So without any fanfare, here are my answers to her questions:
1. What hooked you on reading the blogs? Was it a particular post or person? Was it an initiative by the nice MTBoS folks? A colleague in your building got you into it? Desperation?
Actually, Kate got me hooked on blogs. I was already a fan of Twitter (remember this was a LONG time ago), and that was my comfort zone. However, my department chair came by my room one day and politely told me that my former students (now in her precalc/trig class) kinda sucked at logarithms. That made me panic - I'd avoided logarithms because it was my Achilles Heel in college (I actually got thrown out of Calculus for being "sassy" about logarithms. My professor was a jerk, and I retaliated). I knew I didn't understand them and I also knew that the dept chair was politely telling me that I'd better figure out a way to do it right. I searched Google until I was sick of logarithms and yet I still didn't understand them any more than when I started. When I finally sent out an S.O.S. on Twitter, someone mentioned Kate's blog post about introducing logarithms . Once I read it, something clicked. Those of you familiar with logarithms might be asking, "What the heck was the problem? Those are easy." Well, I know that NOW, but until I read Kate's blog, I honest to God didn't understand what the heck a logarithm even was. I was inspired and used her blog in my lesson plans that semester. The day I taught logs, I started with my story on why I was so afraid of logs and how difficult they were for me. But I did it like "Random Story Time" with no indication of what that story had to do with that day's lesson. I didn't even give them any indication that they were learning logarithms that day. About 20 minutes into class, we finally made the connection to powers and logarithms. And I when students finally made the connection that it took me 10+ years to make, I swear I almost cried. And then they said, "THIS is what you got kicked out of class for? But this is so easy! Can you show us what they're for?" And that was probably the proudest moment of my teaching career - teaching my students something that had always been a challenge for me to understand and teaching it WELL.
2. What keeps you coming back? What's the biggest thing you get out of reading and/or commenting?
I love getting new and different ideas for different concepts. I also am intrigued by what goes on in classrooms across the world. I get ideas about mathematics, classroom management, student engagement, assessment, and it gives me an opportunity to really question what I think about education and mathematics. I'm no longer in the classroom, but that makes it even better. Having access to blogs gives me a global math department to pull from for resources for teachers K-12. BTW, I don't comment on blog posts as much as I should (I usually send a shoutout via Twitter), and I need to do a better job of that.
3. If you write, why do you write? What's the biggest thing you get out of it?
I don't think I "get" anything out of my own blogging except it gives me an opportunity to get the thoughts out of my head that keep me awake at night. Something about typing them on my blog gives me an opportunity to clear out the cobwebs (and sometimes unleash the guilt). I don't really care if anyone reads it - blogging is more for me than anyone else. I'm not expecting anyone to read it when I do.
4. If you chose to enter a room where I was going to talk about blogging for an hour (or however long you could stand it), what would you hope to be hearing from me? MTBoS cheerleading and/or tourism? How-to's? Stories?
First of all, I WILL be in NOLA on the front row (I dare security and/or Karim/Dan Meyer/Eli to try and stop me) for this presentation. I am personally curious about why YOU started blogging, and answers to some of the questions you asked us. I love stories, so I wouldn't mind hearing the stories of the bloggers that inspire you and how that has led to the amazing friendships we now have globally through MTBoS. And at the end, maybe a "how to" for people who wonder how to even get started. I am bringing the most amazing teacher from a small school in our district who I am begging to blog, but she says she's not special and has nothing to offer the way you guys do. I strongly disagree, and would love for her to walk away thinking, "Maybe I COULD give this blogging thing a try..."
Regardless of what you do in that hour, I look forward to seeing you again and will try to contain that excitement from the front row.
....but I can't promise I won't whistle at you. ;)
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