Three Things

Twitter:
1. If you aren't following my class, consider following @6Amath. All tweets are collected on a google form and curated by me, but completely written by students.

2. Follow @Tolerance_org for great ideas about being inclusive, kind, and respectful from the people at Teaching Tolerance.

3. I've made some "virtual" friends through Twitter. So, consider following two of my Twitter friends, @KhatriMath and @MrP_tchr. I've never met either in person, but I feel like we could be friends in real life. ;)

Resources and Blogs:

1. I'm always going back to Math Equals Love for ideas or just a fun read. I really like Sarah's style of writing and she also shares great stuff. I stole her growth mindset bulletin board idea lately. I know she stole my pi banner idea, so I like thinking about how we have similar items in our classroom even though we are hundreds of miles away.

2. I'm reading and loving everything I see on David Wees' blog. Specifically, I'm showing this video at all the professional development I've been leading lately.

3. You need to check out You Cubed and the great work being done by Jo Boaler around how students learn math and how to foster a growth mindset. There is even a free course that students can take. I'm encouraging all the middle schoolers in my school to take the course and I just presented it to the other middle school in our district as well. I think it can be transformative!

selfie with a teacher that recognized me from this blog!

Professional:
1. I'm still thinking about the great sessions I went to at the ICTM conference this year. I was happy that I was able to bring along some of our new math teachers and learn along with them. I also had an opportunity to meet some of my tweeps in person. One teacher even came up to me and said she recognized me from my blog! It was so sweet to overhear her say to someone, "it's like meeting a celebrity!" I can totally relate... I feel the same way when I meet someone in person that I know from social media. :)

2. I'm enjoying the honor of being an Illinois state finalist for the PAEMST award. There was recently a celebration dinner at the Shedd Aquarium for the recent winner from 2013 (yes, they just announced 2013!) and the 2014 and 2015 finalists. It was a really nice event with a little behind the scenes tour, dinner, and presentations from passionate educators.

3. I'm continuing my journey as a teacher and math coach. I really enjoy the role but there are definitely challenges to balancing both. I also can be pretty hard on myself and am always wondering if I'm doing enough. I really want to make sure that the math teachers feel supported and are really benefiting from having a math coach in the building. I have some new ideas I want to try including helping teachers to video and reflect on lessons. Here's a video about it.

Personal:
1. My daughter, Natalie, is 17 months and just started walking a month ago. Yesterday we made the much anticipated trip to Stride Rite to buy some real shoes. Up until now, she has been wearing little moccasins that are super cute, but no hard sole. Now that she's walking, she needs "big girl" shoes. I can't believe she's so big already!

2. I'm loving this new clothing thing I'm trying. Last year, I did Stitch Fix and really enjoyed it. But after about 6 months, I felt like I was getting a lot of the same type of clothes. I decided to mix it up this year and am trying Le Tote. It's basically a clothing rental... I know, sounds kind of weird, but it is super fun. It's a little pricy, but you can do it as many times a month as you want! I've gotten tons of compliments on my "rental" clothes. Use this code for $25 off (full disclosure, I earn $15 if you use my code).

3. For my local friends, I want to suggest Mission House Cafe as a great little spot in Berwyn to grab a cup of coffee or a snack. They have free wifi and it's a cute little place to get some work done (or blog!). They get coffee beans from a local group that employs post-prision individuals that want a fresh start and the money they make goes to some great charities.