Today, I had a student who worked as a construction worker and an electrician. He's an older Black man who is moving on to a technical career that requires less physical labor due to his aging body. Today, he asked me math questions. A Thread. (1/10)

The diagnosis of math conceptual, computational, and process errors is a huge part of your job as a math teacher, one that is virtually ignored during assessment of our teaching prowess. As I used questioning to determine the nature of my student's problem, he became...(2/10)

...frustrated, exasperated. I was DEFINITELY part of the exasperation b/c I was forcing him, w/out his conscious knowledge, to engage in a process of going from ignorance of the issue to knowledge of the issue w/out actually telling him what it was. Instead, I revealed...(3/10)

...to him a process of discovering the fundamental nature of the error for himself, one divorced from the specific details of the problem. He was not happy. He "just wanted the answer." However, as I had built up trust w/ him, as I was patient w/ him, and as I explained...(4/10)

..why we went through this process, he opened himself up to further introspection. Thus, we reached the promised land. A moment of insight. A "Eureka!" moment. He suddenly understood the mistake he made, why he made it, & why I made him go through this process all at once. (5/10)

We laughed together w/ childish delight. His curiosity responded to the illumination, & he started asking questions. Good questions. We talked about how to make sure he doesn't make the same mistake again, including what specific actions he might take. He signed off w/ a...(6/10)

...smile on his face. W/out the intentional link I made w/ that student, the trust developed that allowed him to push past a mental barrier, & the patience I showed in validating his frustration w/out relenting, we wouldn't have gotten to the laughing part. W/out my...(7/10)

...knowledge of his background, which allowed me to map his thinking quite easily & explain how I mapped it to him easily, I wouldn't have been able to guide him to a new understanding of his own thoughts. In 15 yrs of teaching, I've never been evaluated on these skills. (8/10)

There is SO MUCH that goes into teaching students. We are unrecognized & undervalued, yet critical not only to the progress of America, but of humanity at large. As you can see, the work has its own rewards, but the cost has been intentionally inflated by a despotic govt. (9/10)

Teachers deserve better. America deserves better. The world deserves better. Thank a teacher. Support a teacher. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. (10/10 END)