2020 has, in many ways, contained both stagnation and growth. The stagnation is what seems to resonate with us. So much time at home, a limited circle of people to interact, and a school year that makes it challenging to see the desired growth in our students tend to overpower our thinking. It is easy to focus on these things, as they are such a part of our daily lives right now.
However, there are also so many ways that we have grown in the last year. We have gained more time for self-reflection, had time to actually pursue our interests, become quite adept at Zoom meetings, and for many of us, learned how to celebrate holidays with a small circle rather than our large family gatherings. While all of these opportunities have not been our choice, they have allowed us to look at our lives in a new light, and hopefully, there have been things we have done that we hope to continue well after this pandemic is in our rearview.
But as a math teacher, what changes have you made that you want to stick around? Have you eliminated pages of repeated problems? Have you put more time into the hows and whys of student work rather than the final results? Has making math visual been a priority in your instruction? Have you been more intentional with your practices and built in routines that fit your students' needs? Do your students see math as more than just computation? Have you offered more opportunities for creativity and critical thinking? Does your classroom culture celebrate mistakes as steps toward growth?
I am hopeful that some of these changes have occurred for you, and that you see the value in keeping these practices into the return of our post-pandemic world. While that world still may be many months away, these best practices are good now. Remote, hybird or in-person instruction. Polish them up so that you have them in good shape for our return to "normal" instruction. Whenever (and whatever) that may be.
