NCTM
Even before I became a math teacher, I have been a member of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Yes, we have a group. Yes, we have meetings. HUGE meetings!
During my senior year of college, I would attend their conferences which occur twice a year. There are three regional conferences in the fall and then the large annual meeting is in April. I've previously attended three of them: two regional ones and one annual conference. I attended my first two conferences before I even graduated college. I paid for myself to out of my nonexistent college budget. I wound up staying at places like The Penny Saver Inn which led to an embarassing moment involving my first limo ride. People were very impressed that I would do all this work and attend the conferences before I even had to. Also they were shocked that I was paying for myself. It took me a while to realize that school districts would pay for teachers to go to these meetings.
The last one I went to was during my first year as a teacher (2005). I was excited to go because I would finally get the trip paid for by a school. Unfortunately, the school didn't agree with my choice to go. I used two vacation days and I told them that I was going regardless. When I got back, I got to present some of the material to my coworkers. They enjoyed it - everyone except for my assistant principal, of course. Strangely enough - me attending this conference gave the school yet another reason to fire me. By the end of the school year, my department head apparently changed her mind about how she felt in regards to the conference. She couldn't believe that I had the audacity to miss two days of possible instruction time with my students to party it up in Denver. My jaw hit the floor. Last time I checked, teacher development was a positive thing.
So today, I decided that I would be attending the annual conference this April in Washington, DC. Will my current school be paying for me to go to this conference? Probably not. It's just my luck that we are feeling a huge budget crunch right now. They did, however, pay for my IB conference trip to Baltimore last December. Since then they have frozen the budget. So I'll be finding a way to pay for it myself.
In addition to deciding to attend the conference this year, I have also decided something big. While I was searching NCTM's website, I found the page that mentioned presenting at a future conference. I will be submitting a proposal to be a presenter at the Annual NCTM Conference in April 2010. I forgot to mention that these annual conferences are attended by about 15,000 math teachers across the US (no pressure). The proposal is due in May and I'll find out by September if I will be selected. My topic: The Mathematics of Sports.
During my senior year of college, I would attend their conferences which occur twice a year. There are three regional conferences in the fall and then the large annual meeting is in April. I've previously attended three of them: two regional ones and one annual conference. I attended my first two conferences before I even graduated college. I paid for myself to out of my nonexistent college budget. I wound up staying at places like The Penny Saver Inn which led to an embarassing moment involving my first limo ride. People were very impressed that I would do all this work and attend the conferences before I even had to. Also they were shocked that I was paying for myself. It took me a while to realize that school districts would pay for teachers to go to these meetings.
The last one I went to was during my first year as a teacher (2005). I was excited to go because I would finally get the trip paid for by a school. Unfortunately, the school didn't agree with my choice to go. I used two vacation days and I told them that I was going regardless. When I got back, I got to present some of the material to my coworkers. They enjoyed it - everyone except for my assistant principal, of course. Strangely enough - me attending this conference gave the school yet another reason to fire me. By the end of the school year, my department head apparently changed her mind about how she felt in regards to the conference. She couldn't believe that I had the audacity to miss two days of possible instruction time with my students to party it up in Denver. My jaw hit the floor. Last time I checked, teacher development was a positive thing.
So today, I decided that I would be attending the annual conference this April in Washington, DC. Will my current school be paying for me to go to this conference? Probably not. It's just my luck that we are feeling a huge budget crunch right now. They did, however, pay for my IB conference trip to Baltimore last December. Since then they have frozen the budget. So I'll be finding a way to pay for it myself.
In addition to deciding to attend the conference this year, I have also decided something big. While I was searching NCTM's website, I found the page that mentioned presenting at a future conference. I will be submitting a proposal to be a presenter at the Annual NCTM Conference in April 2010. I forgot to mention that these annual conferences are attended by about 15,000 math teachers across the US (no pressure). The proposal is due in May and I'll find out by September if I will be selected. My topic: The Mathematics of Sports.