Des-blog

This past week we asked the Desmos fellows to share a resource that they got from a workshop or conference presentation that they found useful, and to describe why the resource was memorable.

We didn’t end up with a particular type of resource that was useful, but rather doing this exercise helped highlight both the types of learning experiences that we value as well as what makes professional learning stick. We draw two main conclusions from this exercise:

1. Our group tended to remember the professional learning experiences where a big idea resonated with us.
   
2. Effective professional development starts by looking at student work. Many of us had been in workshop where we were asked to play the role of a student with the facilitator playing the role of the teacher. The activity debrief included a discussion of the teacher moves and possible teacher moves along with the intent behind each. These discussions helped us connect ideas to our own practice, making it easier to implement in our classrooms.
   

Here are some of our experiences (and resources) that were most memorable:

Supporting Conceptual Understanding

Many of us remembered an experience where we deepened our own understanding of the mathematics we teach, helping us value a conceptual approach to teaching in general.

• Glenn Waddell shared 12 Math Rules that Expire in the Middle Grades that he learned about from an NCTM session.
  
• Dave Sabol attended an Exeter Math Institute session on using origami to teach Euclidian geometry, and has been using such ideas ever since.
  
• During Anna Scholl’s first year of teaching she used materials from the UT Dana Center on connecting multiple representations. This learning experience has stayed with Anna over the years as she continues to incorporate activities where students learn conceptually through discovery.
  

Class Culture and Instructional Strategies

• Jade White has had students using sticky notes to reflect on mistakes and improve understanding, an idea that was inspired by use of sticky notes in workshops during the brainstorming process. She says, “I was curious if I could use stickies in my class as they are used in design when students are working and find a mistake. A new norm in the class is to grab a sticky and resolve the problem on the sticky when they find a mistake in their work. I have found that students have become more comfortable with making mistakes and see them more as a learning experience now.”

• Bob Lochel learned about flipped teaching as part of his participation as a Siemens STEM Fellow. He appreciated the simplicity of the speaker’s message and ideas for what class should look and feel like in a flipped environment. Bob often finds himself coming back to these materials.
• Tony Riehl shared his experience learning to incorporate a new curriculum using 5 Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematics Discussions. His district no longer uses the curriculum, but they regularly incorporate the strategies from this book.
  

What professional learning experiences do you remember best? What made those experiences memorable? Let us know on Twitter @desmos.

The Friday Fave has been thinking about textbook problems recently. There are some excellent ones in the world, but they are far too rare. Most of them (I’m looking at you, bandana dog!) should would benefit from deletion and composting.

But some textbook problems just need to be brought to life.

This week’s Friday Fave—Game, Set, Flat—is an example of such a problem. We don’t just TELL you that the relationship between the number of bounces and the bounce height is a geometric sequence, we SHOW you, and we draw on your experience.

We let you control the tennis ball. You are free to give this graph a try.

And when you do, we’ll show what that looks like in the real world

You can play around, of course, but there’s real work to be done here. Tennis balls must satisfy constraints and it’s your job to make sure they do. You’ll need math for that. With Game, Set, Flat, we’ve built an environment friendly to learning that math. So if you’re teaching exponential decay, or geometric sequences, come take a tour of the tennis ball factory.

When I think of what a professional learning community should be, I point to my experience as part of the Desmos Fellowship.

I would highly encourage any teacher looking to grow in their profession to apply. The Desmos Fellowship community has given me a place to ponder my teaching practices and help me to grow. It has been incredibly helpful to see what other teachers are doing and knowing I can always receive help and feedback from anyone.

We launched the first Desmos Fellowship cohort six months ago. Cohort 1 comprised 39 math teachers spread across the United States from diverse backgrounds, experiences, and interests. We brought them all to San Francisco for a weekend and we’ve continued that work online ever since.

Desmos has benefitted enormously from the Fellowship’s counsel and criticism. Our Fellows receive the first look at every new feature and activity we produce and we fold their input into the public releases. Our company wouldn’t be the same without them.

We’ll be opening applications for Cohort 2 shortly and we think you should apply. We’ll learn lots from you, and we’ll also make sure you get as much as you give. For example:

Access to the best resources, collaboration and feedback.

Fellows receive membership in a private Slack channel where some of the sharpest educators gather to trade awesome activities and resources.

If you haven’t tried Jenn Vadnais’ Mini Golf Marbleslides on coordinate graphing, you should. All 6th grade teachers in my district did it in PD last month in anticipation of their graphing unit and I am now getting giddy daily emails from various teachers with how much they love it.

Conversations around pedagogy and purposeful use of technology.

Desmos Fellows share more than great activities. We select Fellows who demonstrate capacity in technology and pedagogy, but who also demonstrate a willingness to learn and to help others learn. The result is a chat channel full of people who help each other daily become better teachers and coaches. You’ll now find them featured at state and national conferences and in positions of leadership at their schools and districts.

I’m super excited that our Director of Schools has decided that Activity Builder should be a tool used as part of our district-wide equity strategies. I did an activity with the school board last week were board members literally interrupted me with “WOW!” more than once.

Community

Teaching is difficult work that gets easier and more satisfying as the community surrounding you grows stronger. Desmos wants to support exactly that kind of community, taking interesting educators and supporting their growth.

Being connected to so many teachers via Desmos has been one of the best continual professional development activities. Each day, some how, makes me love teaching math just a little bit more.

And More

• Early access to our newest features and activities.
• An all expenses paid trip to Desmos HQ in San Francisco to meet some of the most passionate and interesting math teachers around.
• A chance to join the Desmos team and earn income as a Desmos Certified Presenter.
  

Interested in joining Cohort 2 of the Desmos Fellowship? Stay tuned for announcements on the Des-blog or Twitter.