25. What makes a great math class? A chat with Mona Iehl, your "math teacher cheerleader!"

<p><strong>Summary: </strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Were you a math lover or a “math avoider” as a student? What do you want your students to be? I had the privilege of chatting with Mona Iehl of Local Learners and Co, who is sharing her passion and strategies for building positive math identities within our students. Mona is an absolute “math teacher cheerleader” and the tips she shares in this episode are so motivating and so actionable! </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A few things we chatted about:</span></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Math is creative! </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">A positive class community can make a world of difference in supporting our learners.</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Speed isn’t everything! Focus on the learning that occurs in the journey to the solution.</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">The thinking matters more than the answer.</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">The teacher isn’t the authority on what’s right and wrong in math class - help students see that we *all* have a collective responsibility to help one another understand.</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Build a safe space and provide language students can use to question, clarify, and encourage one another.</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Lift the burden off our students of “I have to have the right answer in order to succeed in math class.”</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Provide math role models and help students see connections to math in the real world, both their own world and throughout history.</span></li> <li style="font-weight