Desmos Fellows Application 2025

Very proud of myself for submitting my Desmos Fellows application for 2025 this past week. I had applied last year but did not make it. I have been using Desmos activities for years and specifically the 6th - A1 curriculum the past two years and love it. I have heard nothing but great things about the Desmos Fellows program (especially from other MfA teachers) and hope to be a part of the community. Similar to the MfA reapplication process, the questions really made me think about my goals as a math teacher and how I hope to grow. Hopefully this weekend I can share out some of my responses, but in the meantime, here is my application video, sharing some of my favorite Desmos features. 

My Goals for the 2024-2025 School Year & the TRU Framework

For the past five years I have used an idea from Math Equals Love and have written out teacher goals for myself before the start of the school year. Seeing as we are officially halfway through this school year,  wanted to share mine for this year. This year I have six big goals & tried to align them to the TRU Framework which is "a framework for characterizing powerful learning environments in crisp and actionable ways. It provides a straightforward and accessible language for discussing what happens (and should happen) in classrooms... TRU is consistent with what we know to be good practice; and it focuses classroom and administrative attention on what counts in learning."

My Goals for the 2024-2025 School Year

1. I want all of my students to feel welcome in our class community. (TRU: Agency, Authority & Identity)
   
   
2. I want to get better at using the Desmos curriculum (pacing, individual/pairs/pairs sharing…) so that we maximize our class time & all students feel appropriately engaged and engage in productive struggle. (TRU: The Content)
3. I want to use equitable grading practices (TRU: Equitable Access to Content & Formative Assessment)
4. I want to use authentic, engaging math tasks that promote inquiry and problem solving so that all students engage in math in a way that pushes their thinking and deepens their understanding and makes them curious & motivated to learn more. (TRU: Cognitive Demand)
5. I want to incorporate some computer science practices into my classes and have students do at least one cross-curricular project.
6. I want to continue to use Class Dojo to share with families the work that students are doing in class.

You can check out all of my goals and action steps here. Now that I have shared them, I would love to do a formal check-in about how they are going and how I plan to revise or recommit to them for the last twenty weeks of the school year.

Not Enough Time

Back in January 2021, I came across this article, Instead of Saying "I Don't Have Time," Say "It's Not a Priority". As a mom of two young kids, who also works full time as a teacher, I constantly feel like there is never enough time. Simply rephrasing " I don't have time" won't magically make more time, but it can help me be more realistic about what I practically can and cannot do, and pausing and being more reflective (both on here on in general) is something I would like to work on in 2025, so here I am making at least some time to pause and write on here (even with my almost 2 year old on my lap). 

I just finished reading Stolen Focus, and I related to a lot. Particularly this year I find myself reaching a point, where  my brain actually cannot process another piece of information, both at work and at home. It's a little scary to reach that point, but I am trying use that awareness as a sign that I am doing a lot and actually must slow down. Any working mom or teacher (or both) knows that there is always more to do. 

And with that being said, it's time to get dinner ready, give my kids baths and get ready for the work week ahead. Did I get everything done that I want to (nope). But maybe I can try again tomorrow.