“Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.”  (Letter to John Quincy Adams, May 8, 1780 from Abigail Adams)

As teachers during this pandemic, we’ve had to learn new ways of teaching our students.  We have had to seek knowledge with ardor and diligence in order to successfully teach remotely and engage our students.  I congratulate all of you for enduring the fall semester and know that what you’ve learned will now be a part of your teaching toolbox.  Current and future students will greatly benefit from your hard work. I’m sure there were many times this past fall when you wondered if you could keep going or if you were making a difference. Rest assured, you are!

As Mona Toncheff, President of NCSM, said,  “As 2020 comes to a close, let’s take time to focus on what has been completed and celebrate our accomplishments. We can create two lists, one with a “to-do” column and then add a second “done list” column to reflect and celebrate our small wins. At the end of the day, we can look over what we have accomplished and celebrate our daily actions that make a difference to the students, teachers and/or leaders we serve.”  

Fortunately, there are many things to look forward to in the upcoming months. COVID vaccinations will become available to many Mainers and perhaps even to you or me.  This doesn’t mean we will eschew our masks, but we might feel a little safer in our jobs.  And of course, the days are getting longer which means there will be more time for afterschool, outdoor activities, which are certainly rewarding and help me appreciate all that I do have.  

There are also many fabulous professional development opportunities to look forward to.  The annual ATOMIM Spring Conference will take place, virtually, on March 13th.  The conference had to be cancelled last spring but the ATOMIM Board has been gearing up for this event, especially the Conference Committee members. I’m very grateful for all their hard work.  We are fortunate to have the same keynote speaker, Peg Smith, author of several books including our Online Book Study, The 5 Practices in Practice from this past fall.  There will also be featured speakers Maggie McGatha, Donna Karsten and Sara Frisbee who have all agreed to provide us professional learning - they were all going to join us last spring and have graciously agreed to be available for our 2021 conference. Check out the ATOMIM Website for registration information. In addition, there are upcoming webinars hosted by the US National Commission of Mathematics Instruction that might interest you.  You can find them on the MMSA-math- listserve.  Check out this link to learn about Peter Liljedahl’s presentation: Building Thinking Classrooms which will be on January 14th at 7:00p.m.   There is lots to look forward to and spring will be here before we know it! 

 ~ Your ATOMIM President