My first TMC

I've been a member, at least an underground one, of the MTBOS for a long time. I sent people to Dan Meyer's site long before he gave a TED talk. I've bungeed a lot of Barbies. My students know who Mr. Stadel is. I had a dream of attending TMC in Philadelphia, but by the time I could make it work, it was full. Then for a few years, I just couldn't make it work with the dates. When TMC16 in Minneapolis was announced, the stars aligned for me. I stalked the @TMathC twitter account for days when registration was about to open. I was so excited that this would be my year.

Truth be told, I am an absolute introvert. My good friends find that hard to believe because it's not apparent when I'm around people that I know well, but I find interacting with strangers difficult, overwhelming, and exhausting. How did I miss the fact that TMC is nothing but interacting with strangers? It is not the type of event where you can walk from workshop to workshop, talk to no one, and check off some PD hours. Every minute of TMC is engaging and dynamic. Even in sessions (especially in sessions?), a good amount of the allotted time is spent working on problems or creating activities with other people. Introverts beware, you will be out of your comfort zone every single second.

Even though I've had an account on Twitter for years, I remained in the shadows. Coming to TMC, I told myself that I would have reason to interact with this community after the fact and planned to do just that. Well, I'm a few months behind. I wish I had engaged in the conversation during the months leading up to TMC so that I wouldn't feel as though I'm in a room with 200 strangers. For me, what's done is done, but that's the advice I'd give to anyone looking to attend in the future.

What initially struck me about the MTBOS at TMC was how friendly people were. I arrived at lunchtime on Saturday with more luggage than anyone would ever need for four days. [Traveling for five weeks straight will do that to you.] Multiple people helped me carry my bags up various flights of stairs or around corners. Lisa, seeing my name tag, stopped me and told me how glad she was that I had arrived. I couldn't believe she knew me by name. I was invited to eat lunch with a group of people by David who was simply holding the door open at Jimmy John's. The openness, willingness to share, and friendly dispositions of all were enchanting. How can this be a real place? It's nothing like the rest of the world. [But what if the rest of the world could be like this?]

I'm supposed to be choosing a #1TMCThing. Like I can pick just one... The thing is, I've been doing a lot of these things for year but going to TMC helped me to do them better.

• My first entry in this blog is about how I finally got my kids to argue in math, but a framework for doing that would be really beneficial. Enter my morning session with Chris and Mattie. I'm taking home a structure to be able to do this much more effectively (probably in theology as well as math). 
• I've been trying to figure out what the heck I could use the 3D printer for in Algebra 1 after having a good time using it with my Geometry kids two years ago. Enter Heather and her incredible idea that involves using Desmos and the 3D printer to create 2D and 3D designs using functions.
• I attended a flex session about Algebra 1 where I learned that #alg1chat is a thing! What? I'd love to join in this conversation on a regular basis especially because I'm the only one who teaches Algebra 1 in my high school. 
• I was inspired by Tracy's keynote about connecting high school and elementary school teachers and how much we need each other. The thing is, in my school, we can do this. We don't have to drive anywhere or get a sub or miss anything. We can see each other in action and learn from each other. We only need the invitation and an end to the fear that keeps us apart. 
• Both Dylan and Glenn talked about fear. Teaching in the iLab last year helped me to overcome a lot of the common fears we have when we talk about opening up our classrooms to other adults. My takeaway is this, be honest with your students, your parents, and your admin. You are not perfect. It would be foolish to expect that you are. We're asking our students to have a growth mindset that we ourselves choose not to have (again, because of fear). 

So I am committing to this: my classroom will be open. In person to any teacher, parent, admin, whoever wants to come by - you are welcome anytime. On the web through this blog and Twitter. I want to share what I am doing in my room because I want to grow as a teacher. My students deserve that. Will I get to do any of the other amazing things I learned about? I hope so. In fact, I'm fairly certain that being open will only lead me to more and better ideas that I ever could have come up with on my own.