After 3 long weeks of supporting a textbook adoption across our district, it was time to get back into the fun role of helping teachers. Today, I was welcomed into three different math classrooms and was able to take ownership of one as I walked them through a Desmos activity in exploring absolute value graphs. It takes a lot to invite another educator into your class. It takes even more to hand over the floor and let someone else teach your students for the day. Today, I remembered how much I miss teaching kids.

One of the big takeaways from Twitter Math Camp was Glenn Waddell's call for more High Fives. I've always been a high energy teacher, but not overly enthusiastic about a right answer; kids need to earn it. However, I tried Glenn's approach today, giving a high five for clearing the smallest hurdle. The result? Kids love high fives. This was my "yeah duh" moment of the day, even as juniors and seniors were reaching up top, waiting for the imminent approval of a stranger from the district office who gave out high fives like Oprah gives out Vitamix blenders.

Smiles. Happiness. Yeah, I get that at times as I'm working with teachers, but it isn't the same. There's something heart-warming about a kid "getting it". You know, the one where they spend 20 minutes struggling with a concept, then finally look out of the corner of their eye to see if you're paying attention, realize you are, then the side of their mouth cracks an ever-so-slight smile, as if to say, "I've got this." Two girls were finished with their explorations early, so I challenged them to "match my graph". Not only did they accept the challenge, they completed it. That felt awesome today. 

Steps were aplenty today. Translation: teachers walk a lot. I know that there are some who are tracking their steps and sharing on Twitter, and I totally buy into that. Here's a step challenge: 8,000 during the school day. Not only does it help your calories burned and your long-term health, it also shows your students your mobility and desire to be within reach at all times. Walking a maze during class is counterproductive; I'm talking about objective paths to reach all students, every single period, every single day. It's tough, especially with the classes of 39 I got to work with today, but it's very possible.

One of the few things I have to cling onto from my teaching days are the relationships with my students. As I was helping the third teacher on my schedule for the day, a former student walked in as a TA. It was so nice to catch up and see that she is doing so well. At the end of the period, happily conversing and reflecting with the teacher, I proclaimed that "this is why I love teaching." 

Her reply from a few feet away: "Then why'd you leave us?"

For that, I have no answer.

Happy "Heart Always Being In It For The Kids" Fishing

I once had a cool car, then a couple rugrats forced me to trade it in. With it went a bit of my memories and a whole lot more. But hey, kids'll do that to you, I guess. With that said, it's amazing how vehicle technology has improved over the past 10 years. Because of it, I'm constantly distracted by the challenges my heads-up display allows me to present myself with.

This is what stares at me as I try to keep my eyes on the road. It's been reset at a near-full tank. I'm thinking of how this would go in a math class:

What questions do you have?

Here are some I'm hoping students come up with:

What's your average speed?
How many gallons is your tank?
Why the hell did you sell your cool car?
How far can you go on one tank?
How many driving hours until you need to fill up?
What does it cost to fill your tank?


OK, so maybe a couple of those are still my bitterness seeping through, but still. I think there are valuable conversations that we can have around this. Once the students get some questions put together, I would ask if they would like to know more information. The following info I'd be willing to give them:

Fuel Capacity - 16.5 Gallons
My Daily Commute - 2 miles

Once they have this information, I'll update the image with the others that I've taken on this tank so far:

With this new information, I would ask the same question:

What quesitons do you have?

After attending Alex and Mary's session at TMC15 about Activity-Based Learning, I think this is where I go off the track of comfort and let students go wild with their questions. To be honest, I have no idea what questions they would come up with based on new information. I'm curious: what question(s) do you have about this?

After we've collected all student questions, we'll do the following:

• Break into "similar question" groups
• Have students attack their question(s) and answer them
• Create a follow-up question once they come to a conclusion
• Pose their findings to the class

I'm thinking that this has potential. What do you think? What would you change?