Melissa Dean | Creating Responsive Math Classrooms

Aside from take it with a grain of salt….

I leaned in with curiosity.

And realized the word “hate” was covering up feeling uncomfortable with the math.

Most math classes follow a repeatable pattern:
1. Teacher directed lesson
2. Student directed practice.
3. Algorithms, procedures and steps.

When we ask kids to engage with math in an unfamiliar way — mathematical thinking, discourse, proofs— it shows up with dislike.

And that is 100% okay. Because the kids who admit the discomfort and work through it grow the most.

If our students are going to grow, we need them to learn how to move through the struggle, and what to do when they are stuck.

What we don’t do is give up on what we know is effective because a kid finds it unfamiliar.

My math class is built on:
Responsive Instruction
Mathematical thinkng
Rich Assessment
Student ownership

It’s uncomfortable. It’s hard. But at the end, kids look back and see how much they have grown.