Promoting the Right Stuff

Sara Van Der Werf

Teacher, Minneapolis South High School

MCTM President

You know what you should do? PROMOTE the right stuff.
Thoughts on MCTM’s Mission Statement

3 years ago I hired the most amazing team of math leaders to work for Minneapolis Public Schools. A couple of months into working with them, they called me out on two things. One, they said I was always using the phrase “You know what you should do?” and Two, they said I said this while swinging my arm in a large arc ending with my finger pointing in their face. They started lovingly (I am going to assume the mocking was out of love) mocking me every time they caught me doing it. I was once caught pointing at and telling the Superintendent of our school district what to do. I am now a bit more conscious about this habit I have.

My telling anyone I meet what they should do while wildly swinging my finger at them fits with every personality test I’ve taken over the years. I like to tell people what to do, especially when it comes to math. This natural part of my personality has both negative and positive aspects. One of the positive aspects is that I am a natural promoter. If I believe in something, I will make sure you know about it.

Over the last several years I have started speaking a lot more at math conferences and other educational events. I find myself during the presentation, unplanned & usually when I think many in the crowd are unaware of something I think is vital, hearing myself saying something like “If you have not read ‘Making Number Talks Matter’ by Cathy Humphries yet, you need to right away”. (and yes, my arm swings out in a large arc pointing at the participants) After saying something like this about a website/blog/book/person/etc, I’ve noticed that participants in my sessions start writing down whatever I told them to do on their phones or conference booklets. I don’t know what it is, but I suspect my passion about mathematics encourages many I meet to follow through on suggestions I give. In the last year I’ve started thinking about the responsibility in what I say and my actions when it comes to mathematics. If people are going to take note, then I need to make sure I am promoting the right stuff.

This article is part 2 of an 8 article series highlighting 8 words in the MCTM Mission Statement highlighting the word ‘PROMOTING’. (you can read part 1 on ‘professionals’ here) I, as President, am MCTM. You as a member of our organization are MCTM. This mission statement gives us all direction around our profession. In my series of articles I hope to give insight into 8 of the words it contains and how they inform our practice. Please take a moment to reread our mission statement.

Promoting: verb; further the progress of (something, especially a cause, venture, or aim); support or actively encourage.

Our mission statement says we should be dedicated to PROMOTING. Dedicated. Dedicated to promoting. What should we promote? Our mission statements we should promote the teaching and learning of meaningful mathematics. Whom are we promoting for? We are promoting on behalf of ALL students. Why are we promoting? We promote to support educators.

As a mathematics leader in Minnesota I see the word ‘promote’ through the lens of what I promote to teachers, principles, and anyone connected to education. As a teacher, I see what I promote to students. So what does it mean to PROMOTE the right stuff? What is the right stuff to promote? I decided to ask several people who are smarter than I am at the recent NCTM Regional conference in Minneapolis.

Chris Robinson, MCTM Member, Blake Schools: “So promoting, when I heard the word, Promoting needs to happen not just at the conference in April and May. We need to be promoting teaching and learning and mathematics throughout the year.”

David Wees, NYC, Blogger: ”I noticed you had the words ‘teaching and learning’ side by side your mission statement and in my job I get to see a lot of teaching but I don’t know I see a lot of learning. So what does it mean to promote ‘learning’ of mathematics and how do you know it is happening. That would be my question.”

Annie Fetter, The Math Forum, NCTM: “So my first thought is to give opportunities for kids to do math and grownups to shut up. Promote Math.”

Max Ray, The Math Forum, NCTM: “Saying that MCTM *promotes* the teaching and learning of meaningful math emphasizes that it’s not just MCTM members’ job to *do* that teaching (and learning!), it means that MCTM also is committed to outreach and bringing other stakeholders into the conversation – reaching out to and including parents, students, administrators, politicians, non-members, etc.!”

What I loved about asking others to give me their definitions of ‘promoting’ is they thought of things I never would have. MCTM is stronger in as a community when we are in community with others. One of the communities I often consult now days is Twitter. Here are a few tweets from math people about what we should promote.

So what is Sara VanDerWerf’s right stuff to promote right now? Here is my personal list of things I am currently passionate about in my own practice. I’d love to hear what you would add or delete.
• Desmos. Every teacher needs to be using this with students. It is a game changer in our profession in so many ways. Want to know more? I will be doing a session on this in Duluth.
• Number Talks. I can not tell you how passionate I am about this topic right now. If we all took these seriously in in K-12 math, I really believe we would see huge changes in our students’ fluency with math in just a short time. Seriously, if you don’t know what these are use my friend google and do some reading up on the topic.
• Using Visuals.
• Noticings and Wonderings.
• Engaging Students in discourse. I am always working to learn how to better do this.
• Getting rid of tricks and finding ways to promote conceptual learning.
• Creating persistent, engaged, excited students. (this is what my PLC at school is working on this year)
• Learning to ride a backwards bike (again, I will be doing a session on this in Duluth).
• Supporting new teachers.
• Focusing on growth and not proficiency.
• Math On-a-stick. (read this blog post from Christopher Danielson – Let the children play.)
• Encouraging every teacher to not be isolated, but be in community with other teachers.
• Finding tasks that have entry points for all levels of students.
• Co-planning with other teachers.
• Twitter. Seriously – the best PD I get as a mathematics teacher comes from this platform. Join today.
• I am sure there are more things I am
• MCTM. I love the community of math teachers in Minnesota. I am so committed to promoting this organization.

(Before reading the last paragraph – Please imagine my arm swinging in a wide arc pointing at you as I say these words): Do you know what you should do? You need to reflect on what your words and actions are promoting with students. Is this what you want to be promoting? If so, how can you share this with other educators? If not, what moves can you make so your words and actions promote what you want to be promoting. You need to think about how you promote learning of meaningful mathematics for all students. Find other math educators to talk to about this. We are better when we are in community. If you are not sure what meaningful mathematics is, be looking at future posts on MCTM’s mission statement, or better yet, attend our spring conference in Duluth to see what we are promoting. You can register here. You can also register to speak (promote) at the conference here.

I’d love to hear what you have to say. Email me at sarav@mpls.k12.mn.us or Tweet me @saravdwerf. I also just started a personal blog ( saravanderwerf.com) where you can go to see what I am promoting in mathematics education.

Postscript to last month’s article: Last month I promised to write a shorter article this month. I failed, therefore I make no promises about next month’s article on ‘Teaching’.

Postscript to my opening story: When I left my job at the district office to return to teaching 2 years ago, I gifted each of my co-workers a flip book filled with photos of me that animated me wildly swinging my arms and pointing at them. I titled the flipbook “Do you know what you should do?” and told them they could flip it anytime they missed me working with them. I know – I am a bit weird and crazy – but I am crazy about promoting great practices in mathematics and assuring all students have access to meaningful mathematics.