“I can’t do this. I’m not good at math. I’ve never been good at math.”
One of the most challenging issues we face as teachers of math is students coming into the classroom already having a preconceived notion about their ability as math students. So many students walk into our classroom that first day and already feel anxious or beat-down because they feel they are not good at math or not a “math person”. This idea may have stemmed from feelings in math class in previous grades or even from home. When a student hears parents or caregivers claiming they just never understood math or aren’t a math person, the student may internalize that message and feel the same way. So what is a math teacher to do to combat those feelings that some students have? First, you must work on building community in the classroom to make your math class welcoming.
Share a story with your students to build community in the classroom.
Make it a math story. Can you think of a time when you struggled with math and overcame that struggle? That is a perfect story to tell your students. I always share with my students the time when I needed a math tutor. I had some struggles going on in my life and wasn’t focusing very well during math class. Completing the work became impossible for me because I didn’t know how to do it. My parents got me a math tutor to help out. While I had quite a bit that I needed to work on to get caught up, I eventually caught up and then no longer needed the math tutor.
Sharing this story with my students makes them see me as a real person. They realize that just because I am a math teacher, math doesn’t always come easy to me. It helps my students realize the importance of paying attention during math class. It also shows them that getting extra help to understand something isn’t a bad thing.
If you don’t have a specific math story you feel you can share with the students, share any story you have of a time that you have struggled with something and overcome it. The more stories and examples your students have of overcoming challenges the better! Allow your students to share their stories as well. Creating a safe, supportive math classroom helps build community.
Help students identify their feelings.
Many students don’t realize what’s holding them back in math is their own thoughts, which is why it is so important that students identify them. Have students complete a math survey within the first few weeks of school to identify their feelings about math. You can create your own survey, or grab my free math survey. This survey not only helps students identify their thoughts about math, but it also helps you identify the students that will need work on their mindset. Incorporating activities surrounding a growth mindset in your classroom with help students see that they can be successful in math and again. Help them understand that people aren’t good at math simply because they are born that way. Anyone can be successful at anything with effort, practice, determination and perseverance. Helping students change their thinking helps strengthen your math classroom community.
Reward students for their perseverance and determination.
A big struggle with teaching a large number of students is the expectation that students will all learn the concepts at the same time. Your time is limited in the classroom, so after you’ve taken a test, you have to move onto the next concept. However, what if some of the students haven’t grasped the concepts that you just tested on? This is a common occurrence. Continuing to incorporate previous concepts into warm-ups and discussion is important, but helping students see the importance of their own continued learning is equally important.
Your job as a teacher is not just to teach, but to ensure that students have learned. That’s why I allow students to retake tests and redo assignments for more credit. I know that there is much debate about this practice on both sides, but I have found that it is what aligns best with my values and beliefs as a teacher. Rewarding students who continue to persevere and are determined to improve is a simple way to show students that you believe in them and their abilities. This also helps create an emotionally-safe classroom because students won’t feel the pressure (and sometimes anxiety) of needing to be perfect on the first try.
Do you have another way to help our students become confident, happy math students? Share it in the comments for others!
