Building Sociomathematical Norms

Starting the year, with designated time to build sociomathematical norms can enhance learning outcomes throughout the year.  In this project, I partnered with my district's math specialist to compile resources that could be used at the start of the year to help teachers set up their classrooms as places where students "know and do" math.

The goal of ambitious teaching and mathematical reform is we want our students to be (and see themselves as) knowers and doers of math.  So, with that frame, I have spent a lot of time considering what that phrase The role of students' math identities in this process of moving towards students knowing and doing math strikes me as paramount (II.b.v).  Coming back from hybrid learning students identities and view of themselves as people who could overcome challenges and persevere to accomplish hard things was at a deficit.  This manifested itself in many ways, but the most noticeable to me as an observer in math classrooms this year, was how students avoided engaging with challenging tasks more than any time I'd witnessed before.  Teachers were left with the unenviable choice of guiding students through the lesson and doing most of the thinking for the class, or battling behaviors and apathy and minimal (if any engagement). Teachers I spoke with agreed.  So, the goal of this work this spring was to create resources that can be used in the fall to "go slow" initially, spending time redefining the classroom as a place where students struggle through challenging concepts and have success in many forms, to "go fast" later as students are more willing to engage with high cognitive demand tasks (II.a.i).  As I reflect on this work, I realize that prior to the fall, I need to find effective means of communicating these ideas to the teachers, as well as support them in building routines that continue these practices throughout the year (II.a.iv).  This work also is deeply rooted in building equity-based practices in a math classroom.  It allows students to go deep with math, draw on their multiple resources of knowledge (that they may not recognize in themselves), affirm and develop mathematics learners' identities and leverage their multiple mathematical competencies (III.v.c).