Twitterers and The Human Resistance and Radical Preschoolers

A few things I want to get down here for the sake of f(t) serving as my professional timeline.

#TMC12, y'all.
One word: surreal. I showed up a little late to dinner the first night, and this is what happened. Walked into restaurant, was greeted warmly by everyone, had a seat next to @cheesemonkeysf and gave her a quick one-arm shoulder hug. Then we all fell into and picked up on conversations we had been having for three years. Except I hadn't met any one of these people in person in my life. I had a little bit of an out of body experience, looking around the table and seeing all the avatars come to life.

After that, it just got better. In some ways, it was a teensy bit like a NCTM conference, except where everyone is invested to the nth, and you know ahead of time that every presentation is going to be killer (okay, so maybe not like a NCTM conference at all.) Part of the reason I'm struggling with what new things to try out next year is, I know about so many great things to try out. Foldables! Interactive notebooks! MOAR GEOGEBRA! MARSHMALLOW GUNS! Plus we got to do math in the morning, which why isn't there more of that in my life? Those four days were a testament to the quality of interaction and learning that a bunch of smart, generous professionals with pure motives and a sense of humor can pull off on a shoestring. Seriously I have a major nerd crush on every one of these people:

It was a privilege to attend and participate. For more detailed reflection (because they are poets, too) go read and read and read (that last one has links to all the other ones so I don't have to get obnoxious with this.) And check out our legitimate press coverage.

We Might Not Be Replaced by Robots After All
Finally, the forces for good are managing to gain some traction pushing back against the Khan hype. Go see this extraordinarily well-articulated piece by Karim Ani at WaPo's The Answer Sheet blog which presents a focused critique of KA's pedagogical issues, but also rightly places blame square at the feet of the breathless, undeserved mainstream hype. Being mentioned in the same sentence as Frank Noschese is making me feel prih-tee-kewl, but I'm more excited that finally an argument has been laid down that I can point to and say "THAT is my problem with this. Right there." Also, holy bananas, Diane Ravitch is on it.

My Family is Awesome
Some of them went to Poland recently, and brought me back these:

Um, pass the sharp scissors? I think I have a new hobby.

I got to spend a little time with the most outrageously wonderful three year old around, who will now come out with "gotta get UP to get DOOOWWN!" without prompting (#auntwin)

And my Dad is an artist. Who happens to work in cheese and ham and tomatoes and basil:

I am one. lucky. girl.

And Finally
I realize this is gratuitous. Believe me. I am sick of myself. But how many times in your life do you get to type the sentence: I am moving to Argentina tomorrow!

See you on the flip-hemisphere.