Make Sense of Problems and Persevere in Solving Them

One of the "processes and proficiencies" recommended by the Common Core Standards in math education is for students to "make sense of problems and persevere in solving them."  With this expectation come many questions:

1.     What does this really mean?

2.     How do we get students to achieve at this level?

3.     What kinds of professional learning will be necessary for teachers?

I believe this process and proficiency means students begin my exploring the problem, reflecting on what they know, what they don't know, if they have solved a similar problem, and how they might go about approaching this problem.  Students learn to look for relationships and test conjectures (things they believe to be true) and begin to sample examples and nonexamples to prove or disprove their conjectures.  Students may use concrete objects or pictures to check their answers and continually ask if their answer makes sense.  I love the question, "Does this make sense?"  Students understand their strategy for solving problems and are willing to try to make sense of other students' strategies.  Understanding there are different approaches to solving problems is a large piece of this proficiency.

If this is the goal, then how do we get students to achieve at this level? I saw a classroom expectation poster in a fellow teacher's classroom and I thought, "It's a start."  A few of the norms included:

 "Keep asking until you understand."

"If you don't agree, say so, and explain your thoughts."

"You can try new things here."

"There are no dumb questions or dumb answers."

I think in order to get students to think and reflect seriously about "making sense of problems and persevering in solving them"; the more pertinent question is "What kind of professional learning will be necessary for teachers to create this type of classroom climate?"  I think this is a million dollar question, and would love to hear your thoughts.