Growing up, I had never been to summer camp. I have, however, participated in the Math for America Summer Think every year since 2018. The Summer Think is a three day conference every July, affectionally known as teacher summer camp, and this year's Summer Think was probably my favorite yet! The theme of this year's Summer Think was Exploring the Joy in Teaching & Learning and I can say with certainty that every single session I attended not only made me think & reflect on myself as a teacher & as a learner, but every single session did indeed, bring me joy.
The Summer Think is set up such that there are community activities, multi-day deep dive sessions, mini splash sessions, social hours, community time, circle time and, of course, pizza. As typical with MfA, I wanted to sign up for almost everything, but alas, I don't have a time-turner. I wanted to take some time today to reflect on my sessions, seeing as they are still fresh in my mind, so hopefully I will try my best to get my thoughts down, while my son currently naps next to me.
Exploring Our Identity as an Act of Resistance, Celebration & Joy
My three-session deep dive workshop was probably the highlight these past three days. Originally, it was my second choice, but I am so grateful that this was my workshop. Our time together centered on exploring our identity and making connections to anti-racist and anti-oppression work. Some of the ideas we explored were safe vs brave spaces, check-ins community agreements, collective values, circle practices, ice breakers, story telling, and freedom thinking. The facilitator was wonderful and truly the group of fellow MfA teachers that I was with made our time together magical. We laughed together, we cried together, we shared our stories & listened to other's stories. My biggest take aways from our time together was that at the heart of the math that I teach, are the human beings that I get to share ten months with every year. I already do circle work with my advisory, and this workshop reminded me how important that time together is. After only three days together, I became so much closer to the teachers in my group, which is part of the magic of the MfA Summer Think and none of us really wanted our time together to end. This deep dive was a big part of what made this year's Summer Think probably my favorite one yet & I am so grateful to be a part of this amazing community of STEM teachers who not only appreciate our content, but understand the deeper part of what it means to be a teacher.
Well, my son just woke up from his nap & I have to pick up my daughter from summer camp soon, so it looks like I will have to stop here for now, but I hope to reflect on my splash sessions sometime next week, because they were also joyful and a big reason why the MfA Summer Think is one of my favorite parts of being #MfAProud
Here were my splash sessions, which I hope to write about next time...
Teacher Bucket List
How to Color War Your Classroom
KenKen Meditation & Exploration
Fun with Flags!
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