Mathkins

Wow, what an amazing first week! After a summer of reading some great books, a week long math conference, and incredible conversations with colleagues I jumped in feet first and tried some completely new things this year. I was nervous every day this week, so nervous my stomach was doing back flips every morning and for about 2 minutes before every class period. I didn't know if my new ideas were going to be successful or flop. That uncertainty was very scary and hard to push through. But I made it to the other side relatively unscathed. Day 1- The Play-doh experiment So I bought some mini cans of Play-doh and as I greeted my students for the first time I had them pick a color, find a seat, then read the directions on the board.  Directions: Use the Play-doh to create something that you like, something that you don't like, and/or something that tells us about you. Please keep it school appropriate :-) As I walked around the room introducing myself to each person ...

Yesterday wrapped up a 4 day math conference filled with incredibly inspirational speakers and presenters. I now have a notebook full of ideas, lessons, and activities that I can use in my classroom for the upcoming year and enough enthusiasm to fill a football stadium. I was also able to have some amazing math content and practice conversations with other teachers from my district including elementary teachers. I get very little contact with them during the school year as a high school teacher. Overall, it was an amazing experience from top to bottom. But here is my question...I have so much information and so many great ideas, how do I share them without overwhelming the rest of the math department (11 other teachers) but also getting them to buy in to trying something new? All ideas welcome! On the last day, during a debriefing session, with the entire group that went to the conference, our math coordinator asked us to come up with an action plan. What will we do to share this i...

The math coordinator in my district convinced me late April that I should present at the Adding It Up conference in Saint Louis in July. Actually, it's next week July 17th - 20th. It is a 45 minute class demonstration style presentation on collaborative strategies. I definitely have plenty to talk about but I am worried that it will all be stuff they have heard before. Aren't professional development conferences usually populated by the teachers that are already trying the cool stuff? Will I really be able to bring something new and interesting to the table? I guess I should have the mindset I do with my students. If I can help just one person it's worth it, right?