“I know that the best professional development is simply time to connect and network with other math teachers. I don’t need a program. I don’t need a PLC. I just need to regularly meet with enthusiastic teacher learners.” – Sara Van Der Werf, current MCTM president
I wanted to echo what I read in Sara’s article in the MCTM Math Bits this month. She speaks to many of us who feel the day to day isolation of teaching. We are not like many of our peers who lunch with, meet with, collaborate with, and sit next to their colleagues. We shut our doors (many of us do it for the sake of keep noise out) and teach children. We are lucky to talk to an adult for a minute between classes or passing by, let alone be able to spend 10 minutes of our lunch time with our colleagues.
This isolation is a reason why I am so excited to meet and network with math teachers in any situation. The connection I feel with other math teachers drives me to continue teaching with enthusiasm and to power through tough days. They are the ones who understand why I no longer teach FOIL, even though it’s what many of my non-math teacher friends remember from their high school math. They are the ones who get excited with me about new activities on Desmos. They are the ones who try to dissect why we “keep, change, flip” when dividing fractions. They are the ones who support my endeavors into using algebra tiles all year.
Where do you find people who continue to help you keep the excitement in teaching?Where do you find people who are not your PLC and are the ears you need? Where do you find people who understand what you do on a day to day basis?
Stay connected with through these events:
CONNECT Night Duluth – April 27th 7pm-9pm RSVP
CONNECT Math Mixer – Sept 2017 Time and Place are TBD
There will be more to come in the near future.
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