Math is messy!

I once had a math professor who encouraged us to use pen and I never looked back.

As a math teacher, erasers have become my enemy. Why? We encourage students to show us all of their thinking, then give them a tool to wipe it all away.

We have conditioned our little geniuses to believe that math is about knowing the right answer. They logically conclude that nothing but the right answer belongs on the page. So they erase their thinking. They erase their precious processes and brilliant mistakes.

Math teachers, I'm going to propose something shocking now. Put away the erasers. Give the geniuses some pens, in multiple colors. Teach them how they can use color to show patterns or highlight how ideas are connected. Model how we can analyze our mistakes and missteps to get closer to the solution. It's ok to make a little mess in the name of math.