NCTM Conference 2012 Debriefing Webinar - May 9 2012

Ellluminate Session Topic 

"What were your highlights at the NCTM conference in Philly?" 

Wednesday, May 9th, 2012 

9:00pm EDT

Archived recording is now (5/10/12) available: Link
Session will be summarized in a future CLIME Connections with list of resources.

Join David Weksler and me as we host a discussion/sharing session on highlights of the recent NCTM conference in Philadelphia. Please bring with you any references to blogs or tweets that you have posted about the conference. You can enter them in in the chat window during the seminar in real time or send them here via a reply to this blog entry. You can also send them to me at ihor@clime.org or on twitter @climeguy. (Include the hashtag #nctm12)

If you can't make it on Wednesday, I have set up a Google Docs form for you to share any interesting links  to blogs, etc. that you have discovered or created yourself related to the conference. I will summarize all entries on my next blog. 

Note: Make sure you have a working microphone so you can share during this Webinar. (You can test your microphone setup before the session starts at the link above. The Math 2.0 gang will be there at 8:30pm so come early for the presession festivities.

Greetings from Philadelphia where the NCTM Web 2.0 Experience was Awesome

If you stumbled upon Booth 1211 (Pearson Photo Lounge) in the exhibit hall you too could have been on the cover of a post card! The photographer did a marvelous job of wiping out all my wrinkles so I now prominently display it in my office here in White Plains, NY where I'm furiously debriefing the conference. (I started in the previous couple of blogs, but this one continues my story.) For me everything that happened at the conference pales in comparison to the excitement I experienced to be a fully equipped Math 2.0 Educator. Since my goal was not to just learn from the experts who were presenting, but from the "wisdom of the crowd" as folks used the free Wifi to blog and tweet from pretty much anywhere in the conference. I have attended almost all of the conferences since 1986 and this is the first time I was truly excited about how technology via Web 2.0 tools enhanced the NCTM conference going experience. Along with mine I'll be sharing your thoughts, comments and stories related to how technology enhanced the experience of being at the conference. Please share your links to your stories by tweeting #nctm12 or adding a comment below.

A great website for reviewing all the tweets is topsy.com. Go there and enter nctm12 and relive the experience.

NCTM Conference 2012 Recap-Wifi makes a hugh difference!

What a incredible conference from a Wifi perspective. Live tweeting during the sessions added a postive dimension never seen before at an annual meeting. Unless we want to go downhill from here, Wifi is a must in Denver.

Are you sharing your take on the conference you just attended? Please tweet the info with the hashtag #nctm12 and/or in a reply below. I will be sharing them in this blog post.

Dan Meyer's tweets on Steve Leinwand's talk. Also it was a surprise to me that Steve was the kickoff presentation for the learn/reflect Strand - not Tom Dick as previously advertised.

Here's a blogpost from Mike Thayer taking advantage of the ubiquitous Wifi to post his thougths before his internal engine conks out completely:

I'm sitting in the BuzzHub at the NCTM national meeting in Philadelphia. It's Friday a bit before 5 PM, and I'm beat. I've had a few thoughts before I head out for home.... read more

Conferences as Professional Development?
By Karen Greenhaus
Last week was a crazy, hectic and tiring week at both the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics (NCSM)  and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) conferences. read more


to be continued...

Blogging from the conference

I attended the wrap up session for the Technology Learn/Reflect Strand yesterday at the NCTM conference. The attendees were sorted into three groups for folks interested in middle, high or elementary grades. I was in the middle school group which was led by Mike Gould a member of the Professional Develpment Services Committee of NCTM. It was great. I was sorry to leave before it ended because I had to get back to my booth. Mike masterfully constructed a fascinating conversation around the 4 questions that helped organize the technology  theme. In fact it was so good that I told the group as I was about to leave that if I was starting a middle school I would hire every single one of them with a starting salary of $100K. Needless to say I got everybody's attention.

Wifi in Philly - some bad news? NO!

Thu 11am 117A (CC)

Flash News! Wifi is available at Convention Center - Day 1!


Previously - At the moment I'm working on my presentation and as is my usual practice I'm creating a related website which contains links to all my relevant references during my presentation. Since there is never any guarantee that Wifi will be available in the conference room that I'm speaking in (or any conference room for that matter) I checked in with NCTM and got this reply:

At this time, the Pennsylvania Convention Center does not offer daily internet rates or allow for individual connections throughout the conference. There is complimentary wireless in the concourses, overlook area, and BuzzHub.  The only way to obtain internet in a meeting room is to order it for each room. Ihor, the rates for room 107 A/B are:Wired 1.5 mb/s: $,1050 Wired 784 kn/s: $735 Wireless: $,1000

A grand for wireless! How nice for the convention center to be so considerate. Last June when I spoke at the ISTE conference in the same convention center free Wifi was available in all the conference rooms. To be fair, I don't expect NCTM to shell out the kind of money that ISTE (a tech organization) does. Some day it will be as common in rooms as electricity but more convenient. So much for my having a Twitter backchannel* for my talk. You can use your smart phone to tweet, but it's not the same as with a larger device. You can if you have an iPad with 3G or you can always run out to the concourse to tweet. For those in the know,

#Mathchat
Colin Graham will host his weekly #mathchat Twitter session next Thursday 4/26/12 at 8pm EDT in the topic of using Twitter at math conferences. I hope to "see" you there.

Math bloggers 

Since math blogging is pretty much invisible at this conference (no session even mentions it), I'm going out of my way to promote it at the CLIME booth, during my talk and at the BuzzHub. Please spread the word that you are an active participant in the online math world. Please let me know if and when you have posted about the conference. You can keep track of the tweeting following #nctm12. If you miss a blog you can always check out topsy.com and enter nctm12. I will be posting links to your blogs as soon as I get them.

Things to do

Visit the BuzzHub 

We want to give NCTM some feedback on how well it works for you as a Web 2.0 math conference participant.

Participate in the conference with Twitter 
Make your voice heard! Just type a message in Twitter and end it with the hashtag #nctm12. (Check out current tweets or go to topsy.com to see all the tweets posted so far with the nctm12 moniker.) We're spreading the message that Twitter can be a powerful tool in professional development especially at conferences like this one.

Other technology sessions at conference

As usual CLIME is posting all the technology related sessions. If you are a speaker you can have yours updated. Give me a yell. ihor@clime.org or @climeguy

• Techology Strand Sessions (Thursday) - link
• All tech sessions  - link
• Highlighted tech sessions - link
• CLIME friendly vendors, too - link

It's never too late to update your speaker information. Just let me know.

*"A Twitter backchannel at a conference can provide participants a way to share ideas and resources from the sessions they attend, connect people who might not have connected otherwise, and broaden the conference discussion to include those not physically present."
Source: Encouraging a Conference Backchannel on Twitter - Derek Bruff

CLIME Connections 106

Math 2.0 Live! Session

Monday, April 23, 2012

9:00pm EDT 

Guest Host: Gary Stager

Recording of the event 

Gary will be describing a new workshop he has created that is most appropriate for the new vision of the Core Curriculum Standards in Math. It's not business as usual; its a paradigm shift in how we learn math.

Read more about Dr. Stager here

CLIME Friendly Vendors @ NCTM Conference & Beyond

Vendor Area in Philly - a Dynamic View

Click on image to visit the area

CLIME will once again be parked in the Exhbit Hall's NCTM Affiliate Row (1300) and will be sharing about Technology's role in creating the Math 2.0 vision for math education. You can see a complete view of the exhibit hall by clicking on the image (to the left.)

Also you can download the NCTM App that has all the sessions and vendors listed. (Info here.)

Right around the corner from CLIME is the new NCTM BuzzHub.

Click above

The NCTM BuzzHub
is an open Wifi area and much more. There is no Wifi available in the conference rooms so the 'Hub is a good place to take advantage of it. Only other places where Wifi is available is in the concourses and the overlook area. While in the 'Hub you can take advantage of other NCTM offerings described here.

The Math Forum
is hosting the Math Pop Forums in Booth 220 in the Exhibit Hall. Feel free to stop by, pick up some popcorn, listen to the short presentations and engage in conversations!

Click on image to visit the area

Key Curriculum Press is now Key Curriculum

Visit us at booth #902 in the Exhibitor Hall to check in with us and see what's new! You can play with Sketchpad, Fathom, TinkerPlots, browse activities, and ask questions in the booth, or we can direct you to excellent presentations on Sketchpad, Fathom, and TinkerPlots.

Don't miss our annual Technology User Group meeting on Thursday evening! Join us in Salon H at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown for drinks, snacks, and eye-opening presentations from your peers. Finally, you can learn more about the Dynamic Number project and KCP Technologies’ other NSF-funded project, Data Games.

Mind Institute - Booth 728

Keith Devlin writes: "The designers at MIND put symbolic representations to one side and develop new, native representations of basic math skills so their young learners can "play" with the mathematical concepts themselves. Only after a child has demonstrated mastery of working with the concept is she or he presented with the symbolic representation for the same operation." Video tour of ST Math

Booth 448

For more about their participation at NCSM and NCTM click here.

Booth #1217

Audrey Weeks, author of Calculus In Motion^TM and Algebra In Motion^TM will be exhibiting in #1217

Exhibit Booth # 1228

Get the “Good Stuff!”  Drop by and say hi and let us show you around! Visit our booth and get a personal tour of Mathlanding. Come with curiosity and questions, and leave with experience and answers.

mathalicious.org

Though Karim Ani will not have a tent set up in the exhibit hall you will find him speaking/participating at these venues: 
NCSM Sessions
213: Real-World Mathematics with Mathalicious (Tue 8:45 107)

345: Math Learning 2.0: New Opportunities for Collaborative Teaching and Learning with Internet-Based Tools (Wed 2:45 113C)

364: Ignite! Speakers (10) Enlighten the Room with Fresh Ideas in Mathematics (Wed 4:00 105)

NCTM Session

582: Real-World Mathematics with Mathalicious (Fri 3:00 108B)

Booth 1206

Wowzers combines adaptive math instruction with engaging, game-based collaboration using the Cloud. As a free trial user, you have full access to all content for grades 3, 4, and 5 until May 10, 2012. This includes lessons, practices, games, quests, quizzes, homework, and other printable materials. Come visit at our booth #1206

More to be added. Let me know if I leave you out.