Enduring the #EduFirehose of Twitter

Summer was great.  I had time to play with the kids, went on a couple vacations, spoke at a few conferences, and got settled into a new house and new job.  Oh yeah, and it was my first summer being on Twitter.  No big deal, right? WRONG.

This summer was like standing in front of one of these with the water at full blast.

This summer, I received more content, more ideas, more different styles of teaching, and more feedback than I've ever received in my life.  I guess it's just the nature of the beast when you have developed a personal learning network so strong that ideas come flying in from any and all angles.  Being the experimenter that I am, I was ready and willing to try all of them. ALL OF THEM. My class routine was set:

1. As a warm-up, students will do a daily Estimation
2. To introduce a concept, we will use 3-Act Math tasks
3. To foster discussion and reflection, students will blog
4. We will close every day with a Visual Pattern
5. To open up more class time, students will engage in flipped class
6. Every Friday, we will incorporate 20% time
7. If we have time, we will review some Math Mistakes

Yep, this sounds like a... WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING?

I've followed some pretty amazing math folks from the Math Twitter Blogosphere, or MTBoS as it has so fondly been abbreviated, and every single thing that they do sound like I want to be a student in their classroom.  I've gone from pure isolation to information overload.  My plate is more than full of ideas to incorporate, and it's time to rethink the ideas that have been shared.

There's only so much we can ingest before we're full

I spent a summer wishing that my students could get the experience that Andrew, Chris, Matt, Chris, Michael, Geoff, and so many other teachers have created in their math classrooms. On top of that, I wanted to do some incredible things with 20% time aka #GeniusHour, all while incorporating the flipped classroom into my arsenal of weekly instructional tools.  

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

While I will always strive to have an impact on my students the way that my colleagues do, I'm accepting the reality that I will never have the wit of Fawn Nguyen.  I may never be able to rock the mullet the same way Vaudrey does.  It is highly unlikely that I'll be able to get my students to blog with such power and passion as David Theriault.  I've even conceded that my classroom will probably never look like Barton Keeler's.  

But it doesn't mean that I can't take bits and pieces from each, finding new and innovative ways to continue challenging my students and myself to be better.  I appreciate all that the MTBoS and my Twitter PLN has taught me, and will continue to learn from them.  I'll stop by the EduFirehose of content from time to time, read the blog posts, engage in the conversations, and continue to fine-tune my craft.

From now on, I'm going to fill up my cup from the EduFirehose and sip it at my own rate

My goal is no longer to be any of those teachers.  The new personal goal for 2013-14?

Be the teacher that the high school version of me would've wished he had.  Challenge accepted.

Happy Fishing