Find Your Math Thinking Partner This Summer
Insights on math literacy, instruction, and leadership for educators and school leaders.
Schools don't get better through professional development alone. They get better through the real, tactical work of coaching teachers, and a big part of my book is about how leaders actually do that with their math teachers. Unfortunately, too few leaders feel confident in these moments and lack frameworks and ways to expand their leadership.
This is one of the most common stressors I hear from school leaders: I am in charge of math classes, but I didn't teach it, and I'm not sure my feedback is worthwhile. This week I got to dig into that exact problem in two places. Dr. TJ Vari and I published a piece in Edutopia called "3 Ways to Give Math Teachers Effective Feedback," and I talked through the same ideas on episode 388 of the Aspire to Lead podcast. I am grateful to have both of those spaces to talk about leadership and math instruction.
The article lays out three moves: adapt or adopt a set of shared practices, provide math-focused professional development, and co-observe math classrooms with a subject matter expert. All three matter, and they’re stronger together as a package. But the one idea that’s been rattling around in my head for a few weeks is the third: finding a subject matter expert to help sharpen your eye for math instruction.
I’d argue it’s the single most influential thing you can do to level up your coaching. And unlike a lot of leadership development, it’s fun! The person you choose doesn’t have to have a specific title or role. It can be a math leader, a strong math teacher on your staff, a colleague who’s a few steps ahead of you on the math-leadership journey, or simply someone you trust to think through a math class with you and help you see what you’re not yet seeing. Bring this person along to help you see more in the classroom and sharpen your feedback. The article and podcast go into more detail outlining the process in more depth.
Monday Ready
Summer is the perfect window to set this up, before the year hits full swing and the growth ideas get squeezed to the side and off the agenda. A few concrete moves to make it real:
Identify your person and invite them to collaborate. A math leader, a strong math teacher on your staff, a colleague a few steps ahead of you, or anyone you trust to think through a class alongside you.
Nail down times and put them on the calendar now. Block dates to meet and co-visit classrooms together, so it survives the September rush instead of becoming a good intention.
Identify your own growth goals as a math leader. Be specific about what leadership skills you want to develop and how this process will help support your growth.
Name the goals you want to help your teachers reach. Communicating these up front to your partner can help focus their attention on the right area that aligns with your campus priorities or math department context.
When you walk into that first observation with a trusted partner beside you and a shared sense of what you’re looking for, the feedback you give changes. It gets more specific, more precise, and more useful to the math teacher on the receiving end. And you will feel more confident delivering it with each opportunity.
I hope you enjoy the Edutopia article and the podcast conversation and that this summer, you find your math thinking partner.
My new book, Empowering All Leaders to be Math Leaders, goes deep on exactly how to make this happen, with tools you can put to work immediately in order to be “Monday Ready.” Subscribe here for more or find me at thomasobrien.xyz.