When You See the Math, They Will See It Too 

by Chryste Berda

If math has ever made you feel small, you’re not alone. Many of us have internalized the message, intentionally or not, that math is a fixed ability: you either have it or you don’t. But what if making math visible could be the very thing that transforms that feeling of smallness into strength? 

In my classroom, we lived by just two rules:

1. Math makes sense.
2. Everyone will be good at math.

I picked up these rules at a math conference years ago, and they became my mantra from that point forward. But recently, a moment reminded me that these rules are deeply connected—and that one cannot exist without the other.

When Rule #2 Is Broken

I was screening number sense for a colleague when a 9-year-old student caught my attention. She got the problem 14-9 wrong and then sighed in frustration.

“No, that’s not right, but I don’t know why this is so hard for me! I’m just not good at math.”

In that one sentence, I heard it: Rule #2 had already been broken for her. 

But here’s what I’ve learned: Everyone will be good at math only WHEN we teach it in ways that make sense. That’s Rule #1. And when we break Rule #1, we can’t keep Rule #2.

Making Math Visible Is the Key

Just the day before, I had been working with our district’s special education teaching team. The focus? Making math accessible by making it visible.  

Making math visible doesn’t just mean using manipulatives or diagrams – it means illuminating the thinking, patterns, and connections behind the math. It means helping learners see what’s going on under the surface. 

One teacher pulled me aside during that workshop. In a hushed voice, she said:  

“I’m not a math person, but I want to be—for my students. The way you’re showing us how to make the math visible? I’m actually learning the math for myself!” 

She followed up this comment by asking if we could continue to collaborate as she begins this with her students.  You see, math becomes visible not just through clear explanations, but through shared exploration – with colleagues who remind us we’re not in this alone because in Rule #2, “everyone” doesn’t just mean all students, it literally means everyone – colleagues, parents, administrators, students, – everyone! 

From Professional Learning to Classroom Confidence

This philosophy is at the heart of our book, Seeing the Math You Teach. We’ve seen how making math visible doesn’t just support student understanding–it builds teacher confidence, too.

At a recent 6th-grade professional learning community meeting, teachers tackled one of the most misunderstood standards: Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD). Before it appeared in standards, many educators had not even heard of it. And early resources? Practically nonexistent! 

So the PLC team used page 195 from our book to understand MAD together.  In those quiet moments of collaboration – around a whiteboard, over a problem, inside a question – something shifted. Confidence took root. You could feel the shift in the conversation as the process was illuminated and the math became visible—for them. 

Rimbey, K., Basham, K, Berda, C. (2025). Seeing the Math You Teach. Corwin: Thousand Oaks, CA.

And when they brought that same resource into their classrooms, it became an anchor chart — a living tool for students. The color coding and step-by-step clarity in the resource helped illuminate the process behind MAD and made it visible to every student, much in the same way that it had become visible for the teachers. That’s the power of making math visible. It builds what I like to call mathematical swagger—for teachers and students.

Everyone Means Everyone 

Let’s stop pretending there’s such a thing as a “math person.” Confidence in math doesn’t come from talent—it comes from clarity. From ideas being made visible. From sense-making being prioritized. And it doesn’t happen alone. It happens in community, through collaboration and exploration, with people who remind us we’re not in this alone. Because when you see the math, they will see it too.  

Make Math Visible for Someone This Week

Take one small step this week to make math more visible—for a student, a colleague, or even yourself. Use a model. Ask a clarifying question. Share your own learning journey. Pull out that anchor chart one more time.

And if you’re ready to dig deeper, invite a colleague to co-plan with you or explore a page from Seeing the Math You Teach together. Learning is meant to be visible—and shared.

Math makes sense. And everyone will be good at math–because of you.

Chryste Berda - Chryste is energized by sharing her passion for learning with her colleagues as the district math coordinator and as a Regional VP for the Arizona Association of Teachers of Mathematics. She is intensely curious about students’ thinking and spends much of her time listening to students explain their ideas.