Teacher Summer Camp aka the MfA Summer Think, Part 1

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!

Going Back to Work: Teaching & Mom-ing

Seven weeks ago today, I gave birth to my second child. Two weeks from now, I will be back at work. Granted, it will only be for one day (the last day of school) so I really can't complain... well actually, as a working mother in the United States, I most definitely CAN voice my thoughts on how high the expectations are for working mothers are in this country. Ironically, earlier today I came across this Time article by Kristin Gallent of Big Little Feelings & this tweet from Katie Gutierrez:

At 4 weeks postpartum I was: sleeping 3 *nonconsecutive* hours a night; breastfeeding every 2 hours for at least 30 min a session, so about 6 hours a day; and bleeding through everything I wore. If men did this, the whole fucking world would be structured around parental leave.

— Katie Gutierrez (@katie_gutz) October 28, 2021

Last week my daughter also had her first remote Zoom class of the year due to the Canadian wildfires and I got a tiny taste of parenting school-aged children during Covid, and no wonder moms are burnt out.

Yes, I will have to go back to work for the last day of school, in order to be put back on payroll for the summer and to clean & pack up my classroom and officially wrap up the 2022-2023 school year. It is also my daughter's last day of 3K and the first day I will be leaving my son with the same woman who watched my daughter when I went back to work back in January 2020.

Like last time, I am both looking forward to going back because being a math teacher is a big part of my identity, but I am also sad to leave my infant. Luckily being a teacher means I do have summer break (which teachers 1000% earn and deserve) so I will still get two more months with him before I have to figure out how to do this teaching and mom-ing thing with two children.

Right now, we have a good routine going and I although I do miss my students, I am so very grateful to not have to lesson plan, grade & do the hundreds of other things that teachers do in June. September 2023, like January 2020 will be another learning curve for me. My daughter will be starting pre-k at the same school she is currently in luckily, my son will have to be dropped of at the wonderful baby sitters apartment every morning, which is in the opposite direction of my daughters school and my school will actually be starting 20 minutes earlier, at 8:30 am, next year.

I completely acknowledge how lucky & privileged I am that: (1) I am able to walk to work, (2) my daughter has a spot to go to for pre-k at a school I am happy with that has after school care options, (3) the woman who watched my daughter and will watch my son is amazing. But I am stressed out about finding our rhythm and balancing it all. The fresh start of September is one of the reasons I love teaching, but it is exhausting, and balancing teaching (and the million things that come with being a teacher), being present as a mom (and the infinite things that come with that), and taking care of my own needs, it will be a lot to manage.

Right now, I will try my best to enjoy the time that I do have with my kids (both my children and my students) and take things one step at a time. It's not going to be perfect and it's not going to be easy, but I will find a way to make it work because that's just what moms (and teachers do).

Math for America: Year 6

This year is my sixth year as a Math for America Master Teacher. Last week I attended my last two sessions of the school year (a single session course on writing in math class & the last Thursday Think of the year with Peter Liliedahl). I am also signed up for this year's Summer Think next month, which I always look forward to!

Since I am home on my parental leave, I wanted to take some time to reflect on my MfA courses this past school year:

• Book Club: Mathematics for Human Flourishing: I have participated in this book club for a few semesters now and always grateful because it makes me remember the heart of what it means to actually do math - the human-ness of doing math. Definitely a must read!
• Establishing & Maintaining Cogenerative Dialogues: This PLT probably had the greatest impact on my classroom this year because as a result of these sessions, I actually started up a cogen with some of my homeroom students. The experience overall was really positive. We consistently met every Tuesday during lunch and I feel like I got to really know these students in a meaningful way. I really hope to continue to run cogens in my classes nest school year. I even got to bring my ELA teacher counterpart to one of our sessions, which was awesome.
• Developing a Math Tools Center That Works: These sessions were a good reminder about the benefit of using manipulatives & other math tools in my classes.
• Co-teaching in Inclusive Secondary Math Classrooms: This was another course that I was able to bring one of my colleagues to, which was great because she & I co-teach together and one of our school's core values is inclusion. 
• Delta Math Plus: I got more comfortable with Delta Math features. I mean I already knew Delta Math was amazing, but it's always fun to get the chance to play around with it more.
• Under Construction: Building a Thinking Classroom: After reading Building Thinking Classrooms and leading a single session on it last spring, I was excited to dig into it some more with some awesome teachers. Even though I was only able to attend two of the sessions I was inspired to try more with BTCs next school year. Initially I had started using some of the practices back in 2021-2022, but didn't really use them much this year. Like I said earlier, also getting to hear Peter Liliedahl speak at last week's Thursday Think was really inspiring
• Mathematical Modeling in Middle School: This was a good course since mathematical modeling is a big part of the high school Next Generation Math Standards.
• Writing in Math Class: This was my first session post baby #2, and it felt great to be back at MfA. I liked this single session course because a goal of mine to to have my students write more in math class (even though I am not a fan of grading writing). I was introduced to the PBAT math rubric, which I would like to incorporate into my classes somehow next year, if possible.
• Info Session Host & Small World Network Mobilizer: This year I also got to share my MfA experience with potential MfA applicants during an info session & was also able to be a SWN Mobilizer, which I always enjoy doing because it makes me feel more connected to the MfA community at large.
• Lastly, I am looking forward to this year's Summer Think, who's theme is exploring the joy in teaching & learning.

This was also my second year asa NYS Master Teacher, although I did not do as much as I would have liked with it, I hope to participate more in the upcoming year.