Coppell, Texas: A Shining Example of Humanity or Bust in Math Education

May 10, 2019 is one more date I need to add to my life calendar in terms of deep reflection.

I was supposed to be in San Diego, California but I ended up in Coppell, Texas.

I was scheduled to have an interview with High Tech Middle School on that day in San Diego. For the last year or so, I have felt the desire to go back into the classroom and into a school community which reflects the most innovative ideas of learning. Unfortunately, the school realized that it would not be able to procure a working visa for the position, and didn’t want me to disappointed with a potential job offer that would be rescinded because of visa issues.

So, a week before the day long interview process, I decided to withdraw my application. And, almost around the same time, the company I work for, Buzzmath, decided to go down to Coppell, Texas to learn more about what is happening in math education down there.

Mary Kemper, who is the President of Texas Association of Supervisors of Mathematics and Director of K to 12 Mathematics at Coppell ISD, wrote a review of my book that I co-wrote with Dr. Chris Brownell.

I met her in San Diego at NCSM for the first time. It was then that I got a feeling that I met someone special, whose accomplishments and vision cannot be contained even with those lofty titles. Spending two days with Mary Kemper gave me and our Buzzmath team a detailed glimpse into the magic that is being woven in Coppell Independent School District.

The day that I could have been in San Diego interviewing in a school community that was at the edge of innovative learning, I was in Coppell, Texas touring schools that visually and philosophically reflected the Project Based Learning ethos that would have awaited me in San Diego.

It was a strange day of irony and melancholic emotions, especially when I got the opportunity to teach and spend time with a 5th grade class at Richard J. Lee Elementary School, which is rooted in Challenge Based Learning(CBL) and a 7th grade class at Coppell West Middle School

I spent the first part of the morning in Brian Choate’s 7th grade class. Within just a few minutes, we were all best of friends and talking about Texas A&M and the Kansas City Chiefs. I then did an impromptu math lesson, ramping up the energy of an already enthusiastic classroom. Brian gave all of us big hugs before we left.

I didn’t think I could feel any higher after leaving his class. Then I spent time with May Voltz’s 5th grade class. Anything I write will fall short of how May Voltz captured that morning in this newsletter she wrote the very same day of my visit.

The infectious energy, enthusiasm, and smiles that are in May Voltz’s 5th grade class is omnipresent throughout not just the school, but the whole community of schools. And, a huge amount of credit has to be directed towards Mary Kemper(@MrsKemper) for nurturing and curating such happiness.

As I learned over 48 hours, being innovative and creative will only take you and your school community so far. Yes, the buildings are beautiful, and having the resources to construct such buildings is critical. But, the ability of buildings to become the “Third Teacher”, as echoed by Richard J. Lee’s principal, Chantal Kastrounis, they have to infused organically with passion, empathy, and kindness. And that must start and be modeled right from the top.

In terms of math education leadership, that comes in buckets with Mary Kemper. The only way to be able to say that is to have seen that in every interaction she spontaneously had— with students, teachers(who are called designers here), secretarial staff, parents, and with us. It’s not that she took the time, which itself is admirable in this day and age of less time, but that the time, even the few minutes, was drenched(Texas has had a lot of rain…) in kindness. This short article explains the heart of Mary Kemper’s vector.

Don’t get me wrong. When it comes to mathematical chops, technological understanding, and balancing administrative duties, few do it as well as Mary Kemper, who is an Apple Distinguished Educator. But, for me personally, those qualities won’t matter if they are delivered with detached steeliness rooted in production and efficiency.

Math education without kindness, in my opinion, is a hollow pursuit. That is why I was buoyed by what I witnessed in Coppell, Texas. Those who continue to pivot mathematics in stale directions from the 20th century, without tempering it by the disruptive changes in how and why we need to learn in the broadest strokes, will end up in the only destination that they deserve — parched.

Do you think a book like Tamara Letter’s “A Passion for Kindness” sits only inside non-math classrooms? That this call is only for subjects like art,music, and languages?

No.

Mathematics is rooted in humanity because it is humanity. Only education, in the last century, decided to extricate all that, and make it a lean, performance machine to fit in the larger apparatus of education. That might have benefited some, but most fell by the wayside in this industrialized goal.

I turn the 10th triangular number this month, so while I would love to get back into the classroom in communities like Mary Kemper’s(those school districts just don’t exist up here in Ontario), I also realize that this is one door perhaps that I will gently close.

But, I am grateful for having seen what the future of math education can look like when a community responds to leadership that believes the only compass setting for mathematics is humanity.

Humanity doesn’t diminish the mathematics. Humanity amplifies it. And right now, Coppell ISD is a beacon of light that we should all hope for…