You don’t just learn at TMC (Twitter Math Camp), you get revived.

This past year has been an especially busy year for me, professionally and personally.  It was also one of the most amazing teaching years I have ever had.  I love my job, I love my students, and I’ve been able to participate in so many new and exciting things this year.  I helped Sam with the New Bloggers Initiation, I started and maintained MS Sunday Funday, I hopped on the Desmo’s and the Mathalicious train as well.  I spent as much time learning and helping as I did teaching this year.  Oops, I never slept enough.  By April, I was exhausted.  By June, I was comatose.

Somehow, I never realize how exhausted I am until the second week into summer.  Until at least the second full week of summer, I maintain my frenetic pace, even revising and revamping lessons for next year.  I think that it takes me that long to decompress and get out of “school mode”.  And this summer, once I was finally out of school mode, I was OUT.  I couldn’t even read the blogs in my reader!  I was having an immensely difficult time planning for my TMC13 session with Sam and Tina, I just couldn’t think.  I was even worried that this year, I would not be as enthusiastic, or learn as much, as I had at TMC12.

So, what did I look like at #TMC13?

Yep, I’m the insanely happy person.  Just look at poor Sam in this pic.  Love him, he put up with me for 5 full days!  The point is that even though I started off pretty slowly at #TMC13, it didn’t take me long to get fully into the swing of things!   These people are the most passionate educators I have ever met.  The people at TMC get me excited about learning again, make me want to be a better teacher, and give me the tools to be successful in the fall!  They fixed me.  This is why I go to TMC. 

The hardest part for me was not getting to spend as much quality time with everyone as I did last year.  ( ? WHO ? ) said to me one day, “The good thing is that there are so many more people here this year, the bad thing is that we get less time per person.”  I loved meeting so many new and amazing people, but I didn’t feel like I got to spend enough time with anyone.  I agree with Anne, we should never cap TMC.  I want more people AND more time!

On the last day of TMC13, when we were all teary eyed and hugging new and old friends goodbye for another year, my dear friend Megan said to me, “This is the only conference that ends with a ‘hug it out’.”  As other bloggers have said, it is not just about the math, or the teaching, it is about the people.  It’s about people that are my dearest friends, even though I have just met them.  They don’t just know me, they are just like me.  This is why I love TMC.