What I Want My Students To Know

I’m prepping for next school year. I am thinking about it constantly. 

I’m relentlessly thinking about the things I want to try and do this school year. My first year returning to the classroom after eight years away.

Of course, there are thoughts about the setup of the classroom, my coworkers, materials, and schedules, but what continues to come to the forefront of my mind is my students. What exciting mathematical ideas will they bring? What will they teach me? And what do I want them to know and believe to be true about mathematics and themselves as mathematicians? 

So here’s a quick list of things I want my students to know:

You matter. Your voice matters, and we need your lived experience in our math classroom. We all get better when you’re here and when you participate in ways that make sense to you. 

It’s okay to walk away from a math problem. Space is helpful. Space provides perspective. Sometimes you’ll come back to it. And sometimes you won’t. Both are okay.

It’s okay to not be finished when class ends. Math doesn’t end at the time our class stops – just like the real world doesn’t end when you walk in the math classroom. 

It’s okay to stop if you get frustrated. In fact, that frustration means something is happening. It means that you care about the problem. It’s worth getting frustrated over. These are the types of problems worth doing.

Your wonderings are important. I want to know about your questions. I want to know about the things you are curious about. Because I want to be curious with you. I want to learn with and from you. And I want all of our classmates to be curious with you. 

You have important mathematical ideas. And your ideas will teach me and our class so many things about how you are thinking about math. 

I’m thrilled to embark on this journey. And I hope I can communicate these ideas to every one of my students this fall.

I can’t wait to join them there.