By Michael Telek

Institute for Learnning

“Bless all the flexible so they won’t get bent out of shape.”

This Southern proverb has become the mantra of students, staff, and leadership at Warner Arts Magnet Elementary School, a K-4 school part of Metro Nashville Public Schools, in Nashville, Tennessee, after a horrific 2020. Not only was the school dealing with the daily challenges and uncertainty brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, but shortly before the virus arrived, Nashville was hit by multiple tornados over a 34-hour span. One of these torandos was responsible for 25 deaths and left behind an estimated $1.5B in damages. School leaders say they were lucky, because it narrowly missed the school, but still tore up a section of town.

“As educators, we love our routines. We love our procedures, and they’re just different right now. Our procedures are different, our routines are different,” said Principal Dr. Ricki Gibbs II. “We’ve just been trying to tell everybody ‘be flexible so you won’t get bent out of shape’ because things are going to change and we’ve seen them change multiple times.”

About a year into the pandemic, the experiences at Warner Arts Magnet are no different from countless other schools across the country. The district made the instant adjustment to virtual learning to finish out the school year with hopes of being back in the classroom come September. Since the start of the 2020-2021 school year, the district has been flexible in the way instruction has been offered. At times instruction has been fully virtual and sometimes families and care-givers have been given the option of having students attend in person with proper safety precautions.

Coordinator of Magnet Schools Curriculum, Dr. Wideline Jean-Paul, credited the students for their resiliency and staying engaged amid all the changes. She says that would not be possible without the teachers’ ability to adapt plans and accommodate tough situations.

Math…
a universal language that serves as a gateway to success.

Dr. Ricki Gibbs

“As a result of COVID 19, the Magnet Schools Assistance Program (MSAP) Department has found creative ways to bring positive resolutions to issues faced by our students, teachers, and community,” said Dr. Jean-Paul. “We are addressing issues as they arise and providing the necessary resources to all stakeholders. I believe the collaboration and forward-thinking of the district staff, school-based staff, and IFL has been a big success for math instruction at the MSAP schools.”

The team at Warner Arts Magnet focused on one goal throughout these tumultuous times—keep meeting the needs of their students and provide them the quality education they deserved. School leaders say the IFL lent a helping hand in accomplishing this goal, specifically in the math department.

Dr. Gibbs says he views math as a universal language that serves as a gateway to success. 

Working with Kristin Klingensmith, Warner Arts Magnet has enhanced their understanding of effective teaching practice for mathematics. They explored the use of mathematical representations and learned how important the connections between representations are for helping students build their conceptual understanding.  Through collaborative partnership, we continue to refine our questioning practices and the ways meaningful math discussions are facilitated. 

“[We were] looking at the Accountable Talk®, high leverage tasks, all of that is what we need for our students to think and problem solve. We are constantly adding to their bag of tricks so they can reach in and grab something that will help them to understand and share their understanding. All of this is a takeaway from IFL,” said Dr. ReGina Etter, Director of Magnet Schools.

“When you work with someone like Kristin that has that fresh lens, has that knowledge base from a university and all the work coming out of the university that can bring it, it’s life been life changing, we’ve seen our results last school year begin to skyrocket. Even as we begin to start this school year just looking at how things have stabilized,”

Dr. Ricki Gibbs

The team at Warner Arts Magnet focused on one goal throughout these tumultuous times—keep meeting the needs of their students and provide them the quality education they deserved. School leaders say the IFL lent a helping hand in accomplishing this goal, specifically in the math department.

Dr. Gibbs says he views math as a universal language that serves as a gateway to success. 

The leadership in Nashville said it was important to have a fresh set of eyes come in, identify and readily assess what was needed. They called the partnership with the IFL a win-win.

“When you work with someone like Kristin that has that fresh lens, has that knowledge base from a university and all the work coming out of the university that can bring it, it’s life been life changing, we’ve seen our results last school year begin to skyrocket. Even as we begin to start this school year just looking at how things have stabilized,” said Dr. Gibbs.