Blue Glasses Math

What stories do students bring to math class, and how do those stories impact their engagement with math?

In Season Two, we will delve deeper into how our beliefs about what it means to be a math person makes a tremendous impact on learning and teaching.

We will get specific about the synergy between affect and math learning. We will explore how emotional factors like anxiety, frustration, joy, and satisfaction interact with math learning. (Hint: they are not to be entirely avoided).

Come along for the ride. And join the conversation.

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In this episode, we kick things off with a thought-provoking quote from Dan Meyer: "Students know what it feels like to have their education done to them rather than with them and they vastly prefer the latter." Let's dive into what this means and how it ties into the core human needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in the classroom.

We'll ask the big question: "Do our educational values align with these basic human needs?" By fostering autonomy, building competence, and nurturing relationships, we can transform learning into a more engaging and effective experience for students.

What do I actually mean when I say, "shift our perspective on what it means to be a math person"? Why the Blue Glasses?

In this episode, you will learn more about the reason why I am calling for a shift in perspective. Why I think that the focus on "good at math" has been misdirected. Why I think math can be a vehicle for hope, agency and persistence.

Inspiration for this episode, Brene Brown, Atlas of the Heart, page 97.

https://brenebrown.com/book/atlas-of-the-heart/

https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_the_power_of_vulnerability?language=en

In this episode, 2 in a series of 3, we begin to take a peek at how math teacher identity may influence how they show up as math teachers. Yes, each teacher brings their own unique stories with them to their lessons. Those stories influence how teachers plan lessons, ask and answer questions, respond to faulty student reasoning and more.

Let's take a look at changing the perspective on learned helplessness - through the lens of math teacher identity.

In this first of a three-part series, I talk about learned helplessness in math class.

Is helplessness learned, or taught? What does helplessness represent? What are the implications of helplessness? And what can we do about it?

Let's shift our perspectives on what it means to be "helpless" in math class.

This series was inspired by this quote: Equitable Practices without high expectations are nothing more than misguided enablement. - Charles Williams

https://twitter.com/_cwconsulting/status/1772060100259115205

Do teachers (and parents) play a role in shaping the flavors of students' mathematical narratives? You bet! We have the power to influence the bitterness or sweetness of students' mathematical experiences. Join me as I introduce the metaphor of a Mason jar as a container for students' math autobiographies.

Each of our students comes to us with a jar - pre-filled with their thoughts and beliefs about math and about themselves as math learners. How do the contents shift over the course of a school year?

Let's take a look.

Building math confidence is like planting a seed that grows into a sturdy tree, providing a strong foundation for all future mathematical exploration and learning. It's important because confident students are more likely to take risks, embrace challenges, and persist through difficult problems, viewing mistakes not as failures but as vital steps in the learning process. .

Confidence is key when teaching and learning math effectively. So why are so many teachers (yes...there are plenty out there)...not super confident when it comes to teaching math "effectively"?

In this episode I talk about what confident teachers do...and how vulnerability is a necessary factor in the confidence equation.

In a profession that makes all other professions possible, teachers have a lofty task. Teachers are tasked with preparing our kiddos to step out in the world and be able to function as independent members of society. What if we saw math class as a training ground to develop the life skills that every human needs, like curiosity, patience, concentration, self-confidence and perseverance. Because these are the skills that our learners will need as the step into a world that we can't even imagine.

Yup. The superintendent walked in on a fight, and witnessed, first-hand, how learners' beliefs will shift when they are given the space to express their opinions and co-create their mathematical thinking with one another.

Let's take a look.