Yesterday, I traveled to Lexington, Kentucky, to attend MAA's MathFest 2011. MAA is the Mathematical Association of America in case that's an acronym with which you're not familiar. Mathematicians from across the country (and some internationally), and mostly from colleges and universities, come together to talk math, all kinds of math. Because I'm one of them, I can comfortably say that mathematicians have a style all of their own. Actually, there are about 2-3 styles, but they all very much scream, "I live for math!" Let's just say it wasn't difficult to spot which individuals in the airport were headed to MathFest. And now I'm wondering how easy I am to spot.
Today, I went to a variety of presentations. One professor used the popularity of zombies to grab his students' attention and practice using the SIR model (Susceptible-Infected-Recovered) which is typically used with infectious diseases. Another discussed research on how teachers' mathematics content knowledge explains their teaching practices. And, I have to say I experienced that "student" feeling today: when it came time for questions in some of the presentations, I wasn't even sure what I would need to ask to begin to understand! A great reminder to put yourself in your students' shoes once in awhile. My favorite way to do this in junior high is to ask for a volunteer to be the teacher for an example problem. I take a seat and ask every single question I can think of to be sure they explain each step, especially the ones I know are out there but just aren't being asked. The students think it's fun, maybe because I tend to play it up and be borderline ridiculous.
The very best part of my day was seeing my undergraduate college advisor, Dr. Lisa Townsley. She's at the University of Georgia now, and I haven't had the chance to see her in person since shortly after graduation. She continues to be an inspiration and mentor for me, and I'm hoping I'll have the chance to see her (or at least talk with her) much more frequently in the future. I have her to thank for encouraging me to submit an abstract to speak at MathFest. Thank you, Lisa!
After a few more presentations, I walked into "Thursday Night Live" in Lexington's Fifth Third Pavilion where I listened to some live music and grabbed crepes from a local restaurant for dinner. And then back to the hotel to look up my students' MAP (standardized tests) scores from last year, and possibly start planning a new hair color if they did well....
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