Five ideas from educators about the math curriculum

Key points:

When I met with educators at the recent ISTE conference, our conversations were vibrant and enlightening. Instead of asking them for the usual opinion on curriculum, I asked them a different question.

Below are the passionate and clear responses educators gave when I asked, “What does your ideal math curriculum look like?”

1. Empower teachers to facilitate collaborative learning.

Every teacher and administrator I spoke to mentioned the idea that in the ideal math classroom, the teacher sets clear expectations and acts as a facilitator while students engage in hands-on activities and games collaboratively. The challenge is to create resources that foster this type of environment naturally. This ideal is seen in action when students go to college and suddenly enjoy learning more, because college classrooms are more likely to be collaborative environments. Collaboration is a natural way to learn, and I heard from many teachers who are looking for support in creating this type of environment.

2. Inspires problem solving and productive struggle.

Problem solving is a fundamental part of the learning process, but too often the math curriculum asks students to learn procedures first and problem solving second, making them separate processes. Problem solving and learning are the most important life skills students learn from math, and they are so intimately connected that I was surprised that so few educators I spoke to could talk about the difference between productive and unproductive struggle. The difference is the story students tell themselves. When they tell themselves they can do it, they are struggling productively, and when they tell themselves they can’t, they are struggling unproductively. Different types of problems encourage more or less productive struggle, so the content teachers give students plays a role in the stories they tell themselves.

3. By engaging students, you improve classroom management.

What’s surprising about this finding is that the responsibility for classroom management often falls entirely on the teacher, without considering that the curriculum could help in this area. Student engagement and classroom management are intimately related, so leveraging a curriculum designed to naturally engage students can significantly alleviate management challenges. For example, asking questions that spark wonder and curiosity or allowing students to figure out what they’re supposed to do as the first step in an activity can lead to increased engagement and smoother classroom management.

4. Improves teacher flexibility and creativity.

Most teachers want to feel some level of creativity in their teaching. They chose their profession for the opportunity to create those moments when a student “gets it” and learning just explodes. They don’t want to feel stifled by standards, assessments, or state and district mandates. The question we’re left with is this: Is there a way a curriculum can amplify teachers’ flexibility and creativity, while also helping them cover all the standards they need to meet by the end of the year?

5. It is student-centered and flexible.

Teachers want a curriculum that It focuses on student needs and personalized learning. including open-ended questions that help students understand the process and “why” behind mathematics.

For an example of people not knowing the “why” of math, ask an adult why subtracting a negative number is adding a positive number. They will tell you that it is because two negative numbers equal a positive number. However, the truth is that subtracting gives you the inverse of what comes next. If you teach students that “why” when you teach them to subtract, then when they get to subtracting negative numbers, they will intuitively understand that subtracting a negative number is adding a positive number.

Every teacher I spoke to agreed that any curriculum claims or goals should be student-centered. But it is adults who decide what curriculum to buy, so often curriculum creators design their products to sell to those adults rather than to meet the needs of students. Ironically, a truly student-centered curriculum will produce better outcomes for students, but it may be a harder sell.

A common thread that runs through all five of these key takeaways is that educators want curriculum that helps them teach better, and they don’t want to have to do a lot of professional development to get started. As we continue these conversations, the question we’re left with is, “How can we create curricula that foster natural learning environments for both educators and students?”