Wednesday 30 July 2014

Who You Are and TMC

Q: “You’re not prepared for what awaits you.”
Picard: “How can we be prepared for that which we do not know? But I do know that we are ready to encounter it.”
Q: “Really?”
Picard: “Yes, absolutely, that’s why we’re out here.”
--ST:TNG, “Q Who?”


Any Qs?

By this point, most of the people who attended “Twitter Math Camp 2014” (and a number who didn’t) are aware of the “I am a fraud” post by Mr. Kent. There’s been loads of blogs, and a bit of a rallying cry to the effect of everyone feeling inadequate, if not now than in the past, and really we’re all just muddling through this together. Don’t worry about it, chill out, no one’s there yet, no one’s really that special.

Screw that. Some people are special.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they’re "there". Nor I am saying we shouldn’t be supportive, sharing our own experiences, and offering encouragement to anyone who needs it. But consider that your inadequacy is NOT NECESSARILY someone else’s. You do them a disservice if you believe that it is.


COMPARISON KILLS


I’m going to pull a couple of quotes from Mr. Kent’s post:
-“I truly feel as I am nothing compared to those I met here. Going from feeling like top dog to nothing is crushing to everything that I held dear to me.”
-“Even as I write this blog it is really hard not to write things to manipulate others into liking me.”

The first resonates with me because I had a very similar experience. The second because I don’t feel it’s like me at all. So as I go through this post, it's very likely that everyone will find something to disagree with. GOOD. We’re all individuals.

I started a mathematical web serial in July of 2011. I wrote a song parody to go along with it in August 2011. The song parodies quickly took on a life of their own. I was the first to parody “Call Me Maybe”, in December 2011, before the United States even knew of a Canadian named Carly Rae Jepsen. As I continued, the more I did the research and accumulated links, the more I realized I had something I could finally give back to the mathematical community. (Because I’m still puzzling over how the darn serial can be of use to anyone.)

I pulled together an entire presentation which I delivered locally in Ottawa in February 2013. This was around the same time as the presentation call for TMC13, so I figured what the hell, people there might be interested too. I submitted a proposal, it was approved, preliminary numbers said I’d have 6 people. I had one person. Some may recall my tweet from that time, which was in last year’s post:

That wasn’t the crushing thing though. A couple people even asked me about the presentation afterwards. No, the real crushing thing was who didn’t talk to me. I discovered there was a group of people out there writing a Song Parody for TMC13. At this point, I had no less than 20 song parodies to my name, I had delivered a SESSION about parody AT the conference... and yet I was not even on the radar of a half dozen like-minded people. Some of whom I’d TALKED with on Twitter.

“Going from feeling like top dog to nothing is crushing to everything that I held dear to me.”

Was this a special group? Perhaps not by their account. But it felt special to me. Very special, actually. So I sent a message about hey, um, I’m here... and I was invited in for a lunch session, and I came up with the rhyme of ‘throne’ for the High Priestess line... and that was pretty much it. Later on there was some talk of me presenting song parody at Global Math but the schedule was full until November and no one got back to me on it. Because I’m no one special. Not that way, not in the TMC group.

[EDIT: I don't even remember exactly who the writers were. Apologies for the example, I'm not trying to paint anyone in a bad light, it was a context thing. For that matter, in the larger context, no one asked me to karaoke with them either. Though I do treasure one particular tweet of @Mythagon.]


"I'm no good"? Seriously? That's supposed
to motivate this department?
But you know what? Just because you’ve ended up joining a larger community, and gone from what feels like the top down to nothing... in smaller communities, you’re still up there. Even if, for you, the bar is now higher, YOU ARE SPECIAL TO SOMEONE. Maybe it's a colleague. Maybe a student. Maybe a member of school support staff. I ask that you DO NOT DENY THAT. For if you do, you risk making that person feel worse, because you have invalidated their (perhaps unspoken) belief in you. Perhaps, by extension, in themselves. Notice I’m not saying you have to accept it. Only that you should not deny it. Which applies to certain people in the larger community as well.

THAT ACCEPTANCE IS HARD. It’s easier to shrug things off and say “I’m no better than you”, or even “I’m actually so much worse than those other people”. But as individuals, some people CAN and DO stand out in a crowd - for other individuals.

I get it. You don’t want to acknowledge that you could be such a person. After all, it might be as much due to your seniority or your appearance as opposed to your interests or abilities. You may even feel that others have the completely wrong impression of you. But microinvalidation IS a thing. I implore you, look for what others might be seeing, and acknowledge it within yourself. As with anything important, it’s easier said than done.

For me, I can say I’m the best musical math teacher in my school. I will grant that this admission isn’t so hard, given how it’s such a niche market. I suppose I can add that I’m a pretty good GPS beyond that.


BE AWESOME


At this point, things cut both ways. Having just told you that you are right to see certain people as being special, and that your belief in them is valid (or that their belief in you is valid), I’m going to agree that we don’t need that validation nonsense. Be your own individual within the group.

“Even as I write this blog it is really hard not to write things to manipulate others into liking me.”

Screw them. If they go on about how they’re "nothing special" and "we’ve all been" there, and you don’t agree, fine. They don’t know you - any more than you know them. Only YOU can know you. Embrace that. (Upon rereading, it looks a bit like this paragraph is talking to the blog quote. In actuality, I’m speaking more generically to anyone who feels they don’t "fit in", and who doesn’t feel like all the happy "that’s just like us" feelings are helping them out. Though hey, if the happy feelings ARE helping, ignore me completely. You have that power.)

But look back at yourself. WHY do you want to be accepted by these "special" people in the larger group? Better question: Why do you feel you are NOT ALREADY accepted?


Sis, I'm not feeling the love here...
Is it because of their existing network? One could argue that by engaging in dialogue, you’ve already become a part of that network. If you’re worried about being kicked out, if that happens because of your beliefs, you probably didn’t want to be a member anyway. If the problem is that they can’t hear you, talk louder. Are you not feeling accepted because of their seniority? That does give a group more experience, but not necessarily better ideas. Alternatively, if it IS their ideas (or abilities) you like, most people are only too happy to share such expertise anyway. Ask for it. Is the problem that you think they’re so different? Flip it around - you must have something in common, or you wouldn’t be in a position to talk with them in the first place. Build from there.

THIS IS ALSO HARD. What I said earlier involves acknowledging that some people are higher than others... while THIS involves acknowledging that (paradoxically) you are not any lower than them. In the group, we are all on an even playing field. Picture being on a team with someone that people regard as the star quarterback... that person would be nothing without the rest of you. Do you need this star player’s permission to participate? Hopefully not. Does his being there mean you cannot also do awesome things? Surely not. (We’ll take it as given that the quarterback isn’t full of himself, because the one thing that DOES tend to create problems in a group is ego. That said, I propose it may be equally annoying if he constantly says he’s no good.)

I’d better address the issue of envy and jealousy too. I bring it up because, hell, I know I’m envious. There’s these "star" people out there who can get many comments on a blog post, or 10 responses to a tweet, or who can rally a crowd around a song parody, or who (most damning of all) get constant RTs. Seemingly without effort. (Actual truth: It takes effort.) I want in on that action! But if the only way for me to get that action is to change who I am or what I do to "fit in"... NO. The cost is too great. After all, I don’t need any comments on this blog post to tell me I’m awesome, when I already know that! (Which, I grant, probably means I violate the "ego" rule. Oh well.)

Consider this: Dan Meyer’s talk at TMC concluded with the thought “Be Selfish”. The context was to get as much as you can out of the community in terms of knowledge and assistance. To use that to change your teaching, and to change your perspective... but being selfish implies you already have an identity. Don’t change that. Don’t change who you are at your core. Or at the least, don’t feel you have to do it in order to move forwards and connect with others.


WHO CAN I BE HONEST WITH?


The answer to that big question is, of course, to be honest with yourself. But at the same time, you MUST consider that the opinions of others play some part in who you are as well. For better or worse. Acknowledge it - and acknowledge that accepting their opinions don’t make you a fraud any more than accepting money makes you fraudulently wealthy. It’s not like you have a printing press in your basement.

Having now potentially annoyed or confused of the majority of the TMC crowd, I’m going back into my corner. With my little pop culture references. I’m starting to think my problem is not so much that I’m an introvert, but that I simply don’t function well in groups.

Angelus: “Now that’s everything, huh? No weapons, no friends, no hope. Take all that away, and what’s left?”
Buffy: “Me.”
--BtVS, “Becoming”

Tuesday 29 July 2014

TMC 2014 Entry 3 - Development

Recap of the game: As I record what happened at Twitter Math Camp, I will be inserting ONE false statement into every section (as separated by the headers). Granted, almost no one’s playing, and this was probably a bad idea, but I’m following through regardless. The recap for Day 1 is here, and for Day 2 is here. My mathematical song parodies are here. The last entry for TMC is below:

DAY 3 MORNING


-At breakfast, ran into @PumphreysMath, who used to teach in the UK. He said his upcoming move to middle school from high school might be a bigger chance than crossing the ocean.

-My Favourite #12: Jenn Crase (@Fibanachos)
-Equation Discombobulation Celebration. She likes the idea of multiple representations and “show me another way”, this looks at formulas in a new way.
-1) Part-Whole relation. Additive structure. Consider rectangle with whole A over Part B, Part C, what things have this relationship? From A=B+C to perimeter to Pythagorus.
-2) Factor-Product relation. Multiplicative structure. Consider triangle with p over q and r. This relationship includes area, density, and other science formulas.

-#13: Pam Wilson (@pamjwilson)
-Plickers and More
-Chalk Talk: We have routines to take up papers, etc, why not routines for thinking? It’s an activity that involves no verbal communication. A question is posed, they write with highlighters under black light (arrange the desks so it’s safe to move around in the dark). Fun twist, engages the students.
-Shoutouts to Kim Hughey for “Ghosts in the Graveyard” and Nathan Kraft for “Never Play a Review Game”.
-Plickers: Paper clickers. Poll your class with no electronic devices for students (only teacher). Website has cards from 1-40 with different ways of showing A/B/C/D, so all students vote differently by holding one up. Can adjust sizing to be seen at distance. Teacher’s phone snapshots the pluckers to get the results
-Pam illustrated with a poll on # Tweets today, instantaneous results from volunteers. (Overheard: “What?!”)

-#14: Max Ray (@maxmathforum)
-Encompass and the MathForum.org
-They’re trying to figure out how it looks to share student thinking online, for communication and later retrieval.
-Site now includes a problem of the week; it’s like a binder of great ideas. You can find and tag things/solutions.
-As work is provided, it can be classified into bins (reasonable solutions; strategies; ridiculous; etc). Favourite feedback for instructor to give can be stored and applied.
-Can make exemplars, ask others/students how you would grade this.
-It’s NOT for public yet, but from Aug 4-8, 16 teachers will be doing hybrid online conversations in Hangouts (twice per day), if you’re interested in helping.
-Sign up using Teacher Participation Tab on mathforum.org/encompass ; bonus for helping is free access to site for a year.
-As Max finished, at least 12 people jumped up and said we should also read his book, “Powerful Problem Solving”.

-#15: Heather Kohn (@heather_kohn)
About 4n Languages...

-Math Strategies for English Language Learners (ELL).
-After taking a RETELL (Rethinking Equity and Teaching for ELL) course, working where 21% of students aren’t speaking English at home, Heather shared strategies for bringing it into math.
-Key domains for focus are Reading/Writing/Speaking/Listening.
-1) Partner Reading for Comprehension helps “Active Listening”, plus ELL won’t read aloud to whole class but may to partner.
-2) Cut and Grow helps writing, in English they are to cut/edit any sentence. In math this can be cutting a level 2 solution apart and reframing as a level 4.
-3) Strategy is on her blog. (Spoiler: “Write Around” for word problems.)
-“We can’t just say ‘I’m going to let the English Teacher handle it.’”

-#16: Sam Shah (@samjshah)
-ExploreMTBoS was an initiative last September to encourage new bloggers. Keep your eyes open for this again, esp. for anyone who wants prompts to continue blogging.
-Also plans this year for a second section, to harness the already comfortable bloggers to show cool stuff (eg. letter you might write to a new teacher).

-Tina Cardone spoke briefly about the Infinite Tangents podcast, and some misfortunes that befell @Mythagon.
-Steve Leinwand stole the chair and modelled how to give thanks to @lmhenry9 for pulling the programme together. Lisa also acknowledged Shelli.
-Shelli advised us that, with this being the weekend, we may need to double check in the rooms that the “man is in the house”.


PRECALCULUS WRAPUP


-Like every day, we started with an activity. There were 32 index cards, 8 sets in groups of 4 (limit, description, graph, equation) to match up.
-This “We Belong Together” activity not only about the math, but can ask where do you start? Equation to graph? Are we imposing our prejudices on our students? (Do students care about a grid?)
-Also, is this activity better done alone or together? Or start alone, then group to compare? Noted that while there are always multiple methods, some students may want closure. (“I thought we were done with that problem!”)
-Side discussion on Fonts came up. I don’t tend to notice Comic Sans or whatever.
"I think I spotted some Trig over there."
-Back in groups to finish up, then present. Question: Do most in the US need to memorize the unit circle? (For me and Nik, this was not a requirement.)
-1) TRIG (me, Nik D, Hannah S, Connie H, Julia H) had a handout relating graph/circle/algebra/units (degrees v radians) with some questions. Also a desmos link. See precalculus on the wiki.
-2) VECTORS (Jim D, Susan E, Laurie L, Meghan C) had a week long activity. Hook: a video of planes landing in a crosswind. No ai+bj first day, use geometric representation and foldable for vocabulary. Lead up to several crosswind force diagrams, can also talk boats going downriver. Formalize on second day. Third day, allow throwing paper planes, a fan can be a crosswind. Fun twist, hang planes in the room. Consider design modifications (add a paperclip?). Can extend work with other vectors, also the onlinepaperairplanemuseum.com
-Side discussion of dot product. If you vector temperature data from year to year, does the Cosine value (-1 to 1) provide a correlation coefficient? (Where 0 is orthogonal) Jury’s dubious. Flagging stats tweeps did turn up a Cosine Law link.
-The stats group then burst into the room and shot the place up with marshmallow guns before running off again.
-3) CONICS (Tina C, Cindy J, John C, Matt B) were looking at connections, determined that one cannot derive the formula easily from the distance formula for Cartesian. (“Aren’t all conics nicer in polar coordinates?”) They also found the hypotenuse of a right triangle placed on centre and focus (of ellipse) will be same length as half the major axis. Concluded that working with the equations first, then doing a folding exercise can help make the connections. Consider something similar for hyperbola.
-Last ten minutes was a discussion of whether the focus of a parabola was linked more closely to it’s equation, and whether the altitude of an isosceles triangle (from focus to curve to directrix) would be tangent to said curve. It is always beneath the curve.
-Random aside, discovered that h & k are used for centre of circle (away from origin) which makes a connection with vertex of a (moved) parabola, though in my mind is still inconsistent with function notation af(bx-c)+d.


MY FAVOURITES


-For lunch, decided not to take the bus, but instead hang out and see where people were headed. Ended up going to the famed “Los Cabos” with John Golden, Jedidiah Butler, Audrey McLaren, Viktoria Hart & Melanie.
Thanks to John Golden for taking the pic!
-Watermelon was available on the way out of the HS, and upon returning.

-#17: Andrew Mazarakis (@froynboy)
-A seating chart with groups based on bands. (Could be hip-hop, rock... or change it up to Pokemon.)
-First class assignment was to research the group they’re named for, and present. Makes environment more conducive to talking. Can also then call on a group by playlisting their songs.

#18: Cindy Johnson (@johnsonmath)
-The “conic card lady”. Cards came about because conics seemed impossible, keeping everything straight in complex formulas. Trouble is in identifying.
-She made cards of the 4 types, each having 5 variations to match up for graphs, equations, information, formula/title. This last never mentioned in class, only there for “formula babies”.
-Handed out the entire deck and said “Sort them!”. (Figured in the worst case, “they can’t do conics, which is the same as if I lectured them every day”.)
-Done initially in groups of 4, now uses groups of 2.
-Students found similarities/differences, which can be turned into conjectures. Decks do have answer keys, recommend teacher check or they’ll just fill in the answer without thinking.
-She had cards there - that were from another teacher attending! If you want the ZIP file with the cards, email: johnsoncindy2002@yahoo.com

#19: Meghan Craig (@mathymeg07)
-Prelude: Identified self as lurker on Twitter. Remarked that if you notice a new follower, invite them to chat, though be clear if that’s online or in person.
-Equation Editor Tips: In a document, using it means square root signs have hats and 1/2 isn’t written that way, but rather as a one character fraction.
-See document (linked above) for videos Meghan showed, including how to make a Macro to open the editor since “the world’s worst equation editor button in the world is the one on the toolbar”.
-Also, symbol shortcuts using “AutoCorrect”. You can set up a correction so that when you type (for instance) 1p/4 it autocorrects to have a fraction in radian measure. (gasps)
-Also, CTRL-K will turn > into ≥. (FYI, on a Mac, just option + >)

-Announcements: Certificates are Downstairs. ThankYou cards are available to thank those involved (behind the scenes) on site. “Melting Pot” dinner signup for tonight.
-Lisa Henry then provided the options for that afternoon’s last session:
+Planetarium Show, announced by Shelli.
+Interactive Notebooks, announced by Kathryn B.
+Getting Talks Going at Home, announced by Lisa B.
+Games and Processes from MS Math, announced by Sebastian S.
+Vertical Non-Permanent Surfaces & Visibly Randomized Groups, announced by Alex O.
+Body Scale Number Lines (to complex plane), announced by Max.
+Group Work Recap, announced by Elizabeth (cheesemonkeysf)
+Speed Dating, announced by Justin L.
+Cut Vertex, announced by Para B.
+Also Princess Dido (cont’d), would be back at Hotel at 5pm.


KEYNOTE


-Eli Luberoff: “It Takes a Village..." talking about Desmos.
-Eli can’t remember how that phrase ends. He was also impressed by an app that allowed him to control slides with his phone.
-Eli individually introduced the group at Desmos, including @davidreiman who tweets the times to solve the Times daily puzzle. Hedge is a fan of the data.
-Their job was described as incredibly hard/frustrating/tiring, and messages from teachers make a measurable difference in how happy they are.
-“If you send us candy, we’ll give you free Desmos for life.”
-Eli showed how Desmos looked a year ago. “I’m shocked by how much worse it was.” This year it’s been translated into 26 languages (by volunteers), they’ve partnered with API and people are paying them to integrate it.
-Quick demo of how to import images. He used the image of a popular Japanese anime.
-You can input coordinates for the image centre, even dynamic ones like “(a, sin a)”. Also change the size, where a negative number will flip the picture.
-Also redid settings menu, can label the axes as more than “x” & “y” (it all took longer to build than expected).
-Shoutout to Desmos on math mistakes and mathalicious (lesson out-of-left-field)

-Going forward, Desmos 2014 is fundamentally different. Parterships (like with API) will allow them to continue the way they want, and they’re starting more teacher collaborations as “we don’t have the classroom experience”.
Parks, and Recreation
-Coming Soon: http://teacher.desmos.com ; Classroom activities, designed by teachers, built with love by Desmos. Eg. Function Carnival, done with input from Dan Meyer and Christopher Danielson.
Goals:
-1) Interpret everything we possibly can. Especially incorrect work. Cannonball man could appear in 4 places simultaneously rather than saying “invalid input”. Students will want to refine, to get it exactly right (competitive). Noted: “We like sliders. A lot.”
-2) Never say when to go on. Let students make that call. In the real world, no one ever says “this is good enough, move on” (desire to make things better).
-3) Pedagogy is in charge. Technology follows. When pencil and paper is the right tool, use it. The Desmos process is from the IDEA move to both Treatment and Blog Post (to record what they’re excited about). Then to Design, Coding, Polishing, Testing and back to Design. (“You can never leave.” attributed to @gelada)
-How the process worked: Dan Meyer idea, four picture frames, place them so the wall space is evenly distributed between them. Difficult to envision. Morphed into give space, make four equal parking spaces. “We don’t want to just tell students that algebra is useful. We want them to experience that algebra is useful.” -@trianglemancsd
-That is now “Central Park” a parking car/boat activity we did in small groups, I was with Lori Likens (@likensclass). Started with no measurements, then added numbers, then algebra (eg. if more than four spaces?).
-Next Year & Beyond: “I get in trouble when I promise things because then we have to do them.” Regressions are coming, they’ll want help to make it work for students. iPhone app is coming. Have a vision of teachers unlocking activities, “Dan does not have a monopoly on good ideas”.
-If you want to help with classroom testing, Desmos signup at: http://goo.gl/R3CybF
-“You guys are my village, I’m so grateful, we couldn’t do this without you.” -@eluberoff
-Three minutes at the end for questions.


DAY 2 AFTERNOON


-I had tech indecision here. Debated Geogebra, but went to Tech Tools with Bob Lochel (@bobloch).
-1) Todaysmeet.com : Like localized twitter. No login needed, can choose name and post comments, Bob had us try it out to talk tech at our schools (1-1 or not).
-2) Document camera (only item he mentions that costs, IPEVO $69) for showing student solutions. He doesn’t grade homework, does this instead, ensures all students get a chance to be selected.
-Can select with dice. Useful in class; more tactile than a generator, some websites come and go year-to-year (though see http://nrich.maths.org/6717).
-Did an activity where, given a graph, a description is written, to illustrate this.
-Dropbox mentioned by a participant as an alternative: Can automatically upload photos, so take a picture then it will be displayed on SmartBoard.
-3) Padlet.com : Crowdsources ideas on a virtual wall. (Bit like pinterest.)
-Had link to a desmos activity on absolute value graph pinned, invited comments on the board.
-4) Edmodo.com : Like “Facebook” for classes, is not anonymous, can track students and keep a grade book. Two teachers can also co-share, each make comments. Polls also possible.
-Activity asking “what is the primary difference between theoretical and experimental probability” (done through TodaysMeet again).
-Looked at some student responses, including ones to the question “how does the number of trials affect the graph”.
-Aside: Bob has a “Student of the Day”. Their job is to summarize what happened on the previous day for anyone who was away. Avoids question of “What did we do?” to teacher.
Anyone here poll-ish?
-5) PollEv.com (Poll Everywhere) : Can either text (sending a message after the numbered response) or answer through the website. 
-Comments are anonymous, teacher can decide quickly which 3 or 4 to talk about and elaborate on.
-Question presented with data about “An Unusual Incident” to analyze.
-Concluded with Illustrative Mathematics question: Given definitions for variables, then some expressions, what does each expression represent in terms of the problem posed?
-Question raised about “anonymous response” causing inappropriate comments to appear on the board? Bob says let them be silly preventatively. Give one minute of free time to text free form on a dummy poll. Then get to the material.

-Snuck into the GeoGebra room to steal their resource link: http://bit.ly/tmc14-ggb

-Then went to Planetarium, because astronomy. (Makes a nice link back with @sandramiller_tx session from TMC13)
-Introduction was narrated by students from Jenks PS class of 2014.
-Planetarium Principal (Dan) said space is bookable by classes and the curved dome has the calculus teacher go nuts.
-Watched “Passport to the Universe” narrated by Tom Hanks. Video remarked on how ancient sky was more visible (light pollution now), then we went on a trip out past the Virgo Supercluster (which contains the Milky Way Galaxy, among others). “We are in the universe and the universe is in us.”
-Planetarium Dan remarked how High School students tend to be centred on themselves and have nothing to relate to as far as sizes go. That presentation helps create perspective. (“Those are other galaxies, not stars.”)
-We were shown “LayerEarth”, a beta program with satellite images that pinpointed the school (what we saw was 3 years old, still some construction).
-Dan: “Are you raising your hand in the DARK?” led to a quick Q&A session.
-Feeder schools also come, from 1st grade, 3rd, 5th and 8th. His laser pointer has a personality (and fear of the light) for the first graders.
-Demo of a math lesson: Geometry won out over Trig, we saw “Summer Triangle” pictured, identified with star Vega. Question: What area of the visible sky does it cover?
-Triangle is put onto Cartesian Plane. First observation: Looks different. 3D to 2D does affect the look. World Map has similar issue in looking at distance between California and Japan: The map cuts off. Of interest when teaching World War II.
-Conclusion, the Triangle was found to take up 117% of the sky.
-Dan then showed what the night sky would look like at 9:30pm that night. Scorpio (his fave constellation), Saturn and Mars visible. Program can fast forward through time too. He noted that he tries to avoid reversing time, as that makes the sky go the other way, which can cause misconceptions to students.
-Concluded with some science, a look at riding a Roller Coaster on Jupiter (or might have been one of it’s moons). Hands in the air moved the wrong way sometimes.


AFTER MATH


-Didn’t leave, went to the last 5 minutes of “Speed Dating” with @j_lanier
Old emails die hard.
-About six people had come, it was thought this would be a good idea closer to the start of the conference. I did get “openmiddle.com” as a methodology aligning to my interests.
-Then chatted with Andy Pethan (@rockychat3) who has interesting contact lenses. His twitter handle is from AOL days, and Rachel Kernodle (@rdkpickle) had a similar story. Drawn logos were also shared.
-Someone in a monkey suit ran past the second floor lounge shortly after 5:15pm, but nobody noticed.
-After 5:30pm it was suggested we should be moving on. Got a lift back to Jenks hotel to await dinner.

-Did some blogging in back of Jenks hotel until “Melting Pot” dinner group headed out. About 40 of us in their back room.
-At a table with Meghan Craig, Audrey McLaren, Brian Stokus, Tina Palmer, Bridget Kapala, Casey McCormick. Started with cheese fondue. Nearly set off the smoke alarm as our heater didn’t get turned down. (Easy fix.)
-Took pictures around the room. Got teased about my phone again. But I wear it as a badge of pride.
-Proceeded to chocolate fondue. (I skipped having salad, and large group meant all bypassing cooked meat.) There was then a cupcake run by Meghan and Tina; I got a strawberry cheesecake.
-Got a lift from dinner right back to Glenpool hotel with thanks to Jenn Crase. Back at my room by 10pm for the first time since arrival!
-Forgot to look up into the sky to spot Saturn. Kicking myself. Blogged instead.


DAY 4


-Checked out no problem (roommate @bstockus crept out of our room to get to airport early), talked a bit with Max Ray and Anna Blinstein on shuttle en route to HS.
Here's the "After" picture.
-Morning is all “My Favourites”, Lisa Henry provided context for origin: At the first TMC, some were tiring of doing Exeter problems.

-#20: Sebastian Speer (@Sebastian__S) on Number Sense & Playing Cards
-Favourite game is 99, objective: Don't go over 99. No winner, just one loser (whoever violates objective). Ten is -10, there’s also a zero card. This is how he learned math with his dad. It's great when (middle school) students figure out strategy.
-Also game Zilch. Cards in hand must add to zero with red/black being positive/negative. Sebastian points out that 4 cards is not as beneficial as 5. With an odd number, you can't pair, must do more math.
-Student: "Wait... you taught that to me because you wanted me to learn something!"
-Sebastian enjoys card use in general and games where many people win. Invented the game '50' where the winning condition is to make the pile 50. They tried to rebel against him by playing to 450!
-There may be admin pushback for using playing cards. (Students may play poker!) But you can make your own cards, just put numbers on some card stock using two colours (like black & green).

-#21: Anthony (@aanthonya) on Stats Mafia
-Can join in at StatsMafia.weebly.com, the logo is Anthony's. Students like to say "This is a job for the stats mafia!"
-Also 'Absolute Value Blackjack' (with admin approval) where red cards are negative and you can win with 21 OR -21. But a black ten and red ten mean you have zero.
-Also a Moneyball webquest with some found videos, including connecting pythagorus to sports, see http://rosettimath.weebly.com/webquest.html

-#22: Hannah S (@hschuchhardt) on Cell Phone Problems
-Ever have the issue of students using phone when they're not supposed to? She gives them one warning on the first day, then implements the following.
-When she sees it, she gives the student an envelope. Name goes onto it, phone goes into the envelope, it goes on the teacher's desk until the end of the day.
-If students do not comply or give pushback, give notecard instead. Card reads "I, ________, am choosing not to give my phone and accept the consequences of that."
-Allows teacher to control this behaviour without disrupting the entire class.

-#23: Jasmine Walker (@jaz_math) on Tabletop Twitter & Quad Dating
-She borrowed an Apple adaptor from the audience.
-TT: On the first day, she asks four questions. 1) Why do we learn math? 2) What makes a good learning environment? 3) How can one be a good math student? 4) What makes a good math teacher?
-Room is SILENT. Students write responses on sheets (including name, participation grade and accountability) with Twitter notation. They rotate through the four stations, then go around AGAIN to see how conversations changed after they left that question.
-QD: Quadrilateral Dating Game involves identifying various quadrilateral shapes without taking any notes.
-Jasmine starts the year with solving systems of 2 equations. Then moves into geometry, extending the two lines to THREE. Is it always a triangle? Moving to FOUR they'll need to start naming the shapes created.
-Every student gets an index card for the 7 quad types (rhombus, kite, rectangle, etc.) doubling up as needed. Along with the SHAPE is space for SLOPES and DISTANCES so students can look up info and write in what's true. This defines them/their personality.
-Teacher checks accuracy to make sure misinformation doesn't get out.
-Pair up students. A student talks for 2 minutes (without using the shape name!), then the other student has to guess the shape. Then give time to record ID data on recording sheet, and move to another person.
-Students get the information in the context of line equations without copying it off the board.

-#24: Megan S, Andy & Bob L - Who’s your TMC Bestie?
I have 9 in the green, 3 in the red.
-@bobloch had sent a quick survey around twitter about movie preferences. Had to rank from 1-10 ten genres of movies, where each number had to be used once. The group of them now revealed “Movie Correlation Magic”.
-The information was put in a Google doc spreadsheet, then DATA ANALYSIS was activated (I believe it’s a free add-in). This meant every person was paired with the others, with 10 data points per pairing, to create a shared correlation coefficient between everyone.
-The results were placed on the screen in another spreadsheet. (Glenn had almost no high positive correlations...) Noted that this could be used to pair up students on topics, to set up a debate. (I think I saw this in Dan Meyer’s presentation too.)
-I’ve written “60 sec video” and “ScreenCast-O-Matic.com” but don’t remember what that was about. Someone feel free to enlighten me.

-#25: Bob L & Shelli on Stats Key
-Website is http://lock5stat.com/statkey/
-Using the data there (eg. Mammal Longevity) you can jump between different graphs (eg. histogram, box plot) and adjust bin sizes.
-Can create comparison graphs too, between variables.
-Can also show data table and make edits.
-Random sampling is now in the lower grades, if there’s trouble picturing an entire distribution, can have program flip coins (proportion 50/50) in samples of size 20, and flip 1 set before flipping 100.

-#26: Kathryn B (@iisanumber) on Students’ True Colours
-She credits blog posts by Sarah Hagan, Sarah Rubin, and herself.
-Don Lowry’s True Colors (and Mary Miscisin’s “Showing Our True Colors” book) looks at personality types, and can help explain “Why does my kid always do this?”
-Kathryn gives the test to start the year, can then plan lessons to appeal to students. Also increases students’ own self-awareness and helps make them more empathetic to differences.
-She gave an overview of the four colours: Blue, Orange, Green, Gold. (That last organized “teacher” types. She also had a class of over half Orange, a very active group.)
-“I’m not going to try to fit them in a mold that doesn’t work for them.”

-#27: Dylan Kane (@math8_teacher) on My Fave Math Experience
-Before TMC he was backpacking alone in California. He got bored sometimes in his tent, but brought some math. In particular one of the Five Triangles problems.
-See the graphic on his blog, basically picture three equilateral triangles side by side, with a line from the lower left to the upper tip, partially shaded. What proportion is shaded?
-He had an insight, and created some equations. Of 4, he got 3 wrong. Solving an equation itself wasn’t difficult, but it was in “a long multi-step problem”. Found himself having the experience of his students.
-Conclusion: Hard questions can take two paths. 1) Lots of Steps (often the text way); 2) Few Steps with One Insight (and he wants his students to have that moment)

-#28: Glenn Waddell (@gwaddellnvhs) on Buy Your Own Domain Name
-He has his domain, his own space on the net: mrwaddell.net
-A website creates professional freedom. He IS a professional, and can represent himself as such.
-Initially he wanted to do it for kids. Now, this is his public face, not tied to other things.
-Took him about 5 days to make the site. $250 chunk every 3 years; $14/year to add a domain.
-Tina Cardone added that LunarPages.com will provide hosting for free if it’s tied to a school.

-#29: Chris Shore (@MathProjects) on Princess Dido & Ox Skin
-This is a culminating activity in Geometry, devised in the year 2000. Parts of it appropriate at other grade levels. Chris presented on it yesterday.
-Basic story: Dido fled violence (in what is now Lebanon), went to Africa, was told she would only receive as much land “as you can enclose with the skin of an ox”.
Strangers in the hotel lobby didn't get it.
-Chris uses a king size bed sheet and pillowcase to represent the ox. Whole activity takes a week. Eventually class will cut everything into strips, but starts with small scale. Valid questions include strip size, shape type.
-Normally he encircles a football field. Jenks football field is “sacred ground” (for 60,000 spectators) so decided to try to encircle the Jenks hotel (5pm yesterday).
-Took 10 people a bit over an hour to cut and assemble, they made it around the hotel and then some. Extension: What if half inch strips, instead of an inch?
-What if you were told this was the story of how Carthage (on a promontory) was founded?
-Brief discussion with @JustinAion as to what “enclose” means, 2D versus 3D.

-#30: Elissa Miller (@misscalcul8) on Storing Manipulatives Plus
-Tupperware bins with handles on the end can be obtained for $4 each, got her school to pay, organizes them by course. Colour coded. Avoid creating the same lesson 3 times because you can’t find what you did before!
-Plus: “2 nice things”. Students can be sarcastic, but if you hear something depreciating, catch them on it. They must counter by saying two nice things about the person instead. Be consistent in this even if they don’t buy in at the start (they’ll hope you’ll forget). Kids will eventually start to catch each other (even you!). Should apply to everyone, even Justin Bieber!
-Plus: To build a culture of caring, every Monday, ask each student about their weekend. Some may say nothing, some may have 35 things, but asking shows you care.

-#31: Julie (@jreulbach) with a Plickers Add-On
-Plickers were featured yesterday/above (#13). Julie suggested getting every student a notebook with the image on the back, covering it with clear contact paper. This allows creation of a database since kids will have the SAME plicker card all year.
-This may help not only with recording, but remembering and noticing consistent trouble.
-Can tie in to Nik’s “Hinge Questions” session where every multiple choice answer is tied to a misconception.
-Question of whether having them on notebooks may allow other students to work out how someone is answering. Noted that they can be put on in different manners so notebook orientation isn’t a giveaway to response.

-#32: Sam Shah (@samjshah) on Intersections
-“Intersections” is a publication at his school to help get kids to see math outside the curriculum. The math journal was created with help from a science teacher, and they wanted other teachers on board too.
-There are student editors, assigned to different people. Gets kids to engage in a way they can be proud of, breaks down barriers (eg. commissioned art from a student)
-Advice: “Create it... and harass people until they come.”

-#33: John Stevens (@jstevens009) on Would You Rather
-John prefaced by saying he felt “inferior to the masses” but shared anyway.
-His website “Would You Rather” compares two math related possibilities. It was started for his kids, to get them talking. No right or wrong answers, just “convince me”.
-“I need your help.” John is running out of ideas, but would like to get up to a sample of 100. Check out the site, if you have ideas, please send him a message!


-Alex Overwijk (@alexoverwijk) was then convinced to demonstrate his freehand “circle drawing abilities”.
-Christopher Danielson (@Trianglemancsd) then got up to draw some freehand triangles.
-Lisa retook the podium, commenting on Dan’s message of “Be Selfish” and how time passed so quickly. Math people were talking in the hotel’s back lobby even after 11:30pm.
-There is no song this year: People gave the gift of themselves rather than song.
-Thanks was given to members of the committee, Lisa’s family, Shelli and the Jenks community.
-FINAL CHALLENGE: We have all said we feel inadequate and/or scared of change. Talk to somebody. Whether in this room or in your personal life, find someone who can tell you that you can do it.
-COROLLARY: Be that person for someone else, not only for your students.
-Meet up with others as you can locally.
-TMC15 will be at Harvey Mudd College in Los Angeles from July 23-26 (After PCMI). “West coast people, get off my back!” Tweet it out now!


AFTER CONFERENCE



Thanks to Summer S for taking the photo!
-Nathan Kraft is awesome and gave the Ottawa contingent a lift back to the airport.
-There were a number of other TMCers there. We experienced slow lunch service.
-Saw Michael Pershan tweeting out some results from his survey. Find out “Who Goes To Twitter Math Camp
-Ended up on the same plane to Chicago as @aanthonya. He mentioned running the “Wisdom of the Crowd” activity in his class, from last year’s Stats.
-I finished reading “Joy of X” in flight and bought a new book during stopover in Chicago: “Thinking in Numbers”.
-Managed to get all the way back home for 11pm, thanks to convenient bus times.
-This very statement is the false one for this section.


And THERE you have it. Sorry for the delay, all the linking within the My Favourites takes time, and over half of them are in this post. Actual analysis of elements of the conference will come in a later post. In the meantime, feel free to comment on something you found useful! Or try to identify some of the false statements! Or simply tell me why that was not a smart idea! Hope you got something out of the recap.

Saturday 26 July 2014

TMC 2014 Entry 2 - Analysis

Recap of my TMC game: As I record what happened at Twitter Math Camp, I will be inserting one false statement into every section (as separated by the headers). Anecdotal feedback is that Day 1 was tricky, so I’ll try to make some of today’s lies easier. The recap for Day 1 (including some falsehoods) is here. My mathematical fiction serial is here. Friday, July 25th is below:




DAY 2 MORNING


-I gave Justin Aion a crab hat from the Jenks Aquarium. To keep tabs on him. Hijinks ensued.
-Happy birthday was sung to @merryfwilliams, reminding me that Day 1 last year coincided with her birthday too.
-Important Links announced: 1) Survey, bit.ly/TMC14Survey ; 2) Pictures, 2014TMC.shutterfly.com ; 3) pinterest.com/TMathC

My Favourite #5: Edmund Harriss (@gelada)
-Close your eyes. Zero. 1 dot. 2. 3... here options expand to allow a line or triangle. 4. 5. 6... up to 17. “Counting is really hard.” (Can you visualize more than 6 dots in a line? Most people go to rectangles.) 
-Feel JUSTIFIED when you’re having fun with math. It’s part of your work in the classroom.
-What is mathematics? A question posed by @davidwees, where the intersection is nothing as the union is everything. Recommend having a personal definition. Analyzing the definition becomes mathematical without using numbers.
-“Those kids”... can mean the ones who get it almost before you do. You CAN inspire even if you only feel comfortable with counting. You can turn someone who can do maths into someone who loves it.
-Trying things (and failing, and trying everything, and not settling) is a process one should enjoy, even if it counts as work (is not relaxing).
"First, this is just a really nice image..."
Can you spot 8 cubes?
-1. Analogies: same/different. Consider patterns. Rectangles. Consider it’s easier to think about zero dimensions than 4, but not as natural.
-2. Breaking Rules: any mathematical rule can be broken somewhere. 2+1=1 in that 2 molecules (hydrogen) + 1 (oxygen) = 2 molecules (water). #unitchat
-“You cannot divide by zero.” Broken. Edmund did divide by zero; that’s how he created the TMC14 logo. Info will be on his website after the conference.
-Edmund then divided by zero again and vanished from the room.

My Favourite #6: Christine Sullivan
-About loving online planning. She went paperless last year.
-Planbookedu.com is a great organization tool. Can attach standards to worksheets, program keeps track of tags.
-Can do end of year comparisons to find gaps. Turns “what went wrong?” into “how do we move forwards?”

More Precalculus:
-Activity: Given a creature card. Identify it using a flowchart. Flowcharting can be used for conics: Anywhere else?
-I mentioned I have used a flowchart for Ambiguous Case of Sine Law, leads to 0, 1 or 2 solutions.
-Went back into our groups. Wiki Link: Precalculus
-Trig planning group of Hannah S, Nik D, Connie H, Julia H and me. Shared some unit circle stuff & apparently “CAST” in U.S. is “All Students Take Calculus”?
-Lesson plan: Working with inverse trig to solve for “x” in domains. Sheet to be created for multiple representations, also degrees/radians. Another sheet of equations to solve.
-Nik noted that LucidPress is good web-based software.


MY FAVOURITES


-Had lunch at Mazzio’s pizza/salad place to vary things up (had a burger at Ron’s previous day). Today dined with Tina Palmer (also Stats on Thurs), Hannah S (from Precalc), and Lea Ann (@SmithTeach).
-Got “knifed” when a server (possibly manager?) turned too quickly. Sustained no damage.

-#7: Bob Lochel (@BobLoch) talked “My Favourite Ice Breaker”
It's "math-tans" TV
-Give every kid an index card, have them list their 5 favourite (current) TV shows. Then get them to place their card on the board so that their card is as close as possible to those with shared interests. (Can do movies but less likely to get matches.)
-Does the problem have a solution?
-The 9/11 memorial in NY has names, not alphabetical, not in columns... same algorithm. They consulted relatives, tried to maximize Meaningful Adjacencies.
-There is a video related to how Jer Thorp (data artist) created the algorithm (radial maps) that Bob shows after the activity. See his blog for links.

-#8: Glenn Waddell (@gwaddellnvhs) talked Best, Cheap Way to Record Information.
-(First, a plug to enter your blog post for the TMC14 archive, if you blog about TMC.)
-To record classroom info, no need for webcams. An old cell phone works great, can record whole classroom in 720 HiDef. Like any people wearing crab hats.
-To keep phone from falling over, make a stand by cutting into base of a paper cup. Students won’t question it being on desk, and everyone has an old phone around.
-I pointed out I have an old phone, oh wait, no, I’m using it. (Sorry for the sabotage Glenn!)

-#9: Justin Lanier (@j_lanier) talked John Holt
-Justin read an excerpt from John Holt’s “blog”, Feb 13, 1958. It’s a book.
-Twitter connects through space, but also time. This is simply a longer connection through time.
-Books by Holt: “How Children Fail” & “How Children Learn”
-3 Lessons: 1) Look Around (when students don’t know you are); 2) Teach Crazy (because like ‘once’ sounding like ‘wonce’, things are crazy); 3) Trust Children (people want to learn).
-Justin works at an organization that “helps teenagers drop out of school”, working with home schoolers. They do come to learn.

-#10: Michael Pershan (@mpershan) talks about online things
With a wave of my hand...
-First, a survey to answer. If you attended TMC and didn’t do it, it’s at goo.gl/OKOSwq, gathers some demographics.
-Second, Global Math Dept (@GlobalMathDept) which has Tuesday webinars which are archived, and a Newsletter compiling blog posts.
-He then did a ten minute improvised tap dance routine while mumbling phonetics to give people time to fill out the survey, throwing off Lisa Henry's schedule.

-#11: Karim Kai Ani (@karimkai) talked Mathalicious
-They write lessons based around real world topics (and are one of the morning groups too).
-It is a paid site as they have expenses, but for individual teachers, pay what you can. ($185/yr annual account)
-Recommended to try a couple lessons and see if Administration will pay for use.


KEYNOTE


-Dan Meyer: Meet Your MtBoS
-Dan told us he’d attempted to buy a TMC ticket through TicketMaster, and reminded us he invented the sweater vest.
-This group is more evangelical than other groups (preaching the gospel), yet doesn’t need money like cults do. #WhyMTBoS has hits, #WhyNCTM does not.
-Shoutout to Jackie Ballarini (@JackieB) a community member not presently active.
-Metaphor made with TV show “Lost”: Castaways absorbed with themselves, later discovering a larger group. TMC --> MTBoS.
-What does the larger group know about teaching that I/we don’t? What roles exist, or can be filled within the MTBoS?
-Combination of being Selfless (how can I contribute to this) & Selfish (I want to profit off of that)
-Dan admits to being least confident in this talk being of use to anyone but him.

-FollowerWonk was used to gather data. Search: Math(s) teacher.
-Compared overall data to those in the TMC14 list. 150 TMC vs. 11,608 MTBoS.
-Shoutout to Michael Pershan as Max Fisher (data philanthropist).
-Men and Women interact much the same. 57% women, 43% men. (@wahedahbug nailed it)
-The frequency of tweets per day was measured over the entire life of an account. Also followers/following, and tendency of TMC14 crowd was to over guess a LOT.
-Plot of Number Following vs Number Followers has a big vertical outlier: Liz Hemmings (@lizhem65), the mother of Luke Hemmings, lead vocalist of “5 Seconds of Summer”. (Many following, follows few)
Communication vs. Broadcasting
-34 is median # Followers; 75 is median # Tweets. NEW GRID with those axis. What’s happening where “large # Tweets, fewer followers” & “large # followers, fewer tweets”? (Former shows fewer replies, latter fewer RTs.)
-Dan showed correlations, gave us a chance to talk. Some things that came up: What percent of us actually have “math teacher” in description (vs “educator” or not phrased)? About 80/150, so could be missing half MTBoS people? Also, analogy made between TMC being a solar system within the galaxy... maybe there’s another system out there?

-Blogging analysis used ExploreMTBoS as a baseline. Dan determined who had started their blog that first month, and hadn’t blogged at all since February 2014.
-Dan posted to their blog asking why they had stopped, but they were no longer checking their blogs.
-Dan set up a Twitter account (@researchMeyer) and tried tweeting directly at former bloggers to take a survey, and the account was suspended.
-Ultimately he did get 4 responses of 10. Dan remarked how writing for others is different than writing for yourself - the need to fill in more gaps. (Noted later that 3/4 were getting good PD elsewhere.)
-One person likened blogging to going to the gym (yet this shouldn’t be a burden). Jasmine Walker (at TMC) had blogged that morning about having A Blogging Tutor.
-Google searching on math blogs. Noted that we’re a larger wedge of the blogging community than the twitter community.
-Dan gave a brief detour into how he uses Feedly (Other is non-edu, Adjunct is interesting, Tenured is promotion from Adjunct; perhaps one promotion per week).
-IN TMC: Median # subscribers is 2, Median # Posts per day is 0.2 (~1/month). Again GRID: What’s happening with “high velocity, low subscribers” (24%) & “low velocity, high subscribers” (25%)? Both say blog for “Reflection & Sharing”. Hypothesis more ‘reflection’ in first group and vice versa.
-Again, correlations and a chance to talk. Some items: Is experience/time teaching or blogging a factor? In what grid are the 180 blogs (blog every day)? Is low comments due to them being supplied through twitter? Can Dan Meyer absolve 1st/2nd year teachers for not having time to blog more? How DO twitter and blogging intersect?

-Dan said the conference was aptly named: It’s Twitter Math Camp not Blogger Math Camp.
-A check into the #mathchat tag showed it to be in Quad I (high velocity blogging and subscribers).
-NEW QUESTIONS: The larger sphere of NON-ENGLISH blogging he was missing. Also the question of RACE. Also OTHER SUBJECTS outside of math (the “TBoS”). And readers out there who do not subscribe formally.
-Brief discussion about French, and the fact that “Mathematiques” is plural, meaning it is not masculine or feminine. Also, plural aligns more with the British.
-FINAL ADVICE: Regarding ‘Selfless & Selfish’ above: Be Selfish.


DAY 2 AFTERNOON


-I went to “Hinge Questions” with Nik Doran (@nik_d_maths) partly because I remembered seeing something about it before (likely on his blog)
Everything hinges on this outcome.
-Nik started by polling everyone to find out where their knowledge was at, whether they just came to listen to him talk for an hour.
-Finding this was new or just starting up for most, he began with how Hinge Questions are a subgroup of Diagnostic Questions.
-Diagnostic questions are defined to be like agnostic questions, in that no educator actually believes that they exist.
-Shoutout to the book “Embedded Formative Assessment” by Dylan William.
-Hinge questions will not only diagnose SPECIFIC misconceptions, but help make decisions on how to proceed. Every answer (in multiple choice) is designed that way.
-Example: Question is “If e+f=8, then e+f+g=?” To answer “9” shows counting, “12” shows considering all variables are ‘4’, “8+g” is correct, etc.
-Strive for “Semi-Density” when creating: No answer can be chosen via multiple rules. (In other words, “12” MUST imply 4+4+4, not 8*1.5 as any valid reason/method.) Try to refine the question until this is the case.
-Once a question fits a topic, you can use it again and again.
-IMPLEMENTATION: Reduce time to answer (2 min), Ease of interpretation (15 sec), Semi-Density.
-BASED ON RESPONSE: Steer class OR group people with same misconception (perhaps include one who got it right) OR take a group aside while class moves on OR if used in an evaluation context, use to guide remediation.
-Some sample hinge questions were looked at. An attempt was made to figure out why those wrong answers were chosen.
-Don’t throw in a “distractor” answer without thinking of how they get it.
-6 answers with 2 correct possibilities is better than 4 answers with 1 correct. (Tell students to “choose all correct answers”.)
-Hopefully eliminates chance of student learning a new misconception.
-Can create with Bottom-Up design (start with answer, work back). Preempt the misconception.
-We split into groups (by course) and attempted to create a couple Hinge questions. I worked with some stats folks to make a question on Binomial Distribution formula.
-Issue of Guessing was brought up: What if they didn’t follow a process? Nothing’s perfect, though (if wrong) this is likely a student to talk with anyway.
-Possible source: www.diagnosticquestions.com (but they don’t show the rationale for their wrong answers, and limited to 4 options)
-Network with Nik to come up with more questions! Presentation above, Blog Posts Here.

-Then went to Lesson Study talk with Judy Keeney (@JudithKeeney)
-A collaborative structure is necessary as teachers work on their craft.
-(ASIDE: This is like what I participated in and blogged about here... creating lessons in a group.)
-Specific Cycle: 1) Set Goals; 2) Plan Lesson; 3) Teach & Observe; 4) Share Results & Refine
-Was done for 3 two-day sessions over the course of a year, as educators traveled to come together. (ASIDE: @AlexOverwijk has done something similar, but within his school.)
-There were 12-15 people (varied), can create two lesson groups (middle school & high school). Invite admin too.
-Question (by Glen W) of why MATH? Other disciplines? Alex O. mentioned for him there was a focus on at-risk students, so he helped with an English lesson. This can be cross-discipline.
You want to take the time for this.
-STEP #1: Find common ground, identify shared goals - for students and for self. Come to a working agreement (e.g. being non-judgemental, etc). This can be half a day itself. A half page of information is idealistic, thus problematic.
-STEP #2: Move from broad math context to a specific focus, anchor. Try to anticipate student responses. “There is no such thing as a perfect lesson”! Tease out good pieces, etc.
-STEP #3: Be clear to others this is not a “regular day” (for subs or EAs who may otherwise guide students and throw off the dynamic). Decide who will deliver the lesson that day, it will likely NOT be the teacher of that class. (Avoids any teacher checking out personally during creation, as they may be delivering it. Also prevents class teacher from unconscious influence, the lesson should work for anyone, and lets them observe own class.) Make sure to observe protocols to avoid student telling parents “I raised my hand with 20 teachers in the room and no one helped me”. Include individual accountability as well as group work.
-STEP #4: “The heart of the lesson study is the discussion of data collected.” Keep with protocol, the one who taught speaks first, start with “what did you see/hear”. Also “I liked it when...  Extend to “Why” and impressions later.
-Judy had a number of quotes, and she showed some video clips while describing the cycle.
-Outcomes and Benefits considered, including different perspectives and new insights.
-The biggest drawback people voice is taking time outside of the class.
-Sadie (@wahedahbug) commented on how she’d resisted at first, but now advocates for lesson studies. She said can you share with the kids what you learn, showing you’re learning along with them.


AFTER MATH


-Went back to the Jenks hotel, figuring on randomly hooking in with a dinner group, possibly other Ottawa folk.
-About 6:20, when Kathryn Freed (@kathrynfreed) and Kathryn Belmonte (@iisanumber) said they were driving out to find a place, and John Chapin (@Math_CS_Teach) joined them, I decided to tag along as well.
-We ended up eating at a cafe (Camille’s Sidewalk Cafe), chatting about introversion and extraversion. Learned Kathryn B taught a year in France, which to me is so cool.
-I acted as a GPS again today when there was some confusion over the turns. This should maybe be my backup job.
-Back to hotel by 8pm, Kathryn F tweeted out that I’d need a ride to Glenpool. Started this blog post then. Heather Rosson (@matheologian) and Brooke Seals (@BrookeSeals) found me, offered me a lift for later on.
-A group of them started playing Quelf, a board game with rules on cards. Which may involve shoving ice down your pants. Word.
(Square) Dance Dance Revolution
-Malke (@mathinyourfeet) and her morning dance crew also created a blue tape lounge to practice their moves.
-Chatted with some folk in the lobby when they got back from BBQ place, also saw @gelada working with an interesting puzzle.
-Someone walked through trying to sell protractors, I don’t think they were very successful.
-About 11:30 my blog reached the Keynote above, and my brain shut down. Lay down on the couch. Woken up at 12:15 for trip back to Glenpool.
-Tweeted out #AMVFriday with the “Weird Al” video I’d found earlier, in honour of him, and me being a Canadian in America.
-Faceplanted back into bed at 1am.

And that’s Day 2, blow by blow! With FIVE LIES! Hopefully not more... seriously, if you spot an inaccuracy, tell me in the comments. I’d hate to think I have more fiction in this account than I intended. Similarly, if you want to add anything, or just remark about an item, feel free to comment also!