We began by investigating why classroom culture and mindset mattered in the mathematics classroom. After creating this common foundation, CVNIC teachers explored both what they were using to teach and how they were teaching. Teachers realized the value of rich open mathematical tasks and teaching as a facilitator rather than a lecturer. These shifts in instructional practice were essential to improving student sense-making and encouraging productive struggle. Teachers worked together to test changes and learn about cooperative learning, open mathematical tasks, whole class debriefs, and formative assessments.

Students need authentic opportunities to engage with meaningful mathematical tasks and teacher facilitation that highlights, connects, and extends student thinking. Teachers learned about the "5 Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematics Discussion" by Margaret Schwan Smith and Mary Kay Stein to support student conversations through rich tasks. Utilizing this common instructional routine, provided opportunities for teacher to collaborate and reflect together. This learning highlighted the power of purposeful questions by both teachers and students and the importance of mathematical freedom, allowing students to show how they make sense of and approach different mathematical tasks.

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) advocates for productive struggle, “Effective teaching of mathematics consistently provides students, individually and collectively, with opportunities and supports to engage in productive struggle as they grapple with mathematical ideas and relationships.”