An Untraditional Route for a Veteran Math Teacher--What's Next?

Every year I think I'm going to slow things down and start saying "no." And every year, I think I take on more.

I see the parallel in my son's life, a sophomore in college. Each time he thinks he can't handle anymore, someone comes to him with an amazing opportunity, and he can't say no. The apple doesn't fall far, I guess.

I have been teaching high school mathematics for 28 years now. No year is like the last, so in that respect, nothing is ever boring. However, in the last few years, I have been feeling "what else?" Don't get me wrong...I love my job and love how Twitter and MTBoS have changed my teaching exponentially, as my department has grown from 10 people in the classrooms next door to me to thousands (tens of thousands?) globally. But, 28 years is a long time to be in the same career...from what I hear, most people change jobs 7 times...and though I changed schools once, I've been teaching some of the same topics every year, 3 or 4 times a year, for 28 years (completing the square, anyone??)

MU ALPHA THETA

Six years ago, I started a Mu Alpha Theta chapter in my school, and that kept the fire in my soul, in addition to teaching. I love it, and that was really just what I needed to keep things the same yet different. It gave me a new outlook each day, something more to look forward to. Again, I look forward to teaching my students each day, but I can't help the feeling I had that something was missing. Advising this amazing group was the antidote.

Honors Problem-Solving Seminar

Then, three years ago, I began teaching the elective Honors Problem-Solving Seminar. It was just something different and new, and what I LOVE about it is that we can stop the curriculum and talk about a cool problem or video that just came out (I'm biased and love TED-Ed riddles). This never happens in math. I envied history teachers for years, as they could talk about current events, and I know someone out there can say we can relate a math problem to the real-world and talk about current events, but for me at least, it does not come up organically. It comes up organically every day in problem-solving because I'm not constantly focusing on finishing a curriculum to ensure that next year's teacher finishes the curriculum to ensure that students pass their BC Calculus class the year after, etc. Whew. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

This year, Honors Problem-Solving Seminar is going strong. The students are all motivated, and best of all, they are funny. They thrive on humor and get excited when I give them just about any problem. Their final exam is to make a Numberphile or Vi Hart type video on any of the following topics:

• Sierpinski's Triangle and the Chaos Game (see picture for a project from two years ago.)
• Koch Snowflake (perimeter and area and...)
• Jacob's Ladder (we did not get to it this year) 
• The Mandelbrot Set
• Math Origami (looks so cool)
• Graph Theory and the 4 color Graph Theorem (usually I get to this in the class, but Hurricane Irma "blew" that away)
• Calendar Math and Cool Mental Math Problems
• The Monty Hall Problem and Marilyn Vos Savant's Column about the Three Children

TED-Ed Class

Next semester, rather than teach a second section of this class, I will be teaching a TED-Ed class. Instead of holding a traditional TED-Ed club after school (because I advise Mu Alpha Theta and JSU already), we will be having it as a class. This is new for me and I'm both frightened and excited. But I feel like this is exactly what I am supposed to be doing next. 

I love the quote: Do something every day that scares you. Yep, that's me! 🙋🏻

I am a mathematics teacher and truly hate public speaking. But I'm a TED-ED Innovative Educator (the only math teacher, I believe), and I have learned how to cultivate the best in my students. So while I do not like to speak publicly, I will show how, through the amazing TED-Ed modules, to give students a "voice with choice"--in other words, what are they passionate about? What is their idea worth spreading?

What is next up for me? I'm proposing that we host a local TEDx event, something I do not know much about. However, there are so many people out there who want to help and have helped tremendously. So in 5 months, we may actually have our students, at all grade levels (we have TED-Ed clubs starting in the Middle and Lower schools), do their very own TED talk in our brand new 180-seat theatre. This is so exciting to me! 

Someone asked me when they heard about it, are YOU giving a TED talk? No, that's not the point. At least not now. This is and always has been about opportunities to showcase our students, not ourselves. 

Our students have so much to say. Much of it could be bottled up and much of it students don't even know how to tap into. But now they will have their own voices and a platform. 

Maybe this is my calling? Well, math teaching was and is my calling...but it's time for something else. And what I love is that I'm not giving up my math teaching...I'm adding to it, in a way that is global and that allows for students to grow. And maybe, just maybe, a student will talk about their love of math at our TEDx event. And then my two worlds will collide.

What's next for you? 

Goodbye 2016

This has been the most trying year for me.

• My 95 year-old grandmother passed away in October, the day after my birthday. She had a long, wonderful life, but we were extremely close, as I lost both parents when I was in college. She was the last living grandparent, and her death finalizes my feeling of being an orphan, as the unconditional love of parents/grandparents is now forever in my past.

• On the day of my grandmother's funeral, my best friend was diagnosed with ALS. I've blogged about this here and here. Debbie's own blog is a tough read, but it's also a way for me to get inside her head and know what she is really going through. Debbie had a colectomy earlier this year as well, and so it's been a very trying year for her, and therefore me. 

• My son left for college, i.e., empty nest, empty room, and empty heart sometimes. There were calls home where he felt better after talking to me, but where I tossed and turned all night, not able to sleep as the worries left him and instead swirled 'round and 'round in my head.

So the math teacher in me can't help but notice and feel that my parent function no longer exists, the downward slope of my friend's deteriorating health is devastating, and as a mother of a college student, one day to the next is completely sinusoidal through the ups and downs of roommates, fraternities, and exams. It feels as though what's above me (parents, grandparents), what's below me (son) and what's side-by-side (friend) is in shambles, and it's more than any sane person can take, let alone me.

Top this off with the fact that my school, the place where I have worked and devoted my life to for the last 22 years (in some ways, also a parent to me), has been going through huge growing pains (to put it lightly), and it's pretty easy to see that I am a bit of a mess. 

But there have been good things. And that's what I really need to focus on. So in no particular order, here goes:

• I have my family under one roof right now and have all the things I ever would really need right now. Including one good cup of coffee, at this very moment. 
• I have traveled. I went to Israel with a women's group and came back with 10 new friends, some of which I keep in touch with every single day. I went to Quebec and Montreal on an Immersion trip with students, and it was also the trip of a lifetime--dog sledding, ice hotel, tobogganing, etc. Two trips of a lifetime in one year ain't so bad, right??
• I became a TED-Ed innovative educator and traveled to NYC for an amazing weekend with a fantastic group of people and am working on an exciting project called Students Teaching Students.
• I work with a great group of colleagues that have stayed strong through our trying year, and I am thankful for them and their strength. Their quick texts or conversations passing in corridors means more than they will ever know.
• I've lost 10+ lbs this year, and kept it off, after trying to lose weight for year...thanks to Elite Fitness.
• I have written two riddles for TED-Ed and am in the process of writing a third. One made the Top 10 Most Popular TED-Ed Animated Videos list!
• My problem-solving course is exciting for me, as I can make it whatever I want, and I love being able to spend time on problems that I never had time to do in the regular curriculum.
• Kindness and love from family members and friends who have reached out to help me during this difficult year. 
• The Haute Yoga studio, and the ability to workout regularly.
• My students, past and present, and my math club, which amazes me that we can keep 60+ students after school every Friday to practice.
• Laughter, though lately I need to get it back into practice. 
• I have helped others to do things that made them feel good about themselves...this always makes me feel good, and I need to do it more. 
• Being connected to an online community where I can see what other teachers are doing around the world at any given moment. And I can share what I am doing as well.
• Stitch Fix and FabFitFun boxes, which have been exciting to come home to. Is this silly to write about? Maybe. But I don't care...it's true. Sometimes, it's the little things.

Resolutions. 

This may be the first year that my resolution is not to lose weight. It never worked anyway. So I am going to try this instead. This is a mind map made by a former Google coach. I'm going to keep mine private. Half of it is blank. I've got some thinking to do today!

Watch the video here:

Here's to a fantastic 2017 to all...whatever you do, make it a great year, with kindness, helping others, and making you the best version of yourself possible.

Can You Solve the Locker Riddle? A Ted-Ed Lesson and How to Write One

Two of my favorite problems have become Ted-Ed riddle videos. I wrote about the Ted-Ed Lesson "Einstein's Riddle" here. I worked with the creator, Dan Van der Vieren, the week before his lesson came out when he taught my class how to solve the Rubik's Cube. I was so impressed with his riddle that I asked him how he was able to create it. He told me about the nomination form, and I filled it out and wrote about the problem that I do every year in my classes, The Locker Problem.

The idea, of course, is not to write out all 1000 lockers, but to create a smaller, similar problem and look for a pattern. I use this to teach my students about tenacity, collaboration, and the value of using the solution to a small problem to solve a bigger one.

Within a few weeks, I heard back and was scheduled for a 30-minute interview with someone from Ted-Ed, and we talked about how to change the problem to have a story line, and having something in the lockers that remain open. I brought it up to my Problem-Solving class, and we ended up making a riddle that would involve having to solve a problem to earn an inheritance. Once that was done, I sat one night and wrote the riddle, very excited that the number of words in the sentence that I wanted in the lockers was ten, and that there were exactly ten lockers open. Often when I give this problem, I ask, "Which lockers are touched exactly twice?" So I threw that piece in their as well. As an author of a Ted-Ed riddle, you also need to come up with 5 multiple-choice questions, 3 open-ended questions, additional resources to explore, and a guided discussion question. 

The people at Ted-Ed are awesome! They are extremely professional and always got back to me within 24 hours, offering advice and helping me with any questions I had. And the animation is THE BEST!! Who cannot love that little girl??

Within a few months, it was up! The idea is that teachers can even customize a lesson of their own with the riddle. Here is the actual link to the entire Ted-Ed page that contains the riddle: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/can-you-solve-the-locker-riddle-lisa-winer.

My students LOVE these riddles, the first five of which can be found here. They beg for more. Do you have a good riddle? Consider nominating yourself and writing one for Ted-Ed. 

Got time to do something outside the box? Ted-Ed is the answer!

I have posted about the Einstein problem before, but this time it just got real!

Dan Van der Vieren (Mr. VDV) is the teacher who recently Skyped with my class twice for an hour and a half each time just so we could learn how to solve the Rubik's Cube (by the way, 63% of us in the class can do it without looking at any video or notes--so far!) just created an awesome Ted-Ed video called "Can you solve 'Einstein's Riddle'?"

It is awesome. I have given this problem before, but this was a great little video that was very fun to watch. The characters, script, and editing make it all the more fun. I played it this morning for my students and paused at the exact moment so they could begin working. This is NOT a puzzle for the meek...but it certainly is a fun one. I don't know if it's true, but the internet boasts that only 2% of people can get the answer to this riddle.

Here's the version I have given:

But Dan's twist is that the fish is stolen...who took it?

Here's some of my students' work:

There's more, but I don't want to show you the answer. It will be fully explained, after the pause when students do work on the problem. It's a great activity, but I do recommend a full class period. If a student wants to give up, do it with them on the board...very fun!!

Great job, Dan!

I blogged about the bridge riddle here--we love Alex Gendler and the narrator! It's another great problem.

And my students enjoyed this variation on the Prisoners Hat Problem.

I hope these keep coming. They are fun and counterintuitive in many cases. They open my students' eyes to problems that I was exposed to at some point, but that they have never seen. I know your students will love them as much as mine did.