Yesterday, I was incredibly surprised and flattered to see a tweet from DistanceEducation.org (@onlinecourse) alerting me that I was on their list of The Top 20 in Education on Twitter for 2012.

I immediately assumed there was an error and expected a retraction. I also felt kinda guilty for tweeting almost exclusively about my many overindulgent meals consumed during winter vacation...especially after reading the really kind explanation for why they considered me:

Education, photography, and travel are just a few of the topics that @SpecialKRB covers everyday. Offering her followers a number of really great tips, @SpecialKRB is the ideal influencer to follow for anyone who loves mixing creativity and education.

I'm still grappling with how to navigate online social spaces, even as I have the chutzpah to teach my students how to do so. I predominantly post projects I work on in school, articles that interest me, stuff I learn about at conferences, weird NYC sightings, and things I do on my travels. Contrary to how it may seem, I make attempts to filter what I share and hope to avoid oversharing or banality. Additionally, I try to balance the whole professional/personal stream of information. Clearly, I've made bad choices, but I try to learn from each mistake. My New Year's resolution is to prevent my boss, my best friend, or my mother from confronting me with something that would jeopardize my job, relationship, or inheritance. Here's hoping I can stick to that for at least the duration of 2012...

DistanceEducation.org's list includes the following educators on Twitter:

Chris Lehmann @chrislehmann, Tom Barrett @tombarrett, Kevin McLaughlin @kvnmcl, Alec Couros @courosa, Kim Cofino @mscofino, Graham Stanley @grahamstanley, Joyce Seitzinger @catspyjamasnz, Jabiz Raisdana @intrepidteacher, Larry Carver @lcarver, Colette Cassinelli @ccassinelli, Karen Blumberg @SpecialKRB, Education.com @JustAskEdu, Anita Harris @iTechSpec, Angela Maiers @AngelaMaiers, Kathleen K. Manzo @kmanzo, Carrie Schneider @lattesc, Berni Wall @rliberni, Urban Education @UrbanEducation, Dr. Steve Perry @DrStevePerry, Alexander Russo @alexanderrusso

Sabrina Goldberg is the 7th grade Math Teacher at The School at Columbia University. She has a classic project she initiates every year with her students:

Box Project

A rectangular box is made by folding an cutting an 8"x10" shet of paper. The Flap EF equals the height AB of the box.

EF + ED + DC + BC + AB = 10"

DC + CR + RS = 8"

Parameters:

The 8"x10" sheet of paper costs $4.00.

It cost $0.02 per inch to cut the paper.

You can sell scrap paper at $0.06 per square inch.

It costs $0.20 per inch to tape up the corners.

You can sell the finished box for $0.30 per cubic inch.

Make such a box with a depth of 1.5 inches.

If you make cut AB = 1.5 inches, find:

volume of the box

cost of the cuts

value of the scraps

selling price of the box

profit

surface area of the box outside, not including the flap

Build expressions above using AB = x inches

Every middle school faculty member needs to chaperone at least one dance during the year. I figured this was as good a way as any other to celebrate 11/11/11.