Fearlessly Creative

It's my new favorite phrase.

I made it up, I think.

Are you?  Is anyone you know?  If so, how? 

Also, notice I didn't say 'artistic' at any point (until now when I wanted to make sure you knew I mean creative does not always equal artistic...)

Perfect Reasoning: The Right Brain Initiative (Manifesto)

Looking Forward...to the NCTM Annual Meeting!

The 2011 Annual Meeting of the NCTM is coming up in about three weeks, and it happens to be in Indianapolis, IN this year, about an hour from my home. 

I'm starting to get excited!  There are many things to look forward to including (but not limited to):

• the possibility of meeting Keith Devlin, NPR's Math Guy
• the possibility of meeting Scott Kim (one of the MathDance guys)

Both Keith and Scott are presenting.  Also:

• the possibility of meeting other really interesting people, still to be discovered but no less exciting
• the sheer volume of workshops on interesting arts connections to teaching math

And, last but not least:

• a chance to share my own work, and to give teachers some concrete experience with integrating percussive dance and elementary mathematics as well as tools and lesson plans that they can take right back to their classrooms after the conference is over!  And all in 90 minutes.  

You gonna' be there?

Sweetest Words

I just found the sweetest search words ever in my website's daily stats:

"who is ms.malkie and what is math in your feet"

Love it!

Ode to A Dance Board

LuAnne's dance board.  I am completely covetous.

My friend LuAnne recently started learning how to clog.  She had a friend make her a dance board so she could practice at home. 

Being the wonderful multi-talented artist that she is, she decorated it.  Now the board is magically practical.

My own board is not nearly as beautiful as LuAnne's.

In Math in Your Feet, children do their dancing and creative work inside taped 2'x2' squares that creates a similar dance space to the dance board that I use.  These boards are sometimes called step-a-tunes. 

At traditional fiddle festivals around the country, where old-time musicians gather in the summer, dancers often carry their step-a-tune around until they find a jam they like.  Then, they put down their board (in the dirt, in the mud, in the grass) and are able to join the music.

Here is LuAnne's recent ode to said dance board which I think perfectly celebrates this seemingly limited, yet completely freeing, dance space of the step-a-tune.  Enjoy!