CAMT 2013 - Day 1

This was my first year at CAMT and I had a blast. There was so much good information that I was easily on overload at the end of day one. It's so hard to process so much good information, especially in the midst of reading a book and all the ideas I already had for next school year. Shout out to my co-workers and friends, Mikayla, Elaine, and Samantha, who I tagged along with for the conference! Thanks for not disowning me! :)

I have to start by saying how much of a Dan Meyer groupie I am. I've been following his blog and twitter feed for quite a while. When I heard he was speaking at CAMT, I decided I was going even if my school didn't pay for it, because I had to hear him speak. And he did not disappoint. He was engaging and funny and I had to snag a picture with him. (I resisted the urge to crop my friends Trista and Ashley out of the picture!) It's not the best quality, but I was super stoked.

Dan Meyer - Capturing, Sharing, & Resolving Perplexity

Perplexity is not boredom, confusion, or engagement. Perplexity is not knowing, wanting to know, and thinking that knowing is powerful.

Engaging vs. Perplexity

Engaging - The longest one syllable word is... (I won't tell you)

Perplexing - What is the longest one syllable word?

Figure out your Ed tech manifesto. For now, you can borrow Dan's which is: 

1. Capture Perplexity.
2. Share Perplexity. 

3. Resolve Perplexity.

Dan lets this Ed tech manifesto  determine the tech tools he uses. He uses tools to help him to:

Capture (Internet, RSS feed,social bookmarking tool, keepvid, etc.)

Share (laptop, projector, speakership document camera)

Resolve (do the math)

Instead of going from math standard to perplexity, flip and go from perplexity to math standard.

Dan shared a site with resources he referred to in his presentations. (http://camt13.mrmeyer.com/) I love how he shared tools he used and why he uses them, but left figuring out how to use them to us. I encourage you to browse through the links. Some of my favorites are What if Everyone in Canada Flushed at Once, Playing Catchup, Short Yellow Lights, and Three-ActMath Tasks.

Now, I had not heard of Max Ray before CAMT, but I was familiar with The Math Forum @ Drexel (which he is a contributor) and I had heard of Ignite Talks, where presenters share their personal and professional passions, using 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds for a total of just five minutes. Max's Ignite Talk below served as the inspiartion fo the session I attended.

Max Ray - When 2 > 4

Listening TO students is greater than listening FOR a right answer.

Present math scenarios rather than math problems with questions. Without the questions, students make a chart of "I notice" and "I wonder." All students can notice and wonder, and then contribute to a conversation and no one is incorrect. The question that goes with your math scenario will often be brought up by students in the "I wonder" column. You can then solve that problem or others that were generated by the students.

Give students feedback using the same stems, "I notice..." (something good about the work) and "I wonder..." (a question to guide student thinking).

Grades cancel out the power of written feedback. If both are on a paper, most students will look at the grade and not the feedback. Choose one, grades or feedback for each assignment.

I went to other sessions, but these are the ones that have me thinking the most about the way I teach. I'm reading the book Minds on Mathematics by Wendy Ward Hoffer and these two sessions directly related to some of the components I've been pondering:

Giving students challenging math tasks (Ch 3 of Book Study)

Encourage sharing and reflection / student discourse (Ch 5 of Book Study)
I love how some of the things I'm reading were reinforced in some of the sessions I attended.

Such good information...and that was only day one! Stay tuned for recaps of days two and three!