By Cindy Johnson, Collinsville Public Schools
I have participated in the Tulsa University Math Teachers’ Circle (TMTC) for 2 years. I first attended a Summer Immersion Camp at TU 3 years ago. In the beginning, I had no idea of what to expect. What would people think of me if I were unable to do the mathematics? I entered the first day worried that I would be lost.
Then, people started introducing themselves. There were elementary school teachers there, too! It wasn’t just high school teachers who all taught Calculus, as I had assumed. There were teachers of all levels, some of whom may have never even taken Calculus. By the time everyone had introduced themselves, I felt comforted.
Fast forward to May 2020. I had just finished six weeks of distance learning with my students. Christine Koerner, OSDE Director of Secondary Mathematics, sent out an invitation to an online Math Teachers’ Circle. Since the last two monthly TMTC events had been canceled and I missed my meetings with the amazing teachers, I signed up to attend. I knew that the event was scheduled to included “table talks,” and I was nervous all over again.
Then the speaker began. He spoke about folding a tie into thirds. Then expanded into folding into fifths and thirteens. Then finding the fold for 73/101. It was a gradual process that he guided us through, but when time was up and the event ended, I wasn’t finished. I continued to do the mathematics for the extension problem for an hour later.
Soon Stephanie Murray [of Oklahoma City Public Schools] posted information about the next Online Math Teachers’ Circle. We started a discussion about the event we had just attended online. I have gone from being alone, to having some amazing mathematics to think about! The best part is that the only mathematics that was used to work through the entire hour of the Online Math Teachers’ Circle was determining if a numerator was even or odd, dividing an even numerator by two and subtracting a fractions from one. Yet, I have worked on the mathematics for at least an additional 2 hours. The OMTC has lit a spark in my burning desire to do more math!
Join Cindy and Stephanie at the next online Math Teacher Circle, hosted by the American Institute of Mathematics. Register here: https://mathcommunities.org/online-teacher-circle/
