Mathy Math Mom

March 4, 2017 (FINALLY posted April 28, 2017)       So when Dan Meyer calls you out for not blogging saying "your a blog has gone dormant", you decide that it's time to pick it up again :-)   I have been having trouble deciding what to blog about. In my position (Instructional Coach aka. TOSA) I feel like if I'm not careful, I will start to complain which is unprofessional. I was having trouble balancing this feeling with talking about what is meaningful to me.  However, just because my blog has been silent, doesn't mean I haven't been busy! Over the past few months I had the opportunity to do a webinar through West Ed and the California Department of Education. The webinar series was called "Speaking and Listening" and I was asked to present with a focus on mathematics. My great friend, Meg Rowe ( Arithmetallk ) joined me in this endeavor and it was an amazing experience. Here is the archive:  Calculating the Gift of Gab for Literacy in S

November 11, 2016 (posted April 28, 2017<---oops) Last weekend I had the amazing opportunity to attend CMC South. It was invigorating ! Not only did meet many illustrious educators, I got to hear them speak about their passions, successes, and failures during their journey. Many sessions mentioned number talks, one of which by Dan Luevanos (@danluevanos) from San Diego, CA. He gave several awesome secondary examples of number talks using clothesline math. Essentially, it is an interactive double number line. He challenged us to decide if we had a true conceptual understanding of concepts such as systems of equations using elimination, distributive property, and sale price. Obviously I do....right? This picture is an example of solving systems of equations by elimination. No calculations, no writing. Mind blown! Anyway, I needed to try this out ASAP. The opportunity presented itself today at a principal's meeting. We were trying to give our principal's an