Mrvaudrey

Category: #MTBoS

  • How I MTBoS [Part 3]

    Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

    Lane Walker tweeted earlier this week.

    She’s not the first to posit that the whole is the sum of its parts (much like b some might say bB an elephant). I shan’t be so bold as to imply that I’m doing it right (more on that later), but I only know what I know.

    To that end, here’s how I engage in the Math Twitter Blogosphere (or #MTBoS for short).

    These are my methods; all are welcome to critique, copy, and hold me accountable toB them.

    Be Vulnerable &B Accessible

    Earlier this week, I was in Utah with John for the Utah Council for Teachers of Mathematics. Sitting next to a woman in the back row of a math-coaching session, we were joking, sharing our thoughts on the day, and chatting about the presenter’s ideas. Things took a turn when she asked what part of Utah I was from.

    Vaudrey: Oh, I’m from Southern California
    Diane: Oh! … Why are you here?
    Vaudrey: I came up for the day to give some workshops and … um… the keynote tonight.

    When I paint myself into a corner and have to make braggy-sounding comments like that, I squirm every time. However, it’s my hope that people who meet me in person are then more likely to see me on stage (or wherever) and feel like we’reB on the same team.

    That’s my favorite part of the Math Twitter Blogosphere. That’s why I attend conferences, volunteer at the booth, give books away to new teachers, and generally want to improve education for as many teachers (and students) as I can.

    Megan Schmidt noted, after returning from Twitter Math Camp 2014:

    Itbs a network of teachers across the country that come together over mathematics, but truly bond over their inherent desire to help all students succeed. And itbs open to anyone who has the desire to be one of the connecting threads.

    That’s why every workshop I give ends with, “And I want to help you with all of this stuff. I offer lifetime technical support on all these items, and herebs my informationB <projects slide on screen>. Contact me if it goes well, if it goes poorly, or if you get stuck.”

    And many do. I get emails on the regular about Desmos, Musical Cues, and Classroom Chef. And several that say, “I joined Twitter for the first time!” Which has been an encouragement from me for years.

    Hear and Engage Varied Viewpoints

    Harry O’Malley holds that subdividing the all-encompassing MTBoS into several dozen smaller hashtags by region and content increase the feeling of belonging. I’m probably not going to do that, for two reasons:

    1.)B It sounds time-consumingB to consult a catalog of that size for every math-related tweet.
    2.) The enormous reach of the hashtag is part of its appeal for me.

    My whole family is straight, middle-class, WASPs. So is most of my church, most of my friends, and most of my colleaguesB at work. All of the above groups care deeply about other perspectives, and I can use Twitter to curate a steady stream of people that are unlike me.

    In addition to math educators who continue to significantly impact my practice, I follow some of the voices in #EduColor and #SoJustEdu. Since I haven’t experienced oppression firsthand, IB must listen when I hear about it, ask questions to understand more, and take action.

    Truth be told, I follow people like crazy, then unfollow them when I feel like my professional journey isn’t being advanced by their message.

    Relatedly, I can peek over the shoulders of many more math teachers byB looking through #MTBoS than looking through dozens of other, more-specific, hashtags.

    Do You, Boo-boo

    AllB eleven years of my career, I’ve had this blog. AllB eleven years of those posts are still up, and I’ll occasionally drift across something I wrote in 2009 that still resonates with me today. The same core of 2009 Mr. Vaudrey hums within my 2017 frame, and it’s my hope that the blog and twitter feed both show an evolution of common values.

    That I’ve always been me, and I’m a little bit betterB me every day.

    Teachers I respect occasionally “lose” followers. So do I. That’s okay. The goal here isn’t to have a loud megaphone but to have a calm discussion that everyone can listen to.

    Blog and tweet true to yourself every time, and stay positive.

    Share, Thank, and “Yes, and…”B Often


    You never know how a small act of kindness will make someone’s day. Relatedly, some of the more interesting additions to my tweeted lesson plans involved someone on Twitter tagging on. I so appreciate that, so now I offer “Yes, and…” to teachers who ask for it.

    Because we all want to feel like our work matters, right? We all want to feel like we’re making a difference, not just for our students, but for education as a whole. So I give out back-pats like I’m Oprah.

    I have a medium-sized megaphone, so I amplify quiet voices.

    Adding to my Routine

    All thisB recent chatter (and b honestly b writing these posts) has gotten me thinking about other ways to make #MTBoS more inviting and more inclusive, so I’m adding these habits:

    1.)B Kate suggested following up any mention of #mtbos with bMath Twitter Blogosphere,b which I think is a fair and accessible suggestion.

    Clue the noobs in. Itbs a kindness.

    2.) I added my name to Mattie’s list, so I’ll be welcoming newbies once a month. I also installed Dan’s Chrome extension that highlights new users.

    3.) And IB followed ExploreMTBoS on Twitter, which b frankly b was long overdue.

    What’s missing here? What have I forgotten?

    ~Matt “Always nearing, never arrived” Vaudrey

  • I belong. You do, too. [Part 2]

    Part 1 here.

    The last day of Twitter Math Camp (yes, that’s a real thing), I sat next to Ellen, who had just finished her first year of teaching. We watched [keynote speaker]B Carl Oliver show data about how the Math Twitter Blogosphere (#MTBoS) has grown and spread over the last few years.

    During a few of our turn-and-talk-to-your-neighbor breaks, I learned about Ellen’s foray into Math Teacher Twitter, her shyness in crowds, and her feelings of inadequacy around such “well-known” and oft-tweeted names. She said this:

    Much has been shared in the last couple weeks about making the online math community more inclusive, and I want to define some terms:

    I take inclusiveB to meanB “a group is welcoming of all who want to join.”

    And relatedly, inviting means “the group is appealing and accessible to those who want to join.”

    One of those is about culture, the other is about marketing.

    Inclusive, but not Inviting

    When I was in high school, I went to a lot of concerts. In a large crowd of sweaty teens in baggy shirts, we jumped together, yelled together, and bumped into each other. Often, we’d leave together and get late-night food with people who were strangers hours earlier, but now bonded through mutual interest.

    I dressed like this, but with more piercings.

    Very few people in IHOP asked my surly crowd of boys, “Hey, can I join you?”

    My new friends b the fellow fans of Five Iron Frenzy or Reel Big Fish b were veryB inclusive, but not veryB inviting.

    Inviting, but not Inclusive

    My daughter (4.7 years old) loves to walk the food court at our local mall. Her favorite part is getting a tiny cup of Jamba Juice or Orange Julius.

    As we walk by, a perky teen in a paper cap asks, “Would you like a PowerBlast ChiaStrength smoothie?”
    “Yes, I would!” responds Pickle, taking the cup.

    She then holds the cup and asks, “What’s your name? My name is Cadence and I really like fun juice like this.”
    The teen says with a firm smile, “My name is Amanda,” then turns to another passerby and asks, “PowerBlast ChiaStrength?”

    Yep. Making that face.

    As I herd my daughter away, I say, “Drink your juice, honey. Let’s go find you a different friend.”

    What confused my daughterB was howB inviting Amanda appeared to be, but b since she was at workB b she wasn’tB inclusive.

    Math Teacher Twitter

    There are … let’s sayB thousandsB … of teachers on Twitter, sharing, discussing, asking questions, and generally bettering each other. For free. It’s decentralized and easily adaptable (a “starfish” organization; more on that here), and has mutated to fit the needs and strengths of teachers.

    In the last month, complaints have surfaced about howB invitingB the community is or isn’t. Immediately, many responded with stories of theB inclusiveB community: hosting events for first-time attendees of TMC, building websites full of resources, and browsing the #mtbos hashtag to offer help and support.

    “We’re not inviting enough.”
    “We’reB totally inclusive!”

    Arguing different things. Tracy noticed this, too.

    Belonging

    While at TMC, I was talking to a fellow attendee. They posit thatB Math Teacher Twitter isB inclusive, but they didn’t care whether or not it wasB inviting.

    “You’re a grown-ass adult. If you want a personalized invite to join a public forum, you gotta suck it up and dive in.”

    While I don’t share the tone, I kinda see the point. And Dan Meyer (arguably the most influential contributor to Math Teacher Twitter) points out we should be the #mtbos we want to see.

    Want an inviting community? Be inviting.
    Want an inclusive community? Be inclusive.

    I’m proud to contribute to the #MTBoS by sharing everything on this site for free (and this site for free), welcoming new people on Twitter (see Dan and MattieB for theirB work for this), sharing free resources in workshops (home and abroad), and welcoming and responding toB every person who tweets to me with an education question.*

    I care about anB inclusive community, so I spend my digital dollars there. TheB invitingB part comes along, and there are steps we can take to make that work, too.

    At some point, teachers that want to get involved will get involved. I’m going to be as inviting as I can (in real life and online), so all teachers can belong to this fantastic community.

    So we can all be b as Ellen said b “one of *these* people.”

    Taylor Belcher threw his figurative hands in the air and wrote, “Fine. It’s a club. And we want you in it.”

    I like that.

    Tomorrow in Part 3, more on how I attempt to be both inclusive and inviting.

    ~Matt “@mrvaudrey” Vaudrey

    *Except white supremacists and ad-bots.

  • What is a Mitt Boss? [Part 1]

     

    “Look at all my mitts! I’m a Mitt Boss!”
    image: Pitch In For Baseball

    Itbs exciting (and a little weird) to subscribe to a group with no membership dues.

    To say, bIbm a part of this group that has no mission statement and no list of members and no president,b is to place on onebs chest a badge written in another language, and be asked to translate that language whenever someone asks about the badge.

    Another analogy:

    My daughter has a book called Seven Blind Mice, which is featured in the video below:

    The weirdest thing about trying to describe to people the #MTBoS (shorthand for Math Twitter Blogopshere) is b at best b a blind mouse giving its best description of what it knows. The wild-and-wooly world of Math Teacher Twitter is vast and far-reaching, and there is no Sunday mouse that can see, understand, and adequately describe the whole as the sum of its parts. No doubt, there are factions and viewpoints that I havenbt seen, being a white, male, blind mouse in Southern California.

    So Ibll define it in terms that I understand, knowing that the other six [thousand] blind mice have their own perspectives.

    Ibm proud of my participation, and herebs how I pitch it in every workshop I give to teachers:

    Now is a great time to be a math teacher. When I began my career over a decade ago, there was no Twitter and very few blogs. If I wanted fresh perspectives or ideas, I had to go door to door for advice.

    And I got a lot of garbage advice.

    Now, I can send a tweet using a few hashtags (they’re like categories for Twitter) and thousands of other math teachers from around the world can interact with me. Itbs like a staff lounge, except I can ignore the grumpies without appearing rude.

    Herebs an example.

    Itbs the middle of my career and Ibm teaching slope. Ibve done it a few times, but itbs just not… landing this year. So I send out a tweet with a few hashtags that I know will get the word out to teachers who will teach my age group. Within 24 hours, I got responses from dozens of teachers across the continent, leaders in math education, the CEOs of curriculum companies, and b most importantly b other math teachers who have better ideas for teaching slope than I do.

    All because I sent out a tweet, asking for advice.

    Now, that community has begun to organize itself, writing books, having a presence at large math conferences, and even hosting their own free event every summer. That group of teachers who care deeply about kids, teaching, and self-improvement calls itself the Math Twitter Blogosphere, mercifully abbreviated the #MTBoS. Everyone say MITT-boss.

    Teachers in attendance: MITT-boss!

    Not all the participants in the MTBoS blog often or at all, not all of them tweet often or at all, but all of them (dramatic pause) want to be the best teacher they can be, (dramatic pause) and thatbs a group that Ibm happy to join.

    And it doesn’t cost anything.

    The hardest part of that pitch is when people say, bSounds great! How do I join?b

    Because we (Americans, Westerners, Educators, etc.) have ideas of bmembershipb that look like this:

    Where therebs some kind of a ring around those who are binsideb and another ring for those who are breally inside.b There are some math teachers on TwitterB who actually feel this wayB and thatbs a real bummer.

    When in reality, the #MTBoS looks more like this sexy visualization of data from Judy Larsen:

    Judy isB a Sunday mouse in this scenario.

    UPDATE 08 August: And she tidily summarized the sentiment here:

    Boom. Perfect.

    Since the group has gotten large enough to have this kind of identity crisis, itbs now having to decide what kind of group it wants to be.

    More on that tomorrow in Part 2.

    ~Matt bGreen Mouseb Vaudrey

    *Okay, Ibm able to embellish a bit since itbs a blog post and not the 7th hour of an intense full-day workshop for math teachers. Check out the thread and sub-threads on that slope tweet, though. Mind-blowing.