Why I Blog (maybe)

Kate Nowak challenged us to share a few thoughts on blogging as she prepares to be a featured speaker at NCTM. I have a few minutes to share so here it goes.

1. What hooked you on reading the blogs? Was it a particular post or person? Was it an initiative by the nice MTBoS folks? A colleague in your building got you into it? Desperation?

I was hooked on blogs when I discovered I could use things others had created. I discovered that my teaching could improve by learning from others who were humble and honest about the mistakes they made. A close friend of mine who teaches science sent me Dan Meyer's TED talk and my blog reading increased from zero minutes a day to about 240 minutes a day: time-suck!

2. What keeps you coming back? What's the biggest thing you get out of reading and/or commenting?

I keep coming back because I get the opportunity to observe other teachers (even if it's a snapshot) without being in their classroom. Anytime I've been in another teacher's classroom, I've learned so much. It doesn't matter if the teacher was good or bad, I was either learning what to do or what not to do. Reading other blogs is a similar opportunity for professional growth.

3. If you write, why do you write? What's the biggest thing you get out of it?

I write to document things, reflect on things, and share something I'm proud of. If I had time to blog about everything I do, I would. However, it would become white noise for those who take the time time to check in. Therefore, I write about things that stand out to me: great experiences, cool lessons, or things I'm proud of. It's not intended to be perfect. I hope to keep it raw. I'm not the best writer. Somehow, I happen to write a few things that a few people are interested in. That positive energy keeps me going.

Specifically, I blog at two places now: Divisible by 3 and Estimation 180. Divisible by 3 is reserved for all the things I've mentioned above. I blog at Estimation 180 to keep people updated on new estimation challenges I posted and/or any stories behind the challenges. I enjoy when a story is attached to a mathematical experience. 

4. If you chose to enter a room where I was going to talk about blogging for an hour (or however long you could stand it), what would you hope to be hearing from me? MTBoS cheerleading and/or tourism? How-to's? Stories?

From my experience, I enjoy a keynote speaker who is both inspiring and interactive. I like the sessions where the speaker is well-spoken, engaging, inspiring and challenges me as I leave the session to become a better teacher. However, I don't want the entire 60-90 minutes to be spent by them just showing me pictures, videos, quotes, or other things that are one-directional. I also need to be challenged by actually being forced to do math, tasks, or be given the opportunity to explore what they're presenting on. Make it feel like a classroom where I get a healthy mixture of inspiring talk and engaging tasks. Kate, I'd love for you to share the good, the bad, and the ugly about blogging. Then have me get out my internet device (phone, tablet, or computer) and either explore a list of blogs or even create a blog. Put up a list of blogs that do different things. Have me explore them. Give me some questions/tasks:

1. Compare and contrast the blogs.
2. Which blog would you find yourself using most often, least often, never?
3. What kind of blog would you like to create?
4. What suggestions do you have for these people blogging?
5. ...and so on

Give your attendees a Google Form to fill out so you can document the answers. By this point, you've already shared with me your inspiring thoughts on blogging and you're getting me involved. Get me to experience blogging while we have time together. Don't make blogging a homework assignment for your attendees.

Hope that helps. Good luck Kate!

CMC South 2013

Here's my recap on CMC South 2013... or how I developed a man-crush on Robert Kaplinsky.

Thursday night:
I drove out to Palm Springs and met up with Karim and Fawn. We found a nearby casino, math-chatted, and then landed at the roulette table where $20 lasted me for a good chunk of time. I broke even and called it a night.

Friday:
Fawn and I spent the first session reviewing our presentation in the lobby on my laptop. Poor Fawn, I think she was regretting her decision to present with me.

We reached a point where we couldn't think of anything more to review so we walked over to Robert's session at the Hilton. Lucky us, we were able to sit with John Berray, Avery Pickford, Breedeen Murray, Karim, and John Stevens.

You can read a better recap of Robert's session at Dan's blog. Robert did a fantastic job. He really did. Therefore, I guess I should explain my man-crush now, right? I think Robert has such an edge right now that the #MTBoS, math community, and those in education can all benefit from. Follow him on Twitter, use his lessons, read his blog, and get him to your school for some trainings or to observe... because he's totally willing. He has an edge because he's still in the classroom working with both students and teachers in his district. He's eager to ask questions that will make him better while at the same time will share the mistakes he's made and how's benefited from them. He delivered a stellar session that was informative, humble, resourceful, fun, engaging, honest, and necessary. Seriously, we need more Robert Kaplinskies out there working with both teachers and students. Follow him on Twitter, use his lessons, and read his blog. Lastly, if you get a chance to meet Robert and spend five minutes talking with him, you'll quickly see that he's interested in what you do and is more than willing to be in your classroom so he can observe and learn. He eagerly wants to improve his craft in education, learn from others, and find ways to be more effective at what he loves doing. Very inspiring!

Fawn and I presented after lunch. The title of our session was:

It was such a pleasure to collaborate and present with Fawn. She came up with this great math task and I look forward to presenting with her again at CMC North. She's probably dreading the thought of presenting with me again! Not to spoil anything for our CMC North session, we had attendees use snap cubes to build something that involved income and a building cost. The task required strategy, problem-solving, collaboration, and a lot of calculations. Groups were required to present their calculations, information, and reasoning on their giant whiteboards. How vague was that description? Don't worry, we'll post more after CMC North. In the meantime, here are some pictures from our session:

The man! Robert Kaplinsky!

Avery Pickford: our winner!

Some attendee quotes a la Quotes of the Week style

Thanks to all those who helped enter calculations, pass out things, clean up or kept us on track during our session.

We were able to make the last half of Jo Boaler's presentation after we cleaned up our session and headed back to the convention center. I look forward to taking her class in April 2014 and my take-aways from her session were:

• Get rid of timed tests because "Math should never be associated with speed."
• Give students more diagnostic feedback and tell them "I'm giving you this feedback because I believe in you."

Keep an eye on her site www.youcubed.org

Saturday:
I rolled in casually late to Michael Serra's Polygon Potpourri session. No need to describe the fun found here as Dan already recapped it.

CMC South wouldn't be right without attending a Brad Fulton session. He's interactive, funny, and engaging. Next time you get a chance to see him present or give a workshop, be there! His focus was on Math Talks. Fawn shared a little insight on his session here. However, she took it a giant step further and generously created a space for us at mathtalks.fawnnguyen.com to share student thinking and giving students a voice.

After lunch, Fawn and I went to Avery's session. Dan did a recap and Avery did two posts: part 1 and part 2. Check it out! Unfortunately, I had to leave early to go get my materials and set up my presentation. My take-away was working with the Locker Problem and Avery sending me this resource. I've never tried the locker problem, so it was a bunch of fun to play with. He also shared this gem which he demonstrated with snap cubes using the document camera (very cool!):

I presented last at CMC and wanted to thank those of you who were able to make it, even if I was your fourth choice after seeing Dan Meyer's sold-out arena. The title of my presentation was:

Overall, I think my session went well. I wish I could give this talk again, after a little more refinement. I could've used ten more minutes to better connect with the 8 Mathematical Practices. However, there was a lot to share, interact with, and discuss. I learned a great deal from my attendees; especially on rating the level of difficulty with estimation challenges. My attendees got a sneak peek at Days 176-180 of Estimation 180 and I hope you had as much fun as me. I look forward to sharing more with you about this session in a later post.

My CMC regrets: I wish I could've attended the sessions by Karim, Breedeen, and the dynamic duo of Matt Vaudrey and John Stevens. I've linked their names to their sessions. I look forward to CMC North. Maybe I'll see you there.

South,
927

Manilla folders [Number Sense]

I must share this short story with you about the number sense I've been witnessing for the past few weeks with many of my students. Be warned: not for the faint of heart.

Today, a few 7th grade boys came in after school today and wanted to help with some things around my room: tidy up desks, organize whiteboards, etc. There was a box of 100 manilla folders that I had just brought back from the office. I needed 80 of the folders and would later return the remaining folders to the office.

Here's my exchange with the student we'll refer to as Albert:

Me: I need 80 folders from that box. Albert, think of a quick way you could get those 80.

***Let's pause. How would you (the reader) quickly get 80 folders from this box?

Albert: I could count in 5's.

Me: Okay. Any quicker than that?

Albert: By 10's.

I get what Albert is trying to do. He doesn't want to count to eighty by ones. To that point, I would say his initial two responses made sense and are practical, in the mind of a 7th grader. I thought maybe I'm asking the question incorrectly, so I try it again.

Me: Right. That would be a good way to organize the folders to keep track of them as you count. Albert, I'd like you to think of a way to quickly get those folders out of the box. 

I can see the look on his face is one of confusion. Not that look like he's trying to figure it out, but that look like he has no idea what I'm asking. So after a minute, I mistakenly ask another question (in hindsight, I wish I would've stopped the conversation and let him do his thing).

Me: How many folders are in the box?

Albert: 100.

Me: How many do I need?

Albert: 80.

Me: Is there a way to get me the 80 without counting all 80?

Albert has no idea. I like this question because now it's specific. His challenge is to get me 80 folders without actually counting all 80. After a minute. He needs some prompting.

Me: If the box has 100 and I need 80, how many will be left?

Albert: 30.

Me: So 80 plus 30 is 100?

Albert: No wait, 20. 

Me: Okay, so I will send 20 back to the office. How can I get 80 folders out of the box without counting all 80?

Albert has no idea. This exact exchange continued for another round. I'd like to say that Albert eventually came to an efficient way on his own, but he didn't. I tossed 100 up on the whiteboard. We subtracted 80 and wrote 20. I thought after Albert saw the 20 on the board, he might realize to count 20 folders from the box, take out the remaining folders and switch them with the 20.

This is quite common. The number sense (or lack thereof) my students have (or don't yet) is quite fascinating. I have a lot of work ahead of me this year. One thing is for sure. I can get better at asking shorter questions. I can get better at looking for these learning opportunities. I can get better at not looking for one answer when asking questions of students. As Max Ray would say, "2 > 4."

Folders,
918