By NCTM President Linda M. Gojak
NCTM Summing Up, May 3, 2012

This is the first of many opportunities I will have to share some of my thoughts with you. Having spent most of my career teaching upper elementary and middle school mathematics, I hope to bring a perspective from the classroom that may be new and may challenge your thinking about how we teach mathematics in ways that support student understanding and success.

I would like to begin my term with a challenge to everyone who has a passion for mathematics. For too long we have heard the same thing from parents, adults, students, and the general population: “I was never very good at math!” Too often at parent conferences I heard parents lament about their own inadequacies in mathematics, as though their experiences excused any difficulties that their children were having. 

Although recent attention to the importance of mathematics has certainly been magnified with all of the press on STEM and the Common Core State Standards, we still find articles in newspapers and magazines or interviews on television talk shows highlighting someone’s dislike or lack of success in mathematics. 

I challenge all of us as mathematics educators to begin the charge to change negative attitudes toward mathematics. How do we accomplish this? I suggest these first steps:

• Incorporate reasoning and sense making into every mathematics lesson that you teach. From kindergarten to college, students should experience mathematics as a subject that makes sense. 
• Whether or not you are in a state that has adopted the Common Core, keepPrinciples and Standards for School Mathematics as your guide. The Principles, Process Standards, and exemplars for good teaching for each grade level band continue to provide the vision for world class mathematics education for every student.
• Help your students to value mathematics by giving them opportunities to make connections among mathematical ideas and to see how mathematics is an important part of their everyday lives.
• Share information with parents about ways that they can learn with and support their children at home. 
• Work with your colleagues to promote a positive image of mathematics within your school, district, and community. 

Although we may not be able to change the world, we can begin by making a difference in our classrooms with each student whose life we touch every day. I cannot think of a better gift to give our students than to share our passion for mathematics! 

I am excited about taking on the responsibility of president of NCTM, and I thank you for your support. This is an exciting time for mathematics education, and also a time when our responsibility as mathematics educators is more critical than ever. As the NCTM Board meets in July to set the future agenda for the Council, I look forward to sharing more with you about projects and initiatives that we will be undertaking over the next two years.