#mtbos #SundayFunday #goals

It's been a while since I blogged (obviously) and kind of embarrassing really.  I have such a long history with my blog (well at least it's been open and available - ready for me to use since June 2005-ish).  I enjoy blogging, am not really sure why I don't do it more often.  I ask myself this "why don't you blog more?" and can't come up with a compelling argument.

Honestly, I've had a lot on my plate.  I could cut myself some slack there.  There's a lot going on for me personally and professionally and I could go into detail - but I'll bore you.  Well maybe not, but it makes me mysterious - no?

I think in order to reboot myself I'll have to give myself some permission, some leeway to just hit #pushsend and let the entire internet see my thoughts with only a little bit of editing.  I think that's where I get lost.  I can't speak for anyone else but I can say that I want my posts to have some good substance in them.  I want my blog to be something more.

If you could have only see what my blog used to look like.  I tweaked the HTML code to have some beautiful features.  Then there was an update and I never went back to add them back in.  Maybe I'll do that, but maybe I won't.  See what I'm talking about?  Permission.  It's ok not to have every single feature that I used to have.  It's ok not to make every single blog post a huge production and have a billion or so links to everything.  It's ok and I have to give myself that permission.

I didn't get to go to TMC.  Oh how I wish I could go.  Especially back in time ;).  It seems really fun to go and get ideas.  Those in attendance do such a great job documenting their experience that sometimes it feels like I'm there.  But there is a difference between going to something and just gleaming from others experiences.  But that #pushsend - whoa.  It really did hit Twitter like a ton of bricks.  Well maybe just #mtbos - but that's the community I feel like I belong to.

Do I participate in every twitter chat?  No.

Do I blog about every lesson I teach?  No.

Do I consistently blog? or tweet?  No.

I'm probably one of the worst at being consistent.  I'm the worst at sending out content.  I read and I comment every once in a great while but mostly I read.  I read, have an opinion, read more, change my opinion, read more, change back, and the cycle continues.  I find something, want to try it in my classroom, find it works, keep doing it, find it doesn't work, tweak, keep going until the end of the school year, reflect, plan, rinse, repeat.

But I still feel like I can search up #mtbos and read about things other people are trying and doing.  These are other people who are like me who are doing stuff and documenting it.  Are some of them better at documenting than I am?  Sure they are!  Are some of them strongly-opinion-ed about some things?  Yes!  Do I sometimes feel like a fly on the wall about things?  Certainly.  But I've found some sort of kinship with this group and I love it.

I'm intrigued by this #iteachmath vs. #mtbos debate discussion.

I certainly do teach math.  I think anyone who explains in any depth some relational and rational reasoning skills teaches math.  To me math and logic go hand and hand.  If you use reasoning in any argumentation you somehow tangentially are teaching critical thinking to your audience.  Maybe this stretches the definition a little too much for some people but bear with me here.

I have a blog, am on twitter and sometimes pose questions via the #mtbos.  I'm not sure what it means to be "part" of the community exactly.   Once I found out about #mtbos I did spend some time lurking (just a bit) but the reality was that I also just jumped right in.

My very first tweet:

putting together some elements for my teaching portfolio; anyone have any inspiration for me?

— Vanessa Garcia (@Vanes63) June 9, 2009

My very first use of #mtbos (and it was a retweet nonetheless!):

Easter is Sunday... How many Peeps are made & sold each year? Lets do the math: http://t.co/bniFWvUBRs #mathchat #mtbos #5thchat #pblchat

— Brian Marks (@Yummymath) April 17, 2014

I'd say first authentic use of #mtbos:

Help! Writing a Q where I want Ss 2 sketch a function & verbally explain trans. - it's transformed from a parent function. #MTBoS #mathchat

— Vanessa Garcia (@Vanes63) October 24, 2014

So I can see there's a long history there.  As with some families, if you go for a while you can come back and they will welcome your return.  So this is my return to blogging.  Took a long time to get to my point (as I'm often long-winded) but my goal for this year is to consistently blog.  Even if it's once a week.  I'm going to make sure to #pushsend and give myself permission to not be perfect and not always make sense and not always have substantial amounts of information or whatever.  So here's to making blogging a consistent habit.

Summer Bucket List 2013 - Part 1

In my infinite journeys I have, for some time, neglected writing here :(.  No more, I say.  I am making it a point to get back to blog writing and refocus myself on... well, myself.  

In that spirit, I am going to "enroll" myself and my current boyfriend in the Summer Bucket List Challenge.  I think it will be fun and I think I can keep myself "busy" with all of the in's and out's of doing this on a budget.  Anyone who has read this blog in the past knows that I am a math-minded individual and thus often focus on my own budget.  (Update: since last postings I have paid off my car and am only a few months away from potentially paying off 2, yes 2, credit cards!  Yay!) 

SO, what is the Summer Bucket List Challenge you may ask?  It is a way to make your summer the "best summer ever".  I have to admit, I like the idea of a structure or routine and still having a bit of randomness hidden in there.  Some of the ideas are a bit crafty, which may not be up my boyfriends alley, but I am a very crafty person and I like the idea of taking some of the items on others' lists and making them my own.  I also like the idea of making things so that they help me out in my own classroom next year :) (let's kill 2 birds with 1 stone why don't we?).  

I did find a post on how to make your own Summer Bucket List which I found very interesting.  I've been using that list as a springboard for making my own list.  I do like categorizing different list-items by time because I will be teaching during part of the summer so for 4 weeks I will have a limited amount of time to spend on this and that - as fun as they may be.  

SO, in my next post I will be revealing what I have found to put on my Summer Bucket List.  Are you up for the challenge?  Will you join me in making this summer the best summer ever?  

Oh and did I mention they do some giveaways too?  Make sure to sign-up (it seems like you have to sign-up every week) for their giveaways.  Also, some of the products that are giveaways also have special deals.  I'm kind of psyched about the first giveaway as a potential Valentine's day gift for next year (and I'd get some shopping done in the mean-time!).  Total time-saver, don't you think?  Yay for summer!  

Notes to Self

I really have to make more "me" time during the semester in order to blog.

Blogging is really relaxing for me and in the midst of all the chaos on my life right now - I need to blog.

Today I have my first final in a topology class. I am nervous about what kinds of questions he will be asking. I have to make definition cards for the material before I really do much else. I have a friend who I am supposed to study with today, we studied for a little while yesterday and I thought it went pretty well - but we need to study more because this professor is said to give difficult exams.

The first 2 exams were not terribly horrible, maybe because the material makes sense to me thus far... (but that never really means anything in a math class because you never know how much you understand until you either try to make sure you can make sense of it yourself or try to explain it to another person), but the difficulty of his exams can all change on the final. The final could completely blow me away, or not, it all depends on how prepared I am.

I am especially nervous because I already asked this professor if he would be interested in being my thesis advisor. Even though this is my first year, since masters programs, on average, are completed in 2 years I have to keep my eye on the ball and my head in the game. Knowing how I do research also gives me a good intuition for how long it might take me to finish my degree. To be honest with myself, I have to get started now if I am ever to complete my project and have something to be proud of.

When I say this I do not mean I want to have a ground-breaking research project. Although this is what most people say they want it is an easy road to disappointment. One day I wish to be a real mathematician, right now I am only learning how to do that. I am still learning how to go about approaching proofs, and actually getting somewhere sometimes, I am learning how to read math articles and how to deal with students (my most daunting task) - all of these things, and many more, are training me for what lies beyond this degree (and beyond the Ph.D.). Maybe someday I will find something potentially ground-breaking, for now I just want something acceptable and do-able in the time I have in my masters program.

So, because I really have been working on combating my procrastination (which for the most part, actually has been working this semester) I want to get started at looking at understanding a problem, it does not have to be the problem I will be working at - but any problem would be nice. I want to spend time in the library, figuring things out and reading books and articles. I want to derive conclusions from the materials I seek out, prove conjectures and lemmas. I want to remember why I went into mathematics, if not for at least one day.

Those are my goals for my winter break. I also want to work on revising my syllabus and doing lesson plans, but we all know that piling on too much work over the break is not a good idea lol. I probably will work more on the work-related material than the material I want to work on, but we will see how that goes.

Wish me luck on my final for today, I have another one on Thursday that I will need some small miracle to be able to concentrate for - but that is a post for another day.

Hope everything is going well for everyone and I also hope to post later this week. Grades come in on next Friday so let's cross our fingers for me.