10 - Walk to Math

In this episode of Rooted & Rising, Andrew McDonald sits down with Suzanne Vaira & Jessi Swain to explore the Walk to Math model and how it supports student growth through targeted, responsive instruction.

The conversation focuses on why meeting students where they are matters in mathematics, and how flexible grouping allows teachers to tailor instruction to student needs while building confidence and competence. Suzanne & Jessi share how Walk to Math promotes collaboration among teachers, fosters a growth mindset in students, and helps normalize the idea that learning looks different for everyone.

Grounded in a commitment to equity and formation, this episode highlights how intentional structures in math instruction empower students to take risks, build skills, and experience success; one step at a time.

It’s a thoughtful look at how strong systems and caring educators work together to help every learner grow.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome to Rooted in Rising, a short podcast where we highlight the people, programs, and moments that make Billings Catholic schools special. Each episode, we'll spend just a few minutes sharing one story from across our system. Something worth noticing, worth celebrating, and worth building on. I'm Andrew McDonald, and I'm glad you're here. Super excited for everybody to be here today. I've got a couple super special guests that are going to talk to us about kindergarten through fourth grade and some of the new things that are going on in that level. So please, I'll start over here. Introduce yourself to our audience.

SPEAKER_03 0:42

All right. I am Jesse Swain and I am a fourth grade teacher. And I'm Suzanne Vira, and I also teach fourth grade.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

So fourth grade is kind of an interesting year, right? Like for us, that's the top of our elementary grade, right before kids go upstairs. So what do you notice with students when they they first come into your classroom? How how is that year for them? What do you try and make that year for them?

SPEAKER_03 1:03

I think it's a big like transition year. We are trying to get them to grow and become independent, and we are not holding their hand, but really just giving them the confidence like you could do fifth grade. You've got this.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

Yeah. And the belief in their their own abilities that they can do hard things and be successful. And the academics shift in fourth grade and we get a lot more challenging. So sometimes that confidence takes a while to build up.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

So if the if the idea of that fourth grade year is confidence prep for this big move to upstairs, how do you guys kind of address some of those things? How do you build that confidence? How do you reach those kids where they're at?

SPEAKER_03 1:41

I think a lot with relationships. I think we form really good relationships with our kids.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

I can attest to that because both my kids have been in your room and they they love your classroom. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:50

No, and I think that's part of it is that we really get to know who our students are. And I think they get to know us, the good and the bad.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

Yes. Yeah. And help helping them find their own abilities where they are academically, socially, and building upon that to build their self-esteem.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

And then through that, though, the the work gets harder, right? You both have said like that. Yeah, we have a different level of expectation for the work that they're doing. One of those areas is really math, right? Like math kind of ramps up when you hit that fourth grade area. But you guys have introduced something new this year. Tell me a little bit about what you're doing this year.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Yeah. So this year we started math groups and we looked at the kids that needed more help and more enrichment and looked at ways of how we could differentiate that rather than teaching at the same level one lesson an hour long. So we're meeting kids where they're at and teaching them exactly what they need.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Yeah. So so how does that work? How do you how is that like set up and organized?

SPEAKER_03 2:50

So we start each module with, I call it a check-in because I don't want to stress them out that they have to perform. I just want to check in and pretend, right? Yep. So you I just wanted to say, hey, where are you at? This is for me. So we do a little check-in from there. We kind of see all right, skills that are missing that they need to have. And then we kind of break them up into the groups based on where they are currently at. And these groups are fluid. They can move, they can change, it could be lesson to lesson. So it really is like exactly what the students need.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Yeah. So the the tracking piece, it's not tracking in the same way because there is that fluidity, right? So can you expand on that a little bit?

SPEAKER_02 3:33

Yeah. When we first decided we're determining how we were going to set up groups, we were thinking maybe map scores, but that was only three times a year. And that was similar to tracking. And we wanted to know what skills each kid had, and we want it to be more skill-based. So we decided to just go with the modules. And we they change every about a month and a half. And we also change daily. If there's kids that are excelling, we send them with Sandy. If there's kids that are struggling, they could go to an intervention group.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

And so does that it's kind of set up where you've got what you've got three teachers in the grade level, and then you've also got Sandy working with you. So you at any given time are running four different groups.

SPEAKER_03 4:12

Yep. Right. And Mrs. Warren.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

And Mrs. Warren.

SPEAKER_03 4:14

Yep. So we have Mrs. Warren that helps out too. So we have, I mean, essentially it's five of us doing fourth grade math at the same time, which is amazing. And then the kids know. I think the nice thing is that I think that they feel comfortable and the confidence that we've seen throughout the year has been incredible because they feel safe in math.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Yeah, talk about that a little bit more. This this idea, it kind of dovetails really nicely with what you were saying. The point of fourth grade is is to build that confidence. How does this build confidence and what do you see as a result?

SPEAKER_03 4:45

I think one of the biggest things that I see is that I have kids who in a typical class don't consider themselves to be math people. Like math was never their subject coming into it. And you get them into the group where they are feeling successful and they are raising their hand, they're answering questions, they are asking, can I please do this on my own, Mrs. Twain? Like, let me do this. And I'm like, well, I always tell them like I'm gonna get bored if I just let you do the lesson. I need to teach a little bit more. So I think it's that confidence and excitement, like, you know, from multiplication to long division to fractions, decimals. I mean, we cover a lot of big scary stuff and they're excited.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

Yeah, and they gain confidence when they have success. And when you're put in a group that matches your ability, you have success.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

And and that kind of changes your experience of math, of school, of class, right? And and I talked with with Mr. Melder and Miss Widman too, kind of about that idea of confidence, right? It that was in the context of reading. And and once a kid kind of experiences that success and starts to gain that confidence, it extends not just to one subject, but to all subjects. They feel like they can engage more across the board. Do you see the same thing?

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

Yeah. So how does that how does that show up in other subjects?

SPEAKER_02 6:00

You can see it in reading and you can see it in their writing. They're willing to take more risks, they're willing to raise their hands.

SPEAKER_03 6:07

And I think the eagerness to come to school and like be there and you know, like, I don't know, just the excitement when they walk through the door, I think you notice that huge change. Like they want to be there. It's a place they want to be.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

But that can't be easy to coordinate between five different teachers, five different groups. So, like what kind of collaboration has this brought out from the team?

SPEAKER_02 6:29

So it took a little bit at the beginning. There was a lot of misconceptions that we had to let go of. To do ever does every kid have to do every standard in fourth grade? Or if they know the material, do they have to do all the workbook pages? And that's a hard to let go of it.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

It can be tricky for the case.

SPEAKER_03 6:44

And another thing like that I struggled with too is that I'm having this class that is my responsibility and I'm not knowing what they're necessarily doing in these other math groups. And I had to let go and be like, okay, no, but they got this. I I believe in the other teachers. I just wanted to make sure that I was still covering what I needed to in that time frame. So it was just this let go and know that it's gonna be okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Well, it is a mentality shift, right? You you shift from my kids to our kids, and that can be pretty, pretty tricky. Has that transferred out of just math?

SPEAKER_03 7:18

I think so. Cause that we like when we look at data and like for maps testing, we get excited across the board. Like it's our kid, it is our kids. These are our kids. And yeah, that nerdy data barking.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

Yes. And we're collaborating more frequently. Every topic quiz we're checking in. Are they in the right group or do we need to adjust it? And look talking to each other and having those discussions together.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Yeah. So it really kind of helped bring out the collaborative side too. How do you see that long-term impacting instruction?

SPEAKER_03 7:55

I mean, I think the biggest part of being a teacher is you have to be a team player, even though you think about it being like this is my classroom. But once we start sharing and talking about things together, I mean, it felt yeah, it was just natural. Well, then I think we got excited about even with our reading and writing, we're like, oh, we could do this, and then we'll check in this way like halfway through. So we started doing it for everything.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

So it it's taken it went from one subject to to multiple subjects.

SPEAKER_03 8:30

Yeah, and it was easy to do.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

Easy, huh?

SPEAKER_03 8:34

Yeah. Well, once we started the ball rolling, it was like, oh, why haven't we been doing this?

SPEAKER_02 8:39

And it took a while to figure out timing of how long do we want the groups to be, how many, how much instruction, because they have to see the fourth grade standards. You can't dismiss that from everybody.

SPEAKER_03 8:50

And their eureka, like the way they word questions, they needed to see like how the questions are presented so that it doesn't come at them as a surprise on maps testing or anything else that they come up and you know upstairs.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

So you talked about growth, right? And getting excited when you look at those map scores and see growth. So, so what kind of feedback are you getting beyond just seeing kind of confidence in students that that tells you that this model has been successful?

SPEAKER_02 9:18

Lots of positive feedback from parents. Okay. And lots of thank you, thank you, thank you. My kid loves school this year. Thank you. Because you're meeting them at their needs. You're they're growing, they're seeing the growth. The kids are excited about what they're doing in math at home.

SPEAKER_03 9:32

And like parents are they're like, My kid taught me how you guys are doing whatever we it is that we're working on. They they're showing me how you guys are doing math now. So they've become the teacher.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Yeah. So it's it's changed some of those things. What are you excited for looking ahead? Like in the future. So we've got this experience with math with fourth grade. Where do you see this going?

SPEAKER_02 9:53

Well, all the grades have been doing it. And so I think every year it's gonna get better and better and better and improving. And with them going to fifth grade, we can continue that same extension and enrichment for those kids.

SPEAKER_03 10:07

And I think the confidence, I think that is the biggest thing that we just continue to instill in them as they go upstairs. And and I hope that that just is happening across the board and we're just really noticed it in fourth grade.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

Yeah, the the confidence as they move forward. And I think to to both of those points, I guess, right? Like it it occurring across all grade levels, right? This should be an exponential change, right? Because it's it started this year, but but you're gonna catch kids that are that much further ahead next year when they come into fourth grade or when they go to second grade because they've had this experience, they've already got some of that confidence. So how do you see this impacting impacting the school long term?

SPEAKER_02 10:50

It improves academics and really is showing that we are striving for academic excellence.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Yeah. What what evidence do we have that says that? Or like what are you seeing?

SPEAKER_02 10:59

Oh, for our module assessments at the end. So we're pre-testing and post-testing, and every kid's almost getting 100. That has not happened in the past.

SPEAKER_03 11:08

No, no, no. No, it's been unbelievable. And they're excited about when they take this. I still call it a check-in. They still are excited about it. And never before they're like, I mean, yeah, the excitement. Yesterday in the lesson, it was this question that we had on the pre-check-in, and they're like, We've seen this, I know what we're doing now. Like, so that excitement, they're genuinely excited about it.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

What's so neat for me sitting across from the two of you right now as we have this conversation is the smile or the excitement on your faces when you talk about the excitement that your kids have for learning and and just this idea of them becoming more excited about school and more confident learners. I mean, that that really does have the ability to change the game. And you can see why kids like to learn from teachers that smile. Because I really want to keep chatting about it. And I like I kind of want to come to math last year.

SPEAKER_03 11:56

Well, that's our job, right? I'm like, I got I'm still on a product here. I'm still in math. I gotta be excited about it. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

Yeah, that's awesome. What as we near the end of the year, right? We've had some time to try this new thing out. We've had some time to inspire that confidence. What are like final words that you would leave your students with? What is it that you want your students to walk away from your class knowing?

SPEAKER_03 12:20

Trust yourself and you can do hard things. And my big thing is it's okay to make a mistake. That's how we're gonna learn. And you've got this.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

Absolutely incredible. Great final pieces of advice for everybody. You don't just have to be a fourth grader for those things to be impactful and meaningful. Suzanne, really appreciate you taking the time. Jesse, awesome. Always great to see you here. Um appreciate everything that you guys are doing.

SPEAKER_03 12:48

Thanks for giving us. Oh, not as scary.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

We'll be back next week with another story worth celebrating.