Upcoming Grassroots Workshop in December

I’m super excited to announce my upcoming Grassroots Workshops event being held on Friday, December 8 and Saturday, December 9. It’s the first time that I get to spend TWO FULL DAYS sharing math teaching, math learning, and math awesomeness with teachers.

So, if you teach mathematics (grades 6-12), please-please consider signing up! Registration does not open until October 16, but I know requests for funds can take time, and you’d want to ask before your school’s budget goes to curriculum X and supplies Y that may end up collecting dust in storage land!

Even if you live in Brussels or Shanghai, you should still try to make it because Disneyland is less than 3 miles away from the hotel. Yup! So, bring your whole family and make a vacation out of it. :)

I’m still in the classroom full-time, and this year I’m teaching Math 7, Math 8, and Coding. I feel your pain. Yes, we work too hard for too many long hours. Yes, we grade papers while we scoop dinner onto our face. We have the most neglected bladders of all humankind. We lie sleepless at night because we want to find a better way to explain concept A to Johnny and build math confidence in Mary. And I share your joy. If teaching mathematics is not a joyful profession for you, then maybe we can talk about that. We need to talk about that. Our failure is not here to shame us, it’s there to remind us to seek smarter and kinder ways to operate.

I’m truly hoping that you’ll come away from the two days inspired and motivated to make your classroom the best that it can be for all the math learners in your care.

If you sign up using this link — http://www.grassrootsworkshops.com/flyer — then we’ll email you a pre-sale link to register before the general public and a discount code.

This is an incredible opportunity for me, and I’d be honored to share the learning with you.

Broken Straps

Robert Kaplinsky drops me off at the front of the district building. I make my way to the room where I'd be presenting. I set up. I go out to the hallway, walk around, long enough to get lost. I'm looking for something. I don't know where my backpack is. Where did I leave my phone? I don't have my wallet either. Maybe I left everything in Robert's car. I'd call him if I had my phone.

I take a few more steps and look down because I feel something is coming off. I'm wearing flip-flops. It's broken. No, both straps are broken.

I can't walk in these. I stare down at the broken straps. No, the straps didn't just get pulled through their intended holes, they are torn! I note the crude and cruel fate that my shoeless feet are in right now. More importantly, why am I wearing flip-flops to a presentation?

Only three or four people are walking about in the building. No one sees me. No one notices me standing idly in the middle of the hallway with non-functional sandals. I yell out to the woman. She comes over. I point to my feet, hoping she'd notice what had happened to the straps without my having to explain. My voice is full of deep self-pity, "I'm trying to get back to my room. Where I'll be presenting today. I don't know the room number, but it exists, I was there earlier. I don't have my stuff. Like nothing. I have no shoes."

I jolt awake.

As if the nightmares before the start of school are not enough. I have #PDNightmares now. I'm about to board my flight, excited to facilitate another full-day PD. I'm wearing my favorite Italian leather boots, thanks.

Busy Summer and Beyond

Another two weeks and I will have completed 22 years of full-time teaching. Time flies when you're grading papers and having fun. Says no one.

I have a handful of commitments that I'd like to share -- maybe you'll be in attendance or in town and we can say hello!

Now: I'm working with Max Ray-Riek, Rafranz Davis, and Elizabeth Statmore on a writing project that if-I-told-you-I'd-have-to-kill-you-so-please-just-eat-a-cracker. I'm just honored to collaborate with these three amazing people.

June 5-6: I'll be at NCTM Headquarters -- in Reston, Virginia -- to attend my first meeting as a new member of the Professional Development Services Committee (PDSC). We'll meet again in August and November of this year.

June 25-26: Ashli Black has invited me to speak at the Oregon Math Network conference. I wonder why. :) I'm grateful that Ashli thought of me. Elizabeth will be there too! I'm planning to stay in Oregon for an extra week to visit with family. Actually that's a lie because I really just want to hang out in all 56 breweries in Portland.

July 23-26: Twitter Math Camp! On Friday, 4:00 to 5:00, I'll be co-presenting with Matt Vaudrey on Barbie Bungee and Desmos. (Matt is the presenter. I pass out the rubber bands.) On Saturday, 1:30 to 2:30, I'll be giving a keynote. Lisa Henry rejected my request to have the talk at the local karaoke bar. #killjoy

July 27-29: The day after #TMC15, I will be one of the presenters at NCTM Interactive Institute in Anaheim, CA. My 3 sessions (over 3 days with the same attendees) will focus specifically on ratios and proportions. Andrew Stadel is the other presenter on the same topic, but he'll have his own attendees in a different room. Guess the demand is higher for this topic thus they're offering two concurrent workshops. [Update, July 10: Due to lower than expected enrollment numbers, I'd volunteered to cancel my part in this. Andrew will rock this!]

August: I need to carve out some time to fulfill my role as one of the judges for the Item Writers project.

August 6: I'll be doing a full-day workshop in Santa Barbara. It's the 3rd Summer Institute of Teaching Beyond Textbooks.

August 12-14: The UCSB Math Project is my favorite probably because I've been at it the longest (5 years?) and it's local and the people whom I work with know how cranky I get when I don't eat. We are putting on a leadership retreat at the beautiful La Casa de Maria.

August 21-23: I'll be back in Virginia for the NCTM PDSC meeting.

October 22-25: Chris Hunter had invited me to present at the Northwest Math Conference in Whistler, Canada. I'm honored and excited to hang out with these familiar faces and meet new people! With any luck, I might finally get to meet Timon Piccini.

November 6-8: I had a wonderful breakfast with Brian Shay on the last day of NCTM Boston. Told him how busy life had become and that I needed to say "no" more. A week went by and I got an email from Bruce Grip asking me to speak at CMC-South. Guess who told Bruce to contact me. (I said yes only because this presentation will be a repeat from the Whistler one above.)

Anyway, have a wonderful summer if you're already there. Hope to see you at the next gathering! xox