Episode 5.21: National Gardening Day and All About ABP!

National Gardening Day starts with a surprisingly honest question: do you like gardening, or do you like having a garden? From urban farming stats to blueberry bushes that take care of themselves, we warm up with the kind of curious, low-stakes talk that makes real learning feel safe.

Then we sit down with Judy Hutchinson, a math teacher in Rockford School District, to talk about CPM’s Academy of Best Practices and why it’s one of the most meaningful professional development experiences a teacher can have. Judy shares what it felt like to hit a rut, realize her practice had gone a bit “lackluster,” and decide to do something about it by attending ABP. And now she's feeling inspired in her teaching again!

Applications are due at the end of April, and the next Academy of Best Practices runs July 20–24 in Salt Lake City, with 32 spots per cohort (veteran CPM teachers and new-to-the-profession teachers). You can find more information and a link to the application here. 

Subscribe, share this with a teacher who needs a spark, and leave a review so more educators can find us.

The More Math for More People Podcast is produced by CPM Educational Program.
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Transcript

National Gardening Day Banter

Joel 0:17

You are listening to the More Math For More People Podcast, an outreach CPM educational program. Boom.

Misty 0:31

All right. April 14th, 2026.

Joel 0:37

Yes,

Misty 0:38

Okay. What's the National day today?

Joel 0:40

it is. National gardening day.

Misty 0:43

Gardening day. Oh, not like garden naked day or anything like that. Just gardening day.

Joel 0:48

just gardening.

Misty 0:49

Oh, they're

Joel 0:50

I mean, you can, you can do it. Yeah, probably. But you, I think you could do this naked if you want it, or you could.

Misty 0:56

Sure. We're not advocating or suggesting you could. This is a choice. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

Joel 1:01

You could do this. Yeah.

Misty 1:04

Hmm. Cool.

Joel 1:06

There's lots of, huh? I kind of, you're celebrating gardens. I'm, I'm reading the thing right now. The, when, when do you think was like kind of the earliest.

Misty 1:20

Gardening.

Joel 1:21

Yeah.

Misty 1:22

What? Like what? Like gardening of Eden. Like that

Joel 1:25

Yeah. When was, when was gardening invented?

Misty 1:29

you love it when you ask that question'cause it's so silly. It doesn't even make sense. I

Joel 1:34

no, I know.

Misty 1:35

gardens long before. Any other time?

Joel 1:37

Um, just some early evidence of people gardening would've been 1500 bc.

Misty 1:45

1500 bc Okay.

Joel 1:46

Yeah. Yeah.

Misty 1:47

Okay. Probably, yeah. I mean, that's just'cause we didn't find anything before. That doesn't mean they weren't doing it,

Joel 1:54

exactly.

Misty 1:55

so, so we're gonna celebrate gardening. I don't like gardening, actually. I like having a gardener. I don't like doing the gardening.

Joel 2:02

I like doing the gardening.

Misty 2:04

Yeah, I don't, I pay someone to do that. I will say also,'cause like my, the plants in my yard make me like itchy. So I kind of got to a place where I was like, I can't do this anymore, but I like to have a garden. I mean, I like to have plants around and things.

Joel 2:21

I like to have the garden. I don't like the maintenance so much. Like, I don't like the weeding.

Misty 2:26

That's gardening.

Joel 2:27

hmm. That's gardening to me is like adjusting the dirt. It's watering, it's caring for if I, I don't wanna, yeah. I don't want the weeds. They should, they should know by now to stay away, but they haven't got the message.

Misty 2:43

They're, they're, they think that you're just making more room for more weeds.

Joel 2:46

Yeah.

Misty 2:47

I got those other

Joel 2:47

what they think. Yeah.

Misty 2:49

great. I don't mind like planting plants, you know, I do like going to the nursery and picking out plants and having new plants, but I don't, I don't wanna do the gardening really. I also made a promise to myself at some point, probably about like 10 years ago, that I was never going to try to have a vegetable garden again,

Joel 3:09

Mm. Yeah.

Misty 3:12

there's something about vegetable gardens require like, all this work, you gotta do all these things, you gotta do it at a certain time, which usually when I was in classes and stuff and in school, like I couldn't really do it early enough. It was always like too late by the time I was trying to make a garden. And then it really just seems like it's, it's an exercise in having too much stuff to figure out what to do with. Then when all the like things get ripe, then it's like, oh no. Now we have to eat tomatoes every day.

Joel 3:37

Yes.

Misty 3:38

now you have to eat cucumbers all the time. We've got a thousand zucchinis and I don't really like that

Joel 3:43

Oh,

Misty 3:44

operating.

Joel 3:45

what do you think the percentage of food that's produced by urban Farming is?

Misty 3:50

I bet it went up in 2020.

Joel 3:52

I could very well could have.

Misty 3:53

doesn't say that. Huh

Joel 3:54

It doesn't say

Misty 3:54

Percentage of food produced by Urban gardens.

Joel 3:58

Urban farming.

Misty 3:59

Urban farming. Interesting. I say 10.

Joel 4:03

20.

Misty 4:04

Oh,

Joel 4:04

Yeah.

Misty 4:05

wow. Nice. Not by my, not by any of my gardens. My gardens don't, well, I'm gonna say my gardens don't produce food, but that's not true. I do have some, I have three blueberry bushes. I don't mind having them because they just grow. I don't have to garden them at all. And then there's, there's just enough blueberries for me to walk out there and eat.

Joel 4:24

And, and do you do that, do you just eat'em right off the vine or do you bring'em inside and keep'em, or,

Misty 4:29

I just eat'em.

Joel 4:30

yeah,

Misty 4:30

out there and eat'em.

Joel 4:31

I like blueberries.

Misty 4:33

And I do have one cherry tree. That produces cherries clearly, but like it, it, most of the cherries are too far too high for me to pick them.

Joel 4:43

Uh.

Misty 4:43

And so mostly the birds and the squirrels eat them. But I do go

Joel 4:46

Oh squirrels.

Misty 4:47

try to pick some cherries and sometimes I'll freeze the cherries and then they're just in my freezer all the time.'cause then I don't use them for anything. So that's, I feel like I'm just creating food stored that I don't end up using.

Joel 4:58

Well that, see, that's sad. I would wish that you would use it,

Misty 5:02

Well, forget about it.

Joel 5:04

but like we could, we could celebrate this year by you eating all your freezer garden veggies.

Misty 5:10

I, I could do that. I don't have any veggies there. Just cherries.

Joel 5:13

Fair enough. Hey, if you were thinking about strawberries,

Misty 5:17

If I were thinking about strawberries. Mm-hmm.

Joel 5:18

do you think the number of seeds in the average strawberry is?

Misty 5:22

Ooh, hmm. I'm gonna say 135.

Joel 5:29

It's pretty close. 200

Misty 5:31

Hmm. so I do have other like, quote unquote food in my

Joel 5:36

Yeah. Yeah.

Misty 5:37

birds and I have a bunny that is in my backyard now and he comes along and he eats my grass and eats little things. He's very cute.

Joel 5:45

Do you name them?

Misty 5:47

uh, no, I've not

Joel 5:48

Oh,

Misty 5:49

So he's out there quite a bit. He's not very afraid of Bella.

Joel 5:53

well that's even better.

Misty 5:54

just sit there until she kind of like sees him and then she'll be like, oh. And he'll like hop away and she'll like, oh, and she'll kind of like run at him a little bit,

Joel 6:01

it's like they're both reacting in a way that they think they sh are supposed to, but don't need to

Misty 6:07

kinda like, I don't trust you. I'm not gonna go like hang out next to you. But

Joel 6:10

Yeah.

Misty 6:11

I'm not really afraid of you

Joel 6:12

Yeah. Yeah.

Misty 6:13

I don't think you're gonna try to catch me.'cause she

Joel 6:14

Right.

Misty 6:16

so.

Joel 6:17

Well, do you want some ideas for national guarding

Misty 6:20

tell me how I could celebrate National Gardening Day

Joel 6:24

Any guesses?

Misty 6:26

Garden.

Joel 6:28

Yes.

Misty 6:28

Learn the history of gardening.

Joel 6:30

You could, that's a good one.

Misty 6:31

go to the Garden store.

Joel 6:33

Visit your local garden center is one of them. Yes.

Misty 6:37

Okay.

Joel 6:37

You could sign up for a gardening course.

Misty 6:40

Oh, excellent.

Joel 6:42

And the other one here is you could share on social media. Your garden.

Misty 6:47

Oh,

Joel 6:48

Yeah,

Misty 6:49

Excellent. you often share pictures of your garden with me,

Joel 6:54

yeah, yeah.

Misty 6:55

so there you go.

Joel 6:57

It's like, I forget what they're, I call'em ies, but when they come up, they,

Misty 7:02

of, so false.

Joel 7:03

yeah, you're probably right.

Misty 7:05

I don't know.

Joel 7:06

But it's like, it's such a good, it's that time of year again.

Misty 7:10

There. It's indeed. All right. Well, what are you going to do to celebrate National

Joel 7:15

I'm gonna go take a picture of those worms. That's

Misty 7:19

up already?

Joel 7:21

That's a good question. I gotta go peak. I gotta do all that maintenance stuff. I don't like

Misty 7:25

I know

Joel 7:29

How about you?

Misty 7:30

gardener. I'm gonna schedule my gardener to come and do some work on my

Joel 7:33

Excellent,

Misty 7:34

There we go. All right. Well, enjoy National Gardening Day.

Meet Judy And Her Teaching Role

Joel 7:38

Indeed. Today we have Judy Hutchinson here on the podcast. Joel, she is a teacher who teaches at Rockford. School district in Illinois Mm-hmm. all places, and we're, she's here to talk with us today about the Academy of Best Practices.'cause she participated in that last year, right? Yeah. So welcome to the podcast, Judy.

Judy 8:16

Thank you so much. It's an honor to be invited.

Joel 8:18

Awesome. Awesome. So tell us some more. So start just by telling us a little more about your teaching situation and other than just you're in Rockford, like how long you've been teaching CPM, et cetera.

Judy 8:30

I believe Rockford got CPM in about 20 2017. and COVID happened and that was all difficult to teach. Partly remote. In Rockford, I teach integrated math two and integrated math three. This year I've taught all levels from integrated math one to integrated math three, so I'm a little bit all over the board with what I teach. I started this year as a Title one teacher, but we had a math teacher quit.

Joel 9:03

Hmm.

Judy 9:04

October, so I went back in the classroom full time. So this year I have, uh, integrated math two, integrated math three, and that's what I do.

Joel 9:15

Cool. And you participated in the Academy of Best Practices last summer in San Diego. Joel. Joel was there. I was there. so, so tell us a little bit about Academy of Practices. What attracted you to it? Why did you apply? What was the experience like?

Judy 9:35

Well, I had heard about it and I had actually applied the year before.

Joel 9:40

Mm. Uh oh,

Judy 9:41

and I didn't get in and, um, I was like, oh man, I didn't get in, but I thought, I'm, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna try again, right? Try, try again. And so I tried again and this time I upped my game with this application. I was like, I, I want in, this is what I wanna do. So, when you answer the questions, there was an option that you could make a video and I. I made a video this year or last year when I applied, it was outta my comfort zone, but I thought, I'm gonna, I'm gonna try everything that I can to up my application and I, I got in. So I

Joel 10:19

Hey. Nice.

Judy 10:20

excited and when. I, I wrote an article about a BP two so that there's a newsletter out there someplace. After I got in I started to get nervous about it because I was gonna travel to San Diego all by myself. I didn't know anybody, and I was like, oh my goodness, what is this gonna be like? What did I get myself into? And, it was probably the best thing that could have happened is not going with a colleague that I knew because I had to reach out. And I have other people throughout the country now that I know and that I reach out to. I mean, there's five of us that we, we have a group text and we check in with each other and we say, Hey, how's it going? Where's your goal? How are you

Joel 11:09

That's great.

Judy 11:10

it really helped.

Joel 11:13

So, so I love that you were like, okay, I didn't get in. I'm gonna try harder. You, you will not d me right. From this. What, so what was it that really attracted you to, to a BP? Like, you know, like what was making your drive so strong?

Judy 11:30

There's a few things I, I, I think I had gotten to the point where I was like, I wanna know more. Right. I I wasn't. I feel like I had reached a point in teaching that maybe I was lackluster, right? It just, I did, I wasn't fired up about it. So I needed something else to really reignite my passion for teaching. And my principal, my administrator says, what about a BP? And I thought, yeah, that, you know, that might actually, it's gonna help me. It's gonna help all my practices. I feel like with CPM, there's some things that I, I do really well. And there's other things like the study team teaching strategies. It's like sometimes for me it's a struggle make sure I incorporate those all the time. I just, I feel like I get into a rut and then I forget about some of the stuff I'm supposed to do. So I wanted to make sure that I learned as much as I could and I became the best teacher that I possibly could. And when you look at PD that's out there, that. I think CPM, I'm gonna do another plug for the CPM conference in February. It's one of the, it's one of the best math conferences out there because it's all about math and they, they do it so well that I know that's my favorite math conference to go to. So a BP has gotta be just as good. So I knew I needed to I wanted to get involved in that.

Joel 13:11

Mm-hmm. for sure. Has anybody else from Rockford been before or are you the first one?

Judy 13:18

I was the first one, but I do have a colleague that stopped in today and said, I think I'm gonna apply. I said, yes, do it. So I'm very excited that we might have somebody else going from Rockford.

Joel 13:31

Yeah. That's cool. And this year it's Salt Lake City, so it's not quite as far as San Diego, but

Judy 13:36

Right. And if I could apply again, boy, I'd apply again. I'm, I'm ready to go.

Takeaways That Changed Her Classroom

Joel 13:40

That's so great. That's awesome. So I appreciate that. Like I, I, I think that that happens for a, you know, a lot of people, a lot of teachers, a lot of whatever you're doing right? There's times when you've done it, you've done it, you've done it, you've done it, it becomes. Stale in our own minds even, right? Like, like there's some part of how can I revitalize my own interest in what I'm doing?'cause it's not new to the kids, but it becomes, you know, redundant and kind of like old for us. I, I mean, I get that for. So what were some of the things that you, like some of your big takeaways that got you more inspired and, and reignited that spark around teaching from AB that you got at a BP?

Judy 14:27

Every day we'd have a speaker. So of course every speaker had a, a, a story of, of, of their math and trying and not trying actually Pam Sita was one of them about how she was educated overseas.

Joel 14:43

Mm-hmm.

Judy 14:45

ever had the thought of, I can't do math. And where in the US we have a lot of students, probably more than half, that say, I can't do math, I'm not gonna do math. She never had that. So, um, that, you know, sticks with me. She also says a one point rubric and she said that. Well, either we should, we don't have to have a rubric with four or five, three or four things because you want'em to hit this mark. And if they don't hit that mark, they have to keep going until they hit that mark. So you only need one point. And that was, that was fascinating to me. The study teach teaching, teaching strategies. Of course. Any CPM. Module you go to. They always,

Joel 15:41

Mm-hmm.

Judy 15:42

they, Bruce and Tony and Cheryl, they modeled everything just like a CPM classroom. And so it just revitalized that, yeah, this is how it's supposed to work. You can do this, you know, they modeled those, um, strategies and then there might be a a twist on it. For example, uh, Tony did one where it was a huddle, and this time when he did the huddle, he said, bring your papers with you. And then he said, put the papers in the middle. What do you see? And then we were like, oh,'cause we found something on somebody else's paper that he wanted us to see. And then he sent us back to our groups and we were like, oh, okay. But I had never really seen a huddle like that before. You know, the huddles I do is come here, I give them some information and then they go back. So that was an interesting take that just because you might have A-S-T-T-S. That this is how you do it. There's always a spin that you can do. So there's something else I learned. We had, there was fun activities. I mean, I don't wanna give this one away too much, but my favorite was we, we played a card game. And it was so much fun. So much fun. The interaction was, and like I said, if somebody applies and they go and they get to play the card game, I, I don't wanna, I don't wanna give them, oh, this is what's gonna happen. But

Joel 17:18

That's an air of mystery,

Judy 17:20

it was the best. It was the best.

Joel 17:23

great.

Judy 17:24

I,

Joel 17:25

nice. Yeah. Uh, go ahead, Joel. oh, I was just gonna ask, so like with the huddle and that twist, have you tried that then in your classroom yourself? Yeah.

Judy 17:36

I did. And it, it actually, it worked really well. I was like, look, and they were like, oh. And so it was, it, yes, it worked perfectly. And I was like, yeah, that's, that's what I need to do. But again, it's still even you have to be intentional with everything that you do and sometimes with, with teaching, especially I think this time of year everybody's like, oh Jesus, hang on to the end of the year. Right. So the planning and the everything, you have to be very intentional.'cause boy, you can get tired this time of year.

Joel 18:10

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. absolutely. Well, and it sounds like there was this mix of really like some new ideas and some new strategies and ways of thinking about things and some things for your toolbox. Some fun. Which is always great. Right. And some of that fun is then creating the social interactions, right? There's a lot of like the social pieces. And I am, and I think as I recall in the, like the week of a BP, there's quite a few times and places for the participants to, you know, build those social connections, which I think is such an important part, right, of learning.

Judy 18:46

Yeah, so every day, I think we were in class from eight to 4 38 to. Five if it was a long day, and then once five o'clock hit, they would say, okay, you might, we might have a, a reading that we needed to do or something that they wanted us to be prepared for for the next day, but we'd go to supper. And everything at a BP is, paid for. They pay for your flight out. If you needed to flight out. They pay for your meals, the housing you're on a campus, but that's kind of, and it's campus meals. And you get a, a campus meal card. And then, so after class, we'd all go and eat supper together. We'd eat lunch together. We'd eat breakfast together and then afterwards we'd go out and see some sites in San Diego. And usually there was always the other, the other great thing is, you know, I, I found my five, but let's say there was, if you didn't wanna do that activity, you could go with another group and do something else that, oh, that sounds really neat. That would be great to go and see. So you gotta. You, you learned a lot, but you also had time to. See things and it kind of rejuvenate that day because there's a lot of learning and your brain's tired afterwards. And then when you get out and you are able to see some of the sites, you know, um, and, and CPM even organized a night.

Joel 20:24

Mm-hmm. On the beach.

Judy 20:25

the beach. Yeah. And there was a bon of fire and there was roasting marshmallows and plain bags and there was just so much to do and so many people to talk to because at that one we had the veterans and the new to CPM, new to teaching.

Joel 20:42

Yeah. Yeah. It's like a, it's like, it's like summer camp for teachers. Yeah,

Judy 20:46

Yes. Yeah, absolutely.

Joel 20:48

Nice. Nice. Well, Judy, thank you so much for coming and talking about a VP your, your excitement and enthusiasm Oh my gosh. is contagious and it's great. And so hopefully some more people will hear this and they'll think about it and consider it, and we'll make sure and put some links in the podcast for where they can get their application and get some information. But is there anything else that's like any, what's, like any lever information or last little bit you wanna tell people?

Judy 21:17

Just that it. It was a great experience. That did help my teaching. It helped revitalize what I do in the classroom. It got me excited again to start the school year, and, uh, I believe that my students are having a better year because of it, and I'm having a better year because of it. And if, if I get down. Like I said, I can reach out to my group, my a BP group and say, Hey, listen, I'm struggling. What? And then, man, they, they're so happy to get hear from us and to give us feedback. So it's Please apply. It. It was, it, it's, it's truly one of the best experiences I've had.

Joel 22:05

I am sure our listeners don't need the brochure now. They've heard it. They've heard it. We'll still link it for them Yeah, of course. Okay. All right. Well, thank you so much. Thanks.

Misty 22:32

That was really exciting talking with Judy.

Joel 22:34

Yeah, she was very involved and I, I remember meeting Judy, I guess back around that COVID time in, in Rockford. And she, she has really dove into the CPM thing. One thing we didn't talk about was her involvement with coaching and her involvement with all the things that CPM provides. She really is soaking it in.

Misty 22:57

no, that's, that's super. So, so Judy ha, being a CPM teacher, and she's taught for a number of years, CPM, she was part of the Academy of Best Practices, a BP Veterans Group. Right. So that's for people. Remind me with,

Joel 23:14

So, the veteran group is, uh, teachers who have taught five or more years with the CPM

Misty 23:21

Okay. Five or more years with CPM. Got it. And then there's a second group at Academy of Best Practices, A BP, which is our new teacher, our

Joel 23:31

New teacher, early career teacher. So you are a teacher. Not, you don't have to be involved with CPM at all, so you, uh, that does not, is not a requirement. And we actually love getting the different viewpoints and things like that. You could even be. Maybe in your program ready to start teaching. So, um,

Misty 23:54

in your student teaching or internship or something like that. Gotcha, gotcha.

Joel 23:59

And those people could apply as well. But up to five years experience, we consider to be early career

Misty 24:06

it. So up to five years, CPM or not, doesn't

Joel 24:10

Yes.

Misty 24:10

Or just, or even minus one year perhaps. Right. You could be in the early career teacher, new teacher cohort, but the veterans are CPM. You have to have taught CPM for five years or more. Got it. Got it. Okay, so now that we're clear on what the two groups are, it's always confusing to me. I always have to go over it again. What else do people need to know, Joel?

Joel 24:34

So they need to know that the applications are due April

Misty 24:38

Oh my goodness.

Joel 24:39

if you're listening today on the 14th. Of April. They're due in two weeks and perhaps. If you're listening, or even if you're not listening, I'm pretty sure that you received some emails

Misty 24:54

Those of you that are all not listening, pay attention

Joel 24:56

a BP or, or maybe you're not able to apply this year. Uh, it takes place July 20th through July 24th in Salt Lake City.

Misty 25:06

a pretty nice town, I think.

Joel 25:08

Pretty great town. I have some personal knowledge since I live here and,

Misty 25:13

in case they

Joel 25:14

But if, if this year didn't work out, maybe you know, somebody else who would

Misty 25:18

Mm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Joel 25:19

and they could apply and you could apply next year if you're ready. But

Misty 25:23

And, and it sounds like the application is like filling out a form, providing some essays, perhaps a recording, a

Joel 25:30

um, yeah, there's a video recording to tell us more about yourself. The, the form to fill out is all right there. And we would just love, in these last two weeks, if people wanna still

Misty 25:44

How many spots are there in each of the cohorts?

Joel 25:47

32

Misty 25:48

in each

Joel 25:48

each of, in each one.

Misty 25:50

of spaces, people, you've got a good chance. Come on.

Joel 25:54

so let's go. But we, uh, we'll send out the, it says all this in the form, but, uh, you would get, we let you know by May 15th, so you could make any summer plans, things like that. But like Judy said CPM, this is an outreach that we do as part of our mission. So we pay for your travel, your food, and your lodging for that week.

Misty 26:18

All right, and we'll put those links in the description so that people can apply before the end of April. Do it?

Joel 26:26

Yes, please.

Wrap Up And Next Holiday Tease

Misty 26:29

Yes. Yes, please. So that is all we have time for on this episode of The More Math for More People podcast. If you are interested in connecting with us on social media, find our links in the podcast description, and the music for the podcast was created by Julius h and can be found on pixa bay.com. So thank you very much, Julius. Join us in two weeks. For the next episode of more math for more people. What day will that be, Joel?

Joel 27:03

It will be April 28th, school bus driver appreciation day, and what a wonderful day to appreciate who works so hard to work with children and support children and. Make sure that they're safe throughout their experiences, getting to and from school. And think of my, when I think of my experiences, I think of how maybe difficult I might have been on a school bus. I was actually. Not that difficult, but I did see difficult things that happened on the school bus that those drivers needed to deal with on a daily basis and make sure everybody got home safe. So we'll talk about the school bus drivers and how much we appreciate them on April 28th. We'll see you there.