Math Dispositions, Norms & Habits of Mind

What Math Is... And Isn't

One of my takeaways after reading Necessary Conditions last summer was what math is... and isn't from chapter 2 (page 18):

• Mathematicians persist through challenging problems.
• Mathematicians communicate their ideas as clearly as possible.
• Mathematicians don't always get the answer.
• Mathematicians are creative.
• Mathematicians try several approaches to a problem.
• Mathematicians encourage each other.
• Mathematicians find beauty in their work.
• Mathematicians find meaning in their work.

I liked this breakdown of the dispositions of what it means to be a mathematician. During the first week of school I had asked students what they thought mathematicians do and then shared this list with them. My goal was the use these as guiding statements & practices throughout the year. I will admit, they weren't used as much as I would have liked, but I think they are important and I hope to use them more meaningfully in my classes nest year.

Math Norms

After I shared these with students, we discussed our math norms, which I modified from Sara Van Der Werf:

• We do math every day (also from Math Equals Love)
• Make your thinking visual
• Solve multiple ways. Make connections.
• Convince me

This was my first year using these norms and I think they do a great job of encompassing what I want my students to be doing every single day, no matter the content or activity. 

Habits of Mind

Lastly, this school year teachers in our district read Students At the Center and attended professional development on incorporating the Habits of Mind into our classes. We had used the HOM at my previous school, so I was familiar with them, and wish I could have done more with them, but unfortunately wasn't able to this year. I did give my students a survey in the middle of the year about which habits they thought were most important in math and to explain why they chose what they did. Overall, their top three were: thinking flexibly, striving for accuracy & persisting.

Overall I would love to have these discussions next year, but want to find a way to be more student centered, rather than just a brief discussion and then telling the students the dispositions, norms & habits. I would also love to really extend these ideas beyond September - I did have posters with the norms up all year and would refer to them, but I would like to do more with them in the future.