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Where to begin?

The Resilience Project

If you've read the book this heading will stand out to you like a flash of light. You will be thinking...

"Dis!"

So "Dis" is where I am at as I begin the adventure of a lifetime with my very first blog. Welcome! There is no way I have time to write a blog. I told this to my brother yesterday and by the end of our conversation he had unknowingly convinced me to do it anyway without saying anything at all really. Thanks Tom!

My work colleague suggested, "But have you got time not to write a blog?". I have no idea what that even means, but thanks Kathy! JK. She hates being called Kathy. It's definitely Kathryn. Thanks Kathryn.

So what about "Dis!" Dis is about gratitude. I am so incredibly grateful for everything I have in my life. My family, my health, my job. I am grateful for rereading The Resilience Project which has reminded me to practice gratitude, empathy and mindfulness daily. If you haven't read it yet, get on it ASAP!

But what has this got to do with Mathematics??

I had the incredible opportunity to speak with a class of student teachers yesterday and one thing we got talking about was what to do with disengaged students. I spoke about first building a relationship with them, as without first gaining their trust you will be unlikely to teach them any maths! Then sure enough, the next chapter I read in the Resilience Project produces this ingenious quote: 

"They won't care how much you know, until they know how much you care."

So this is where we start this blog. Building up a relationship between reader and blogger, because why would you care what I had to say without knowing who I am?

Ok, so maybe you don't care who I am and just want to read something useful or interesting or practical about teaching maths. This is as understandable as not wanting to know someone's life story before you get the recipe. JUST GIVE ME THE DAMN RECIPE ALREADY. (Scroll...scroll...scroll...).

So if you don't care about me personally, I don't give a hoot, please stop reading and scour Mathematically Speaking for something more useful. Even better, hop on over to the blog of someone I follow.

So to cut a long story short:
  • I have been teaching for about 12 years and have had my 3 beautiful children in that time.
  • I love gardening, reading audio books, practising Taekwondo, and doing the New York Times Crossword. I dabble in chess and can play a couple of chords on the guitar. I am a flexitarian and have an interest in ecology. My dream car is a Tesla and I have been fortunate enough to take one for a spin. It was a great as I hoped it could be!
  • I love maths and I always have. Not because I am particularly good at it, nor have I studied Mathematics to a very high level. I love the challenge of Mathematics, I love puzzles and games and I really want to help other people to find the same joy out of it that I do.
So that's me in a nutshell. Flick me a message if you would like to introduce yourself to me, I would love to meet you! Equaly as acceptable would be to skip all the niceties and let me know if you find anything on this blog useful or interesting and share something that you think I would love.

Peace out Maths Bros. 

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