#SummerLS

I am entering my 8th year as a math teacher at Waxahachie High School in Waxahachie TX.  We are 40 miles south of Dallas on I35E.

I'm a PD junkie and I absolutely LOVE teaching.  I took the #SummerLS to get 3 tech hours out of the way and have fallen hard for the techy world that's out there.  This will be my 3rd year to teach AP Statistics and I am the lone wolf in my district.  I've been to one AP Summer Institute and one 2-day conference and have some limited connections but, let's face it, when you get into your classroom you hardly have time to breath, much less connect with another teacher from another school in another town.  I was skeptical about using Twitter to connect with other teachers because I'm a shy person initially.  I find it difficult to interact with strangers so my M.O. is to sit and listen.  Sometimes that makes me seem stand-off-ish.  On Twitter, I really struggled with sending that initial message to someone that I didn't know.  In fact, when I got the assignment, I picked a colleague of mine here in Hachie!  Todd Nesloney has challenged me to step out of my comfort zone and I have made connections with several AP Stats teachers.  I participated in a great discussion on #eduread on this article and am growing professionally again for the first time in several years.  I've been invited to participate in a chat, join a professional network of bloggers, and had several individual conversations that have stimulated my thinking.  I am rethinking what happens in my classroom thanks to Dave Burgess and Teach Like A Pirate and now I'm reflecting on my learning as practice for reflecting on my teaching - inspired by Challenge #4!

Next week I will attend the AP Summer Institute for AP Statistics with Michael Legacy at TCU and I really needed a place to blog my thoughts daily.  Last summer I feel like I missed a ton just because I didn't write more down.  This gives me a place to do that!

Personally I am a wife to an amazing man, Jay, who is working on his MDiv in Messianic Jewish Studies at The Kings University in Grapevine.  I'm a mom to 3 almost grown men - Justin 21, Jordan 19, and Jaxon 16 and Justin is engaged to a wonderful girl, Taylor who is pregnant with twins so it's an exciting time in our family as well.

I'm thankful that God has blessed me with my family and with this opportunity to learn and grow as a teacher.