Math Nerd Camp

I have had the privilege of being able to attend an awesome math conference over the last 11 years that I have been in education. CAMT(Conference for the Advancement of Mathematics Teaching) is an excellent opportunity to reset, get new ideas from other teachers, be inspired, and get new math t-shirts.

My entire math team was able to attend CAMT this week in Houston and we all had a wonderful time. CAMT rotates between three major cities in Texas: Houston, San Antonio, and the Dallas area. I highly encourage you to find a conference in your area for your subject area. You'll love it!

Like I mentioned a few weeks ago... I was ready for summer to get here. Summer is a time to reset.

At CAMT you have the opportunity to hear from other math teachers about activities that they do in their classroom. Some sessions you have the chance to have an open dialog about what works and doesn't with particular strategies. The buzz words this year of course were: New TEKS (our standards for curriculum), increasing mathematical vocabulary, technology to incorporate into the classroom, and RIGOR (is that a popular term where you teach?!?!).

There are certain names that I always look for in the session catalog. It may not be what they are presenting that I am interested in, it's just the way they present. And sometimes I just need a good laugh.

Our math department has a super tight bond. I have always treated them as family...because we are! We are in it together...the mathematical battle. We certainly have a turnover rate, but the last couple of years we have remained constant. And I think that is key to having a strong department. We had game night while we were at the conference and it was so much fun!!! We laughed and laughed...a great time was had. Simple things brings a family together.


One last reason I love going to math nerd camp is the math shirts. I have quite the collection now. I always wear a math shirt on Thursdays (I started a thing.... it's real...you should too...Math Shirt Thursday). My kids are so funny, they always ask "Where do you get all these math shirts???". And I tell them, "Math Camp!". They really don't know how to respond. I imagine it just confirms their suspicions that I am a total nerd. I should probably clean out my t-shirt drawer to make room for the new ones.