me.
• 2:16
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay, so how are you feeling?
• 2:17
  Kallen Currie: Good.
• 2:18
  Kallen Currie: Good.
• 2:18
  Kallen Currie: A little tired.
• 2:19
  Kallen Currie: I've not had my, uh, morning coffee yet, but, uh, a little nervous too, but pretty much know everybody in here, so
• 2:25
  Vanessa Vakharia: no worries.
• 2:25
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay, well, I know zero people in here.
• 2:27
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay.
• 2:27
  Vanessa Vakharia: So I don't know who has, I don't know who has the advantage.
• 2:29
  Vanessa Vakharia: So tell us, you are...
• 2:31
  Vanessa Vakharia: Tell us about being nervous.
• 2:32
  Kallen Currie: get nervous pretty easy.
• 2:33
  Kallen Currie: I do, I think, suffer from anxiety quite a bit, whether it's being at work or playing lots of sports.
• 2:39
  Kallen Currie: but I think it's good to be nervous.
• 2:40
  Kallen Currie: I think it just shows that you care about what you're doing.
• 2:43
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 2:44
  Vanessa Vakharia: Well, a lot of us, so we're talking to a bunch of teachers in the room that all teach different subjects, right?
• 2:49
  Vanessa Vakharia: Right.
• 2:49
  Vanessa Vakharia: Everyone here teaches something different, and I'm a math educator, and the reason I wanted to have you on is because you are a gym teacher.
• 2:55
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 2:56
  Kallen Currie: Correct.
• 2:56
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're an athlete.
• 2:57
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 2:58
  Vanessa Vakharia: And I wanna know, like, you know, we have something in common, which is that we both have nervous students, right?
• 3:03
  Vanessa Vakharia: Correct, yeah.
• 3:03
  Vanessa Vakharia: The first time we talked I was telling you, we talk a lot about math anxiety, but who here remembers the anxiety of, like, getting picked last in gym class?
• 3:11
  Vanessa Vakharia: Right?
• 3:12
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like yes, hands are going up.
• 3:14
  Vanessa Vakharia: I wanna know how you deal with anxious students who are in your classroom, and they look like they're unmotivated and disengaged, but you can tell they're actually feeling nervous and anxious.
• 3:24
  Vanessa Vakharia: First of all, how can you tell that it's not a motivation issue, but that they're maybe just feeling nervous?
• 3:30
  Kallen Currie: first thing to look for is obviously body language I think is a big one.
• 3:34
  Kallen Currie: Those of you from Mistawasis, you know that those kids kind of take themselves out from, like you said, being picked last or something like that.
• 3:40
  Kallen Currie: So look for body language.
• 3:42
  Kallen Currie: Another thing too is there's like a tension in phys ed I feel like.
• 3:46
  Kallen Currie: I don't know what it is, but, I'm lucky that I get to play music in my phys ed class.
• 3:50
  Kallen Currie: And you know what kids listen to these days.
• 3:52
  Kallen Currie: It's pretty silly most of the time.
• 3:54
  Kallen Currie: So if you can get some music going, ease the tension, get that anxiety out.
• 3:59
  Kallen Currie: You, you'll see a little kid pop out a dance move.
• 4:01
  Kallen Currie: You know what I mean?
• 4:01
  Kallen Currie: So just small things like that to kind of get them- So
• 4:03
  Vanessa Vakharia: like getting them into their bodies kind of.
• 4:04
  Kallen Currie: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:05
  Kallen Currie: Their comfort zones.
• 4:06
  Vanessa Vakharia: Why...
• 4:07
  Vanessa Vakharia: So those are really good things to look for.
• 4:09
  Vanessa Vakharia: What should we do?
• 4:10
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like let's say you notice a student that's like off to the side, they're on the s- they're taking themselves out of the game.
• 4:15
  Vanessa Vakharia: Yep.
• 4:15
  Vanessa Vakharia: What's a good way to approach that without making them feel like they're being like picked on?
• 4:19
  Kallen Currie: Maybe just talk to them one-on-one, kind of, you know, it's a little tough in phys ed sometimes.
• 4:24
  Kallen Currie: You got 20 kids screaming around, right?
• 4:26
  Kallen Currie: So going to talk to another kid to the side can be a little difficult at times, but maybe just get to the root of the problem by showing that they're, they're valued first, right?
• 4:35
  Kallen Currie: It's okay to kinda be out of the thing, but then get to the root of the cause.
• 4:39
  Kallen Currie: Are you, shy of the ball?
• 4:42
  Kallen Currie: Is something bugging you?
• 4:43
  Kallen Currie: Maybe you're just not a fan of this game.
• 4:45
  Kallen Currie: If so, why?
• 4:46
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 4:46
  Vanessa Vakharia: So this is really interesting'cause for those of us who teach, who don't teach gym, but let's say we teach math or English or another subject, one thing that probably feels very common is we often thinks, think our students are disengaged because they don't like the subject, right?
• 5:00
  Vanessa Vakharia: Right.
• 5:00
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like maybe they hate math.
• 5:02
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 5:02
  Vanessa Vakharia: How often is it that one of your students is kind of struggling, not because they hate gym- Yeah but because there's something else going on?
• 5:11
  Kallen Currie: it happens more than you think, right?
• 5:13
  Kallen Currie: think, too, a big part of it is you don't know what they're going through maybe back home, if they've eaten that morning, if they've slept the night before, right?
• 5:22
  Kallen Currie: So kind of having that, building that relationship with your students is important to kind of be able to ask them those questions- and kind of understand them a bit more, right?
• 5:31
  Kallen Currie: Read their energy.
• 5:32
  Vanessa Vakharia: Yeah.
• 5:32
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 5:32
  Vanessa Vakharia: 100%.
• 5:33
  Vanessa Vakharia: You said that you hated math yourself.
• 5:35
  Vanessa Vakharia: Can you tell us a bit about that?
• 5:36
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 5:37
  Kallen Currie: So growing up I th- well, growing up I loved math.
• 5:40
  Kallen Currie: I wish...
• 5:40
  Kallen Currie: I don't know if Donna's in here, but she was my grade two teacher.
• 5:43
  Kallen Currie: She's currently working at our school as well now, but she used to do, like, Mad Minute, those kind of fun things with math.
• 5:48
  Vanessa Vakharia: Do you like it?
• 5:49
  Kallen Currie: I liked it, yeah.
• 5:50
  Vanessa Vakharia: Oh my God, people hate Mad Minutes.
• 5:51
  Kallen Currie: I know.
• 5:51
  Kallen Currie: I know.
• 5:51
  Kallen Currie: That's what I...
• 5:52
  Kallen Currie: It's funny because it's like,"Oh, gotta do it as fast as you can."
• 5:55
  Vanessa Vakharia: But you liked it.
• 5:55
  Kallen Currie: Yeah, because of, like I said, I like to blabble and I like to do things at a fast paced kind of thing.
• 6:01
  Kallen Currie: But,
• 6:02
  Vanessa Vakharia: That's really interesting
• 6:02
  Kallen Currie: when it got really slowed down, once you get to the middle years and high school- it gets really intimidating.
• 6:08
  Kallen Currie: There's- four le- four numbers, but there's like a big page to answer it.
• 6:13
  Kallen Currie: That kind of thing kind of steered me away.
• 6:15
  Kallen Currie: So when I got to high school, I actually failed grade 10 math two times, so-
• 6:21
  Vanessa Vakharia: We're kind of twins- Yeah'cause I failed grade 11 math twice.
• 6:23
  Kallen Currie: Yeah, so-
• 6:23
  Vanessa Vakharia: I don't know, cute for us
• 6:24
  Kallen Currie: it's like the craziest thing to do that, I think, in high school, right?
• 6:27
  Kallen Currie: You kind of feel like, hate to say it, but you feel like you're stupid.
• 6:30
  Kallen Currie: And, um, you don't want to be a grade 11 taking a grade 10 math.
• 6:34
  Kallen Currie: You feel kind of silly doing that.
• 6:36
  Kallen Currie: So yeah, those kind of, things kind of steered me away from having a positive relationship with math.
• 6:41
  Vanessa Vakharia: So I have a question about- Yeah your math classrooms-
• 6:45
  Kallen Currie: Yep
• 6:45
  Vanessa Vakharia: in high school.
• 6:46
  Kallen Currie: Right.
• 6:46
  Vanessa Vakharia: What do you feel it was about them, like aside from having...
• 6:50
  Vanessa Vakharia: it's, it's interesting what you said, right?
• 6:51
  Vanessa Vakharia: That idea of having a small question, but a big page to answer it, you found that intimidating.
• 6:56
  Vanessa Vakharia: Let's start there.
• 6:57
  Kallen Currie: Yep.
• 6:58
  Vanessa Vakharia: Why was that intimidating?
• 6:59
  Vanessa Vakharia: What was the impression you got by looking at that page?
• 7:02
  Kallen Currie: so the way I was taught in high school, those two times that I did fail, most of it was taught out of a textbook.
• 7:09
  Kallen Currie: And I know there's nowadays teachers are more open-minded to teaching math in different ways, you know, be hands-on, things like that.
• 7:17
  Kallen Currie: But just learning out of a textbook just kind of steered me away from, you know, making those connections with math.
• 7:24
  Vanessa Vakharia: And did you, by looking at that page were you like,"Oh my God, I need to put a lot of information down here"?
• 7:29
  Kallen Currie: Yeah, like, and then I feel like if I...
• 7:31
  Kallen Currie: There was times, too, I would think I got the right answer, but the, my work, you know when they say show your work, wasn't like long or- Yeah anything.
• 7:38
  Kallen Currie: And it'd be like,"This can't be right." Just scribble it out, yeah.
• 7:41
  Vanessa Vakharia: Well, I think a lot of us struggle with that- Yeah now even as educators is how do we get kids to show their thinking without intimidating them, right?
• 7:50
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 7:50
  Vanessa Vakharia: So what, what could a teacher have done to make you feel better in those classes?
• 7:55
  Kallen Currie: maybe make you feel like you're not alone, offer some more support.
• 7:58
  Kallen Currie: I know there's been teachers, still teachers out there to this day that they show it on the whiteboard and then they kind of go sit back in their desk- instead of constantly circling around the class.
• 8:07
  Kallen Currie: You know what I mean?
• 8:08
  Kallen Currie: And that's one thing that I, I moved to phys ed for was so that I'm on my feet all the time, right?
• 8:14
  Kallen Currie: I can't stand sitting in a desk myself, so not too sure how some teachers can do that.
• 8:18
  Kallen Currie: But I think that would've helped me a lot, just constant support.
• 8:22
  Kallen Currie: Made me feel like you're on a team rather than alone, right?
• 8:24
  Vanessa Vakharia: I wanna talk more about that because it's interesting as a phys ed teacher that you're bringing up these things.
• 8:29
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like you're talking about movement.
• 8:31
  Kallen Currie: Yep.
• 8:31
  Vanessa Vakharia: Right?
• 8:32
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're talking about this idea of teamwork and of feeling supported.
• 8:35
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're kind of talking about coaching-
• 8:37
  Kallen Currie: Yeah
• 8:38
  Vanessa Vakharia: in a way.
• 8:38
  Vanessa Vakharia: Right.
• 8:39
  Vanessa Vakharia: and I'm curious, I've always thought that we as math teachers or as like traditional classroom teachers have a lot to learn from gym class because I'll just speak for math because I teach math, math is so often treated like this solo sport.
• 8:52
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 8:52
  Vanessa Vakharia: Just so use sporting language- Yeah.
• 8:54
  Vanessa Vakharia: you know?
• 8:55
  Vanessa Vakharia: how could we treat math class like more of a team?
• 8:58
  Kallen Currie: Oh, creating that camaraderie, I think, would be a big one in the classroom.
• 9:02
  Kallen Currie: I know I've seen teachers do groups with math where you're on teams or you can play games, right, where you're on teams against each other.
• 9:09
  Kallen Currie: And just having that sense of being on a team does wonders for kids, right?
• 9:14
  Kallen Currie: Feeling like you're not alone, like you have your friends next to you.
• 9:16
  Kallen Currie: That's a big thing for kids.
• 9:18
  Vanessa Vakharia: So I have a question about that because I think a lot of teachers are intimidated about, like, okay, so let's say we put- kids on this team in math class, like, right?
• 9:26
  Vanessa Vakharia: We have, like, groups of three or four.
• 9:27
  Vanessa Vakharia: What if some of them don't get along?
• 9:29
  Vanessa Vakharia: Or what if they're at different skill levels?
• 9:32
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, now that I'm saying it out loud though, I'm like, but you must do that in gym all the time.
• 9:35
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 9:36
  Kallen Currie: Well, even-
• 9:36
  Vanessa Vakharia: So t- like, what do you do?
• 9:37
  Kallen Currie: Just looking at, like, even sports in general, like, you just throw them on a team.
• 9:40
  Kallen Currie: You're all not gonna be the same type of player.
• 9:42
  Kallen Currie: You're all not gonna be the same, like, the amount of times I've played with people you, like, low-key actually don't like.
• 9:48
  Kallen Currie: You just gotta learn to like them, right?
• 9:50
  Vanessa Vakharia: What did you just say?
• 9:50
  Vanessa Vakharia: Say that louder for the crowd, please.
• 9:51
  Kallen Currie: As the kids would say- you actually low-key don't like s- Some kid lingo there.
• 9:57
  Kallen Currie: But, uh, yeah, you just kind of learn to get along as you're a team because you're experiencing things together, right?
• 10:03
  Kallen Currie: You're going through hardships together, and that creates, you know, bonds basically.
• 10:07
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 10:08
  Vanessa Vakharia: That...
• 10:09
  Vanessa Vakharia: I'm getting weirdly emotional.
• 10:10
  Vanessa Vakharia: Because Peter Liljedahl, who wrote Thinking Classrooms-
• 10:13
  Kallen Currie: Yeah
• 10:13
  Vanessa Vakharia: Building Thinking Classrooms, he always says about this exact phenomenon, he says it's really hard to hate someone up close.
• 10:21
  Vanessa Vakharia: You know?
• 10:21
  Vanessa Vakharia: So it's like you can low-key not like someone or whatever, but then you're all of a sudden on a team with them and, like, there they are in front of you, and now you have to work on a problem together.
• 10:29
  Vanessa Vakharia: But I love what you just said because I feel like you just kicked it up a notch to be like you're going through something together.
• 10:35
  Vanessa Vakharia: And what if we looked at that math problem or that game we have to play or that project we have to do as a challenge we're overcoming together?
• 10:44
  Kallen Currie: Exactly.
• 10:44
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 10:45
  Vanessa Vakharia: That is so cool.
• 10:46
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 10:46
  Vanessa Vakharia: So, like, say more.
• 10:48
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, in a j- in a cla- in a gym class-
• 10:50
  Kallen Currie: Yeah
• 10:50
  Vanessa Vakharia: what are some, do you teach them, like, strategies of, like, what do you do when there's conflict, or how do you, like, make sure everyone's playing, like, stuff like that?
• 10:58
  Kallen Currie: Just kind of giving them Roles I would think is a big thing.
• 11:00
  Vanessa Vakharia: Roles
• 11:01
  Kallen Currie: I know the last time we talked- Not
• 11:02
  Vanessa Vakharia: Roles, not rules, right?
• 11:03
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 11:03
  Kallen Currie: Roles.
• 11:03
  Vanessa Vakharia: Yeah.
• 11:03
  Vanessa Vakharia: Tell me, tell this right.
• 11:04
  Kallen Currie: Roles.
• 11:04
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay.
• 11:05
  Kallen Currie: Yeah, like in lacrosse, for example, I don't know if everyone's familiar with lacrosse, but,
• 11:09
  Vanessa Vakharia: I'm absolutely not.
• 11:09
  Vanessa Vakharia: Yeah.
• 11:09
  Vanessa Vakharia: But
• 11:10
  Kallen Currie: okay.
• 11:10
  Vanessa Vakharia: It's fine.
• 11:11
  Kallen Currie: So there's, like, three main positions, I guess, when you're kind of getting started, right?
• 11:15
  Kallen Currie: There's the goalie.
• 11:16
  Kallen Currie: There's defense.
• 11:17
  Kallen Currie: There's offense.
• 11:18
  Kallen Currie: So, like, everyone, like, if you get a, a taller kid, maybe he's not as fast, throw him on defense, right?
• 11:25
  Kallen Currie: There's a model we kind of use in lacrosse, that a coach taught me before.
• 11:28
  Kallen Currie: It's if you're a defenseman, you're kind of built like a buffalo, right?
• 11:32
  Kallen Currie: You're stronger.
• 11:33
  Kallen Currie: You're a bigger person, so you're good for defense.
• 11:36
  Kallen Currie: Whereas if you're a wolf, you can be faster, swifter, right?
• 11:40
  Kallen Currie: That's your position.
• 11:41
  Kallen Currie: And, uh, goalie is a turtle because you can deflect things.
• 11:45
  Kallen Currie: You're, you're strong, and you stay in there.
• 11:47
  Kallen Currie: Yeah
• 11:48
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay, so what, tell us what happened with this kid.
• 11:51
  Kallen Currie: Oh, yeah.
• 11:51
  Kallen Currie: So I was telling her about a story
• 11:53
  Vanessa Vakharia: with a kid.
• 11:53
  Vanessa Vakharia: Oh yeah, sorry.
• 11:54
  Vanessa Vakharia: That was a really bad segue on my end because I know the story.
• 11:56
  Kallen Currie: He, he wa- he wanted to play lacrosse so bad.
• 11:58
  Kallen Currie: He was, um, kinda left out from joining any other sports throughout the year.
• 12:02
  Kallen Currie: He wasn't the fastest, wasn't the strongest.
• 12:06
  Kallen Currie: Eventually tried playing player, like offense.
• 12:09
  Kallen Currie: Wasn't fast enough, was kind of not doing very good.
• 12:13
  Kallen Currie: Defenseman, scared to hit somebody so we thought we'd try this kid in goalie, and uh-
• 12:17
  Vanessa Vakharia: The turtle
• 12:18
  Kallen Currie: the turtle, and he ended up, you know, flourishing and we...
• 12:23
  Kallen Currie: They were all taking turns playing goalie at this point,'cause we were a new team.
• 12:26
  Kallen Currie: And ended up doing the best.
• 12:27
  Kallen Currie: I think we didn't do too good this year, so he only let in about 10 goals compared to the other 23 that we would get scored on every other game.
• 12:34
  Kallen Currie: So eventually he found a role in goalie, and eventually the kids do acknowledged him more as a, not only as a lacrosse player, but as a, a student at school.
• 12:44
  Kallen Currie: You know, he'd be walking, they're like,"Hey Cassius, were you gonna play goalie tonight?
• 12:48
  Kallen Currie: You're goalie tonight." You know?
• 12:50
  Kallen Currie: Wow.
• 12:50
  Kallen Currie: And then he, it's all he looked forward to.
• 12:51
  Kallen Currie: "When's our next lacrosse game?
• 12:52
  Kallen Currie: When's our next lacrosse game?"
• 12:54
  Vanessa Vakharia: It's so crazy because obviously what you're saying is very sport oriented.
• 12:58
  Vanessa Vakharia: And in case you guys can't tell, I don't know anything about sports- except for the two weeks I jumped on the Blue Jays bandwagon last year, and I do plan to get back on it- when we're in the World Series.
• 13:07
  Vanessa Vakharia: I have my hat ready.
• 13:08
  Vanessa Vakharia: But that being said, what you're saying, that idea of giving students roles actually ties into something you just said earlier today, which is you said not every kid is gonna be the same type of player.
• 13:20
  Vanessa Vakharia: And in fact, on a team, and what I did learn from watching the World Series for two weeks, is that you don't want a team of the same player.
• 13:28
  Kallen Currie: Exactly, yeah.
• 13:28
  Vanessa Vakharia: Because what, like you can't have 20 goalies or however many people are on a team.
• 13:32
  Vanessa Vakharia: Yeah, yeah.
• 13:32
  Vanessa Vakharia: Right?
• 13:32
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, you can't do that.
• 13:33
  Vanessa Vakharia: But in a traditional classroom, we expect kids to be the same type of student.
• 13:38
  Vanessa Vakharia: We expect them to all be fast, to all know their math facts- to all solve problems in the way they're supposed to solve them, and that makes no sense.
• 13:45
  Kallen Currie: Exactly, yeah.
• 13:46
  Vanessa Vakharia: So I'm like now wondering how we can bring this idea into our classrooms.
• 13:51
  Vanessa Vakharia: Because you were able to see his strengths, like as an educator, which is so cool, right?
• 13:56
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like you were able to see his strengths and then p- give him a role in which he would find success in.
• 14:02
  Vanessa Vakharia: Yeah.
• 14:03
  Vanessa Vakharia: And then when he found a role that he found success in, he felt successful.
• 14:06
  Vanessa Vakharia: Then when he felt successful, he wanted to show up more and engage.
• 14:09
  Vanessa Vakharia: Yeah.
• 14:09
  Vanessa Vakharia: And when he wanted to show up more and engage, he became a part of a team.
• 14:12
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, we're talking about belonging, but we're actu- also talking about you having that skill to f- to see where he might thrive.
• 14:19
  Vanessa Vakharia: What tips can you give us?
• 14:20
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, how can we see where students can thrive, and also how can we kind of bo- broaden our definition of thriving maybe so that we are seeing Like success is something bigger than just like getting the right answer- Yeah and getting a good grade.
• 14:34
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 14:34
  Kallen Currie: So I was just talking about this with my partner last night too.
• 14:37
  Kallen Currie: you have to go through lots of failures to feel success, and I think that's where kids kind of get the wrong or steered away from it, right?
• 14:45
  Kallen Currie: And maybe even educators, too.
• 14:47
  Kallen Currie: But you, without success, or sorry, without failure, you can't get success.
• 14:51
  Kallen Currie: So I guess understanding that you're gonna have to go through a few f- few failures, to get success is really important.
• 14:57
  Kallen Currie: Because you're not- gonna automatically be successful at anything.
• 15:00
  Vanessa Vakharia: Well, and you said you tried him at the two other roles- Yeah and he didn't do so hot, and then he got moved to goalie.
• 15:05
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 15:05
  Vanessa Vakharia: So how did you actually help him go through those failures and not give up until he got to the goalie position?
• 15:11
  Kallen Currie: Just repetition of games, I guess.
• 15:13
  Kallen Currie: He, he, uh, tried it a few times, and then if, you know, try goalie.
• 15:18
  Vanessa Vakharia: So when he, okay, when he like wasn't so good at being offense what did, like what did, w- was he ever like,"Oh, f- fuck it.
• 15:25
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like I'm out."
• 15:25
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 15:25
  Kallen Currie: No, and we've had more kids too on the team who exact same thing, like they, um, didn't find their role on the team until actually...
• 15:33
  Kallen Currie: 'Cause it, it was a new sport to these kids, too, so they didn't- Right quite know where they were, right?
• 15:38
  Kallen Currie: But I explained to them with the animals and stuff, like you're gonna find a role on the team, and you know, you'll, you'll f- you'll find it.
• 15:45
  Kallen Currie: Y- maybe not now, maybe next game.
• 15:47
  Kallen Currie: If not that game, maybe the next game after that.
• 15:49
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay.
• 15:49
  Vanessa Vakharia: So I wanna, like I want everyone to take this in because I feel like you did this so naturally.
• 15:55
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're not even like mapping how- skillful this is.
• 15:58
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 15:58
  Vanessa Vakharia: But this is really skillful.
• 15:59
  Vanessa Vakharia: You gave them an experience to engage.
• 16:02
  Vanessa Vakharia: That experience was likely to result in failure because it's something new, and it might not be their skill set.
• 16:07
  Vanessa Vakharia: But you preempted the experience by telling them that, by saying,"Everyone has different roles.
• 16:13
  Vanessa Vakharia: You might not find your role today, but maybe you'll find it next time.
• 16:17
  Vanessa Vakharia: And the only way you're gonna find your role is by trying different roles." So you already have that belief, right?
• 16:22
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're giving them that belief.
• 16:23
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're explaining that to them.
• 16:24
  Vanessa Vakharia: Now you're giving them the opportunity to be- ta- engage in a behavior, which is you're gonna try a different position, see how you do, and now it doesn't land so hard when maybe they don't get the outcome they wanted with that because they know there is gonna be another chance to try something else.
• 16:37
  Vanessa Vakharia: You also said the words,"You will find your role." And imagine if we said that to kids in our classroom.
• 16:44
  Vanessa Vakharia: Yeah.
• 16:44
  Vanessa Vakharia: "You will find your place.
• 16:46
  Vanessa Vakharia: It might not be today.
• 16:47
  Vanessa Vakharia: It might not be tomorrow.
• 16:48
  Vanessa Vakharia: It might not be next week.
• 16:49
  Vanessa Vakharia: But there is a place for you here."
• 16:52
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 16:52
  Vanessa Vakharia: And I think that is pro- one of like the most- Yeah powerful things you can do.
• 16:55
  Kallen Currie: And like one of the most rewarding things too, not only being a phys ed teacher but like a coach, I'm sure the same thing with the teacher, is like watching a kid go through a couple failures, and then when it clicks for them, they're like, you know?
• 17:07
  Kallen Currie: That's, that's a good feeling.
• 17:09
  Vanessa Vakharia: Yeah.
• 17:10
  Vanessa Vakharia: That's really, really incredible.
• 17:11
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 17:11
  Vanessa Vakharia: Oh my God.
• 17:12
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay.
• 17:12
  Vanessa Vakharia: Well, I feel like that is such a strong message and something we can all do.
• 17:17
  Vanessa Vakharia: What else do you want us to know?
• 17:19
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, is there anything else that you're kinda like, thinking about your own math experience and the way you run your gym class right now, is there anything else you feel like it would be useful to bring into our classrooms?
• 17:29
  Kallen Currie: Uh, for sure.
• 17:30
  Kallen Currie: Positivity, I think, is a big one, right?
• 17:32
  Kallen Currie: Kids read off your energy 100%.
• 17:34
  Kallen Currie: Like, if you show up to work being neutral, maybe dismissive with the kids, it's not gonna create positive energy in your class, right?
• 17:43
  Kallen Currie: Positivity.
• 17:44
  Kallen Currie: Like, you're the role model, too, right, at the end of the day.
• 17:46
  Kallen Currie: So if they see you being positive to, um, them, they're gonna carry that on to their peers, right?
• 17:52
  Kallen Currie: So that's a big one I would encourage alwa- even if some days you really don't feel like you can, try.
• 17:58
  Vanessa Vakharia: Yeah.
• 17:58
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 17:59
  Vanessa Vakharia: And what does positivity look like?
• 18:01
  Vanessa Vakharia: It's a word that I feel like has taken on so much, right?
• 18:04
  Vanessa Vakharia: We sometimes even talk about, like, toxic positivity.
• 18:06
  Vanessa Vakharia: Yeah.
• 18:06
  Vanessa Vakharia: What, what is your version of what it means to show up as a positive role model for students?
• 18:11
  Kallen Currie: Um, Smile, be encouraging, um, positive affirmations.
• 18:15
  Kallen Currie: Ooh, give us one.
• 18:15
  Kallen Currie: Like, give me one.
• 18:15
  Kallen Currie: An easy one.
• 18:15
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 18:15
  Vanessa Vakharia: Give me, just give me one.
• 18:21
  Vanessa Vakharia: I would actually like a positive affirmation.
• 18:22
  Vanessa Vakharia: I need it.
• 18:23
  Vanessa Vakharia: Um,
• 18:23
  Kallen Currie: okay.
• 18:23
  Kallen Currie: A funny one these kids are saying nowadays is,"You have great aura today." You have awesome aura."
• 18:28
  Vanessa Vakharia: Why is that funny?
• 18:29
  Kallen Currie: I, uh-
• 18:30
  Vanessa Vakharia: I think that's, like, a legit thing to say.
• 18:32
  Kallen Currie: It's like they always say it and, like, when-
• 18:34
  Vanessa Vakharia: They do?
• 18:34
  Kallen Currie: another kid says that to each other, that's like, it's like the nicest thing you could say to somebody,
• 18:39
  Vanessa Vakharia: you have a great aura."
• 18:40
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 18:40
  Kallen Currie: Or,"You have a thousand aura," and I'm like, But they love it.
• 18:44
  Kallen Currie: They say it to each other all the time.
• 18:45
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay, I love it.
• 18:46
  Vanessa Vakharia: I love this.
• 18:47
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 18:47
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 18:47
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay, so we all need you-have-a-great-aura posters-
• 18:50
  Kallen Currie: Yeah
• 18:51
  Vanessa Vakharia: in our classroom.
• 18:51
  Kallen Currie: You have a thousand aura.
• 18:52
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 18:52
  Vanessa Vakharia: What's a thousand?
• 18:53
  Vanessa Vakharia: That's grammatically incorrect.
• 18:53
  Vanessa Vakharia: I don't know.
• 18:54
  Vanessa Vakharia: I guess that's- No, don't like that
• 18:55
  Kallen Currie: the top of max of aura, I guess.
• 18:57
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay, that's, that's something for the math teachers to discuss, in my opinion.
• 19:00
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 19:00
  Kallen Currie: If you said that to a kid, they'd smile, and they'd probably be like, like, love you for you saying that to them.
• 19:05
  Vanessa Vakharia: Well, and you know what?
• 19:06
  Vanessa Vakharia: I think we make a lot of fun of positive affirmations.
• 19:09
  Vanessa Vakharia: Yeah.
• 19:09
  Vanessa Vakharia: But tell us why it's actually important.
• 19:11
  Kallen Currie: Cause you Like right now, everyone's laughing, right?
• 19:13
  Vanessa Vakharia: I know we're having a good time
• 19:15
  Kallen Currie: if, if your kid's laughing, you're easing their tension.
• 19:17
  Kallen Currie: You're, they feel positive.
• 19:19
  Kallen Currie: They feel safe, too, right?
• 19:20
  Vanessa Vakharia: Absolutely.
• 19:21
  Vanessa Vakharia: Yeah.
• 19:21
  Vanessa Vakharia: And you know, I always talk about co-regulation.
• 19:23
  Vanessa Vakharia: Polyvagal theory tells us this.
• 19:25
  Vanessa Vakharia: We have evolved to co-regulate.
• 19:27
  Vanessa Vakharia: So if Kallen and I were sitting up here all grumpy and serious, like, you guys would kind of be like,"Ugh." Like, you can feel- Yeah you can legit feel someone's aura.
• 19:35
  Vanessa Vakharia: This is actually true, right?
• 19:36
  Vanessa Vakharia: Yeah.
• 19:36
  Vanessa Vakharia: It, it sounds woo-woo, but it's actually science.
• 19:39
  Vanessa Vakharia: We can feel one another's energy.
• 19:40
  Vanessa Vakharia: So it's true.
• 19:41
  Vanessa Vakharia: That idea of you bringing positivity into the room, getting a student to laugh literally does physically and emotionally and spiritually lightens us to absorb content later, right?
• 19:51
  Vanessa Vakharia: And to actually feel more confident about ourselves.
• 19:53
  Vanessa Vakharia: This has been so amazing.
• 19:55
  Vanessa Vakharia: We have, I don't know h- the time.
• 19:56
  Vanessa Vakharia: We only have five minutes left, and I actually would love to open it up to see if anyone has any questions for you.
• 20:00
  Vanessa Vakharia: Before I do that, is there anything you wanted to say that I didn't ask you?
• 20:04
  Kallen Currie: I think we covered it all.
• 20:05
  Kallen Currie: Not too sure.
• 20:06
  Kallen Currie: What are some of the biggest similarities you see to math as to phys ed class?
• 20:11
  Vanessa Vakharia: He's, he's interviewing me.
• 20:13
  Vanessa Vakharia: Yeah.
• 20:13
  Vanessa Vakharia: He just plot twisted me.
• 20:15
  Kallen Currie: Yeah, there you go.
• 20:16
  Kallen Currie: What just happened?
• 20:16
  Kallen Currie: There's no reverse.
• 20:16
  Kallen Currie: Um,
• 20:17
  Vanessa Vakharia: you know what, it's funny you say that because I think a lot of people would be like,"I don't understand what gym has to do with math class."
• 20:22
  Kallen Currie: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:23
  Vanessa Vakharia: But to me, if you think about it, they're both, both very performance-oriented.
• 20:27
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 20:27
  Vanessa Vakharia: But- I actually think with math class, we for some reason are, like, stuck to the performance aspect.
• 20:34
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, we have not managed to do what gym class has done.
• 20:38
  Vanessa Vakharia: I see gym class more as, yeah, obviously sports are performance-oriented, right?
• 20:42
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, you know you're supposed to get a goal, but I think we've done a lot more work in physical fitness and in sport to train athletes to be like, fine, yeah, you gotta get a goal, but the last thing you should do is focus on getting o- the goal, right?
• 20:55
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're never gonna get a goal if you focus on getting the goal.
• 20:57
  Vanessa Vakharia: I feel in gym class it's more about participation, it's more about belonging, it's more about community, it's more about process.
• 21:02
  Vanessa Vakharia: Think about this,'kay?
• 21:04
  Vanessa Vakharia: Kids will practice a soccer drill every single morning at the crack of dawn, even if they have not scored a goal yet.
• 21:10
  Vanessa Vakharia: They will do it.
• 21:11
  Vanessa Vakharia: Why won't they practice their math skills?
• 21:14
  Vanessa Vakharia: Why won't they do their math homework?
• 21:15
  Vanessa Vakharia: I think it's because we've created something in gym class that is so much more rewarding than math class, and I'm really trying to bridge that disconnect.
• 21:23
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 21:24
  Vanessa Vakharia: How do we do it?
• 21:25
  Kallen Currie: That's a good question.
• 21:26
  Vanessa Vakharia: Right?
• 21:26
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, it's like- Yeah do you know what I mean, though?
• 21:27
  Vanessa Vakharia: It's like at the end of the day, are, are, is anything that we teach that different?
• 21:31
  Vanessa Vakharia: W-
• 21:31
  Kallen Currie: No, there's similarities in all of it when you really think of it, right?
• 21:34
  Vanessa Vakharia: We're, we're using content as a gateway to becoming a better, more skilled person.
• 21:39
  Vanessa Vakharia: That's what I think all of us, we're using content as...
• 21:41
  Vanessa Vakharia: But in, it's odd that in math it has become so contentious.
• 21:46
  Vanessa Vakharia: It's like it is sh- performance is the only thing that matters.
• 21:50
  Vanessa Vakharia: Grades are the only thing that matters.
• 21:52
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, people feel like they're pitted against each other, they're comparing one another, whereas in gym class you can kind of like, yes, sometimes it feels that way, but everything you're saying to us, like, you've spent so much time making sure that actually the thing kids get out of that gym class is resilience, perseverance, belonging, safety.
• 22:10
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, that, I don't hear you, n- never hear on this podcast, that we are recording live never hear have you once said, like,"And the way I get kids to score a goal is this," or,"The way I get our team to win..." I don't think you've said that once.
• 22:23
  Vanessa Vakharia: Why are we always talking about test scores and you're not?
• 22:26
  Kallen Currie: Exactly.
• 22:27
  Kallen Currie: I'm not too sure
• 22:27
  Vanessa Vakharia: Answer me.
• 22:28
  Kallen Currie: Repeat it, sorry.
• 22:29
  Vanessa Vakharia: Repeat it again.
• 22:29
  Vanessa Vakharia: UNO reverse.
• 22:30
  Vanessa Vakharia: UNO reverse.
• 22:31
  Kallen Currie: You got me there.
• 22:32
  Vanessa Vakharia: But I do, I do Like, what you've shared today has been so valuable, because I think, like, we can These are things we can all do.
• 22:38
  Vanessa Vakharia: You know?
• 22:39
  Kallen Currie: Yep.
• 22:39
  Vanessa Vakharia: And I also think for, in our schools, like, we, we don't need to be so pitted against one another.
• 22:43
  Vanessa Vakharia: I think we can learn I feel like we're so siloed.
• 22:46
  Vanessa Vakharia: I even find when sometimes I do talks, it's like, it's the elementary teachers versus the high school teachers, and it's like, what is up?
• 22:53
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, we're all as, as Jason, who was in my last session and is sitting front row center said- I asked him when he walked into the room, I said,"What do you teach?" And he said,"I teach students." And I was like,"Oof." Is that an UNO reverse?
• 23:04
  Vanessa Vakharia: I don't understand the term.
• 23:05
  Vanessa Vakharia: No, no.
• 23:06
  Vanessa Vakharia: Oh, okay.
• 23:06
  Vanessa Vakharia: It's good.
• 23:06
  Vanessa Vakharia: No, it's not.
• 23:06
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay.
• 23:07
  Vanessa Vakharia: It's a flex.
• 23:07
  Vanessa Vakharia: Oh, it's a flex.
• 23:08
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay, yeah.
• 23:08
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, it's like we're all teaching students.
• 23:10
  Vanessa Vakharia: We're all using different mediums to teach them, and we have this beautiful pipeline that we're all a part of.
• 23:15
  Vanessa Vakharia: Yeah.
• 23:15
  Vanessa Vakharia: But I think, and, you know, to quote our keynote from this morning, Dr.
• 23:20
  Vanessa Vakharia: Grant, like, he, it is our systems, I think, that do create this tension, but I think we can, we can rally against them- Mm and kinda use a lot of what you've taught us to be like, what is first and foremost?
• 23:32
  Vanessa Vakharia: And like you said, student safety is at the epicenter.
• 23:36
  Vanessa Vakharia: Once they're safe, then we can talk about content, then we can talk about performance.
• 23:40
  Vanessa Vakharia: But if a student doesn't feel safe, how can you- How can you even think about performance?
• 23:45
  Kallen Currie: Right.
• 23:46
  Vanessa Vakharia: Wait, but let's end on something you say instead of something I say.
• 23:48
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay.
• 23:49
  Kallen Currie: Well, I just had a thought in my mind.
• 23:50
  Kallen Currie: Yes.
• 23:50
  Kallen Currie: Now, now I kinda lost it.
• 23:51
  Kallen Currie: Oh.
• 23:52
  Kallen Currie: As teachers, I think we need to be, like, more encouraging too.
• 23:55
  Kallen Currie: Like, I have a lot of kids, when they're leaving the gym, they're smiling, right?
• 23:58
  Kallen Currie: Had fun, all sweaty and whatnot.
• 24:00
  Kallen Currie: But, uh, they're like,"Ugh, we have math now," or,"We have science," or, you know?
• 24:04
  Kallen Currie: They're, like, nagging about what they have to go do.
• 24:06
  Kallen Currie: Okay.
• 24:07
  Kallen Currie: But as a teacher, phys ed teachers, encourage those kids, right?
• 24:11
  Kallen Currie: Encourage them to get to the next class and say,"What's wrong with math?
• 24:15
  Kallen Currie: I love math," you know?
• 24:17
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay.
• 24:17
  Kallen Currie: Now, might be lying to them there, but
• 24:19
  Vanessa Vakharia: No, but, but hold on.
• 24:21
  Vanessa Vakharia: This is actually such a good point.
• 24:24
  Vanessa Vakharia: I really want everyone to hear this.
• 24:26
  Vanessa Vakharia: It, you don't have to lie, I don't think.
• 24:28
  Vanessa Vakharia: But I think that idea of, yes, we are all in community.
• 24:31
  Vanessa Vakharia: This idea of if you hear a kid being like,"Ugh, math.
• 24:33
  Vanessa Vakharia: Ugh, science," you could say something like,"Hey, like, I used to feel that way, too."
• 24:38
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 24:38
  Vanessa Vakharia: You know what I mean?
• 24:39
  Vanessa Vakharia: For sure.
• 24:39
  Vanessa Vakharia: Something like,"I used to feel that way, too," or,"But math class is just..." You know what I would love the gym teachers to say?
• 24:44
  Vanessa Vakharia: Because I actually always say this, is math class is another arena for you to practice your resilience or, like, drills or, like, the things you're using in gym.
• 24:54
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 24:54
  Vanessa Vakharia: Right?
• 24:54
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like-
• 24:55
  Kallen Currie: For sure.
• 24:55
  Kallen Currie: Yeah, strengthens you in different ways more than you could think of, right?
• 24:58
  Vanessa Vakharia: Absolutely, and we're, we're actually teaching the same skills.
• 25:01
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, you're teaching...
• 25:02
  Vanessa Vakharia: Think about it.
• 25:02
  Vanessa Vakharia: What are you teaching?
• 25:03
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're teaching kids how to overcome struggle, how to deal with failure and get back up and keep trying.
• 25:09
  Vanessa Vakharia: That's what we're doing in math class.
• 25:10
  Kallen Currie: Yeah, every class.
• 25:10
  Kallen Currie: Every class.
• 25:11
  Kallen Currie: Science, English, everything.
• 25:12
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 25:12
  Vanessa Vakharia: Yeah.
• 25:13
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 25:13
  Kallen Currie: Art, you mess something up, you're only getting better for the next project, right?
• 25:17
  Vanessa Vakharia: Oh my God, this is so inspiring.
• 25:19
  Vanessa Vakharia: Do you wanna do my keynote with me later?
• 25:21
  Vanessa Vakharia: That could be fun.
• 25:21
  Vanessa Vakharia: Honestly, thank you so, so, so much.
• 25:23
  Vanessa Vakharia: For sure.
• 25:24
  Vanessa Vakharia: Thanks for having me.
• 25:24
  Vanessa Vakharia: That was such a great...
• 25:25
  Vanessa Vakharia: Yeah, that was incredible.
• 25:26
  Vanessa Vakharia: Does anyone wanna ask a question?
• 25:27
  Vanessa Vakharia: Does anyone have a question for Kallen?
• 25:29
  Vanessa Vakharia: no.
• 25:29
  Vanessa Vakharia: I w- Oh.
• 25:29
  Vanessa Vakharia: No.
• 25:30
  Audience question: Can I ask him a question?
• 25:31
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay, go for it.
• 25:32
  Audience question: why do you do the, like, come to school and- Why do you do the things that you do?
• 25:37
  Audience question: I know it's not the money
• 25:38
  Vanessa Vakharia: Oh my God.
• 25:39
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay, so the question was, why do you come to school?
• 25:41
  Vanessa Vakharia: Why do you do what you do?
• 25:43
  Vanessa Vakharia: He then said,"I know it's not the money."
• 25:45
  Kallen Currie: Just the reward, like we talked about earlier, seeing those kids' smiles, right?
• 25:49
  Kallen Currie: And, that click moment when they get it.
• 25:52
  Kallen Currie: And that's one thing that kind of steered me to becoming a phys ed teacher, is that I wasn't always teaching phys ed.
• 25:57
  Kallen Currie: I used to be a science teacher.
• 25:59
  Kallen Currie: but I was coaching sports at the time, lacrosse, hockey, all these different things.
• 26:03
  Kallen Currie: But that feeling of when I was coaching, watching kids, you know, that click moment, building camaraderie with one another, right?
• 26:11
  Kallen Currie: I kinda wanted to do that.
• 26:12
  Kallen Currie: Create love for sports, it's always been a big thing of mine.
• 26:15
  Kallen Currie: I've always played sports my whole life.
• 26:17
  Kallen Currie: It's the best feeling you could ever feel, honestly.
• 26:19
  Kallen Currie: For myself personally.
• 26:20
  Kallen Currie: It might be different for other people, but just seeing those kids' smiles and, um, creating that, uh, connection, too, with sports is a big thing.
• 26:27
  Kallen Currie: 'Cause sports are, you know, it's...
• 26:30
  Kallen Currie: Especially in indigenous communities, it's, it's a big, It can bridge you to different places.
• 26:34
  Kallen Currie: It can take you all over the place.
• 26:35
  Vanessa Vakharia: Wow.
• 26:36
  Vanessa Vakharia: Yeah.
• 26:36
  Vanessa Vakharia: That, that's really powerful,'cause you're, I mean, you're saying sports, and in my mind, like obviously for me it's not sports.
• 26:40
  Vanessa Vakharia: Thank you for asking that question.
• 26:42
  Vanessa Vakharia: It was a beautiful question.
• 26:43
  Vanessa Vakharia: For me, it feels like math for me, because that was the thing, like, I overcame.
• 26:47
  Vanessa Vakharia: And I think for a lot of us, that idea of like showing a kid they can do this thing they couldn't do before, whatever, so for you it was like sport, right?
• 26:55
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like for me maybe it was math or maybe f- it was kind of art for me.
• 26:59
  Kallen Currie: Yeah, it's different for everybody,
• 26:59
  Vanessa Vakharia: right?
• 26:59
  Vanessa Vakharia: It's every- Yeah whatever that thing is though.
• 27:01
  Vanessa Vakharia: Again, like it's a gateway.
• 27:02
  Vanessa Vakharia: Yeah.
• 27:02
  Vanessa Vakharia: And f- that extra piece of like being like it can, it can take you to places, right?
• 27:07
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like yes, sport can, and like, so can education.
• 27:09
  Vanessa Vakharia: That's why this stuff is so important.
• 27:12
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 27:12
  Kallen Currie: And a big thing too, it's like it's not gonna happen overnight.
• 27:15
  Kallen Currie: It's not gonna happen in a month, a year.
• 27:17
  Kallen Currie: It's building that repetition, the relationships with your students, your, athletes, right?
• 27:22
  Kallen Currie: It's not gonna happen now, but could happen later.
• 27:25
  Kallen Currie: And when it does, it's probably gonna be the best feeling you've ever felt, right?
• 27:28
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay.
• 27:29
  Vanessa Vakharia: I can't think of a better way to end.
• 27:30
  Vanessa Vakharia: That was great.
• 27:31
  Vanessa Vakharia: Yeah, it's good.
• 27:31
  Vanessa Vakharia: Thank you so much.
• 27:31
  Vanessa Vakharia: Thank you guys all so much for being here.
• 27:33
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay, let's clap for the audio, yeah.
• 27:34
  Vanessa Vakharia: Yeah.
• 27:35
  Kallen Currie: Yeah.
• 27:36
  Vanessa Vakharia: Thank you guys so much.
• 27:39
  Vanessa Vakharia: Oh my God, I loved that.
• 27:41
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, I was surprised by a lot of it, and I loved all of it and I keep coming back to this one idea Kallen said so casually,"You will find your role." Like, just like that.
• 27:50
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, imagine if every kid walked into math class knowing that.
• 27:54
  Vanessa Vakharia: You might try something and totally fail at it.
• 27:56
  Vanessa Vakharia: You might look around and feel like everyone else knows what they're doing and you somehow missed the memo, but none of that means that there isn't a place for you here in this classroom.
• 28:05
  Vanessa Vakharia: That is such a different message from the one that so many of us got in math class.
• 28:10
  Vanessa Vakharia: And I also love Kallen's reminder that this stuff doesn't happen overnight.
• 28:14
  Vanessa Vakharia: You build it through repetition, through encouragement, through relationships, and through showing kids again and again that one bad attempt does not kick them off the team.
• 28:23
  Vanessa Vakharia: So here's what I want you to think about this week.
• 28:25
  Vanessa Vakharia: What would change if you treated your classroom more like a great team?
• 28:29
  Vanessa Vakharia: Where could you create more belonging, more different roles, and more opportunities for kids to fail without feeling like they are failures?
• 28:37
  Vanessa Vakharia: And obviously, please send this episode to the gym teacher, the coach, the math teacher, the science teacher, any teacher who understands that at the end of the day, we are all teaching kids how to struggle, recover, and try again.
• 28:48
  Vanessa Vakharia: Because as Kallen said, it's every class.
• 28:51
  Vanessa Vakharia: As always, thank you guys so much for listening, sharing, and being a part of the Math Therapy community.
• 28:56
  Vanessa Vakharia: Math Therapy is hosted by me, Vanessa Vakharia, produced by David Kochberg, and the theme music is by our band, Goodnight Sunrise.
• 29:03
  Vanessa Vakharia: Also, feel free to join our Facebook group using the link in the show notes, and I will see you next week