Nathan stayed home (not exactly home, but running around with kids and other errands) and I got to go to Denver to attend the annual National Council of Teachers of Mathematics conference.
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| The conference had posted large signs inside with lots of little math jokes . . . . stole this pic from instagram. |
To keep my license active, I complete 100 points every three years. I can earn these points in different ways, mostly I take Independent Study classes and go to these math conferences as often as is reasonable. Since it was so close to home, I felt compelled to attend.
I took no pictures, but pages and pages of notes. I met people from all of the world and also some of the teachers from Andrew's school down the street. When someone talks to me at the conferences, one of the first questions is always something like, "Where do you teach?" or "What grade level do you teach?"
My reply is always the same, "I'm not teaching right now, I stay home with my children." Which leads to,
"Do you homeschool?"
"No, but they are young . . . the youngest is 3 . . . I am here to keep my teaching certificate."
"Will you go back?" comes up most of the time.
I always feel somewhat out of place. Many teachers go with friends from their schools or districts, this time I did notice many, however, who were alone. Like me.
I listened this time for the pro-mothering comments. They were awesome:
"Good luck raising your children. That's important work."
"Being a mom is the best job."
"I stayed home while my kids were little, too."
"You get to stay home, you are lucky!"
I don't really remember hearing these comments before this year.
The last time I attended a conference, I brought my mom and nursing Eddie with me. The time before that, I flew from Chicago to SLC and stayed with a sister. Previous to that, I attended in Chicago, pregnant with Diana. I went from UT to a conference in Boise and stayed with Nathan's mom. (I ran into his aunt at one of the presentations). Happy memories that mark the passing of years.
I love going, especially once I get over the awkwardness of feeling out of my comfort zone.
Here are some of the highlights:
Greg Tang
He is one of the funniest math comedians ever. He's been at each of the conferences I listed above--I would pay my $$$ just to hear him. Love his ideas, his books, and he's got games I need to look into. This time he talked about fractions for the bulk of his presentation. If he were going to teach someone multiplication for the first time, the first problem he would teach? 4 X 35
Vi Hart
She calls herself a "mathemusician." If you follow no other link, you have to watch the previous link (her name). It's a YouTube video called: Hexaflexamexagons.
So funny. She and her dad, George Hart were the closing speakers. If you see none of his other work you should probably start here with, "Mathematically Correct Breakfast." To be honest, what made this presentation great was their videos. You may enjoy them, too.
Tim Kanold
Is one of my favorite inspiring speakers around. Ever. He worked at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, IL, (one of the Chicago suburbs). I heard him speak the first time in Salt Lake City and was so inspired. Because I knew of the reputation of Stevenson . . . . and I lived miles away. His lecture was titled, "The Greatest Math Teacher I Ever Knew," and was purely motivational. Every seat in the room was filled, and he brought tears to more than one eye. Everything this man touches turns to gold. He's the kind of leader you want to follow.
4 Teachers from down the road:
When I opened my book to find my first class, I opened right to a presentation taught by Andrew's middle school math team. I was impressed with all they said. They are doing some exciting things by keeping classrooms more homogenous than ability grouped. They differentiate once a week or so, and provide extra support in other ways to help all the kids find success. Purdue is coming next year to videotape what's going on.
I also talked to Andrew's math teacher for about 20 minutes while we waited for a presentation to start, (more time than I get at Parent/teacher conferences). We chatted about the principal, who is making it a wonderful learning community.
Dan Meyer
(If you follow this link, be forewarned that his vocabulary is a little more colorful than mine). This former math teacher is a fellow at Stanford. Very good presentation skills. He talked about what technology you need in the classroom, and what you can skip over. At math teacher conferences, we are all a little nerdy. But he was a cool math nerd. And, from what I can tell on his blog, he broke a world record stringing together paper clips.
The biggest change from last time (aside from the fact that then I had a nursing baby), is that MANY attendees took notes with their cameras. I was surprised to see people taking pictures of presenter's presentations with their Ipads and Iphones. When I talked about it at home, Andrew told me his classmates do it all the time . . . . . .
BYU was there, and they gave me a T-shirt, water bottle, pen, and sweatband. So far the water bottle has been the most handy since I didn't have one and the conf. center waters cost $4.
Well, there was a lot more, but I am done for tonight.
I learned
1)I am not quick when I leave the house in the morning
2)that I can handle rush hour Denver traffic in Denver. Thank you, Chicago!
3)all is not lost if you leave your cell phone at home.
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| The big bear is always at the conference center. For the math geeks, they added the stickers with his height and width. Also stolen from instagram. |
My favorite part? Talking to the other teachers at the conference. I'll be back for another round. Next year is New Orleans, then Boston and San Franscisco--all places I would like to go.
