Sunday, October 20, 2013

Twitter #MTBoS Mission #2

In the midst of lesson planning hell (another post in the works here) and I've decided to pick up on my #MTBoS missions.
Truthfully, I wasn't going to complete this one.  I have this really weird relationship with Twitter.  I love it for the amazing PD I've gotten from it, yet I feel guilty becuase somtimes I feel like I don't really have anything to contribute.  Well, I guess I didn't until recently.
So let me back up, I am going to admit I didn't follow the formula for the number of activities Justin suggested.  Here is what I actually did:
I did introduce myself using #MTBoS
  1. Hello ! I'm a math teaching momma who loves rock/punk music and pumping iron!
The cool thing was that one of my followers didn't know about the #MTBoS so I was able to share and that made me happy.

Then I found my Twitter history and my first tweet which was on 8/17/11
2011-08-17 14:14:03 +0000 web The countdown is on! Back to school in 11 days...

Pretty cool!  This was before I had my permanent job and I was going back to the district I student taught at as a long term sub.  They offered me a para position right at the same time I got offered my current job in November of that year.  What a strange time that was, I was so unsure about working in a charter school in a really "rough" town that I almost turned it down for a para job!  Now I love my school and my kids and the town I work in that I can't even think of leaving (although $$ wise I really should start looking, as charter schools pay crappy compared to regular public schools.)

Then I tweeted to people I follow and this was where it got uncomfortable!  So, I said "Hi" to Justin since it was his mission :), Heather @Scott22Heather, because she was a mom and taught 8th grade like me and then finally, Robert @RobertKaplinsky since I just found his website http://robertkaplinsky.com/ and really love the problems on it!

According to the formula I was supposed to do 4, and I only did three unless I stop now and go do another one!  Eh what the heck, why not...
LOL that one was easy peasy!  I opened the #MTBoS feed and retweeted something I found compelling:
There is way more to integers than I ever thought of before. Thanks to for getting my brain in complete overload!
and I picked that one since I am in the middle of my Operations with Rational Numbers unit with my 7th graders!  I can't wait to find out what Kathryn was talking about since I am knee deep in integer operations right now!

Ok so I've competed this mission!  I have discovered the value of twitter to my career a long time ago, so this mission has helped me get a little more involved, which makes me happy!

8 comments:

  1. I totally understand your relationship with Twitter - I get the same feeling of gratitude for the PD and yet I wish I contributed more. It's great that these missions get us more involved!

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    1. Yes, I am hoping the missions make us do more Twitter stuff too, besides blogging. I need help with that too during the school year. I end up blogging most during the summer.

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  2. Good for you for jumping in when you feel a bit uncomfortable!

    The fact that you love your kids impresses me greatly. I've taught fifth graders in the past and that was about as old as I can imagine. Middle schools are beyond my comprehension.

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    1. Yeah, I love them "most" of the time. My homeroom kids have me a little mad at them right now. They are brilliant kids but seem to just be throwing away their potential. I want them to be the best they can be and right now they are not putting in the effort. Grrrrr

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  3. Hey:
    Nice to meet you. As with almost everyone I meet in the Blogosphere I have some things in common.
    I taught 7 & 8th grade math for 15 years (I'm now a 4-5 coach).
    I also wonder what my contribution is? I mean people post amazing stuff that I read and implement - and I say thanks (sometimes).
    I have seen some flipped classrooms and haven't quite figured out if I like it or not. But in my low performing middle school last year the 8th grade science team flipped (maybe blended) and got the highest scores on the state test for our district. It works!
    I truly believe twitter will make my work better - I'm still waiting for 1 32 hour day so I can get everything done!!

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    1. Hi! I started my blog as a flipper, but this year I backed off on it even though I still think the idea of a flipped classroom is great. Even more so now that 100% of my kids have internet access. I still do have them watch videos but it is after the lesson for help.

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  4. Yeah!! Welcome! I love your explanation of your tweeting life...your writing is easy to read. And I love that you are another middle school math teacher...yippee!! We can never have too many of those. I look forward to reading more in the future!

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  5. Thanks for reading! I love the #MTBoS and all the math blogs I've been reading too!

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