The Other Side of the Equation: A story of Life, Love, and Math...

This week has been one of feeding the mind and feeding the heart. Over a week ago I left Portland to attend the SchoologyNEXT Conference with some work colleagues. Schoology is a learning platform that is being used in my school district this next year. It allows you to create courses for students and give them access to all classroom resources as well as post videos, create classroom discussions, etc. It's like Facebook, YouTube, and a website all rolled into one. I am both excited and overwhelmed to begin this new educational journey. Today I begin this path... The second half of the week, I went to the 2015 MTM-CNM Family Conference, where I spent five wonderful days reuniting with my "family." I only put family in quotes because technically they aren't related to me, but they are the family of my heart. They understand our ups and downs...they celebrate our small improvements, mourn losses. These are the people I can bare my whole soul with, my fears, my joys. I

Today was the end of Ninth Grade Counts, the program I have been teaching for the last four weeks. It was a celebration as well as time for me to think about what has been accomplished. Students have had opportunities to grow, as people and as students.  Most of them are ready to start school in the fall, ready to take on the next step of their academic and personal journey. In some ways being with them this last four weeks is also preparing me for the next step of my journey as well.  I am teaching all freshman...a thought that made me shiver last spring. These students were quite different than last year...kinder, more considerate. I am looking forward to helping them move forward toward academic success. It's days like today that reminds me why I love my job...helping young people move forward with their academic and personal success! I am pretty flipping excited...I'm not going to lie!

When I started this blog a few years ago, it was really a way for me to process.  People might find it confusing...I am a math teacher, yet I love to write and actually find it therapeutic. Sometimes my thoughts are too big inside my head and I don't know what to do or say, so I write. The daughter of an English teacher, reading and writing was a part of my life. I was never one to write in a diary, although I was envious of those who did. I always admired that some could go back in the history of their thoughts and see where they were during different times of their life. Reliving their history one page at a time. This blog has become that diary, of sorts, with the ability to go back and see where I was and where I am. I look back on these last few years, my journey, both the one with the Littlest and the ones without him.  So much has happened...it is almost overwhelming to read over it all, pulling the scabs off the wounds and re-experiencing the pain. Some of the moments ov

This has been one of those weird weeks...maybe it's the heat that has my brain flying all over the place. Every day I look at my sweet boy and fight the conflicting feelings of joy and sorrow.  Part of me feels selfish...I have nothing to complain about...my son is alive, but I am in mourning over the boy he was, the boy he is now, what he has lost. Each day is a struggle. He can't swallow, can barely move his hands or turn his head. I try not to focus on what he can't do but rather what he can do or has learned to do since he came home... He can smile (he learned again), he can put his lips together for a kiss. He is happy... The last thirteen years have been a roller coaster of emotions. It has been a series of times where I have mourned accomplishments he would never make, trying to keep in mind that his mere survival was a miracle in itself. People kept reminding me how lucky we were whether through direct comments or innuendos...reminders that I should be grateful, n

The last few days have been ones where I have been doing some really deep thinking about who I am, where I fit, what I think. I have been taking some classes recently. One about diversity and another on language acquisition and it has been really making me reflect on my own thoughts and ideas about equity, equality and my view of the world. My Facebook feed has been filled with rainbows and photos of many of my friends who are celebrating that all are able to marry. Friends that can now feel relieved that their marriage will be recognized regardless of where they may travel within the US. Yesterday photos of American flag superimposed over pictures began to appear. First it was from some that I thought may not be thrilled with the Supreme Court's ruling, but then there were others. What was this for? Hatred? Standing against? Or (as someone aptly said today)...the Fourth of July? (Shannon face palms!) Regardless of the background, it did make me pause...Where are we? Where are