What a math classroom should look like, sound like, and feel like

During my first class of the semester last Thursday, I asked students in my Advanced Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Intermediate Mathematics course to describe their experiences as a student of mathematics.  Here are some of their comments:

I find it frustrating that these students - who are young enough to have been in my own 4th grade class - had these types of experiences in math class.  Students thought that perhaps their memories were stronger for high school math classes rather than elementary school classes.  Are these experiences listed above what we want for our high school students?

It was refreshing to hear what my students thought a math classroom should look like, sound like, and feel like.  Here are some of their thoughts:

I am looking forward to expanding on these ideas with my class this semester!