Sam, Julie, and Tina put together a blogging initiative to encourage more math teachers to share their experiences, their struggles, and their classrooms. I'm behind schedule, so this is my Week 1 post. 

As I've mentioned plenty of times before, I'm not in the classroom anymore, which is tough from time to time. It gets even harder when I go back to the site I taught at for a semester. One simple semester was all it took for me to make a connection with my students, and it's apparent every time I step foot on that campus. Nevertheless, I love what I do, knowing that I can make a difference in the lives of more students than the 175 I would see on an annual basis. Still, this tweet from Michael Pershan got to me a little:

I first read the tweet in a defensive tone, but quickly started rummaging through my mental rolodex of meetings with teachers.

• Taught D.R. how to create a spinning wheel in which his students can use to win prizes in class
• Showed D.F. how to use Socrative as a way of quickly assessing her students and giving better feedback
• Taught J.C. how to create a Google Form to survey students and get quality feedback in a timely manner
• Taught C.D. how to create unique math journals for students and append them with the next day's prompts
• Many others

No, my students aren't under the age of 18; in fact, many are over the age of 40. 

No, my students aren't in one consolidated classroom for me to teach; they are across 10 high schools that span 30 miles.

No, my students don't have standards that need to be taught; they do have a need to improve their workflow, ease stress, and take risks

No, my students' parents won't come knocking on my door with a complaint; they do it themselves, making teaching even more rewarding and challenging.

No, I don't fit the typical description of a teacher.

​Yes, I am a teacher, and I love my students and my job. 

Happy "One Good Thing" Fishing

If you've been to my blog before (or my house), it's likely that you know I enjoy woodworking. By no means would I consider myself great, though. In fact, in the previous post I did about a jewelry box, I shared about some lessons I learned. They still apply.

Baba (Macedonian term for grandmother) has been aging; I wanted to make her something special. For the holidays this year, the whole family flew back to Michigan to spend 8 days reminiscing and enjoying each other's company. After all, we never how much longer we have. A few years ago, she got a pacemaker. In 2014, she lost her husband of 60 years. She's getting tired. She's getting old.

​This year, however, she got a new heart.

Having a 3D printer has been a blessing in so many ways. I've been fortunate to create some pretty incredible products with it, so it was only natural to print a heart-shaped jewelry box for Baba:

This was fun, but it wasn't impressive. It wasn't anything that I would be proud to hand over to my 79 year-old grandmother, no matter how cool it was that melted plastic made a container that looked like I heart I was responsible for designing... So I went and bought a couple sheets of lumber:

The idea here was that I could use the CNC machine at one of our local high schools to print a 3D-modeled design of the heart I was looking for. "Sweet", I thought, "this project is going to be done perfectly and in about a week... Woohoo!"

Wait...

All I have to do it glue the wood, design the model on the computer, and press print on the CNC machine.

No.

With all the talk of what technology can do, and how it can make our lives easier, there are instances in which the sweat of a human being can be seen in the quality of a product. While it is true that my finished product would've been much closer to perfection, that's not what handmade gifts were meant to be. There are times for automation, but this wasn't one of them.

List of tools and materials used for the project:

Router
Jigsaw
Corded drill
Clamps
Wood Glue
3D-printed stencil
​Dremel
Drum sander
Belt sander
Rasp
Planer
Hand planer
Flocking gun
Felt
Flocking adhesive
Poly-oil
​Branding iron

Here were the steps:

• Design a stencil of the heart design, and print it using a 3D printer
• Rout the bottom layer of purple heart to give some depth to the base
• Cut out the bottom layers of the heart with a jigsaw
• Cut out the other two layers of the heart with a jigsaw

If you've made it this far on a blog post that seems to have nothing to do with education, technology, or teaching mathematics, I applaud you. Seriously.

I learned that I'm capable of doing something pretty cool without the help of technology. 

I learned that cutting wood out from a stencil doesn't mean that the cuts will be close to each other. Not even a little. Damn, that was a lot of sanding.

I learned that using a branding iron is no joke. Once it was ALL DONE, I stamped the bottom of the box. When I pull the iron back, only "EVENS" and "RAFTED" showed up. Imagine seeing a scar this bad on something you were finished with. It was rough. Re-sand, re-apply the poly-oil, and try the stamp again. It worked. Whew.

I learned that my boys are watching me. During the process, they were excited to help, excited to learn, and so happy to see the final product. 

I learned that small mistakes are a good thing. Yeah, ok, so I know this already, but it was confirmed through the project. As a perfectionist, making a mistake on something as permanent as a wooden box is not an easy thing to fix. I had to be alright with not having it perfect. In fact, I had to want​ it to not be perfect. Big shift, indeed.

I learned that, no matter how technology evolves and finds ways to make our lives better, easier, more efficient, there's nothing quite like handing over an empty box filled with love and effort.

I learned that times have not changed.

I learned that hard work pays off.

I learned that the best gifts are hand made.

Happy "Hand Crafted" Fishing