y=mx+b

Yup, that's the formula of a line.  I'm sure you think this is a clever tie-in to running hills or something equally as funny, but alas, it's not. It really is just the formula for finding the y-intercept when you already have the coordinates and know the slope.  Why is this the title of today's post then, you might be asking.  Well, since it is summer and I have free time galore, I decided to fill that time with some good old professional development.  It sure was nice to have vacation while it lasted.  Ahhh the good old days.  Anyways, so I signed up for this middle school mathematics class because there were extra spots open and I figured I could use the PDPs.  Turns out though, they actually expect you to KNOW middle school math.  Now isn't that something?  We spent the majority of today graphing lines and find line stories and I was woefully lost.  Newsflash, algebra is not my strong suit.  Everything made sense when there were numbers in place, but then the person leading the class took away the numbers and turned everything into letters, and there I was, staring at the page like a cow in a tornado.  (Alright, that's a terrible metaphor, but basically, I was lost and had no idea what I was doing there.) And so here I am, googling all the different ways to find the y-intercept.  Which is all great except that it still doesn't make sense when I replace the numbers with letters, so I don't really know what to do about that.  Just be glad I'm not teaching children how to solve linear equations!

Anyways, I'm taking a break from solving line equations now and just throwing in a quick update since I missed two weeks again.  Sorry about that, but I am rather busy, and I'm pretty sure about 10 people read this anyways.  If you're interested in the woods runs, two weeks ago was the 2nd tour, which was fun but HOT.  Well, not so much hot as it was high humidity.  It was 6.5 miles of struggling through sweat and dodging slippery rocks because it had just finished raining before the race.  I do like the tours, even if they do have an elevation gain of 720 feet.

Last week was the regular old 4 mile run that always falls around the 4th of July.  I'd love to say it was easier than the tour, but I'd be lying.  By all means, it should have been easier, but for me it wasn't.  That run goes up by Stone Tower and Steel Tower, which are both large hills. I don't know, it could have been the heat again, or perhaps I've just given up at running consistently because I found myself walking quite a bit again.  At this point, I've taken on a whatever attitude towards it, which obviously isn't helping.  I've even been walking the bits of the Battle Road trail in Lexington, which is just ridiculous because it's fairly flat there.  Hot tip: Great spot for Poke stops if you're playing the hot new game of 2016.  There's one at every historical marker and if you've been on that trail, there are historical markers basically every 20 feet, and that's no lie.

Aside from the running, I've been catching up on months worth of missed reading.  I hit up all those must read book lists that Buzzfeed publishes, compiled a list of books that seemed most interesting, and hit the library.  Some of the books I ended up with were just new releases that looked good when I picked them up, others are from the lists, but in case you're wondering, here's what I've read so far.  Sorry, I don't record the author, only the title, so I can't help you with that.
-Lilac Girls
-Carry On
-Lovecraft Country
-Midair
-Modern Lovers
-The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
-Kindred
-Pym
-Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles)
-Scarlett (The Lunar Chronicles)

So far I've enjoyed reading all of them but obviously I've liked some better than others.  I'd recommend them all, but fair warning, most of them are kind of bummer stories, turns out, and not great beach reads.  Carry On would probably be ok on the beach, but the others aren't exactly light-hearted fluff.  Still, if you're bored, check out any one of them for something to do.  I do suppose I should get back to lines now, so enjoy the pictures until next time.

Oh ya, we went go-carting too. That was fun, but surprisingly tiring.

Just a picture of the beach.

After 6.5 tour.  My shoulder looks ripped, but I don't feel like it does the sweat justice, I really was covered.

4 miles, not as sweaty.

WARNING!!!

There is a picture of my blister following this, so if you do not want to see it, don't look any further!

This stupid blister has been on the side of my foot since the Boston Marathon. I've done everything to make it go away and it just won't.  I honestly think the only solution at this point is to get new running shoes.  I've tried taping, soaking, lotion, everything I can think of to get this thing to go away and stop reappearing and nothings worked.  So if you have any other suggestions, please, I'm all ears!

The reason we need Common Core Math as told by someone who lives it

As an elementary math teacher, I have finally hit my limit of Facebook posts against Common Core Math.  I just can't read one more complaint and let it slide. Look, in a way, I understand the frustration level some parents face with this seemingly new math system.  But there is so much more to the Common Core that most of these people are overlooking.  It just seems to be that Common Core math has become a scapegoat.  In fact, I have yet to see one complaint about Common Core ELA, Science, or History.  Did you even realize those existed? See, here's the thing about Common Core.  At it's core (yea, I did), all it is, is a way for every student in the United States to learn the same basic concepts at the same general time.  That means if you up and move from Oklahoma to New York, your student can easily transition into the new classroom without you, the parent, worrying that s/he never covered certain topics or covered those topics in an earlier grade.  Wouldn't you rather have your student be able to understand the curriculum no matter where you move, than to have to play catch up or slow down student learning? If you don't, by all means, continue waging your war against Common Core math.  And ELA, Science, and History too.  But, in the off chance that you're still interested, hear me out on my old friend CC math.
The way I see it, there are two problems here. One, is that the parents don't understand exactly what's happening in their student's math homework, so they fall into defensive mode.  No one wants to look like they know less than their child.  Two, the many varying ways that students are able to learn math now don't make sense to the parent, and so it can't possibly make sense to the student. I can't tell you how many parents I have seen putting their personal bias about math onto the student.  As a teacher, that drives me crazy. If something doesn't make sense to you, fine, but there's no reason you should be putting that on your student.  You're turning them against something that could possibly make sense in their head, and now they are afraid to admit, because you've spent the past few weeks talking about how it couldn't possibly be right, or make sense.
Alright, I know this isn't the most eloquently flowing piece, but I'm a little fired up, so I apologize if it seems a bit disjointed.  For now though, follow me back to my days in elementary school.  I was a student of the 90s.  I started Kindergarten in 1989, so I mean that in the fullest extent, I was a student of the 90s. And do you know what I could tell you about math in elementary school?  Absolutely nothing.  I couldn't tell you what a place value block was, let alone what place value was or meant.  I had no idea why I was borrowing numbers in subtraction, just that I had to do it.  Fractions made no sense to me, decimals weren't even on my radar, and anything that involved shapes was an art project or nothing at all.  In fact, I dare any one of you to be able to say definitively that yes, you not only knew how to do math in elementary school, but you knew WHY the rules of math were the way they were.  Sure, some of you were probably fantastic at math, you could solve a problem in seconds flat, and you were probably top of the class.  In fact, I distinctly remember a boy in my third grade class who was a math whiz.  He was always the first one done with his timed tests and was always ready to do the problems on the board while I was still working on the first step.  That didn't change either.  In fifth grade, I spent most of my mornings writing all the problems I got wrong on my homework, three times each, on the blackboard. And do you know what I learned from that?  Nothing.  Not one thing.  I still had no idea why my math was wrong, and I still couldn't fix it when the same problem came up again.  So it went up through high school, and even college.  Do you know what changed my life?  The ever so hated Common Core Math.
You see, before Common Core was being taught in the classrooms, I didn't know there were other ways to do math.  I didn't realize that math had a reason.  Because I, like many of you, was taught that math is what it is, and there's no reason to question that.  You learn your facts, you do your math, and you move on.  But no one ever told me why.  No one told me that place value had a meaning, or that you could use visual models to understand problems.  I had no idea it was easier to subtract nines if I knew how to subtract 10s.  Or that fractions could go on forever between numbers.  Or that multiplying multi-digit numbers is a lot easier if you can break your numbers into expanded form and multiply by place values.  But now? Now I do know.  I know that there are many different ways to solve problems.  I know that if you understand WHY you're doing something, it makes more sense when you're trying to do it.  I know why you need to regroup a set of tens when you're adding or subtracting. I know how to use base-10 blocks to solve all types of problems.  I can break down numbers into sets that make 10 and then add on, or subtract from, if necessary.  But above all that, I know why your students NEED common core math.
They NEED to know that there is more than one way to solve a problem.  They NEED to know that just because one method doesn't make sense, it doesn't mean that s/he is stupid and will never be good at math.  They NEED to know that asking why helps you to understand how.  They NEED to know that, just because it doesn't make sense to an adult, doesn't mean that it's wrong.
Go ahead. Argue with me, tell me I'm wrong, tell me I don't understand, say maybe if I was that bad at math, I should never have become a math teacher.  I've heard it all. But before you do, think about your student.  For once, instead of projecting your bias onto him/her, ask about his/her thoughts on the method being used to solve the problem.  Ask your student to help you.  Be brave enough to ask the teacher to explain the concept being taught before telling your student it doesn't make sense.  Look up a video that explains how to use the break apart method or the area model for multiplication.  Make an effort to learn the way your student is learning. Because in the end, it's not the Common Core math that's making the work hard for the student, it's the negative way that the student constantly hears it being talked about.  Relearning something is hard, and maybe Common Core will never make sense to you, but I promise that constantly shutting it down as a viable option for problem solving is only going to hurt your child in the long run, especially if the concept does make sense to him/her.

Snow place like home

Whooooeee it has been a long week or two.  Honestly, the days have all but blended together with all the snowstorms and school cancellations.  February has never seemed shorter, and that's saying a lot, since it's already the shortest month!  Seriously though, if the snow could quit, I'd be a little bit happier.  There's pretty much no place left to walk, park, or drive if another car is coming at you.  It's getting out of hand.  Yet, we are intrepid, we carry on.  What else can you do, with all this snow around and talk of another storm or two heading this way? The good news is, it's almost February vacation.  The bad news is, it's almost February vacation.  I make this next statement with the knowledge that teachers in the state of Massachusetts will be calling for my head, but it's about time we did away with February vacation.  Let's be honest, we just got back from Winter Break, and with the SEVEN snow days we've had in the past 15 days, this vacation is a bit of a joke.  What the students could really use is 5 more days of work.  Besides, we're one of the only states that still has this vacation hanging about.  I say scrap it, start school earlier than the Wednesday before Labor Day, and use March for Spring break.  It would solve SO many problems. But, who am I to change things?  Alright, aside from the snow days, there's no where to run, so I've been spending a lot of quality time with the treadmill.  I don't love it.  Also due to the snow, I missed 4 days of being able to workout.  I know, that's insane! At this point though I've made it up and I feel like I'm back on track.  Wouldn't you know it, that means I'm getting a cold.  I can feel it coming on.  My nose is stuffy/runny, my eyes are itchy, and things hurt.  Fantastic.  Nothing like a good cold to start vacation. Since I don't have a new goal in the near future, I decided to work towards upping my punches at boxing.  I started low today with a total of just over 3000 punches. My goal is to try and add on at least 100 more punches each week.  I only need to track one day, but I might track all and just pick my best.  Except Sunday's because that's a 12 round class and that would feel like cheating.
Completely out of the realm of working out, but back on the snow day thing, I made one final pair of shoes a couple of weeks ago.  I went Little Mermaid themed, just to see how it worked out,  They came out alright, but I'm not sure I love them.  However, I did want to try and fix the paint chipping problem I had on the first pair.  The paint on the rubber part of the sole chipped off as they were worn around, so I wanted to try and fix that.  I saw a trick online that if you sand the rubber with fine grain sandpaper it makes the paint more likely to absorb into the rubber, so I tried that.  It looks like the paint held up a bit better, but still chipped off in places.  At this point, I'm beginning to think it's the sealant that's chipping it off, not the actual paint.  Anyways, I'll add a picture of those in a minute.  Finally, the students at my school are number one in the city for the math program we've been doing.  Yes, that's right, number one! We're third in the state, and in the top 100 in the nation! There are some days when I feel like I'm doing a real bad job teaching, but learning this made me feel like I must be doing something right.  I'm very proud of the school and I love being able to brag about the students.  Tomorrow they're getting a special award from the school committee, which is very exciting.  So, that's it, snow city in a nutshell. Enjoy the pictures!

Punch counters

Icicles and ice dams 

Way to go Tracy School!

Snow pile...it's gotten a lot bigger since this picture