Preparing for Desmos Fellows ‘24 Weekend!
It seems like so long ago that I got this exciting acceptance email from Desmos Classroom inviting me to the New Fellows Orientation: Cohort 6.
It is now the day before I fly out for Denver to meet the other members of my Cohort 6 and get amazing Professional Development and so much more! The only thing I am dreading about this trip is my flight out to Denver, which departs Boston at 5:05am.
I chose this flight because it was the cheapest one offered, and it would also guarantee that I would get to the start of the orientation on time, even with potential flight delays, needing to budget 45 minutes to get from the airport to the hotel, and check into my hotel all before the start of the first planned event: LUNCH. Although Desmos is covering the cost of the hotel and all meals for the new fellows, transportation was the responsibility of each attendee. I used my credit card miles for the return flight, so I was able to get a flight with a great departure time right around lunch to avoid an extremely early wake-up call or a late arrival time back home.
I will have to wake up around 2am tomorrow morning for the hour-long drive to the airport, parking, and checking in. The only good thing about this ridiculous wake-up time is that there should be no traffic or long lines at the airport!
Right now, I am planning on bringing my laptop, next year’s school planner with plenty of room for notes at the end, and this past year’s school planner for inspiration on what lessons I could improve with the new Desmos information. Other than that, I’ll pack lightly in terms of clothing and shoes, since it’s only two days and two nights before I come home again.
I just downloaded the Slack app on my phone to easily see all communications and updates on the Desmos Slack channel. I basically never used Slack until this summer for this Desmos Fellows event and for The Grading Conference two weeks ago. I know most corporate, industry jobs use Slack daily, but I never found that I needed it before as a teacher.
We’ll be staying at a Doubletree hotel (my kids’ favorite with their cookies!). Desmos reminded us that hotels are notoriously cold, so we should pack accordingly. Denver is going to be hot the next few days (around 90 degrees), so it’s always hard for me to plan outfits when it will be around 70 degrees inside the conference rooms with cool air blowing but hot and dry as soon as I walk outside of the hotel. The dress code is business casual, with jeans being acceptable, so I need to plan outfits and shoes before packing bathroom essentials, and then I should be ready to go!
Desmos created a great agenda for our two days together, and I’m really excited to meet everyone behind the scenes of one of my favorite math education tools.
To help us meet people easier and create connections in smaller groups, Desmos created ‘pods’ of attendees, grouped by area. I am in a pod with five other teachers from Massachusetts. We will sit together in our pods at numbered tables at all presentations and activities. It will be neat to meet other math teachers right around my home who are also dedicated Desmos users and learners.
Here’s to hoping I sleep well for those five hours before my early wake-up call!