What does being good at math & Beyonce’s birthday have in common? Well, all of Beyonce’s birthday buddies got together to chat about our answers to the question… What does it mean to be good at math?

Kristen, from @MooreThanJustX, www.MoorethanJustX.com, and host of The Modern Math Teacher podcast.

Joined by Juliana, from @collaborated.with.juliana, www.collaboratedconsulting.org, and math coach for teachers of students that struggle,

Both of these fabulous math educators joined me on episode 76 of Honest Math Chat to dive into what it means to be good at math, how we can help students be good at math, and what really matters when helping students see themselves as mathematicians.

You can listen or you can keep reading if you’re more of a visual, text person!

Who do we have here today?

Audio starts at 4:00

When asked what it means to be “good at math” here’s what the ladies said…

• Kristen: Making real world connections & applications. Apply past learning to new experiences and explore math through problem solving
• Juliana: Persevering. You’re willing to put your math trauma aside and you’re willing to give math a try and persevere!
• Mona: Describing your math thinking and really engaging in those conversations about real world math. Allowing students to both develop their math identity and their math proficiency.

How do math discussions help students be “good at math”?

Audio starts at 8:00

Engagement strategies like Which One Doesn’t Belong get students engaged in math.

Last year’s birthday episode all about WODB to increase students’ math identity and their engagement in math class. Check out this article here on Juliana’s website about using WODB in high school classrooms.

We have to shift the focus from the procedure, to the sharing the thinking. When we do this the message is sent to students that we value thinking most in math. Further, that being good in math means you are able to share your math thinking and build on the thinking of others.

Collective understanding builds in the classroom as students share their thinking. The academic language can be increased through social interactions and math discussions.

Which One Doesn’t Belong helps students all have good ideas and are in class with a lot of potential in math. Which, increased students confidence and capability.

How can we help students be “good at math”?

Audio starts at 12:45

Juliana: Be trust to what your students’ need. Using structured tasks vs. open ended tasks. Building your understanding of your students’ learning needs when structuring your lessons.

Kristen: Use ChatGPT to help you develop real world tasks and bring mathematics to life for your students and to have an answer to that ever persistent question, “When will I ever need this?”.

Mona: Routines. Use consistent practice of a routine where students can grapple (productively struggle) and get the structured support while having time to discuss their thinking and learn from their peers to build that collective understanding.
Using a structure of:
Warm Up,
Word Problem Workshop,
Math Discussion,
Exit Ticket

helps students develop a sense of security to engage in rigorous math!

Routines help build our math classroom community

Math routines and classroom management allow students to learn math and be good at math.

Teaching students how to work together and build on each others’ ideas in a discussion are essential, and achieved through utilizing routines.

We have to support students in feeling safe to take risks. We can do that through creating a classroom community where students have a sense of belonging and safety to engage, share their ideas, and take risks.

Math norms are key to supporting our students in feeling safe to describe their thinking and engage in math.

Once you have a strong classroom community you are able to utilize engagement structures to get everyone talking.

What’s one thing you wish math teachers did more?

Mona: Talk less, give more time for students to talk

Juliana: Spend more time community building. Throughout the year, not just at the beginning of the year.

Kristen: Embrace math from the real world- MESSY math! Use authentic learning experiences in math class.

A Poem about being a Math teacher!

Ya gotta tune in to hear the poem Juliana wrote (well with the help of ChatGPT) her math birthday buddies!