#GAFESummit Reflection

Monday was my first official day of summer.  It also happened to be the day that my school was hosting its first ever #GAFESummit.  The GAFE Summit is a day of training in Google Apps For Education provided by the Ed Tech Team.  If you ever have the opportunity to attend a GAFE Summit, I strong recommend going.

We had four sessions to fill our day.  My first session was dedicated to using Google Calendar.  If you haven't figured it out by now, my school uses Google apps for just about everything.  We've been using Google Calendar ever since I started working there, but I never totally understood how it worked.  I was always worried that if I added my own appointments on the calendar it would appear for the whole school to see, or that if I made a change it would mess things up for the whole school.  I learned to make new calendars for my own purposes.  I made a calendar for all of my appointments, etc. to help me keep track of what I've done for my evaluation.  I made calendars for all of my classes.  I shared these calendars with my co-teacher so we can stay on the same page of what is being taught and when.  I have a Google Site for my Regents Geometry class, and I figured out how to embed the calendar for that class into my website.  I plan on keeping track of lessons, homework, and tests on the calendar.  It will be helpful to both students and parents.  We also learned how to create appointment slots so others can sign up for time on your calendar.  I cannot see actually using this strategy just yet though.  The Google Calendar session was my favorite by far.

My second session was on how to "Save Time with Google Extensions".  I've known about extensions from a conference I previously attended, but was hoping to learn about some new ones.  (FYI:  Google Extensions are add-ons for your Google Chrome browser.)
The five main suggested extensions are:

• Google Dictionary, 
• Google Docs Quick Create, 
• Share to Google Classroom, 
• Ad Block Plus, and 
• Google Calendar Chrome Extension

Here are some of the other extensions I'm excited to try:

• Nimbus Screenshot and Screencast, 
• goo.gl URL Shortner, 
• Google Translate, and
• Honey (an online shopping app)

My third session was "Supporting Community with Google".  I was really excited for this session, but was disappointed by the fact that my school does not have 2 of the 4 methods enabled.
The four ways to use Google to reach out to communities are through:

• Google+ Communities (It's the Google version of a social network)
• Google Groups (Communicate with groups that you arrange)
• Google Sites (I already have this set up, and I love using it.  I just wish my students would use it as often)
• Google Spaces (I don't know much about this because we weren't able to access it during the session)

I'm really interested in using Google+, but since it's a lesser used social network, I am considering creating a class Twitter or Instagram to share what's going on in class with parents.  Our presenter told us about how much his parents love when he posts photos of what they did that day.  The benefit of Google+ is that it is monitored by our district, so I wouldn't have anything major to worry about.  It is also a more professional platform, in my opinion.  Using Twitter or Instagram is easier for students/parents to access, but is a little nerve-wracking because it is not a website that the district can monitor.  I would have to worry about interactions on those sites with parents or students, especially those that can happen "privately".  To be honest, I'm not sure exactly what I am afraid of, but it was beaten into me during my undergrad that you cannot interact with students and parents on social media.  I would have to have a discussion with my administration if I wanted to pursue this.

My fourth session was dedicated to using Google Search.  We learned all kinds of shortcuts to find what we are really looking for when we search.  It was very informative, but really did not need a full hour dedicated to the topic.

My only gripe is that I feel I missed so much by not being able to attend every session.  I'm hoping my school is able to host again in the future so I can learn more.  I didn't get to attend any of the Google Classroom sessions, and I really want to learn about using Google Classroom.

The day ended with a Demo Slam.  Each presenter had a 3 minute time limit to show how to use an app or an extension.  I loved the demo slam.  In less than 15 minutes we learned about creating an animation with Google Photos, how to use Google Keep, how to eliminate choices in Google Forms (after it has been selected a certain number of times), and more.

Overall it was an awesome way to spend a day, and a great start to a productive summer.

My First Year as a Math Team Coach

This year our school's Senior High Math Team fell in my lap.  The experience was interesting and enlightening.

The way the math team works in our school is that it is part of a large Math League comprised of 4 neighboring counties.  The league is broken down into 6 sections of neighboring schools.  Each month (October through February) a school hosts their section's competition.  Each competition is broken down into an individual round and a team or relay round.  During the individual round, students have 10 minutes to answer two questions from Algebra, 10 minutes for two questions from Geometry, and 10 minutes to answer questions from Algebra 2.  The team or relay round is also for 10 minutes.  Individuals and teams earn 1 point for each correct answer.  No partial credit; it's either right or wrong.

After 5 regular meets, we have a sectional meet for each team that places first in their section.  Then we have the state meet.  The state meet is for all of the Math Leagues in New York State.  Our league puts together the top 20-something students and creates an A team, a B team, and a team of alternates.

For the first time ever, a student from our school made it to states!  This student is particularly brilliant and he is the heart of our team.  He works very hard and is dedicated to learning.  Our school is very proud of him.

During the season our team met every Wednesday (or at least tried to), and the students worked together to solve problems from past competitions.  I helped students as much as I could, but much of the time I felt unequipped.  It wasn't until the state meet that I realized why.  I didn't grow up enjoying math.  I never spent any of my free time doing math for fun.  Ever.  At least not like this.

One of my goals for this summer to spend some time studying math just for fun.  There are some Algebra 2 topics I should brush up on, I've missed doing calculus (it wasn't until high school calculus that I discovered my love for math), and I've always wanted to learn Number Theory.  It's weird, but since graduating college and becoming a teacher I feel like I've been getting dumber when it comes to math.  I'm hoping that my efforts will help me be a better math coach.

Passing the Test

Sorry if the title of this post has led you to believe that I am sharing some sort of secret to ensure test success.  This is not that post.  This is the post that I have been wanting to write for months, but didn't know how to say it or even how to start.

Year 4 has been my worst teaching year in my short career.  It's hard for me to pinpoint why exactly.  I was definitely in a funk all of last summer, exhausted much of the time despite the amount of rest I had.  I started the school year in a bit of a funk as well.  The strangest part is that I finally began to accomplish the work-life balance I've been longing for since I started teaching.  For the first time, I did not have to share my classroom with another teacher, and it was amazing.  I had two prep periods where I was actually able to prep.  I was finally able to re-use much of what I created and curated in the past.  And, I was finally able to shut my "teacher-brain" off when I was home, and take a break from thinking about work.  I had less work to do on nights and over weekends.  I still had work to do at home, but there was definitely less of it.  This year, I felt much more comfortable and confident in teaching my content.  I'm excited to spend this summer and next year really improving and perfecting how to teach each topic.

I know that  a definite part of why my year was so miserable was the student population I worked with this year.  I had about 20 students that really weren't ready for Geometry, that either barely made it through Algebra or didn't really make it through Algebra at all.  (Our school will allow students to continue on in math if they've received credit for Algebra, but didn't pass the Algebra Regents.  These students are then expected to pass the Regents in January, but without any real test prep.)  These students should not have been placed in Common Core Regents Geometry, and they did not want to be there.  These students have fought me just about every step of the way, and all I could do was try to make the best of it.

One of my greatest strengths as a teacher has been the bond that I create with my students.  I thought I completely failed at this aspect this year.  I have not felt close to my new students at all.  I was very surprised when in the last two weeks they asked me if I would be chaperoning their prom and senior trip (which is 1 and 2 years away).  I guess I haven't complete failed after all.

Throughout most of the year, I've felt totally and completely emotionally drained and exhausted.  Recently, I've been experiencing nausea on a daily basis, and I went to the doctor to find out that I am physically fine, and that my symptoms are just caused by stress.  I have been experiencing teacher burnout.  If you don't know about or understand teacher burnout, you can read about it here.  I know that burnout has negatively effected my teaching this year and my teacher-student relationships.  In the past few months, I've felt as though the figurative dark clouds have begun passing on.  I'm not sure what exactly it is that I've done to recover.  If I figure it out, I will write a post about it.  Maybe it's because summer is almost here, and tomorrow is my last day with the kids.  Maybe it's because I've accepted my situation and decided to try to make the best of it.  I don't know.  What I do know is that I've been tested this year.  I've had many days when I questioned becoming a teacher or thought about what I could do instead that would make me as happy as I was initially.  However, I know that I want to continue teaching, and I don't want to give it up.  I see this as passing a major test in my career.  No other career will allow me to share my love of mathematics with the students that I enjoy working with, and allow me to be creative.  This is still the career for me.