I think 10 might be a good place to end my TMC blog posts. I have typed up all the fun ones, now it is time to process what I have experienced. Easier said than done. There are a ton of posts already shared that recap TMC16 so I am just going to try to touch on my thoughts as a first-timer and my takeaways from TMC16. This was by far the BEST PD I have ever attended. Up to this point, I have said that Twitter was the best PD I have ever have so it makes sense that meeting these tweeps in person and learning from them would be even better! I can't wait for next year in Atlanta!
I have known about TMC since its beginning but have never been able to make it. I followed the hashtag from #TMCjealousycamp big time. I would use things and it is still a great place to be, but actually being there is SO amazing. I don't think I can do it justice.
It is definitely a lot to take in. Just think about meeting up with someone. Maybe they look familiar to you from their Twitter profile pic. You have to try to remember or get to know there first and last name, their Twitter handle, the blog address, where they are from, and what they teach. It is a lot to keep straight. It actually might make a great Desmos card sort. I was happy to have my colleague Kathy @kd5campbell with me so we could help each other remember all our new tweep friends or point out someone she had met or I met or we wanted to meet up with.
I was so happy to have Kathy as my roommate. I didn't get a chance to catch up with Lisa Winer but I read her TMC reflection blog post and this piece resonated with me:
"It's really important to go with someone from your school, in my
opinion, because you can constantly bounce ideas off of each other and
remind each other of what you can apply in the classroom throughout the
year."
It was also helpful because I knew at the end of the day, we could head back to our dorms and be ourselves, process our day that day, and decide what we would attend the next day. Thanks Kathy!
I was also so grateful to get to meet and spend time with Marissa @viemath. She is a sweetheart and we took her under our wings and she gained two mothers. We hung out all the time. Thank you for taking us to Walgreens and to the mall. Thanks for playing Pokemon, too. Look forward to seeing you more on Twitter and reading your posts.
For my morning session, I attended TalkLessSmileMore and that is exactly what I want to be able to do. Now I feel I have a structure to do that. I will train the kids the idea of "My claim is ___." "My warrant is ____." I will be using this in the classroom. I will also use Talking Points with Agree/Disagree/Unsure and going around 3 times to have a discussion. I will also ask kids more opinion questions like "What is the hardest one, easiest one, weirdest one?" "If you could change one number to do something, which would it be and why?" I am going to work on making my problems more debatable.
I've got a lot of new places to look for problems: Crossing the River with Dogs (from Wendy's session), The Mathematics Vision Project.org from Kerry and Tony's session, and the Exeter problems.
I like the Color Square game from Wendy's session.
I need to check out explore-math.weebly.com for Sam's ideas on mini projects.
I want to read Make It Stick. I think I need to read it thoroughly before I can really digest it and jump into some of the big ideas.
I learned about an app called Zoom that can have kids use the teacher's ipad to send work to the teachers' computer projected screen. Need to look into this.
I did learn from Kerry and Tony's session "5 Practices for Orchestrating Math Discussions" that I kind of already use this structure - Anticipate, Monitor, Select, Sequence, and Connect. Again, another structure to use in my room.
I loved Joel's The Fun Math Game with the Lame Name Game. I will be using this in class.
I will become a member of NCTM.
Denis Sheeran spoke about seeing math everywhere and a new book that he has coming out in the fall. I went to the mall and saw math in the Peeps store. Today, I went into Boston and saw math everywhere. I will try to get my students to see Math everywhere and share it. Maybe our own class hashtag?
I will use more Open Middle problems.
I can't WAIT to try Desmos card sorts. Well, I did try them in Max's session, but I can't wait to try them in my class. Very cool and so exciting!
I am going to print out and start doing some Exeter problems, both for my own fun, but also for some of my class's problem sets.
A HUGE thank you to Hedge for SnagIt - I won an e-subscription. I can't wait to try this screen capture and editing tool in my class. I will share when I make some cool things.
I need to look up Deb Boden's blog post about Robert Kaplinsky's Ms. PacMan Transformations.
I want to give more thought to my pre-assessments.
I need to check out the Don Stewart problems and #donaday
I need to watch Sue Vanhattum's video on relaxing math anxiety.
But, I think the place where I am going to start is my #1TMCthing will be VNPS and VRG - vertical non-permanent surfaces and visual random grouping. It will change the flow of my class. I usually do a Do Now exploration, like a 3 Act or a WODB, then move into a lesson with vocab and explanation of processes and then trying problems, all in notebooks. I will have the kids up and working at the boards. I have a big white board at the front and one at the back. I have gone to Lowe's in the past and had them cut the bathroom board to make me 2'x2' white boards for group work, but I am going to make some new ones. I need three more, so I can hang them. I will use velcro on the to and a command strip hook at the bottom to hold the weight. I do think my accelerated kids are going to struggle with not having everything in a nice linear space in their notebook, but I think the process and discussion is more important than just doing it quietly and individually at their desk. I can still put my powerpoint lesson with the class problems on canvas so they can do them later on their own time if they insist. I think it is going to be a huge, positive change in my room and I am so excited to try it! We will check in on Oct 19th to make sure I am doing it.
Okay, last Saturday, I was at TMC and at midnight we were looking at little ripped up pieces of paper with Andy @rockychat3 work on aligning and creating an Algebra 1 curriculum. This Saturday, at 8 pm and I am typing up my final blog post.
I went to York Maine and into Boston this week. Next week I head to Martha's Vineyard and NYC, followed by a visit to Salem to see Tina Cardone and finally in two weeks I will be on our family vacation. I can't wait! Thanks for reading!
"I will become a member of NCTM." Excellent. :)
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