Two Quick Announcements
work opportunity + a discord group
1.
When I got involved with BEAM, Dan Zaharopol & Co. were trying to start a math camp in New York City. They already had an overnight camp where bright, motivated kids from less wealthy neighborhoods in the city took advanced classes that were heavy on proof. Now they wanted to build out the pipeline, starting with a new camp for kids entering 7th Grade.
I taught two courses at BEAM that summer. One was focused on fractions, the other, I think, about sequences. The kids were amazing and so were the adults. It was chaotic at times—the first summer of a camp has to be—but everyone involved was smart and passionate. I felt lucky to be involved. Amy Harmon wrote about it for the New York Times.
Coming back to BEAM over the next few summers was remarkable in a different way. The organization was growing rapidly. They ironed out the wrinkles in our camp (now BEAM Discovery). They built a program in Los Angeles that paralleled New York’s. BEAM started to look more and more like a big-kid serious professional non-profit instead of a wild idea built on a mountain of Google Docs.
And they are still building!
BEAM, whose mission is to create pathways for opportunities in math and science, is now thinking hard about grades 8 through 11. They want to create “majors” for students in their programs, so that these students get in-depth, advanced experience in their area of focus—this sounds like a ton of fun for a motivated student. It’s the kind of thing kids from Washington Heights or Harlem or Bed Stuy or … uh, whatever the equivalent neighborhoods are in LA? … don’t typically get to do.
If you go to the BEAM jobs page, you’ll see 21 listings. Most of those are for summer positions, and math teachers looking for summer work should absolutely consider applying.
BEAM is also hiring curriculum developers for these grades 8-11 courses. That’s why I’m writing all this. They need course materials for these high school pathways. They need people with solid advanced math/science knowledge who can translate it into fantastic lessons. It has to be the right person. It’s a part-time role. There are a lot more details here. Take a look.
2.
Is everything getting worse, or am I just getting older? An ancient question.
Well, I think the internet’s been getting worse for about 20 years. Like all of you, I’ve been chased from platform to platform. All I want is to discover interesting things and talk to like-minded people. Big Tech has other plans. They want us to form deep and meaningful connections with the “For You” tab—in other words, they want us to form deeper connections with ourselves, and they think they know who we really are based on what they can tempt us to click on or watch.
I sure do hate it!
But, getting to the point, I’ve joined a few Discords over the past couple of years. Discord, if you aren’t familiar, is a place to chat. Now, we’re talking about the internet—of course some Discords are creepy. But many are happy places for dorks with shared interests. I’m a very happy paying member of Stereogum, the music site, and as a membership perk they invite you to the Discord. It’s lovely! People share art that they love.
Because I miss chatting with you all, I have made a Discord. You can join it by clicking the invite link: https://discord.gg/UEUzN2kd
Fair warning: I’ve named it the “Pershmail” Discord. I’ve done this because, at least for now, I am the only moderator. It’s my space, and I’ll take responsibility for people using it appropriately. That means that if you show up with weird energy or seem intent on starting fights, you’ll get the boot. (It’s also a place for adults, not children or teens, and certainly not current middle or high school students.)
I’m not trying to recreate anything like the wonderful communities of educators from the online past. Those are just super-duper gone. But I still believe that, as long as we have an internet, we should use it to talk to other actual humans and share things that we know and love. Consider joining!