Hello, Math Universally Speaking. I am Ron Martiello and this is season 2 of the podcast. I want to thank all those who have subscribed to the podcast by signing up on our website. I also want to thank all those who are following us on your favorite platform. Our numbers continue to grow and I greatly appreciate the time you are investing in knowing more about inclusive and equitable math instruction. For those of you who are school leaders or coaches, feel free to add links from our website or podcast episodes to your teacher resources, presentations or newsletters to support your teams with the fantastic work you are doing to make math a subject that elevates all students in their learning. 

Those of you who have been listening regularly know this is a “Blogcast” format. You can engage with the podcast as a blog and just read the post on the Math: Universally Speaking website. You can also listen on your favorite platform like Spotify, Castbox, Amazon Prime, or Apple. 

Let’s switch gears back to today’s topic. The thing I love about our job as educators is that we get a fresh start every school year. Whether you are a teacher, assistant, principal, or student, the new school year is filled with great opportunities.

Today, I would like to talk to you about taking the opportunity to develop a positive math culture in your classroom. Math creates emotions for students. Those emotions are linked to their math identities. The culture we develop should strengthen our students’ emotional capacity for the work and positively impact their mathematical identities—through their interactions with us as teachers, with other students, and with the math content itself. After you get to know your students and set your procedures and expectations, make sure to attend to the culture of math in your class. You can utilize the following  5 tips to help shape a positive and productive math culture.  

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Tip 1: Hold High Expectations for Your Students
All of our students have the ability to think and reason in mathematics. They also have the right to access grade-level content. That means scaffolding up to grade-level learning, not watering down standards.

If you don’t believe in your students, who will?

Operating on assumptions based on labels—“IEP student,” “ELL,” “low student,” “struggler”—is detrimental. These labels kill culture. Instead, communicate clearly: What are the goals of the lesson? What steps will students take to learn it? What barriers may there be in accessing the learning? And how can I provide options for them to succeed?

Teacher Move: Actively talk with students about goals and expectations. Be clear that you are speaking to all students in the classroom. Let them know the role they will have in their learning and what role you will play as the teacher. These conversations around goals should inspire students to develop their own approaches to learning and how to take advantage of the resources they have to accomplish those goals. 

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Tip 2: Coach Precision through Process
I’ve coached a number of different sports over the years—softball, soccer, martial arts. And it’s rare that anyone is precise on their first try. The brain needs time to adjust and adapt to new movements or techniques and then understand how to apply them in context.

Students need the same experience in math. They need time to slow down and take deep dives into the new concepts and skills they are learning. Over time, they hone their skills through application—attending to accuracy, developing speed, experimenting with flexible thinking, and discovering opportunities for repeated reasoning.

Precision is not about a score—it’s about the process.

Teacher move: Use exit tickets or mini-quizzes for maintenance not grades. These let students know how close they are to becoming more precise while keeping the focus on growth.

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Tip 3: Struggle = Learning
Growth mindset is often talked about in math. We tell students to embrace mistakes. Yet if the culture of our classroom is only about answer-getting, then we’re working against the very culture we’re trying to establish.

What we do with mistakes—and how we honor the thinking that comes after them—is where real growth happens.

Teacher move: When students are struggling, try a gallery walk. Let them walk the room and look at other students’ work. Walk beside them and ask: “Is there anyone using a tool or strategy you understand?” Give them time to listen to their peer’s thinking. Once they find an entry point, let them try it. Then follow up: “Did that work for you? How did your thinking change?”

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Tip 4: Position Students to Be Partners in the Work
Set expectations that students will be active participants in demonstrating math in class. They are the experts of the things they already know. They apply that knowledge to new learning and make discoveries about new skills and concepts.

Teacher move: Give students choices in how they share their work.

• They might ask the teacher to explain their thinking for them.
  
• They might co-present with another student.
  
• They might publish on a shared forum like Padlet, Google Slides, or even on paper.
  
• Or they may choose to present independently.
  

In any of these cases, the students own the thinking, while you attend to the variability of how individuals wish to present it.

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Tip 5: Make Time for Reflection
There is a misconception in math that students must be doing a large number of problems during math class—finish one, get a solution, check, move on to the next.

But students need time to process their thinking. They need to reflect on which strategies worked, which didn’t, and what scaffolds or tools they may need as they continue learning.

They also need to know how to partner with the teacher or other students when they need support.

Reflection isn’t wasted time. It’s where students connect their growth to their identity as mathematicians.

Teaches Move: Hold office hours during independent work. Hours can be flexible or scheduled regularly. You can meet individually or with a couple students at a time. Set a goal to meet with every student once every week or every two weeks. You set the pace. 

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So as you begin your first lessons this year, infuse these five tips into your instruction. Take small moments during the lesson to explicitly tell students about your teacher’s moves to develop culture, and invite them to be part of that process.