Contributing to Community

What was the magic of #MTBoS (#iTeachMath) for me? How do I co-construct it with others? What's our next move?

A tree’s wonder by one of my littles. Let’s grow together once again.

I think it’s appropriate that I begin to write on a new website with the same intentions that I began my old one: to seek and continue conversations.

I began this post on BlueSky today.

I think the premise of that thread is shared by many of us who learned so much from our interactions with the MathTwitterBlogosphere (#MTBoS) in the past. From its inception, it was a true grass-roots organization that focused around communities of people and communities of ideas/practices.

That community didn’t come from nowhere, though. There were many folks that actively established, contributed, maintained the space, and there were a large number of initiatives. The blogging initiation in 2012, for example, was so big that Sam Shah had to recruit others to help moderate and make people feel welcome. I am thankful because that initiative was when I started to dip my toes into blogging. That growth, which was already showing itself to be difficult to sustain, was back in 2012. The community only exploded even more after that.

Many continued to find community and belonging within #MTBoS, but of course, there were also those that continued to not. As the community grew, there were challenges on many different fronts, including many heated conversations about who got to feel a sense of belonging in such a community, and who was left out. Notably, folks who are marginalized in other spaces, continued to feel marginalized in this community - perhaps despites amazing efforts on the part of “organizers” (though a true co-constructed community is not just the responsibility of the few). I think it took until “bigger names” engaging with this existential crisis for such a conversation to be “legitimized,” but I think these challenges and others (e.g., different uses of social media such as self-promotion-only that contradicted alignment with belonging) were always there. Nonetheless, such conversations inadvertently dampened the fire that was already rapidly localizing and diminishing - and this was especially the case for the wonderful people who poured so much of their heart, soul, and time into establishing such a community.

There were many efforts (whether subtle or explicit) that folks endeavoured to make it a more welcoming place. This included complex plans of responding meaningfully to others (with apps and setups), as well as more localized efforts in terms of identifying those who are interested in specific topics (e.g., livechats). People’s actions differed, but that makes sense. Afterall, members of our amazing community had different experiences in how their “reach” developed.

Some of My Story

As for me, I had already started to be a lot less active during late 2015 (kids, grad school, and other reasons). Also being someone who avoided going to US, I never attended Twitter Math Camp, despite having good friends like Mary Bourassa and Alex Overwijk who raved about their experiences attending. At some point, there were even conversations among Mary, Al, Laura Wheeler and I about perhaps having a Canadian version of Twitter Math Camp.

While my activities in #MTBoS waned by 2015, I continued amazing partnerships and connected with new ones, such as with Peter Liljedahl and Judy Larsen on Building Thinking Classoom.

What I Propose (and How I will act)

In my current work, I have found it important to focus on Actionable Hope (e.g., Ginwright, 2011; Solnit, 2016). Thus, in true enactivist fashion (where knowing, doing, and being are mutually defining), I want to focus on what I am able to do and what I am interested in doing (and hope those compell you, too).

For me, a community inhales and exhales through the connections of its people. The charm of #MTBoS, #iTeachMath, or other variations has never been about the resources or the networking. For me, it was the resonance and stimulation that I felt as I engaged with others.

So my tentative plan is simultaneously a selfish and a compassionate one - and it centres around conversations with people. In a series of writings, I will reach out and catch up with folks. Many have us have scattered to BlueSky, Mastodon, Substack, Discord, and so on. Prior to my deleting Twitter, I did manage to grab some contacts, and so I am hoping that will help me get started.

I will reach out, link this post, and seek a short conversation that may be inspired by the following questions:

• What have you been up to lately?

  Many of us have shifted careers, foci, and spaces through which we think and work with education. Let’s continue this conversation.

• What do you value in a community like the ones we found through twitter and blogging, and how have you continued to engage with others?

  If we had opportunities to create new spaces, then we should contribute to it in ways that we find compelling. Let’s do that.

• What is one compelling mathematical or educational questions that you are thinking about?

  Let’s not forget that our community was robust due to our passion for supporting students through mathematics. Let’s offer our thinking there.

• What are some educational-practice sorts of questions you have for others who might read this?

  Examples and wonderings of practice are what brought us together. Let’s stay steadfast with what compelled us.

Ultimately, I want to contribute to a space that I want to be in. I fully recognize that I am limited if I am only leaning on my own perspectives, ideas, and actions. This series will be tentatively named Building a Community for Mathematics Education (Bac-4-ME). Puns and parallels mostly intended.

So join me.

I will be emailing and/or SkyWriting (is that the word now?) a few people. But…

You are all invited.