I’m writing this blog post
on my flight home from San Francisco. I
figure I’d better transition my thoughts into words before I return home to the
responsibilities of being a father of four.
The Desmos Fellows weekend
was awesome. It was everything I had
imagined plus 120% more. Here are
some highlights, in no particular order…
Star Shock – Team Desmos
When I first arrived at the
Desmos Headquarters on Friday afternoon, who other than Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) was there
greeting us at the door. I’ve met Dan
before on two separate occasions, but this one felt a bit different. Inside the HQ, I cross paths with Shelley Carranza (@stcarranza). I introduce myself to Michael Fenton (@mjfenton). Not long after, Eli Luberoff (@eluberoff) enters the
room.
As introductions begin, I
realize that I’m sitting in the chair that Desmos programmer Denis Lantsman (@dlants) typically sits in. Jenny Wales (@jenny_wales), Cori
McElwain (@CoriMcElwain), and Zack Ellis (@overZellis) are sitting nearby. Many of the people who are responsible for
creating activities I use in my classroom are all here.
As the weekend continued, I
was able to interact a lot with the team from Desmos. During lunch on Saturday, Michael and I had a
conversation about our children. I
picked Dan’s brain about his thoughts on transitioning some 3-ACT tasks into
Activity Builder. I asked Eli if he is
planning on billing SDCTM for his travel to South Dakota this past
February. I listened to Jenny talk about
how neat New Orleans is. All of these
conversations helped the shock wear off a bit.
Star Shock – The Fellowship
Prior to arriving, there was
a lot of activity on Twitter and on the Desmos Slack from members of the
Fellowship. Some of the Fellows I had
been following on Twitter for years. I
have read their blogs and borrowed their ideas and favorite lessons. I felt like I knew a little bit about some of
the Fellows but in a very impersonal way.
The personalization of those
connections began even before I set foot in California. In route to San Francisco, I had a stop in
Denver. While there, I met Jon Orr (@MrOrr_geek) and
Angela Reilly Harden (@angelarh). In the weeks
leading up to the Fellows weekend, I had worked with Jon on an Activity Builder
centered on algebra and “Two Truths and a Lie”.
Jon and Angela joined Jarrod (my Brookings colleague and fellow Fellow)
and I and the four of us exchanged stories as we found our way to our hotel.
As I drifted around the room
at Desmos HQ, I found myself shaking hands with a number of familiar names from
Twitter and MTBoS. I recognized some
names from activities found in Desmos. I
started to wonder how I was selected to be a part of such a talented group of
people.
Professional Development
A big highlight of mine was
being able to listen to the PD sessions put on by the Desmos team.
Saturday morning, Michael
gave a presentation about the Principles for Activity Building. He had us work through Point Collector as a
student and then analyze which design principles were being used during the
activity. It was great to do a deep dive
into the 13 design principles.
Jenny and Shelley presented
on the Desmos design process. I learned
a really cool strategy for creating activities that uses 8-squares and sticky
notes.
Eli spoke to the group about
the history and evolution of Desmos. It
was awesome to see some of the artifacts Eli was able to access and inspiring to
hear about the future of Desmos.
Scott Miller (@smiller229) and Jenn
Vadnais (@rilesblue) presented a session on strong presentation moves when speaking about
Desmos. I really enjoyed learning ways
that I can improve my skill level as a presenter.
Dan led a two hour session
focused on working with teachers and how to become a Desmos Certified
presenter. I really enjoyed learning
about the types of things the team at Desmos wants us to be focusing on while
giving presentations. One big takeaway
from Dan’s session was that technology allows teachers and students to co-construct the experience. I hope to become a Desmos Certified presenter
soon.
New Tools
Dan also led a session that
introduced the Fellows to a new tool that we have access to inside of Activity
Builder called Computation Layer (CL).
CL grants access into more of the guts of Activity Builder and allows
creators to do a number of things that previously couldn’t have been done. With my limited computer programming
experience, I understand about 3.14% of what I have access to in CL. During our work sessions, I learned a lot
about CL thanks largely to Paul Jorgens (@pejorgens) and Angela. I plan to continue to learn more about programming and using CL.
I’m very excited to see what
some of the brightest Fellows can create for us to use these next few months.
The City
This was my first time ever
in the San Francisco Bay Area. Jarrod
and I enjoyed exploring the city. Items
we checked off our bucket list include seeing Alcatraz Island, the Golden Gate
Bridge, riding a Cable Car, and eating at House of Prime Rib. The weather was beautiful and the food was
excellent.
Golden Gate @ Sunset |
Hangin' on the Cable Car |
Totally Impressed! |