Hold fast to your dreams For when dreams go, Life is a barren field of snow.
-Langston Hughes
Update
Update 1
My kids are loving the ImagineIT project. It’s almost surreal that I've had to take a step back as a teacher, I've never talked so little as a teacher before. My students seem to display a new passion for math. They seem to try to outsmart each other, proofing has become a way of life. It's weird to see students who previously taught math wasn't for them take charge of their own learning. In the past i had to guide conversation and hover over my kids to make sure they stayed on task. Giving them the opportunity to share their knowledge also means that they don't have time to be off task because they want to share their gifts. Now the I don’t get that transformed into I think I can solve it by doing this. The culture in my building is changing for the better.
Update 2
After a bit of a struggle, I think everyone in my building now understand my vision. This whole process has forced us all to rethink how we teach math. The podcasts had to take a back seat. I have sense incorporated more stem projects. I quickly discovered that my kids love doing hands on things and then teaching the lessons they learned to others. It’s almost like i'm not needed in most of the process. The students take my general instruction, give great attention to their projects, ask questions to their peers and search for those answers on their own. What's most encouraging is that students who previously hated participating in class are often the first to volunteer. I sometimes run out of real world problems and projects to do, but that just means I have to do a little more research on my. The only hang up is that my projects are a bit costly, but donors choose and donations from parents have been amazing.