It is astonishing at how quickly time can pass. Exactly one week ago, I was in San Francisco, CA, about to embark on what would be the most humbling and exhilarating experience of my professional career. To provide you with some context and doing my best Thanos impersonation, rewinding the hands of time to April, I was informed that I had been selected to join the third cohort of the Desmos Fellowship Program. So last Thursday evening I boarded a 5:45 flight out of Newark International and headed to San Francisco, California where I did a little bit of sightseeing, a whole lot of learning, and oddly enough, found myself in the wrong room at the right time.
Anticipatory Set
In the weeks leading up to Fellows weekend, members of the new cohort, the Desmos team, and previous Fellows who would be attending, communicated via Slack using weekly prompts to get to know one another and grow. The conversation was rich and entertaining – the excitement was palpable even through the internet!
With all of my roles within my organization, I usually don’t get to experience society’s view of a “teacher’s summer” so I took full advantage of this opportunity to do a little exploring and sightseeing prior to the meeting of the minds on Friday at 4. Thanks, Desmos!
A few months back, I began a series #WellTravelED offering some tips and tricks on how to go on amazing vacations on a teacher’s salary. This is one of those ways. There are a ton of educational companies and organizations offering fellowship opportunities for you to be a part of – all you have to do is apply!
I hit the ground running at 7:30 AM Friday morning, eager to visit many of the iconic locations in San Francisco. I am a HUGE Full House fan so first up on my agenda was starting my day just like the introduction credits at the Painted Ladies!
Next up on the agenda was the Golden Gate Bridge but if I could insert some insider knowledge, I recommend starting at Baker Beach where you can hike the Batteries to Bluffs trail, a segment of the California Coastal Trail. It yielded some truly spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean and the rugged cliffs along the California Coast. After about an hour or so, I had finally reached the coveted Golden Gate Bridge. Happy to admit that there was a significant amount of fog so I was able to get the true San Franciscan experience!
At this point, I had been exploring for about 4 hours and lunchtime was steadily approaching so I reached out to my roommate for the weekend about grabbing some lunch at Fisherman’s Wharf. Before I made my way there I had to make a pit-stop to see the Tanner’s!
I don’t think anyone was home when I got there though…bummer. Anyway, as I made my way from the Full House house to Fisherman’s Wharf my Uber driver decided to take me on the visitor’s route and I was able to take in a stunning view and experience the angular nightmare that is Lombard street. I met up with Jay and Nikki, two phenomenal Hawaiian mathematics educators where we shared some great seafood and conversation prior to heading over to HQ.
Heart of the Lesson
When we first arrived at Desmos HQ on Friday afternoon, I noticed an extremely tall man, none other than Dan Meyer, standing at the door greeting each of us as we entered. He’s much taller in person. I was one of the earlier arrivals because my roommate, Jay, had to report slightly earlier to help set up. Upon entering the one floor that encompasses this amazing company, the first thing that caught my attention was their design philosophy, to which we came to learn, grounds every single decision they make. At their core, Desmos wants to ensure that students and teachers have access to the best free in-class resource. It is beatifically pure.
Lost in thought about their design philosophy, the room quickly began to fill as did the energy and excitement for what was to come that weekend. A rough guess would put the cumulative amount of experience in the room at easily over 1000 years whereas I was entering the room at four. Whoa, talk about overwhelming and feeling like I was in the wrong room. I shook off my initial uncertainties and did what I do best, mixed and mingled, eager to learn! Day one began with a warm and heartfelt introduction from Shelley and segued into a “Math & Mingle” where we meandered around the room engaging with our newfound colleagues over a set of mathematical challenges and getting to know each other more informally. The night concluded and we headed back to the hotel to grab a few drinks and continue the conversation.
In case you’re wondering, only four people asked where my bow-tie was…
Day 2 began promptly at 8 AM to which I showed up to HQ sporting a very for the occasion pi bow-tie and my staple New York Yankees cap! We tipped off with Dan leading us through the Graphing Stories activity and the activity builder principles that govern the activities Desmos designs. He prompted all of us to consider how we provide feedback to students – distinguishing between ego-oriented versus task-oriented feedback – to maximize the levels of learning our students can experience. Thank god he used the anonymize feature of the Desmos platform because he decided to use my response to spark this discussion on feedback. Talk about nerve-wracking but absolutely insightful to see how and why my response was being critiqued and how to foster this conversation from the vantage point of the facilitator.
Next up, Shelley and Jenny walked us through the Desmos design process as the primary focus for the weekend was creating an activity using the Activity Builder. Initially, the design process was intense and at times overwhelming but understanding how intentional Desmos is with every decision in creating their activities inspired me to continuously question each decision I was making and to not lower my expectations.
Following the design process, Chris “Mr. Miyagi” Danielson led us on a very brief tour into the wonderful world of computation layer. If you’re interested in learning about the Mr. Miyagi pun, make sure you apply to hear it from the Sensei himself! Having released computation layer to the general public in April, many of the fellows had already established a working knowledge of the language (not me!) which allows users to construct or edit the features and activities with code. My biggest takeaway from Chris’s very brief session was to not become fixated on learning “how” to code but on how to maximize the power that comes along with CL.
The guy that does nothing (his words, not mine), Eli Luberoff, gave an entertaining and inspirational keynote during lunchtime about the history, mission, and vision of Desmos. While he claims to do nothing, I don’t buy it. The man embodies what it means to be a leader. He spoke at great length about each member of the Desmos team, emphasizing the significance of their importance to the work Desmos is doing. It was also humbling and insightful to see firsthand the voluminous growth of the company and understand its fixation on “opening the doors to the ever-exclusive mathematics club” and it’s philosophy on helping every student learn math and love learning math.
At its best, mathematics is equity, power, and justice.
We broke into working sessions after lunch to which I joined a group of educators who were interested in discussing incorporating Desmos into the Illustrative Mathematics curriculum. Shortly after, I attended another session on assessing students using the Desmos Activity Builder by Julie Reulbach. It was enlightening and empowering to be in a room with like-minded educators who were eager to create a much more rich, dynamic learning environment for their students. I left the session with way too many ideas…or maybe not enough. *Shrugs shoulders*
To conclude, Desmos is definitely attuned to the importance of creating a relaxing atmosphere and building community so they hosted a happy hour with some Desmos trivia to conclude a day of learning. While my “Go For Gold” squad didn’t take home the top spot and a signed headshot of Denis, it brings a smile to my face thinking of that moment, a bunch of dedicated educators finding some time to disconnect and enjoy each other’s company
Even though HQ was shutting down for the evening, Desmos had reserved a school bus for us at the Soma Street Food Trucks, a space for food, friends, and conversations. While we were engrossed in learning as much as Desmos could possibly throw at us, it was awesome to get a chance to sit back, disconnect from the world of education for a few hours, and remember what it’s like when we turn off our educator switch. Interestingly enough, I came to find out that Eli is a huge soccer fan and player! I invited him to come and play on my Jersey team if he ever finds himself on the East Coast.
Day 3 started off with some lighthearted fun as Dan heckled me for not wearing another bow-tie and ordered me to return to the hotel immediately and not return until I had found a new one. Mission accomplished. Sidebar: I like to think me and my roomie, Jay (in the middle), looked pretty comfortable in our Sunday finest. Oh and you know we had to stream part of the world cup final! Jocelyn was quite pleased that France won…I wonder why?
Anyway, the learning on day three was kicked off as Michael led us the Charge! Activity to model the facilitation the Desmos team is looking for if we, as fellows, are looking to become certified Desmos presenters. Being someone that enjoys analyzing professional development experiences, I was blown away at Michael’s authentic performance and by the end, my notebook was filled with a bunch of moves that I had picked up along the way. Chris finished off the presentation by igniting a discussion about how technology helps and hinders the solution and grounding every technology decision in mathematics pedagogy. We segued into breakout sessions where I gravitated towards the session on designing professional development that maximizes resources and teacher learning. I was once again blown away by the fluidity and adaptability that Bob and Steph displayed as they led us through their session. The last part of the fellowship experience was to add any last-minute touches on an activity we had created (or started to create) and do a show and tell to get feedback from one another on how to make them better. They’re BIG on feedback, you couldn’t tell? The activities that my newfound colleagues had created were mind-numbingly BRILLIANT!
As is the case with any sound professional development experience, we concluded the weekend of learning with reflection, sharing it with our newfound Desmos family, and taking a family photo. Oh, and we got a swag bag and that iconic green Desmos polo! O-FFICIAL!
Closure
It’s been a week since the fellowship and I’m still trying to wrap my head around the transformative opportunity that I had the pleasure of participating in. I suppose it’s a great time to allude to my blog title! I just finished up my fourth year as an educator and as I had mentioned previously, there was a WEALTH of knowledge and experience in the fellowship and on the Desmos team. Being selected for this year’s fellowship was an incredible opportunity that I’ll forever be grateful for. There were a few times, however, where I felt my inexperience was certainly a drawback. You see, my incessant work ethic and extremely high personal expectations have often translated into my colleagues turning to me for information, guidance, and support. Participating in this fellowship was the first time in a very long time that I was far from the center of my comfort zone, which I knew was going to be great for my growth, but difficult to adapt to in the moment. I know I have a long way to go before I consider my mathematical pedagogy adept. Apparently, my personal thoughts regarding my contributions to the fellowship escaped my inner sanctum unknowingly in a conversation I was having with someone and they proceeded to drop the following knowledge bomb on me:
If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.
And it clicked. Any situation that plucks you from the comfort of your area of expertise and places you in an environment where you are no longer the most experienced or talented person in the room is exactly where you want to be. Find the wrong room and walk right in. Make yourself uncomfortable, share and be proud of what you bring to the room, and prepare yourself for what could quite possibly the most exponential amount of learning you have ever experienced.
As I gear up for my fifth year in the trenches, I take great pride in what I have been able to accomplish in my time as an educator and am invigorated at the opportunity to develop my understanding as to what it means to teach mathematics with my Desmos family and other like-minded math educators on Twitter! I am honored, humbled, and grateful for the opportunity Desmos provided me and other mathematics educators and I look forward to many more years of collaborating and working towards every student learning math and love learning it!
Exit Ticket
Special thanks to Oscar for the endless conversation about math, coaching, our doctorates, and salsa dancing.
Special thanks to Nico and Christelle for more endless conversation and being my first Thai and Korean food experience! You kept that “in the wrong room” experience going for me at all hours of the day!
To the rest of my fellows, I miss you all more than an expanded Taylor Series!
Oh, and before I forget, a special shout-out to my Garden State brother and fellow Fellow, Nick Corley, for plenty of offline conversation and support prior to my trip out West!
And as always thank-you, to you, for reading and sharing!
Bow-Tie Joe
As the captain of Magellan (yes, I gave our rental car a nickname), I had the pleasure of taking in the sheer beauty and magnitude of Iceland as we rounded each bend in the ring road. Iceland appeared generally untouched by humankind, ready to be explored by anyone willing to conquer the unknown! Nature – powerful waterfalls, geysers, bubbling geothermal springs, beautiful horses, stunning rainbows, expansive glaciers, rugged mountains – was everywhere. As it pertains to a renting a car if you are going on a road trip make sure you check the tread on your tires prior to leaving the car rental agency. We hit some rough patches of wet road (rain, snow, ice) where Magellan struggled to grip the asphalt.
