Annie Forest

I took the text from my most recent six posts and put them into a word cloud generator . Here's what happened: Larger words are used more often. I love that students, teachers, and math are so visible. Next I see think, like, Twitter, work, time, and blog . This can be a pretty powerful tool to use to see what you are talking about! What would happen if you copied and pasted the text from work emails? Tweets? Could your students use this tool for reflection as well?

If you are following along with the #D100BloggerPD, you know I'm third to post on the topic, "What Inspires You." Check out Post 1 and Post 2 from some great bloggers in my district! You can also follow the hashtag on Twitter as educators will be posting all month (9 in all) about this topic! One fun thing about this #D100BloggerPD is it gives bloggers that write about all different topics a chance to work together on a joint project. I blog about math, some others blog about literacy/reading, while others might be more general education bloggers. I love the idea that new readers might come across my blog and realize it's not *only* about math, or even that math isn't as scary as they thought! :) So while the topic is "What Inspires You," I am taking the opportunity to blog about what inspires me in math education . Many of my regular readers know about #MTBoS, in which case, you will just find this as a love letter to something you already know...

This post is my contribution to the #MTBoS Blogging Initiative ! I'm writing about a day in the life of being a middle school math teacher. This happens to be about yesterday: 5:00- Alarm goes off, turn off quickly so I don't bug my husband too much. 5:15- Check my phone. There is a morning Twitter Chat #BFC530 (Breakfast Club 5:30) that I like to follow. 5:30- Get in the shower, get dressed, start hair/makeup 6:05- Help my husband get my daughter up, dressed. Pack lunch, pour my orange juice (pregnancy craving!) 6:25- Leave the house, drive hubby to the train 6:40- Natalie and I are on our way! 7:15- Arrive at daycare, drop off Natalie 7:30- Arrive at school. Park in one of the reserved "pregnancy parking spots" right outside of school. So nice for my school to be so thoughtful! Get to my classroom, start preparing for the day. Look at my calendar, check Twitter, check email. Look over my plans for today (changing fractions to...

I saw many Twitter friends posting their "One Word" for 2016. The idea is to choose a word that can focus you for the new year. Last year, I didn't officially choose one word at the beginning of 2015. However, when I was dealing with many classroom management issues, after returning from maternity leave, I centered myself around the word "calm." I made a banner that I hung in my classroom and was even the cover photo on my Twitter page! I tried to keep this word in mind whenever dealing with difficult issues in my life: parenthood, team leader, students, and even challenging adult interactions. It was a great word and perfect for last year. This year, I wanted to pick a word that I could again apply to both my school life and personal life. I've chosen "authentic." I chose authentic because I like the idea of trying to stay true to myself and my core beliefs. I don't think that I particularly stray too much from what I believe, ho...

Twitter: 1.  Ilana Horn  ( @tchmathculture )  had a great idea to ask the #MTBoS to tweet their favorite or most popular posts of the year using the hashtag #MTBOS2015. I tweeted both my favorite post and most popular post and got lots of people  visiting  my blog! 2. Some teachers in my district started a monthly chat (#D100chat). It's been great participating and connecting with teachers across my district! 3. Love seeing a tweet like this one by Martin Joyce  ( @martinsean ). It's so cool to be able to recommend resources to teachers from all over! Resources and Blogs: 1. If you have iPads in your classroom you just have to try Class Kick . My favorite for having kids working and giving timely feedback. 2. My students absolutely beg to do Kahoot! I like it too, but try to limit our use to once every few weeks. I think it could lose it's novelty and I don't want that to happen. One word of caution-- it's a game where accuracy an...

MYTH 1: Teachers are just trying to show off on social media, like Twitter and blogs. There is an aspect to social media that promotes sharing our "best selves." I do it with my own personal Facebook page. An example would be the 35 pictures I take of my daughter so that I can post one cute, smiling picture . I don't post the ones that are blurry as she scoots away or with a frowning face. I post the best. The same can be said for what I share about my classroom. However, the motivation behind sharing isn't just to show off or get attention. The reason that most teachers share is to reflect on their own practice, share resources with others, or get feedback. Reflection is an important part of being a good teacher. Asking myself how a lesson went, what went well, what would I change , are ways that I improve. I either do this informally (like think about a lesson on my drive home) or formally (by writing a blog post). Reflecting doesn't always mean tha...

I don't know where I first heard this advice. It might have been a social and emotional learning PD, it might have been from another teacher, it might have been an article. Wherever I learned it, it has turned out to be one of the best pieces of advice for teaching that I have ever learned. It can be applied in so many situations. You can probably imagine situations with colleagues, parents, students,  or administrators where there are challenges. Assuming the person you are dealing with has positive intentions really can turn a negative interaction into a productive one. I'm not saying that this mindset will completely change something negative into positive. However, changing it from negative or contentious to productive or problem-solving is huge. I constantly remind myself of this advice when I'm confronted with a tough situation. ( If you haven't read about finding marigolds and avoiding walnut trees, read it now! ) However, most of us can't avoid the w...