Sharing is Caring - #MTBoS

This week's mission is to share something from the MTBoS with a friend or colleague...check! I've been so excited (perhaps overly so) to share what I've been learning and discovering the past several months, and I've been doing just that since day one.

When I'm sending myself email links to great ideas at 2am, I'm often CCing them to a colleague. Or if I've run across an elementary idea I like, I send it on to my husband or good friend that teach 3rd and 4th grade. My favorite opportunity for sharing has been during our school's PLC time. Our math content team is a small group of 5 teachers, and we often have time during PLCs to collaborate. I love having a chance to pull up my most recent find on the Smartboard for us to look at together. For instance, Dan's 3 Act Math files, wonderful Google docs full of useful information, Robert Kaplinsky's site, or Estimation 180. I wish our district's firewall would allow us to peruse people's blogs, Twitter feeds, or Math Munch, but I have to settle for just trying to explain all of the amazing materials and conversations out there. 

I did have a chance during our PD day with the district's math curriculum specialist to share Yummy Math, Desmos, and Mathalicious. Once they got over the names, they were impressed with all the great learning opportunities. We even spent the last hour of that PD working together to choose a 3 Act Math investigation to try in our own classrooms. We spent our time helping each other to set up how we wanted the investigations to look and what kinds of questions we wanted to ask. It was great! As much as I love the online collaboration of the MTBoS, it can't compare with being able to share and have discussions with teachers that work in the same environment as I do. I know that not everyone is this fortunate, so I count my blessings to have the MTBoS AND the more personal relationships that can help me become a better teacher. 

I've honestly lost count of how many MTBoS ideas I've implemented in my own classroom this year! I wouldn't even hesitate to say that being a part of the MTBoS has changed me and my classroom irrevocably. I haven't been this passionate about teaching since student teaching. People in my life and at my school have noticed the change it has made in me. Even some parents at conferences commented on how much they like the changes I've made since I had their older child in previous years. 

It's become a bit of a joke amongst my colleagues that I'm always off on the blogosphere somewhere, but I know that those closest to me understand what a positive experience it has been for me. For example, our district had an amazing PD day with Dr. Adolf Brown, and one of his metaphors was talking about balcony vs. basement people. In essence, being positive and passionate vs. negative and trying to bring others down. Later that day my teacher friends were teasing me about the crazy Twitter world that I've become a bit obsessed with and one teacher said, "Hey, leave her alone, she's happy, she's out on the balcony, I'm jealous!"

The response from another friend was, "Oh I know she's on the balcony...She's so far on the balcony I think I might need to hold on to her belt loops and make sure she doesn't fall off!" That's about the best recommendation I could give to the MTBoS; I would have described myself previously as a wanderer between the balcony door and maybe the first floor, but now I'm enjoying the view from the balcony! I hope my colleagues start using more and more ideas along with me. The ones who have tried various ideas have had nothing but positive feedback. :)