Identities and Connections

As the MTC Network grows larger, our understanding of how MTCs affect teachers deepens

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Dear Math Teachers’ Circle Network,

This issue of the MTCircular highlights several facets of MTCs, including one that is incredibly striking: MTCs have the power to affect the very identities of those who participate. In The Identity Element, Katie Hendrickson traces this transformation in teachers experiencing MTCs for the first time, drawing on results from her recently completed dissertation (congratulations, Katie!). In A Circle in the Delta, Liza Cope describes how MTCs can both complement and extend the impact of other professional development opportunities. For those of you looking for great spring MTC session ideas, write-ups by Kimberly Muller (Freeing the Clones) and Tom Clark (Spotting Mathematical Structure) will provide plenty of food for thought and structure for exploration.

I’m excited to report that our national network is growing rapidly and currently includes 125 MTCs in 39 states. Perhaps even more exciting is the development of connections between nearby MTCs through regional networks. For example, the CSU Dominguez Hills MTC hosted four other MTC leadership teams from Southern California at a one-day meeting in October, where they planned exchanges and started brainstorming about pooling their resources for future meetings and workshops. The Montana MTC Network continues to pursue their initiative of bringing MTC participation within reach of every math teacher in the state.

To help encourage the development of additional regional networks of MTCs, the national MTC Network will offer some support for other leadership teams to meet face-to-face this spring. This support is made possible through a grant from the NSA as well as through generous Giving Tuesday donations. Please contact me at brianna (at) aimath . org if you are interested in finding out more.

Happy problem solving!

Brianna Donaldson, Director of Special Projects

This article originally appeared in the Winter/Spring 2017 MTCircular.