MfA, Student Surveys, Summer Math PL & the 100 Day Summer Challenge

I can't believe that it is already July 11th!  Where has the summer been going?  Even though we are on summer break till the day after Labor Day, one of my goals was to keep writing on here (I only blogger three times last summer) so here I am with my first post of summer break 2017:

Math for America
After packing and cleaning up my classroom for the year and saying goodbye to students for the summer, I got some pretty awesome news... I am a Math for America Master Teacher!  Yes, after applying and not getting in last year, I applied again this year, and earned a Master Teacher Fellowship, which I was super happy about.  Even better, the Living Environment teacher at my school also got in, so now our school is lucky enough to have not one, but two MfA Master Teachers, which means great things will happen over the next four years!  Too bad it happened after we had said goodbye to students because I had shared my experience applying to MfA the past two years with them.  I already signed up for orientation in September, and cannot wait to take in all the new learning and experiences to come from other MfA Master Teachers!  I worked hard for this, and man does it feel good to have finally earned this.  One thing I am a little jealous of is that since I just got in, I am missing out on the first MfA Summer Think going on this week. I have been following along on Twitter, and even though I can't participate this summer, seeing everything going on only makes me more proud thatI am finally a part of this amazing group of STEM educators!

EOY Student Surveys
Before the school year ended, my students took their EOY surveys for me.  Unfortunately only 81% of my students responded, but I did get responses from all five classes I taught this year.  I hope to spend some time in my next post really reflecting on what they said and how I can improve for next year.

Summer Math Professional Learning 
I had the first of three math PLs that I am going to this summer yesterday, on Enhancing the Math Classroom: Using Authentic Tasks to Support Conceptual Understanding (6 - 12) and next week starts Algebra for All for 12 days, which I couldn't go to last year because I was getting my Gifted Certification at Hunter College.  I was inspired to start the next year with a Dan Meyer 3 Act Task.  I did at least one with my 7th graders last year, and a couple with my 8th graders.  I think it will be a rich way to kick off the new school year.

I also signed up for The Art of Origami in Your Math & ELA Classroom at the Japan Society next month, which sounds fun.  I also hope to participate in the CAMI summer book club, which starts today.  We are reading Fostering Algebraic Thinking: A Guide for Teachers, Grades 6 - 10 by Mark Driscoll.  Lastly, I want to continue (and hopefully finish) becoming a Google Certified Educator this summer.  It was another one of those things that I started last summer, but never followed through.

100 Day Summer Challenge
Finally, this summer  Brilliant.org is hosting the 100 Day Summer Challenge, and even though I am slow to start (I was still teaching until June 28th), I finally got into this week, and I am loving it!  Every day from June 1st - September 8th they post a math problem or puzzle.  Like, I said I am behind, but currently up to day 5 and am on a 4 day streak.  I love this idea and wonder how I can do something like this in my classroom?  I already use the Math Counts Problem of the Week in my class, but find that it's always the same students who try it and would love to get more invested.  Since I am 36 days behind where they currently are, I am going to try and do at least 5 a day, which would bring me up to date by next week (yes, I had to do some math there).  I really do think that a essential part of being a good math teacher, is always being a math learner, and this challenge (as well as my MfA presentation last month) force me to push my own mathematical thinking, which is pretty neat.

EOY Student Survey & Reflection, Summer Goals

Is there anything more perfect than waking up that first morning after the last day of school?  I did respond to two work emails this morning, but I was in bed, so totally vacation mode ;)  I didn't want this day to go by without me reflecting on my year and setting some goals for the summer.  There are nine weeks between now and when we go back  to school and I want to make them count, so here it goes...

EOY Student Survey & Reflection
I gave my students an end-of-year survey as their last homework assignment.  I didn't know if we were going to have access to computers during the last two days of school, so I didn't have them do it in class.  The feedback I got from them was useful, however, only about half of them responded, which is a potential flaw in my data (yes, I am still in the mindset of our last 6th grade unit on statistics and data analysis).  Based on the students who responded, some of my noticings include:

• Overall my students feelings about math are mostly positive now compared to the beginning of the school year
• Most of my students consider themselves mathematicians, but not all
• Most of my students felt like they learned a lot this year
• I need to work on finding more challenging work, as most students felt neutral when asked if they felt challenged in class this year (hopefully my Gifted classes at Hunter will help with that this summer)
• Most of my students felt that this class connected to their lives, but there is room to grow there
• None of my students who responded felt disrespected by me
• Surprisingly, my students overall felt I gave them good feedback on their work, which is ironic because I always feel like this is an area that I need help with
• Overall my students felt that I had high expectations for them and most students felt comfortable enough to ask questions in class
• Not unexpectedly, the favorite projects of the year were the Coke Project and Data to Make a Difference projects for 6th grade and the Gameathon project for my 7th graders.  What this means for planning for next year, is how can I do more of that memorable, rich work with my students?

Again, only about half of my students responded, which kinda sucks, but was expected since I was a homework assignment and not classwork, but I feel good about how this year went and what I can work on for next year.

We also reflected on the year as a staff during our PL time on Monday, with questions adapted from Elena Aguilar.  We reflected on this year, the summer, August/Fall, and next school year.  My biggest goals center around preparing to flip my Algebra 1 class, and setting a stricter tone in my class, not that I wasn't strict this year, but since this my first year at the school, I feel like I let some things slide that I normally wouldn't have because I was still getting a feel for my school's culture.  Next year, I will be more confident in how I want my classroom to run using what I already know as an educator and as a veteran teacher at my school.  As it looks right now, almost all the 7th & 8th grade teachers besides myself will be new to our school next year, so consistency will be important, and I am optimistic that I will be able to rise to the challenge.  

Summer Goals

As for summer, here are my goals...

• I would love to keep blogging on here, at least weekly, to stay in a productive mindset.  I know how quickly it is to get lazy, and don't want to fall into the trap and wake up and having it be Labor Day.  Specifically, I would love to have my unit plans and IAs done for all three grades before we go back, which is a lot of work, but will make my life so much easier next year.
• Personally, I have been studying Spanish on Duolingo and I am currently 46% fluent.  I would love to be at at least 75% fluent by the time school starts back up
• On my professional summer reading list is Flip Your Classroom and Mathematical Mindsets as well as just-for-fun summer reading books
• Become a Google Certified Educator
• Rock my MfA interview next month
• Get something productive out of my Gifted Education classes at Hunter.  The summer institute is 6 weeks long and I plan on taking the CST as soon as I can after that
• Create a Donors Choose project for some iPads for my class next year