A Happy Beginning

Sorry, but I'm not excited.

As I enter back into the classroom after two years as a TOSA one question keeps popping up from all those around me, "Are you excited?" (I sure wish I had kept count of the number of times I've been asked that question in the last week.  There have been other questions that have perpetuated my return, but those aren't worth mentioning here.)  I have had a tough time answering that.  I would say around a month ago, or maybe a couple months ago, I was excited. But lately I'm just happy.  Happy that I'm going back to the classroom. When I hear the word excited, I feel a bit overwhelmed because of what I think excited means. (I'm so excited and I just can't hide it.  I'm about to lose control and I think I like it....) For that reason, I can't say the word excited when it comes to describing how I am feeling. Should I be more excited at this point in the year, a day away from students arriving?

But, I am Happy.  

After a particularly tough year professionally and personally, I am happy to get back to the root.  To the why.  Why do I do this work?  I look forward to the day I can look around the classroom and see so many students doing math, talking about math.   I get to orchestrate that in my classroom and that makes me happy.  I am grateful for the autonomy, purpose and mastery that being a teacher entails. (Thank you for your research, Daniel Pink!)  I've learned this past year that these traits in a job are key to my happiness and ability to thrive in a job.   I have the autonomy to create Vertical Non-Permanent Surfaces (insert: whiteboards) in my classroom to get kids standing, talking and working together each and every day.

I can transform how I do homework to make it meaningful to students. (Anyone have a strategy here?  Still unsure on what that looks like, but I refuse to give up searching for a better way.)  Purpose: there is an obvious purpose in being an educator.  Mastery is a trickier one because, as most veteran teachers know, there isn't an obvious level a teacher reaches where she can say "I've mastered teaching".  I'm sorry, but that just doesn't exist.  Teachers live for the little opportunities to show mastery.  I mastered this lesson today.  I mastered getting student X to ask a question before giving up.  I mastered keeping all the kids alive today. (See, it's the simple things.) These mastery points are readily present and keep us going, not to mention keep us coming back year after year.

So here's to another year filled with opportunities to learn and be happy.

What do you do all summer?

Often times, when I meet new people in the summer, and they find out I am a teacher, they ask "What do you do all summer?"  I find that question hard to answer with a quick sentence or two.  How do you sum up all the experiences that one has in a couple months of "free" time?  That's like asking people who work 9-5 (and leave work at work) what they do every evening and weekend.  "What do you do with all that time?"   From now on I will direct them to this post because it is pretty telling of how I spend many of my summers as a teacher.

Summer 2015 by the Numbers, of course!

0 times mowing my yard. Yes, that's right, doctor's orders!  Much gratitude to my sister and neighbor! 1 tumble off a cliff. 2 trips to California for conferences (and family time).

San Diego--you are magnificent!

The Kennedy High School AVID Conference team.

Lake Arrowhead is looking a little dry!

Anyone need a roommate in CA?

My aunt and I visiting the old family cabin in Lake Arrowhead

3 weekends sleeping in my own bed.  4 knitting projects completed.  5 days in Kansas City for the Fourth of July with family.  6 books read.  7 hours spent prepping and painting my kitchen.   
8 four hour class sessions of "Strategic Financial Planning for School Leaders" at the University of Minnesota. 9 Minnesota lakes visited. 10 doctor appointments for torn ligaments in my knee after a bike accident.  
11 skeins of yarn transformed through knitting. 12 hours spent preparing my classroom before workshop week started. 18 hours spent with colleagues collaborating on curriculum for the upcoming school year. 20 hours spent traveling to conferences. 30 days of preparing and eating real, delicious food re: Whole 30. 

 40 internship hours at an Elementary Summer School. I have a new love for 1st graders and a ton of respect for their teachers!   
42 sunfish caught while fishing on a beautiful July morning.   
55  hours spent learning at

professional conferences.   81 days spent away from routine.  100+ math problems solved in preparation of new classes ahead. 

#TMC15

What I learned at Twitter Math Camp 2015

I’ve got to keep this short and sweet because I just have way too much to do before teacher workshop week is upon me! EEK! Because of that, I am going to fall back on an oldie, but a goodie, the Triangle-Square-Circle reflection thing-a-majig that I’ve had my students use in the past to reflect on their learning.

1. Triangle After a lesson, have students draw a triangle and next to it write down three important points from the presentation or reading they just saw or completed.
2. Square Then, have students draw a square and next to it write down anything that “squares” with their thinking or anything they agree with.
3. Circle Finally, have the students draw a circle and next to it write down anything that is still “circling” in their head or questions that they have.

1.  Make a safe space in my classroom using Social Circles. This represents a TOP priority for me this year and is my #1TMCthing
2.  Fawn Nguyen’s keynote represented one of the most important parts of this community--the love for the work and the quest to never stop learning.
3.  TMC and MTBoS is where I want to be for professional learning. I am going to strive to be less of a lurker and more of a contributor in the coming year.

To Learn is to DO!!!!

I know I just said this when talking about past conferences.  But it is necessary to say again, and again.  Just like when I teach my mom how to use her smartphone, if I'm the one doing it, she won't learn a thing.  We have to get the learners doing in order for any learning to happen. Some of my favorite takeaways from #TMC15 all involve student's doing:

Vertical Non-Permanent Surfaces and Visibly Random Groups

I didn't even go to this session, but the twitter talk got me latched on to this idea.  Funny enough, I had made a note to myself 7 months prior to make this happen after seeing it on twitter back then.  I can't wait to share classroom pictures of students working and talking this year, while I bask in the glory of so many diverse kiddos doing math!  My skin tingles just thinking about it.  (I even got a colleague to join me in the adventure of decking our classrooms in homemade whiteboards. Score!)

From my Google Keep records

Math Talks

It's official, this is going to perpetuate my Senior Math classroom this year.  This elective class that I am teaching could be taught as a classic test prep course since it was designed as such.

4195 Senior Math

Course Description: The student will review math topics such as fractions, percents, ratio and proportion, integers, and basic algebra. This course will review math skills needed for post high school jobs and education options. The student will be able to problem solve using basic math computations and basic algebra solving techniques. Evaluation: Grades will be determined by tests, quizzes, class assignments, projects, and the final exam.

I cannot wait to create better math thinkers through Math Talks.  I've added a new book to my bookshelf and I look forward to diving in head first in trimester 2.

Still circling around in my head: How can I incorporate Socrative Seminars?  I know this could be a great learning structure, but I am still trying to think about how it would look in my classes.  Bottom line is, however, that I have to create a classroom environment where students are talking and doing before I can ever think about Socrative Seminars.  So, for now, I hope to accomplish that while I mull over Socrative Seminars a little more.

BONUS:

Whoa--twice I incorporated the Mullet lesson prior to leaving classroom for two years and low an behold it was @MrVaudrey whom I had the pleasure of learning from again with the Barbie Bungee and Music Cues (a my favorite presentation).  It made me realize that I have been lurking in this MTBoS for three full years.   Enough is enough, I am going to engage in the MTBoS instead of just lurking.  At the very least, I want to reflect back all the great stuff I have the pleasure of stealing and using in my classroom!

And, yes, that was a short post. There is soooooo much more I could say about the inspiration and momentum created after attending Twitter Math Camp ‘15. But, by golly, I’ve got too much darn work to do now to make it all happen before the kiddos arrive on September 1st.