Mathematics is a Story

As I look forward to entering my 40th school year, 26 in the mathematics classroom and the rest as a secondary mathematics resource teacher, I spend most of my waking hours thinking about the art and science of teaching. I have finally hit upon a metaphor that seems to resonate with educators.

I believe that mathematics is a complete and coherent (beautiful) story that begins at birth and ends, I guess, at death. For most, it formally begins in school and continues until a child is out of school. Each of a child's teachers is the sacred keeper of a chapter of this story. It is the teacher's job to make their chapter the most engaging piece of the story possible. Characters, plot, storyline must all develop in a logical sequence. These story aspects must fit coherently into place based on what came before. Connections must be made to previous characters and students need to understand how the characters will fit into the subsequent chapters. The story needs to be exciting, must capture attention, must motivate the students to want to hear and learn more. Think about what has happened to each and every one of us when we started to read a book and it was boring or, for whatever reason, didn't grab our attention. It doesn't matter if someone else tells you what a great book it is, most of us will not pick it back up. Especially when there are so many other options available. Once interest is lost in a story, it's difficult to gain that interest back. Now, think about a story where you were interested but all of a sudden, new characters are introduced or the plot line seems to diverge. Well, now the story loses me for another reason and, most likely, I've lost interest.

I'm thinking about teachers who use slang instead of correct mathematics terminology. As a student, I'm losing the storyline and the characters. Think about the teacher who teaches tricks instead of conceptual understanding. As a student, I can't follow the plot line. Think of the teacher who never lets students engage in a discussion about the story. As a student, I'm tuning out because I have all these thoughts in my head about the story but no one lets me share. Wow! What is the actual probability of any student getting 12+ amazing storytellers in their school life? Unfortunately, the probability must be near zero. This has to change! Every student is entitled to teachers who believe that their chapter of the story is sacred and worth conveying as if it is the beautiful wisdom, the flame of life. This means that teachers need to understand the content and they need to understand the pedagogy that underpins that content.

As I begin this new school year, I am committed to having conversations with math teachers about how their chapter of the mathematics story can be developed and shared with students to keep them clambering for more. I want every math teacher to know the joy when their class period is over and the students say, "WHAT, class is over already?!"