This Week in Math Ed: November 11, 2016

Despite the wild week and flood of election stories, the top story shared each day this week in my math ed Twitter list (now at 1623 people!) was about math or math education. I don't know if that is necessarily good or bad, but for me it's a reminder of our community's focus on our students and the important work we do with them.

Math Ed Said

November 4: "Why Are There So Few Women Mathematicians?" asks Jane C. Hu in The Atlantic. For one, she looks at the research of Topaz and Sen at Macalester College who found that of 13,000 editorship positions in math journals, under 9 percent are held by women. Beyond these kinds of statistics, there's a complex landscape of culture, bias, and misogyny in many math departments that can push women away.

Shared by: Dana C. Ernst, Warren J. Code, Heather Johnson, Keith Jones, Egan J Chernoff, Francis Su, MAA, Carrie Muir, Warren J. Code

November 5: I heard a lot of buzz about clothesline activities at a recent NCTM Regional, and now Andrew Stadel has followed up with a gathering of clothesline activities, resources, and tools.

Shared by: Laura Wagenman, Tim McCaffrey, Ed Campos Jr, Chris Shore, Sahar Khatri,CMC - CA MathCouncil, Andrew Stadel, Matt Vaudrey

November 6: Coming at us with even more resources is Glenn Waddell, Jr. with a post cataloging "Different Cooperative Strategies." This is a follow up to a post explaining why he won't use direct instruction.

Shared by: Gregory Taylor, Beth Ferguson, Kate Nowak, Heather Kohn, Heather Sugrue, Lisa Bejarano, Glenn Waddell, Jr.

November 7: Mark Chubb writes about "Questioning the pattern of our questions" and the difference between funneling and focusing.

Shared by: Susan Davidson, Jennifer Lawler, Mark Chubb, Kari Maurer, TCM - NCTM, Robbyn Glinsmann

November 8: Robert Kaplinsky asks, "Is Problem Solving Complex or Complicated?" Robert argues that it's complex, meaning that we shouldn't mislead students into thinking that there's a step-by-step process that always leads to a solution.

Shared by: Kit G, Laura Wagenman, Brandi Moore, Chris Hunter, Lindel, Julia Haun, Christina Sherman, Robert Kaplinsky

November 9: Dan Meyer adds some math to the election results, but not by pouring over vote tallies and margins of victory. Instead, as he describes in "What I'm Working on Today," Dan asks us to focus on what might be making us (and our students) anxious about the results (such as economic or social uncertainties) and think about the kinds of skills students will need to rise above those anxieties.

Shared by: Matt Skoss, Bridget Dunbar, Eli Luberoff, Megan Franke, Elizabeth Statmore, Annie Forest, CPM Director, Tracy Johnston Zager, Karl Fisch, Joshua Bowman, Dan Meyer

November 10: Marilyn Burns's latest blog post discusses "'Student-Centered' vs 'Traditional' Math Teaching." I know it feels like we define these false dichotomies to death sometimes, but in the process I do believe we get something out of it. As another example, Anna Sfard recently used the terms "explorative" and "ritualized" to describe similar approaches to teaching mathematics.

Shared by: John Golden, Mark Chubb, Rebecca Price, Rosa Serratore, Joe Schwartz, Marilyn Burns

Around the Math Ed Web

Kate Nowak looking at a lesson turned upside down, I imagine
Last week in the Global Math Department David Wees brought us "Teachers Learning Together: How Can Instructional Routines Help?." Next week it's Kate Nowak's turn with "Turn That Lesson Upside Down."

NCTM Regionals are over, but Innov8 is right around the corner! I'll be there will a small contingent from CCTM, so say hi!

#MTMSchat comes to us this Wednesday to discuss the article "Attending to Precision with Secret Messages" by Courtney Starling and Ian Whitacre.

Don't forget AMTE's deadline to provide feedback on their standards for math teacher preparation. You have until November 15!

Research Notes

Here's what's new in the December 2016 issue of the Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education:
I haven't been updating with new research from the British journal Research in Mathematics Education, but perhaps I should. Here's what's in their third issue of 2016:

Math Ed in the News

Math Ed in Colorado

Note: I mention two different surveys below. The first is new, and lets you give feedback standard-by-standard, and the second is the one I've written about previously, which asks you about your perceptions of the standards.

CDE Launches Online Standards Review System

The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) is currently developing its plan to guide the upcoming standards review and revision process and is actively seeking the input of all interested parties to inform its planning process. In addition to the general standards perception survey initiated in October, CDE has launched an online standards review system. Unlike the perception survey, the online standards review system will enable all Coloradoans to provide specific feedback on each and every expectation within all 10 content areas of the Colorado Academic Standards. The online system will accept feedback from Wednesday, Nov. 9 through Friday, Dec. 30.

The Colorado Academic Standards online perception survey is open through Sunday, Nov. 13. The survey and online standards feedback system can be found at http://www.cde.state.co.us/standardsandinstruction/casreview.

The results of the survey and feedback received through the online system will inform the department's planning for the upcoming review and revision of the standards, required by Senate Bill 08-212, known as Colorado's Achievement Plan for Kids (CAP4K). The law requires a review and revision of the Colorado Academic Standards on or before July 1, 2018 and every six years thereafter.

In early 2017, CDE will provide comprehensive information about the timeline and phases of the standards review and revision process as well as information about how to become involved. This will begin robust public engagement throughout the state and through social media.

If you would like to receive regular updates on the standards review and revision process, you can sign up here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/standardsupdate.

Math Day at CSU

I'd like to thank Janet Oien, Mary Pittman, and all the great people in the math department at CSU who welcomed me to their Math Day. The competition was spirited, the jokes were appropriately mathy, and a lot of students got to spend a day at a math party.

PAEMST 2017

The nominations are now open for PAEMST awards for 7-12 math teachers to be awarded in 2017.

Colorado Academic Standards Perception Survey

One last short reminder: You have until November 13 to complete the Colorado Academic Standards perception survey. This is a different survey than the one mentioned above! For more info see the CDE website, and send general questions and comments about the review and revision process to standardsreview2018@cde.state.co.us.

Computer Science Standards Meetings

During the 2016 legislative session, the Colorado General Assembly passed House Bill 16-1198 requiring CDE to develop academic standards for computer science for secondary students. The new law allows districts to elect to adopt these standards for their high school students. These voluntary, secondary computer science standards must be adopted by the State Board of Education by July 2018, and CDE is hosting three stakeholder meetings in October and November to engage a broad array of stakeholders to inform the development process:
  • Monday, November 14 in Denver
  • Thursday, November 17 in Grand Junction
There will also be a webinar on Monday, November 28 from 3:30 to 5:00. For more information and to register to attend any of these meetings, see the announcement on the CDE Standards and Instructional Support webpage.
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This Week in Math Ed: November 4, 2016

Math Ed Said

Fawn Nguyen
October 28: Fawn Nguyen gave us some insights into her practice with a post called "Good-Enough-for-Now Curriculum," where she discusses the resources she uses, how those resources differ in the thinking they demand of students, and what she finds is worth grading.

Shared by: Fraction Talks, Debbie Hurtado, Jennifer Blinzler, Shaunda McQueeney, Scott Leverentz, Dan Anderson, Samuel, Ilana Horn, Ilona Vashchyshyn, Kimberly Wassmuth, Andrew Gael, Laura Wagenman, Kit G, Bridget Dunbar, John Golden

October 29: Two posts rose to the top this day. First, Tom Rademacher's talks about the lack of easy answers in "My Name Is Tom. I've Been a Teacher for 10 Years and I Still Get My Ass Kicked Nearly Every Day." Second, Mark Chubb lays out the long game in "How our district improved…." Far from the typical, "I tried this for two weeks and things are better," this post takes the 10-year view of math initiatives in his district and the long-term gains they're now enjoying.

Shared by: (for Tom) Kit, Becca Phillips, Mickie Gibbs, Laura Wagenman; (for Mark) Ann Elise Record, Mark Chubb, Tyler Anderson, Margie Pearse

October 30: Sara VanDerWerf wrote about "Visualizing Exponential, Power & Logarithmic Functions." The title is pretty self-explanatory and I suggest you check out the visualizations for yourself.

Shared by: Kit G, Bryan Anderson, Jennifer Lawler, David Butler, Heather Sugrue, Sara VanDerWerf, Ashley Bingenheimer

October 31: Graham Fletcher reintroduces a time estimation task in "The One-Handed Clock in a Digital Era."

Shared by: Dana Williams, Mark Chubb, Simon Gregg, Andrew Gael, Math Coach Rivera, Ryan Dent, Charlotte Sharpe, Mike Flynn, Graham Fletcher

November 1: Nat Banting illustrates a community cross-pollination effort with "#MTBoS Connected: Fraction Talks and WODB."

Shared by: Denise Gaskins, Ilona Vashchyshyn, Jocelyn Dagenais, Simon Gregg, Nat Banting, Fraction Talks

November 2: MindShift is back with "How One School Changed Its Math Culture, Starting With Teachers." The article focuses on one D.C. school that leveraged work on growth mindsets to change students' relationships with mathematics.

Shared by: Kimberly Wassmuth, Kristin Manna, Jennifer Lawler, Regan Galvan, John Golden, Nancy Terry

November 3: 2017 NCTM Regional Conference proposals are due December 1, and several people were encouraging each other to submit. There's less than a month to go, and don't let it get lost in the holidays! In 2017 the regionals are in Orlando and Chicago.

Shared by: Annie Fetter, Lisa Bejarano, David Coffey, Megan Schmidt, David Coffey, Nicole Bridge, NCTM, Zak Champagne, Graham Fletcher

Around the Math Ed Web

Recently speaking for the Global Math Department was Karen Fuson and Steven Smith with "Children Living in Poverty Can Solve CCSS OA Word Problems." Next up is David Wees with "Teachers Learning Together: How Can Instructional Routines Help?."

Wednesday is the next #TCMchat, and the article for discussion is "Selecting and Sequencing Students' Solution Strategies" by Erin Meikle.

Congratulations to NCTM's newly elected board members Robert Q. Berry III, President-Elect; David Ebert, Director, High School Level; and three at-large directors: Linda Ruiz Davenport, DeAnn Huinker, and Daniel J. Teague. You can read more about the new board members on the NCTM website.

The Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators is asking for feedback on a set of standards for math teacher preparation. The deadline to provide input is November 15.

PAEMST nominations are open and due April 1. The application process can take a while, so do it sooner rather than later!

Research Notes

The November 2016 issue of the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education is out:
Here are some recent math ed-related articles in the current issue of Teachers College Record:
The International Journal for Mathematics Teaching and Learning is out with a third issue for 2016:
The South Africa-based journal Pythagoras published its 2nd, 3rd, and 4th articles of 2016:

Math Ed in the News

Math Ed in Colorado

Colorado Academic Standards Survey

It's the last week to complete the standards perception survey! Please reply by November 13!

 CDE invites educators, educational leaders, parents, students and the general public to share their perceptions of the Colorado Academic Standards through an online survey available through Nov. 13. To participate, click here.

The results of the survey will inform the department’s planning for the upcoming review and revision of the standards, required by Senate Bill 08-212, known as Colorado’s Achievement Plan for Kids (CAP4K). The law requires a review and revision of the CAS on or before July 1, 2018 and every six years thereafter.

In addition to the survey on general perceptions of the standards, CDE will launch an online feedback system in November which will enable all educators and others to provide specific feedback on every expectation within the 10 content areas included in the Colorado Academic Standards.

In early 2017, CDE will provide comprehensive information about the timeline and phases of the standards review and revision process as well as information about how to become involved.

The survey and online standards feedback system can be found at http://www.cde.state.co.us/standardsandinstruction/casreview. General questions and comments about the review and revision process can be sent to standardsreview2018@cde.state.co.us.

Computer Science Standards Meetings

During the 2016 legislative session, the Colorado General Assembly passed House Bill 16-1198 requiring CDE to develop academic standards for computer science for secondary students. The new law allows districts to elect to adopt these standards for their high school students. These voluntary, secondary computer science standards must be adopted by the State Board of Education by July 2018, and CDE is hosting three stakeholder meetings in October and November to engage a broad array of stakeholders to inform the development process:
  • Monday, November 14 in Denver
  • Thursday, November 17 in Grand Junction
There will also be a webinar on Monday, November 28 from 3:30 to 5:00. For more information and to register to attend any of these meetings, see the announcement on the CDE Standards and Instructional Support webpage.

COmath Calendar

During a CCTM board meeting a number of us were discussing ways to help bring Colorado math educators together. One idea was to have a centralized calendar, not just for CCTM events, but for all events of interest to math educators in Colorado. You can access it here:
  • ICS format (to use in a calendar app): https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/cctmath.org_3m8n1fjt6jtidsj52etdgaelnc%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
  • HTML format (opens in a browser; use button on lower right to add to your Google Calendar): https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=cctmath.org_3m8n1fjt6jtidsj52etdgaelnc%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/Denver
If you have an event you'd like to add to the calendar, email calendar@cctmath.org to submit your request.
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A Social Networking Experiment

Last month Andrew Stadel asked a good question:

I've often wondered the same thing. For me, I saw Andrew's question as an opportunity to set up an instance of GNU social, which is an open source, federated social network from the Free Software Foundation with a number of Twitter-like features. What does it mean to be federated? It means there can be many GNU social servers and a user on one server can communicate with users on other servers.

We've grown accustomed to companies running social services designed to keep us within their site. GNU social is more like email: it doesn't matter if you use Gmail, Yahoo, your work email, or you set up your own server in your basement. Every email server can talk to every other email server. If the math ed community ever wanted to go rogue and leave Twitter behind (or Twitter left us), I can foresee the possibility of a social.mathed.net, a social.globalmathdepartment.org, a social.desmos.com, etc., and we'd be free to establish an identity on whichever one we chose and we could still follow and chat with those on other servers.

Now that you know a little about the technology, I'm inviting you to join a temporary "social sandbox" I've set up just so I can learn first-hand what running a social site entails. The installation wasn't difficult -- it probably took me less than an hour to install and configure. It's running on a little test server that might be easily overwhelmed, but that's okay. Just consider anything you post to be disposable, as I will take down the site before the end of 2016.

Try it at socialsandbox.mathed.net.
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This Week in Math Ed: October 28, 2016

Math Ed Said

October 21: Dan Meyer explained how a new Desmos activity embodied their design principles in a post titled "Marcellus the Giant."

Shared by: Kirsten Silverman, Andrew Stadel, John Golden, Cathy Yenca, Sara VanDerWerf, Jennifer Blinzler, Jen Silverman, Dan Meyer, Nancy Terry

October 22: A number of people shared a link to a PDF titled "60 iPad and iPhone Apps for the Math Classroom." It's not listed, but I'll plug PhET Interactive Simulations, a CU-Boulder project with some math simulations that recently became available for iOS.

Shared by: David Petro, Jessica Faurote, Matthew Oldridge, Tyler Anderson, Kyle Pearce, Dan Allen

October 23: Sunil Singh's post "Stop Selling Math For Its Usefulness" reminds me of why I think it's so critical for math educators to take a course or otherwise study the perspectives of mathematics and math education. How we define mathematics for our students, and the approach we take in helping them learn mathematics, directly shapes their perspective of math and its utility. And just as this post advocates one of several perspectives, students need multiple perspectives, too.

Shared by: Craig Barton, T R, Jocelyn Dagenais, Federico Chialvo, Cathy Campbell, Matthew Oldridge, Learning Maths, Chris Hunter, Jo Morgan, Edmund Harriss, Brandi Moore, Meleia Bridenstine, Sunil Singh

October 24: Jamie Duncan wrote a post for the Teaching Children Mathematics blog called "Primary Thieves, Part 1." The first paragraph has a great hook:
As a first-grade teacher, I lived in Literacy Land for the first thirteen years of my career. Nearly all primary-grade teachers live there. It’s a great place to be; learning to read, write, and comprehend is critical. Sure, we took day trips to Math Land, but it was less comfortable for us as teachers. We weren’t really sure where Math Land would take us next. We had heard that the older grades were throwing math parties,* but we weren’t invited. So, we just kept to ourselves, doing what we thought was best: using manipulatives and modeling for students in whatever way we (or the publisher’s curriculum) thought they should solve problems.
Shared by: Jennifer Bell, Chris Kalmbach, Steve Wyborney, Adrianne Burns, Brian Bushart, Mark Chubb, Jamie Duncan, Matt Larson, Zak Champagne

Matt Larson at the 2016 NCTM Annual Meeting
October 25: NCTM President Matt Larson announced a significant new initiative aimed at high school. With a working title of Pathways through High School Mathematics: Building Focus and Coherence, NCTM plans to look carefully at the purpose of high school math, define curricular pathways that lead to college pathways and career readiness, and describe exemplar courses.

Shared by: ElementaryMathTeach, Dylan Kane, Brett Parker, Arpi Lajinian, Matt Larson, Raymond Johnson, Farshid Safi, NCTM, Robert Kaplinsky

October 26: It's been a while since Ben Orlin entertained this blog with one of his comics, but here he is again with "The Student-to-Teacher Dictionary," in which Ben promotes an optimistic perspective on things students say that often come across as negative.

Shared by: Denise Gaskins, Shauna Hedgepeth, Joshua Bowman, David Butler, Rebecca Gasper, TJ Hitchman, Brian Bushart, Bowen Kerins, John Golden, Ben Orlin

October 27: Joe Schwartz gave us a "Frowny Face," a short post about an oddly (poorly?) specific estimation worksheet that caused a student frustration and how he resolved it.

Shared by: Brian Bushart, Jim Doherty, Shauna Hedgepeth, Simon Gregg, Joe Schwartz

Around the Math Ed Web

The last day to vote for NCTM Board of Directors is Monday, October 31! If you're a member you should have a link to your ballot in your email.

Don't miss Matt Larson's high school announcement people were sharing on the 25th, mentioned above! I think this is a big deal and I'm most interested in seeing where it goes.

Following the #NCTMregionals tweets from this past week will give you the latest from Phoenix, where math educators gathered for NCTM's Regional Conference. Next week NCTM will host a regional in Philadelphia before catching its breath and hosting Innov8 later in November. If you want to catch up on the Ignite sessions from Phoenix, Suzanne Alejandre has the Storify right here.

NCTM has an impressive number of grants available courtesy of the Mathematics Education Trust. If you've ever needed money for attending a conference, purusing some PD, or doing classroom research, there's probably a grant that fits your needs. Applications for this round of funding are due November 4th.

The Global Math Department welcomed Gail Burrill last week for a talk about calculus, and next up is "Children Living in Poverty Can Solve CCSS OA Word Problems" by Karen Fuson.

Tuesday, November 1st is the deadline to nominate someone for NCSM's Taylor/Gilbert National Leadership Award.

Research Notes

I see three new articles in AERA Open:
That's all the research from my regular sources. I realized recently that I probably should keep an eye on Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, so here are the math ed-related articles published there so far in 2016:

Math Ed in the News

Math Ed in Colorado

There isn't much new but there's a lot in progress! Here are a few key items in case you missed them:

Colorado Academic Standards Survey

Please reply to the survey by November 13!

 CDE invites educators, educational leaders, parents, students and the general public to share their perceptions of the Colorado Academic Standards through an online survey available through Nov. 13. To participate, click here.

The results of the survey will inform the department’s planning for the upcoming review and revision of the standards, required by Senate Bill 08-212, known as Colorado’s Achievement Plan for Kids (CAP4K). The law requires a review and revision of the CAS on or before July 1, 2018 and every six years thereafter.

In addition to the survey on general perceptions of the standards, CDE will launch an online feedback system in November which will enable all educators and others to provide specific feedback on every expectation within the 10 content areas included in the Colorado Academic Standards.

In early 2017, CDE will provide comprehensive information about the timeline and phases of the standards review and revision process as well as information about how to become involved.

The survey and online standards feedback system can be found at http://www.cde.state.co.us/standardsandinstruction/casreview. General questions and comments about the review and revision process can be sent to standardsreview2018@cde.state.co.us.

Computer Science Standards Meetings

During the 2016 legislative session, the Colorado General Assembly passed House Bill 16-1198 requiring CDE to develop academic standards for computer science for secondary students. The new law allows districts to elect to adopt these standards for their high school students. These voluntary, secondary computer science standards must be adopted by the State Board of Education by July 2018, and CDE is hosting three stakeholder meetings in October and November to engage a broad array of stakeholders to inform the development process:
  • Monday, October 31 in Pueblo
  • Monday, November 14 in Denver
  • Thursday, November 17 in Grand Junction
There will also be a webinar on Monday, November 28 from 3:30 to 5:00. For more information and to register to attend any of these meetings, see the announcement on the CDE Standards and Instructional Support webpage.

COmath Calendar

During a CCTM board meeting a number of us were discussing ways to help bring Colorado math educators together. One idea was to have a centralized calendar, not just for CCTM events, but for all events of interest to math educators in Colorado. You can access it here:
If you have an event you'd like to add to the calendar, email calendar@cctmath.org to submit your request.
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A Stitch in TWiME Saves Nine

A few people have asked how I assemble each week's "This Week in Math Ed" (TWiME) post, so here's my explainer. It's a good time for me to do this, as this weekend I finally found a way to automate some things.

The Data

For the "Math Ed Said" section of TWiME, I list each day's most-shared post from my list of 1600+ math educators on Twitter. I've been curating this list for years, and by keeping it open in Tweetdeck right next to my timeline it's allowed me to keep my following list smaller and more subject-diverse, while still seeing a big chunk of what math teachers might be talking about in the list. Right now 228 people subscribe to this list, and I do try to keep it curated by only adding people if I see they frequently tweet about math ed. I occasionally have to remove someone if I notice their interests have gone elsewhere.

For the "Research Notes" section of TWiME, I simply have a bookmarks folder with 30+ journals in it. Each week, Chrome questions my sanity with this:

Opening many tabs in Chrome
Opening many tabs in Chrome


From there, I look through every latest journal issue. Most of the time I can recognize if it hasn't been updated since the previous week. If it's new, I open every article page in preparation for inclusion in TWiME.

For the "Math Ed in the News" section, I added a "math education" topic to Google News and personalized Google News to show me an above-average number of math ed stories.

For anything else, it's something I've come across on my own or had emailed to me, as is the case with much of my Colorado news.

My Tools

TWiME, in its current form, is largely possible due to Nuzzel. Nuzzel does the hard work of watching my Twitter list and tracking what gets shared. Nuzzel does have a newsletter feature, but I've never found those kinds of things very popular or attractive.

Nuzzel
Nuzzel


For most of my writing destined for the web, I use Draft. If you've ever thought, "I wish I had something like Google Docs, but simpler, that let me write in Markdown, and could freeze revisions of my writing in time to compare with later," then you're looking for Draft. I can convert Markdown to HTML with Draft, or with any number of other tools.

Draft
Draft


Making links in Markdown is easier than in HTML:

[This is my Twitter profile](https://twitter.com/MathEdnet)

 Typing these out was pretty tedious, so the "Copy as Markdown" Chrome extension has been a great timesaver.

Links in TWiME, One at a Time

I try to set aside most of my Fridays for assembling each TWiME, with most of that time spent reading. Still, with around 100 links in each TWiME post, I end up doing this over and over and over:

Copying links from Nuzzel
Copying links from Nuzzel


There's no keyboard shortcut in Copy as Markdown for this, but I can quickly paste in Draft with CTRL+v to produce a Markdown-formatted link:

[John Golden](http://twitter.com/mathhombre)

 I've done it this way almost since the beginning. It's tedious. After months of meaning to find a better way, I finally spent the time that will save me time.

Links in TWiME, Saving Time

Instead of getting TWiME out on Friday, I started exploring how I might automate the "shared by" links in the "Math Ed Said" section. First, I checked out the Nuzzel source and found this:

Nuzzel HTML source
Nuzzel HTML source


There's a ton of whitespace in the Nuzzel HTML, but that's no big deal. The big deal is the "externalUserLink" class, which I could search for to isolate the links to Twitter profiles. I started by saving the source into a text file and using simple cat and grep Linux commands:

johnson@flatiron:~/Documents/MathEdnet$ cat nuzzel-source.txt | grep "externalUserLink"
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/klsilverman">Kirsten Silverman</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/mr_stadel">Andrew Stadel</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/mathhombre">John Golden</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/mathycathy">Cathy Yenca </a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/saravdwerf">Sara VanDerWerf</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/jenblinzler">Jennifer Blinzler</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/jensilvermath">Jen Silverman</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/jensilvermath">Jen Silverman</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/ddmeyer">Dan Meyer</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/NancyTerryMath">Nancy Terry</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/mathhombre">John Golden</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/BridgetDunbar">Bridget Dunbar</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/AllisonPeet">Allison Peet</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/bstockus">Brian Bushart</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/BeckyAfghani">Rebecca Afghani</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/laura_wagenman">Laura Wagenman</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/WIMathCouncil">WMC - WI MathCouncil</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/TCM_at_NCTM">TCM - NCTM</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/KristinFrang">Kristin Frang</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/MathCoachCorner">Donna Boucher</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/jody_guarino">Jody Guarino</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/MathMinds">Kristin Gray</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/NancyTerryMath">Nancy Terry</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/MatthewMaddux">Egan J Chernoff</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/quantgal67">Laurie Hailer</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/ilana_horn">Ilana Horn</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/maanow">MAA</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/CmonMattTHINK">Matt Enlow</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/bkdidact">Andrew Gael</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/pmacoun">Phil Macoun</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/NancyTerryMath">Nancy Terry</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/Vanes63">Vanessa Garcia</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/bstockus">Brian Bushart</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/ryan_psmith">Ryan Smith</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/geogebra">GeoGebra</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/ProfNoodlearms">TJ Hitchman</a>
<a class="externalUserLink" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/j_lanier">Justin Lanier</a

Bingo! That gave me all the "shared by" links on the entire page, and I could manually pick out the ones that matched the most-shared story. Unfortunately, the links aren't in Markdown, and I don't need the class and target parameters in my links. I've done a lot of scripting in Bash and could probably figure out how to do the reformatting, but something told me this was an opportunity to push myself to get more Python experience.

Switching to Python meant I needed equivalent tools for things like grep and cut, which I found explained on Stack Overflow. I've read files line-by-line in Python before, so I could reuse those lines of code from previous projects. Then a thought struck me: Instead of saving the Nuzzel HTML source as a file, how difficult would it be for the script to grab the source itself?

Answer: Really easy. Like "add a library and two lines of code" easy. It's handled by the urllib2 Python module. Before long, I had a script that asked me for a date, fetched the page, then parsed line-by-line looking for storyTitle and externalUserLink with some if statements:

#!/usr/bin/python
import os, sys, string, urllib2

base = "http://nuzzel.com/MathEdnet/mathed?sort=friends&when="
date = raw_input('Enter date, Nuzzel-style: ')
url = base+date

f = urllib2.urlopen(url)

for line in f:
    if "storyTitle" in line:
        url = line.split('"')[7]
        title = line.split('>')[2]
        title = title.split('<')[0]
        print "\n"
        print "**Date**: "+"["+title+"]"+"("+url+")"+"\n\n"+"*Shared by:",
    if "externalUserLink" in line:
        url = line.split('"')[3]
        name = line.split('>')[1]
        name = name.split('<')[0]
        print "["+name+"]"+"("+url+"),",

In 21 lines, I ask for the date, construct the URL, get the source, then find/isolate/format both the story title and the shared-by links. The split command cuts the line into pieces, with me telling it which piece I want. (I'm so glad Nuzzel is consistent with its formatting!) When the script is run, I get this output:

johnson@flatiron:~/Documents/MathEdnet$ bin/sharers.py 
Enter date, Nuzzel-style: 10212016

**Date**: [Marcellus the Giant](http://blog.mrmeyer.com/2016/marcellus-the-giant/)

*Shared by: [Kirsten Silverman](http://twitter.com/klsilverman), [Andrew Stadel](http://twitter.com/mr_stadel), [John Golden](http://twitter.com/mathhombre), [Cathy Yenca ](http://twitter.com/mathycathy), [Sara VanDerWerf](http://twitter.com/saravdwerf), [Jennifer Blinzler](http://twitter.com/jenblinzler), [Jen Silverman](http://twitter.com/jensilvermath), [Jen Silverman](http://twitter.com/jensilvermath), [Dan Meyer](http://twitter.com/ddmeyer), [Nancy Terry](http://twitter.com/NancyTerryMath), 

**Date**: [Math with Bad Drawings](http://bstockus.wordpress.com/2016/10/20/math-with-bad-drawings/)

*Shared by: [John Golden](http://twitter.com/mathhombre), [Bridget Dunbar](http://twitter.com/BridgetDunbar), [Allison Peet](http://twitter.com/AllisonPeet), [Brian Bushart](http://twitter.com/bstockus), [Rebecca Afghani](http://twitter.com/BeckyAfghani), [Laura Wagenman](http://twitter.com/laura_wagenman), 

**Date**: [Addictive Game for Practicing Combinations for Ten](http://www.mathcoachscorner.com/2014/10/addictive-game-for-practicing-combinations-for-ten/)

*Shared by: [WMC - WI MathCouncil](http://twitter.com/WIMathCouncil), [TCM - NCTM](http://twitter.com/TCM_at_NCTM), [Kristin Frang](http://twitter.com/KristinFrang), [Donna Boucher](http://twitter.com/MathCoachCorner), 

**Date**: [Story Not Available At This Time](http://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2016/10/21/illustrative-mathematics-collaborate/)

*Shared by: [Jody Guarino](http://twitter.com/jody_guarino), [Kristin Gray](http://twitter.com/MathMinds), [Nancy Terry](http://twitter.com/NancyTerryMath), 

**Date**: [Turns Out, Counting on Your Fingers Makes You Smarter](http://www.wsj.com/articles/turns-out-counting-on-your-fingers-makes-you-smarter-1477065563)

*Shared by: [Egan J Chernoff](http://twitter.com/MatthewMaddux), [Laurie Hailer](http://twitter.com/quantgal67), [Ilana Horn](http://twitter.com/ilana_horn), 

**Date**: [Do You Love or Hate Math and Science?](http://www.quantamagazine.org/20161020-science-math-education-survey)

*Shared by: [MAA](http://twitter.com/maanow), [Matt Enlow](http://twitter.com/CmonMattTHINK), [Andrew Gael](http://twitter.com/bkdidact), 

**Date**: [Top 10 Tools for Creating Digital Quizzes](http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2016/10/top-10-tools-for-creating-digital.html)

*Shared by: [Phil Macoun](http://twitter.com/pmacoun), [Nancy Terry](http://twitter.com/NancyTerryMath), 

**Date**: [#ShadowCon16](http://bstockus.wordpress.com/shadowcon16/)

*Shared by: [Vanessa Garcia](http://twitter.com/Vanes63), [Brian Bushart](http://twitter.com/bstockus), 

**Date**: [Cat Maze](http://www.geogebra.org/m/Z3bry2pG)

*Shared by: [Ryan Smith](http://twitter.com/ryan_psmith), [GeoGebra](http://twitter.com/geogebra), 

**Date**: [Master of Liberal Arts - MALA - Graduate Program](http://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/graduate/masters-liberal-arts)

*Shared by: [TJ Hitchman](http://twitter.com/ProfNoodlearms), [Justin Lanier](http://twitter.com/j_lanier),

The output isn't perfect, but it's close. What a huge timesaver! This gives me all the stories and Twitter links I want from the Nuzzel page, and I can manually copy the ones for top story into Draft. I'd need to make the dates right and trim the unnecessary comma at the end of the "Shared by" list while replacing it with an asterisk to make that text italicized. I had been listing the "shared by" from oldest to newest (bottom-up) in TWiME, which the script doesn't do since it's top-down, but I'm really not too concerned about the order.

Then again, I was having fun with my newfound script-fu at this point, and pressed on to find a way to (a) format the dates in the script and (b) grab all seven days at once. That led to this code:

#!/usr/bin/python
import os, sys, string, urllib2
from datetime import datetime, date, time

base = "http://nuzzel.com/MathEdnet/mathed?sort=friends&when="
d = raw_input('Enter date, Nuzzel-style, or enter \"week\": ')

if d != "week":

    url = base+d

    d = datetime.strptime(str(d), "%m%d%Y")
    d = d.strftime("%B %d")

    f = urllib2.urlopen(url)

    for line in f:
        if "storyTitle" in line:
            url = line.split('"')[7]
            title = line.split('>')[2]
            title = title.split('<')[0]
            print "\n"
            print "**"+d+"**: "+"["+title+"]"+"("+url+")"+"\n\n"+"*Shared by:",
        if "externalUserLink" in line:
            url = line.split('"')[3]
            name = line.split('>')[1]
            name = name.split('<')[0]
            print "["+name+"]"+"("+url+"),",

if d == "week":

    dt = raw_input('Enter first day of your week, Nuzzel-style: ')
    dt = datetime.strptime(str(dt), "%m%d%Y")

    d1 = dt
    d2 = dt.replace(day=dt.day+1)
    d3 = dt.replace(day=dt.day+2)
    d4 = dt.replace(day=dt.day+3)
    d5 = dt.replace(day=dt.day+4)
    d6 = dt.replace(day=dt.day+5)
    d7 = dt.replace(day=dt.day+6)

    d1=d1.strftime("%m%d%Y")
    d2=d2.strftime("%m%d%Y")
    d3=d3.strftime("%m%d%Y")
    d4=d4.strftime("%m%d%Y")
    d5=d5.strftime("%m%d%Y")
    d6=d6.strftime("%m%d%Y")
    d7=d7.strftime("%m%d%Y")

    sevendays = [d1, d2, d3, d4, d5, d6, d7]
    print sevendays

    for i in sevendays:

        url = base+i

        d = datetime.strptime(str(i), "%m%d%Y")
        d = d.strftime("%B %d")

        f = urllib2.urlopen(url)

        for line in f:
            if "storyTitle" in line:
                url = line.split('"')[7]
                title = line.split('>')[2]
                title = title.split('<')[0]
                print "\n"
                print "**"+d+"**: "+"["+title+"]"+"("+url+")"+"\n\n"+"*Shared by:",
            if "externalUserLink" in line:
                url = line.split('"')[3]
                name = line.split('>')[1]
                name = name.split('<')[0]
                print "["+name+"]"+"("+url+"),",

You'll see two big if blocks: the top one for dealing with just a single day, and the bottom one for dealing with the whole week. This script still grabs every story from each day, not just the top one, but I like to be able to see other popular stories so that's not a big deal to me. I'm a bit of a clutz with the date formatting. The documentation is pretty helpful, and I think a general lack of experience with Python modules and syntax trips me up or causes me to write more lines of code than I probably need. That's fine with a short script that I'm going to run once a week. It's already going to save me an hour or two, so I'm not worried about losing milliseconds of CPU time.

It feels pretty good to have produced some code that will make my life a little easier. Right now Colorado is in the beginning phases of creating a voluntary set of secondary computer science standards, and it's little projects like this that remind me that even a little bit of scripting knowledge can be powerful. It's something I think every student should have the opportunity to learn and pursue further if they so choose.
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