For Rebecca Taylor and Laurie McDonald of Atlantic Coast High School, improving math instruction starts with a powerful shift: helping students do more than “do math.” They want students to think like mathematicians.
As Cindy Edelman Excellence in Teaching Fellows, Taylor and McDonald attended the Mathematics Leadership Summit at Stanford University, where they joined educators from around the world who are working to strengthen math teaching and learning. Their goal was to bring that experience back to Duval County by creating professional development for secondary math teachers.
The experience, they said, was inspiring.
Surrounded by educators who share their passion for math education, Taylor and McDonald explored new ways to think about classroom practice, student learning, and what it really means to build mathematical understanding. One key learning moment was the idea that math classrooms often focus too much on getting students to complete procedures, rather than helping them reason, question, and think deeply.
That shift has important implications for teaching. If the goal is for students to think like mathematicians, then instruction, questioning, and assessment must change, too.
Another major takeaway was the value of teaching fewer “big ideas” more deeply. The summit highlighted evidence that students can make stronger learning gains, including on standardized tests, when teachers focus on deep understanding instead of trying to cover a long list of benchmarks too quickly.
For Taylor and McDonald, one of the most memorable parts of the trip was meeting Jo Boaler and Cathy Williams of YouCubed. Williams has agreed to meet with them by Zoom to help outline goals for the professional development they plan to create. They also valued connecting with educators from across the globe, including a meaningful conversation with a participant from Denmark.
The learning is already shaping their classroom practice. They are changing the kinds of questions they ask, trying new assessment formats, and looking for better ways to understand student thinking.
Next, the team hopes to sponsor a screening of Counted Out, meet with Williams, and draft goals and an agenda for their first professional development session next fall.
Their Fellowship learning experience affirmed an important lesson: when teachers rethink math instruction, students gain more than answers. They gain the tools to think, reason, and understand.