Dave Cutler and Elana Rome are both teachers. Cutler is finishing his ninth year teaching high school history and journalism at his alma mater, Brimmer and May School in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Rome is completing her fourth year teaching sixth-grade math at Brown Middle School in the Newton Public Schools in Massaschusetts. She previously taught in Cambridge and Framingham, Massachusetts. The couple share how their personal partnership has advanced their professional growth.
David Cutler and Elana Rome on Thanksgiving Day 2015. Credit: Jeff Shulak.
David and Elana: As a newly engaged couple, we give new meaning to the term private-public partnership. For all that distinguishes our work environments, at the end of the day, we return home to support and listen to each other through our challenges and triumphs. We want our students to experience joyful learning. We want to improve our craft. We want to make a difference. We recognize that we share a unique relationship, but we believe teachers in all different kinds of schools can learn from the ways we communicate. Here are some of the ways we learn from and support each other — and our students.
In the Classroom
David: We both believe that modeling is vital. Elana works hard at modeling clear, step-by-step explanations of math problems for students to learn from and emulate. She has convinced me to continue modeling effective writing practices for my students to adopt. I have seen across-the-board improvement, particularly with students who struggled previously.
To me, part of effective modeling means sharing my own work with my students. In American history, for example, I sometimes have students examine papers I wrote as a high school or college student. Meanwhile, I critique my younger self and discuss how I might have worded arguments differently. Thanks to Elana, I feel more comfortable being vulnerable in front of my students, which in turn helps them learn from their own mistakes.
Elana: One major difference between our jobs is that I must teach the Common Core State Standards, while Dave can set his own content goals for his students. As a result, it can be challenging to figure out how to incorporate more project-based learning into my lessons when I know there are only so many days before the standardized tests roll around. The innovative projects that Dave does with his students have inspired me to try new things.
Last year, I introduced a new project that became the driving force behind my statistics unit. Students formulated a statistical question to survey their peers. They collected a random sample of data and analyzed it using the statistics content dictated by the Common Core. I modeled those steps with my own data before my students applied the skills to the data they had collected.
Integrating technology-based skills into the curriculum is another approach Dave models for me. In his government class this year, Dave had students create mock websites for presidential candidates, building essential technology skills while studying the primary election season. Throughout my statistics project, I taught my students how to input their data into Excel, and then use some of the analytic tools in the software, which is not something most sixth-graders learn.
Outside the Classroom
David: Elana and I both lead students by example in extracurricular activities and help each other see different sides of challenging circumstances. Elana, a talented singer, spends two nights a week rehearsing with two different vocal groups, and has helped direct the school’s annual musical for the last three years.
Meanwhile, I’m a competitive runner and train over the summer months so that come fall, I am in shape to challenge my student-athletes to keep pace. In this non-academic setting, I want my young athletes to know that if they can push through adversity and a manageable degree of pain, they will get faster. I urge my team to transfer this lesson to life beyond the sport. It’s not surprising that my most committed runners are also stellar students.
Elana also helps me care for emotionally vulnerable students. While Brimmer is well-equipped to handle these matters, I hold equal respect for Elana’s opinion and what steps she would take in a given situation. I’m always reassured that she would likely follow a similar protocol — including meeting with teachers, counselors, and parents to decide on a plan of action. This shared framework gives us a launching pad to learn from our schools’ similarities and differences.
Elana: Dave and I talk frequently about our schools’ distinct programs and gain new perspective. Two summers ago, I worked on the team that created Brown’s advisory program. The program’s goal is for all students to establish a positive connection with at least one adult at Brown, and to create safe, small cohorts where students feel supported. Throughout the year, we focused on building relationships within a group of 10-12 students, fostering resilience, and developing life skills related to responsibility and reflection.
As we were writing the advisory curriculum, Dave and I talked often about the process. His school already had an advisory system in place, but it became clear that our programs would be very different. Brimmer’s advisory meets as a cohort only once a week and serves primarily as academic advising — which makes sense for high school students looking toward college. Brown’s advisory meets four mornings a week and focuses mainly on fostering interpersonal connections. Discussing the differences between our two schools’ programs has helped us understand why each one fits each school.
Professional Growth
David: We’re both always seeking to become more effective teachers. Elana is often enrolled in a course or workshop to improve her craft. Within the first five years of teaching in the Newton Public Schools, teachers must take a handful of courses. Currently, Elana is enrolled in “RETELL,” or Rethinking Equity in the Teaching of English Language Learners, which is required by the state.
As Brimmer has a growing international student population, I often talk with Elana about ways I might better support English language learners. She shares with me techniques for teaching tiered vocabulary, as well as reading and writing strategies to help students reach their language goals. She has helped me take advantage of optional professional development opportunities that Brimmer offers, including courses in teaching and learning. At the end of this month, in fact, I’m attending a five-day workshop for high school newspaper advisers, hosted by the New England Scholastic Press Association.
Elana and her colleagues have taught me about effective classroom management. She is in constant contact with her team, consisting of teachers in the other core subjects who all instruct the same group of students. They meet weekly along with the guidance counselor, inclusion facilitators, special educators, and the assistant principal to touch base about students’ academic progress and emotional well-being. The group also facilitates cross-curricular connections for students, including using English vocabulary words in lessons and in general conversation with students.
As a result of learning about her process, now when I need to speak with a student about a test or assignment, I make the request in private. This year, I’m also communicating more with my colleagues about shared students and how everyone can benefit from cross-curricular cooperation.
Elana: We never stop learning from each other — and our networks. Dave constantly seeks out opportunities to grow professionally, questioning and reexamining the way he teaches and assesses, as well as interviewing education innovators and leaders from all sectors. As we discuss these conversations, I am inspired to reexamine my own practices.
For example, I’m developing more ways to take the focus off grades. I allow students to correct their mistakes on graded homework assignments for full credit and make corrections on unit tests. I have adjusted how I give feedback to serve students better and foster a growth mindset. If my students score poorly on a test the first time around, rather than filling the page with X’s and minus signs, I will write out questions for the students to consider. This encourages students to reengage with the problems and rethink their work, rather than being devastated by multiple red X’s. Overall, my students have responded well to my new approach.
Dave and I also discuss the professional development at our schools. Last year, the entire faculty at Brown read excerpts from Carol Dweck’s Mindset. Throughout the year, we used the ideas from the book to frame discussion in our staff meetings. Our district-wide professional development efforts this year focused on closing the achievement gap. Teachers worked together in project teams to plan and implement systems to narrow this gap. One team implemented a new academic coaching program for struggling students.
Brown’s model for professional development — which emphasizes team-based collaboration to tackle problems and cultivate best practices — is something that teachers from all types of schools could benefit from engaging in together.
We hope our relationship can stand as a model for how educators from all sectors can learn from and support each other to benefit all students. We feel strongly that there is much more that unites us than divides us. Let’s focus on cultivating that unity and sharing best practices that span all sectors.
David proposed to Elana by the fountain on the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston, where they shared their first kiss. David recruited a stranger walking by to take photos of him popping the question. January 31, 2016, will forever be a special day for them. Photo courtesy of David Cutler and Elana Rome.
