3 things every math teacher should do from day one

Some of you have already started school, while the rest are just counting down the days ... so Vanessa is back this week with 3 easy & actionable strategies you can bring to your math class RIGHT now, to set the tone that each of your students belongs in your classroom this year and has the ability to build a better relationship with math.

1. Collect: find out what baggage kids might be bringing into class
2. Co-Create: make ALL voices valued, heard, and respected (including yours!)
3. Connect: break down the student-teacher barrier, even in a big class

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Transcript

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3 things every math teacher should do from day one

Vanessa Vakharia 0:03

I had a student once say, "what I would like in this classroom, what would make me feel like I wanna come here, what would make me feel good is nobody laughs if somebody gets an answer wrong or asks a dumb question." that's a lot of information. now I know this student has been laughed at. They have been told that something they have asked has been dumb. They have been made fun of for getting the wrong answer. You know what I'm hearing? Math trauma. Math trauma. Math trauma. But also when that student says something, guaranteed other students in the room are like, "Yep, me too." So the other students feel less alone. The student who says it feels heard, and you get to be like, "Great, does everyone agree that that should be a rule in the classroom?" And when everyone agrees, it's like this deep sigh of relief for the whole class. Like we're all on the same page. We've all got each other's backs. It feels really, really good. Okay, guys. It's me, Vanessa, and welcome to another episode of Math Therapy. We took a break. We are back. We are refreshed and ready for back to school. Now, I know a lot of you are already back in school, but most of us are actually, like, heading into back to school right now, or we just did last week. Like, things are starting. This is the time. This is the time, okay? I, I actually feel so honored and excited if you're listening to this right now that I get to be a part of your, like, back to school routine because, okay, it's always a great time to help students rebuild their relationship with math. Like, it's always a great time to help students feel like they belong, but back to school is, like, this very special time, right? Because, like, it's fresh. Like, they're walking in. There's like- You know, after summer, we have this opportunity to start again, and we can- By the way, I believe that every day we have the chance to begin again, but, like, a new school year is very, very special. So today, here is what we're doing. I just wanna get us in the zone of what is happening on the podcast today. I am sharing three things you can do this week to set the tone that your classroom is a Math Therapy classroom, to set the tone that every kid belongs, that every single kid is welcome to think, to be curious, to make mistakes. To set the tone that you believe that every single student in your classroom has the ability to build a better relationship with math. I'm gonna share three low-lift things you can do and you should do. I wanna highly recommend that you do these things week one to set the tone. And here's the cool thing. Most of your students are going to be like, just by the, the fact of you doing these three things that I'm gonna share, they're already gonna get the vibe, "Oh, wow, this math class is different from the other math classes I have been in." They're gonna get that vibe right away. Now, I'm gonna share my favorite three things, but what I'm actually sharing is three categories of things you should make sure you do week one. Those three categories are collect, co-create, and connect. Collect, co-create, connect. Collect, you are going to get information on the students in your classroom. We're gonna do this in a low-lift way that does not require you to have a one-on-one interview with every single kid. You are gonna collect information about what math trauma they're bringing into the classroom, and what they need to feel like your math classroom is the math classroom that's gonna change their relationship with math. That is collect. Then you're gonna co-create. You are going to find a way, I'm gonna give you a way, but you- if you have another way, that's fine, but you must co-create. That means you must find an opportunity with the class as a whole to have every single voice heard, and their requests respected, You're gonna co-create the culture of your classroom together. You're gonna find out what things your students are into and want that will help them be able to productively struggle, be curious, raise their hand when they have a question. So you're gonna co-create that situation together. And finally, you are going to connect. That means you are gonna find a way to connect with every single student. What, you're saying? I have 40 students in my class. How is that gonna happen? Wait till you hear the strategy I'm gonna share. It is my favorite thing. I saw a teacher do this live three months ago, and it blew my mind. You're gonna find a way to connect with every single student this week, every day. That's right, every day. Trust me. Wait, just wait till you hear this. Every day you're gonna find a way to connect with every single student, so every single student knows from you, they're gonna feel from you that they belong because you are gonna have a moment of connection with them every single day this week. Okay, so those are the three categories of things. As we begin school, we wanna make sure that we are collecting information, that we are co-creating experiences with our students, and that we are finding moments of connection. Remember, you are ready to go. You've got your amazing lesson plan, you've got your classroom, you've got your supplies. But every single student is going to be asking themselves, "Is this a safe space for me to raise my hand? Is this a safe space for me to build skills? Am I gonna actually be good at this thing? Does this teacher like me? Am I gonna, you know, is my teacher going to think I'm dumb?" Like, they are thinking these things, and you are gonna set the tone week one that, hell no, you are there to support them on your journey. You believe in all of them. This is a math therapy classroom where we make mistakes, we explore, where we believe that every single student has a math superpower, like vibes, vibes, vibes And by doing these three things, by collecting, co-creating, and connecting, you are going to answer all those questions. They are going to feel from you, "Oh, hey, this is a safe place to make mistakes. Huh, I can ask a question. wow, this math teacher feels different about me than any of the other math teachers I've ever had." Okay, so let's do it. Are we ready? Let's get into three low-lift, high-impact strategies that will allow you to do these three categories of things that are gonna set the tone that this is a math therapy classroom

1) Collect

Vanessa Vakharia 5:37

Okay, category number one of thing you're gonna do, you are going to collect. What does that mean? You're gonna learn who your students are before trying to change how they feel. How are you gonna do that, you ask? Okay, I actually have two strategies I wanna share in this, so you can pick whichever one you want. Now, listen, I'm gonna share my two favorite strategies, but if you're like, "Ooh, I have another strategy that would actually fit the collect criteria," go ahead and do that. I don't care what you do as long as you are gathering data Okay, so this is all about gathering baseline information about how your students currently feel about math. Why do we wanna do that? Why do we wanna gather baseline data about how our students currently feel about math? Number one, when we do this, we give students an opportunity to feel heard. Okay? Students are rarely asked how they feel about math. They just get to math class, and somebody teaches them some shit, and that's the end of it, right? You're gonna actually give them an opportunity to express how they feel. So week one or two or whatever week you're on, early on in the year, they get to be like, "Yeah, you know what? This is actually how I feel. I'm glad somebody cares." But number two, they get to start realizing how they feel. A lot of us just feel like ick in math class, and we've never had the chance to unpack that. So the two things I'm gonna give you, the two strategies I'm gonna give you are gonna allow the student to unpack that for themselves. It's very cathartic to do that, okay? To be able to circle, "I hate math" on a sheet. That actually feels really, really good for someone who's, like, low-key secretly hated, hated math forever. Okay. Now, so that's number one. But the other reason I want you to collect baseline data is this: as educators, you are never going to feel like you're doing enough. You're gonna do all the things. You're gonna create magical moments for your students. You're gonna change their relationship with math, and you will leave every day feeling like you haven't done enough and like you're not making an impact. I want you to have baseline data because you are gonna do something again, this thing again, at the end of the year in December. You're going to administer the same strategy. Don't worry, I'm g- about to tell you the strategy. You're gonna do it again, and then you're gonna compare. So I want you to actually see the progress, right? We talk about growth mindset a lot, but growth mindset sometimes doesn't feel like growth unless it's visible, right? It's like watching your hair grow, right? If you don't compare your current hair to, like, a picture of your hair six months ago, you can't see the growth. It's not like you're noticing the tiny fragment it grows every single day. You're actually not. Do you ever notice that that happens? Like, you meet up with a friend, and they're like, "Wow, your hair is so long," and you're like, "It is?" You don't notice 'cause you look at yourself in the mirror every day, but your friend notices it because they haven't seen you for six months. So this strategy, the collecting part, is gathering the baseline data. It's like taking that picture of your hair so that you can take a picture of your hair six months later and compare the two. You cannot measure a shift in math identity, confidence, or anxiety if you never record where the student started, right? So this strategy, we are going to collect information on where students have started. There are two things I love here. The first thing I love is doing a mindset survey I actually have a template I can share with you. Later in this episode, I'll let you know how to get links to any of the stuff I talk about in this episode, because I do wanna share some resources and templates to help you do these strategies. But here's what a mindset survey is. It's basically what it sounds like. It is a survey of someone's mindsets with questions like, "How do you feel about math? On a scale of one to five, like, how does math class make you feel? On a scale of one to five, how did you feel about math last year? On a scale of this or that..." You know what I mean? You can use scales. You can ask questions. I like mindset surveys that allow students to circle a lot of things and write a few things, right? I do want them to be writing 'cause I want them to be thinking, I want them to be unpacking. You can say something like, what are you most excited about this year?" You can say, "What are you most nervous about this year?" You can say, "Circle some words that describe how you're feeling." I like some writing, but the thing is, especially with those of you with large classes, I do like y- like quantitative data because it's easy to compare. So, like, it is nice to do things with scales so that when you administer this mindset survey again in December, you can see if the number went up or down, right? If somebody says, like, right now they're at a one, they feel, like, completely icky about math, and then in December they circle two, that is fucking amazing, right? But, like, you want to be able to see, oh my God, they went up a whole point. And you might be thinking, "Ugh, if they only go to a two, like, who cares?" We care. Remember, in math therapy, we're looking for movement. We're just looking for somebody to feel unstuck, because once we're moving, that's a promise. That's hope. When we are stuck, when we're not moving, that is hopelessness. So that's what we're looking for. So some questions you might ask on a mindset survey include: On a scale of one to five, how do you feel about math? On a scale of one to five, how confident are you in your ability to learn something new this year? On a scale of one to five, how did you feel about math last year? On a scale of one to five, how did you feel about math five years ago? You might do something like rate each statement on a scale of one to five, right? Like, where one is strongly disagree and five is strongly agree. First question: I consider myself a math person. Second question: I feel comfortable making mistakes in math class. Third question: I believe I can get better at math Fourth question, I feel confident sharing my mathematical thinking. Fifth question, I feel comfortable asking for help when I'm confused. Stuff like that, you're, you're trying to figure out what their vibe is now, right? Imagine someone circles all ones. They're like, "Nope, I disagree with all of this." And again, in December, like, some of that goes up. That shows that the stuff you're doing in your classroom is helping. That is, like, literally a measure of your impact, of the impact you're having, so that's amazing. And also, it gives you an idea of where your kids are in the classroom, right? Like, who's coming into that room with math trauma, and about what? Now, the about what part, the, the, the mindset survey doesn't really give you that because we're circling things. Maybe you could have a little pocket in which to, like, write something, but the next thing I'm gonna give you is gonna give you a little more insight as to what are they coming into the classroom with that is giving them the ick around math. The other thing I love about the mindset survey, by the way, is we can get really mathy with it, right? Like, you can have all of this stuff. You can graph it. You can, like, throw it into AI and get it to compartmentalize and sort all of your data so you can see, okay, like 70% of my class feels this way about that, or like, a- and that gives you an idea of what's happening in the room. When you know what's happening in the room, you can tailor your strategies, right? If you're like, "Oh my God, like 10% of the room feels comfortable asking for a question when they're confused," that's a big deal. If only 10% of your class feels comfortable asking a question when they're confused, that means now you are going to implement some of your math therapy strategies that help with that. If 90% of the class feels comfortable asking a question when they're confused, that's amazing. You kinda know you don't need to focus so much on creating the conditions for that because they're already present. Okay, so my second strategy in this category of, like, collecting info is the Dear Math letter. Um, this was created by Sarah Strong and Gigi Butterfield. They have a whole book on it. I have this in my book, Math Therapy. Literally, it is what it sounds like. You are getting students to write a letter t-to math. They are writing like, "Dear Math, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." This is fun because it disembodies the experiences they're having in a way that makes it safe to tell you about them. So instead of writing you a letter being like, "This is how I feel about math," like, "I feel like shit, da, da, da, da, da, da," they can write a letter to math, right? And this kind of, like, plays a little trick on the mind where it feels like it is no longer so vulnerable. So I've had kids write, you know, letters like, "Dear Math, I used to really like you, and then you totally screwed me in grade four, and fractions ruined my life, and I just don't feel like we're very good friends anymore, and I've tried to become better friends with you. I've tried to make up with you. Like, I practice all my homework, and da, da, da, da, da, da, da, but, like, you've never made me feel like I'm welcome. And then things got worse in grade six because I thought we were bros, and then every single time I tried to get reacquainted with you, I would get a big red X on my paper, and that didn't feel so good. So I've just decided that, like, maybe we're better as ex-besties. And even though I see you around sometimes, like, and I feel a little, like, pang in my heart, I know that we're better off, like, apart." I'm just I just riffed that. That wasn't very good. But the point is, imagine someone wrote a letter like that. You, as the teacher, are like, "Ooh, okay, I can see what happened. It was fractions." So that's number one. Number two, they're talking about red X's on their paper, so now I kind of know that that's a bit of a trigger, and I know what happened." Like, like, do you know what I mean? It really gives you information. The variety you will get from these letters is amazing. And again, if you have, like, a high school math class, you can get them to do a TikTok confessional. They can record it. They could record it for you as a podcast. They can write it down as a diary entry, whatever. But the idea is they are writing a letter to math. They're handing them in to you. You're getting to look at it and seeing, "Okay, here's how everyone feels about math in my classroom." So that is step one. Step one is we are collecting, we are gathering baseline data about everyone's emotions about math in our classroom so that we can see what the vibe is in the room, and so that we can measure the impact all of the strategies we are going to be doing are gonna have on our amazing students, so that in December you can feel great about yourself So you are going to put the following in your calendar after your... Okay, so you're gonna do one of these strategies, and you're gonna put the following in your calendar. In December, you are gonna pick a date to re-administer a mindset survey or re-administer a Dear Math letter, right? They have to do that same activity again so you have something to measure against. I mean, you could even get creative and do, like, the mindset survey in the first few weeks of school, and then the mindset survey and a Dear Math letter in December. I really kinda want you to do the mindset survey twice, though. Like, do you know what I mean? It's really important for you to gather data and then recreate the study, I'm using air quotes, so you have something to measure I really want you to have evidence of the impact you've made. But also, I really want you to have a snapshot of where students began so you can recognize how far they've come, and so they can recognize how far they've come. Okay, so that's step one, collect. Step two. Are we doing steps? I didn't mean to be doing steps. The point is, here's the second thing you're gonna do.

2) Co-Create

Vanessa Vakharia 15:46

The second thing you're gonna do first week of school is you are going to co-create. You are going to build your classroom culture with the students, not just for them. So step one, you've collected information, right? Good for you. You've collected it. That's awesome. You're gonna read that. You're gonna gather it. You're gonna see what's going on. And then you're gonna co-create the math therapy culture with your students. Now, this is really interesting. My favorite strategy to do this is a classroom agreement. Some of you may have done one before, some of you may have not. Again, I have templates for this online. Listen to the end of this episode. I will provide information on how to get these templates and resources. A classroom agreement is where you are creating an agreement for how everybody should show up to that classroom, including you. So you and your students are coming up with, I guess we could say rules. I don't love the word rules, but, like, parameters, right? You're coming up with an agreement of, like, these are the things we would like present in the classroom so we can all feel good about being here. The vibe of this is like you're not just there. You're not the sage on the stage, you know what I mean? Like giving your students rules and being like, "This is how it's gonna be in my classroom." You're there asking them what they need in order to feel safe, right? Like you're kind of like, "What do you guys need? And then let's talk about what I need, and then let's meet in the middle." This co-creation really helps kids feel heard and seen and like they belong. And again, this changes the vibe. Most teachers are not asking their kids what they need. They're just like, "These are the rules of the classroom." So already you're like a step above if you do this. Now, there are several ways to do this, but first let me just like get a little more into what the whole point of this is There's two things. Number one, when you ask students what they need, they will tell you what they need, and when they tell you what they need, they will tell you what has not worked in the past. Example, I had a student once say, "Okay, what I would like in this classroom, what would make me feel like I wanna come here, what would make me feel good is if people didn't er- interrupt me when I was talking or if I didn't get yelled at when I got a wrong answer." Or another student said, "It would make me feel good, like I think a rule we should have in this classroom is nobody laughs if somebody gets an answer wrong or asks a dumb question." Wow, that's a lot of information. If anyone asks a dumb question, now I know this student has been laughed at. They have been told that something they have asked has been dumb. They have been made fun of for getting the wrong answer. You know what I'm hearing? Math trauma. Math trauma. Math trauma. So that again helps me, right? Like I'm kind of like, "Oof, I see, I see what's going on here. I see that this would be a trigger for a student." But also when that student says something, guaranteed other students in the room are like, "Yep, me too." Right? So they feel, the other students feel less alone. The student who says it feels heard, and you get to be like, "Great, does everyone agree that that should be a rule in the classroom?" And when everyone agrees, it's like this deep sigh of relief for the whole class. Like we're all on the same page. We've all got each other's backs. It feels really, really good. Depending on your classroom, you can do this several ways. You can do this where students reply, like just, you know, we're all, we're all sitting there, and we're just having a discussion, and we're crowdsourcing things. You can do this where you hand out little pieces of paper, and students reply anonymously, and then you read them out and say, "Okay, somebody has written this. Who agrees with this?" You can do it, they can first chat in pairs and small groups about the things they've liked and have not liked about math classes in the past, and then prompt them with the question of, "All right, let's make up some suggestions." I actually do this, and I did this with a district last week where, you know, to start, when, when I do a full day PD, I always start this way by being like, "Let's create a classroom agreement for our time together. We're here together for a whole day." This is what was so cool. I did two days of PD, first with 40 elementary teachers and the next day with 40 high school teachers. I, I-- Let me read you what happened 'cause this actually blew my mind. I was like, "Oh my God," like how cool that this happened. okay, so here's group one. Here's what they had on their agreement. So I just, you know, started by being like, "All right, guys, we're gonna create a classroom agreement. What, like, parameters do we want in place? Like, what are things that we want in our space that would make us feel good being here, feel safe to participate," that kind of thing. I also wanna say I do like using asset-based language, so whenever I say something, I wanna phrase it in an affirmative. So day one, 40 elementary teachers. Here's what they came up with. Number one: We will allow one another space to speak without interrupting. Number two: Be curious, not judgmental. Number three: We will try to be vulnerable and hold space for others to be vulnerable. Number four: We will be kind to one another. Five: We will try not to speak when others are speaking. And six: We will own our impact. Okay, now listen to what happened on day two. Totally new group. Are you ready? Number one: Be curious, not judgmental. Do you recognize that? The other group literally s- like, it's a Ted Lasso quote, but interesting, right? They both said that. Number two: If someone is talking, give them your full attention. Number three: Make space for all voices. Number four: Be down to take a risk and try. Number five: Have "but what if it actually works out" vibes and think positive. Okay, I read you those to say isn't it interesting how similar the two are? Like, to me, it's kind of, it's beautiful because I've done this so many times, and every ti- like, sometimes there's, like, an anomaly here or there, but for the most part, similar themes come up because as humans, we, we have, like, needs and desires, right? Like, we all wanna be loved. We all wanna feel like we belong. We don't want people to interrupt us when we're speaking. We wanna feel like other people are listening. So, like, I like doing this exercise because it kinda shows you that, like, our human nature is very, very-- We're not so different, right? But also, it does, it does show us, like, people have had such negative experiences in school, and it comes out through making this agreement. So I love that. Some questions you could ask if students are feeling really, really stuck is you can prompt them by saying, "Okay, so for example, guys, what would make you feel comfortable sharing an idea with the class?" Or, "What would make it ma- what would make it okay for like to make a mistake? What would make you feel like it's totally cool if I make a mistake, or it's totally cool if I raise my hand, or like it's totally fine if I ask a question that someone else has already asked 'cause I still don't get it? What conditions would you want to be present in this classroom for that to happen?" you could say, "What, what do you guys want to happen when somebody disagrees with someone else? Like, what would be a good way for us to handle that in this classroom? 'Cause we're not always gonna agree. What would be like a good way to handle it if like, you know, one of your friends is at the board, or I'm at the board as the teacher doing something and I make a mistake? Like, how should we approach that? Like, should we just yell at each other? Or like what would make it feel okay for that to happen?" You can say, "What do you need from me as your teacher?" Right? Like, "What do you need me to do to, like, make you feel like, you like being in this class?" Such a great starting point, and then you can negotiate. You know, I've had students say, "I j- I want you to never call on me if I don't have my hand up." And then you can be like, "Okay, I'll do that, but I do need to see you're, like, participating, so what can we do in exchange? Like, what would make you feel comfortable? Like, how can you show me you're participating without me calling on you?" Negotiate it, write it on the agreement So once you've done all that, you've collected all the information, you wanna like, you know, narrow it down. You might have some categories. Like, you'll see what themes emerge, and you're gonna create this agreement, right? Like in our math therapy classroom, these are the rules. This is the vibe. Like, you know what I mean? These are the parameters. This is the way things work. The guidelines for the classroom, the rules of the road, you know? Like, these are the guiding principles when you come in. So you're gonna write all these down. You're gonna put them on an agreement. I would love the most if you could put them on your wall. I know that not every teacher has their own classroom, so I know that that's not possible. But it would be so great if students could see it somehow every single day when they walked in. Now, if you don't have your own classroom and can't put it on the wall, maybe you're putting it on a slide. Maybe you're putting it on something where at the beginning of every classroom, you can flash it up, and somebody gets to read them out loud for the class, you don't need to be all like, Repeat after me," and have everyone say them out loud. But, like, I mean, you can, especially if you have littles, like, you could do that. That could be cute. But somebody gets to read them out loud, right? We want a reminder at the beginning of every class we're setting the tone of our classroom. This is what we're gonna do in here. I would also, after you've, like, created the general agreement, You could do your own little, like, cute, a cute agreement of, like, your own math therapy non-negotiables. Things like, for example, mistakes will not be treated as evidence that someone is bad at math. Speed will not be prioritized over thinking. Asking for help is a part of learning. Everyone deserves thinking time. Like, whatever yours are, you could add those, but you can also use those to prompt them. Like, you can be like, "What do you guys think of this? Should we add it to the agreement?" Because, like, that's the whole point, right? You're creating, you're co-creating this together. And remember, this is a living classroom tool. At the end of week one, you can be like, "Guys, how are we feeling about our agreement?" I actually did this during my PD. Halfway through my lesson, I said to the teachers in the room, I was like, "Guys, hold up your hands. On a scale of one to five, one being we are totally fucking this up, and five being we are crushing it, we are perfect, how are we doing on our classroom agreement?" And students hel- or sorry, teachers held up fingers. Some teachers held up a four instead of a five, and I said, "Okay, you're a four out of five. What could we be doing to get closer to nailing that agreement?" And a, a teacher said, "Well, we had on there, like, let's respect all voices, but I've noticed that, like, not all voices are being heard." And I was like, "Interesting. I, as the teacher, actually, that's kind of my responsibility. Maybe I'm not making room for all voices to be heard. Maybe I'm actually picking the same hands every time. I might be doing that. Let me reflect on that." So you know what I mean? This is a living tool, and at the end of week one, you guys, you can do that. You can be like, "Let's do a rubric," a single-line rubric, like Peter does in Building Thinking Classrooms, right? On one end, we are totally not nailing this. On the other end, we are really nailing this. What could we be doing better? Also, you might ask, "Guys, now that we've lived with this agreement for a couple of weeks, is there anything we wanna add or remove?" Right? We can keep editing this thing. And you know what'll be cool? When you keep editing that agreement, you're watching growth mindset in action. You're watching your students get more comfortable and feel safer to add things on. It'll be interesting to see what they add and what they remove. What, what may no longer be necessary. Maybe they're like, "We haven't even had to worry about that don't laugh at one another when we make mistakes. That doesn't even happen in this classroom." You know what I mean? Like, It's gonna be really, really cool to see. I always find, like, revising things like that, like revising our definitions of success every month or revising a classroom agreement or revising a Dear Math letter, those things show us progress unintentionally because the evidence is there in what we write and what we compare to what we wrote previously. Key point, if you want students to feel ownership over the classroom culture, you have to let them co-create it with you. So this also gives them ownership. Now, you're not the one who's at the helm being completely in charge of creating a math therapy culture. They're all helping, and we really need that, right? Because it's one thing for you, the teacher, to believe in your students, but the power is augmented when every student in the room believes in one another, right? And treats one another with respect, and treats one another as though they're capable, and treats one another as though they are, they are capable of change, right? And that's what you're doing. So the first thing you are gonna do, the first activity you are doing week one, is collecting that information, and the next activity you're doing, it doesn't have to be in this order, I just need these three things to get done. The second thing I want you to do is to co-create classroom culture with your students,

3) Connect

Vanessa Vakharia 27:07

and now we are moving on to the last thing, number three. connect. So we have collect, co-create, Connect. Create a routine that makes every single student feel seen and heard within the first five minutes of class. You heard me. The first five minutes of class, every single one of your students is gonna feel seen and heard. Research shows us time and time again that when students feel seen and heard, they are more likely to come to class, they are more likely to stay on task in class, and they are more likely to participate and engage in class. And belonging, feeling like you belong, feeling like someone sees you, is actually a key trait that lends itself to motivation, so they are more motivated How are you gonna do this? How are you gonna connect with every single student within the first five minutes of class? You are gonna upgrade your attendance routine from here to a daily check-in question. Let me show you how it's done Okay, so earlier this year, I was doing some math therapy work with a group of teachers at the Halton District School Board, and part of that work was observing classrooms just to see what was going on, see where math therapy was being used, and I observed Electra's grade 12 math classroom. This blew my mind for so many-- First of all, she's an incredible, amazing teacher, like, in so many ways. But she did something the first, I don't even wanna say the first five minutes of class. It was like the first three minutes of class that blew my mind, and here's what she did. She used her attendance check to make every single student feel seen and heard through a moment of connection. How did she do that? She asked every student one question when they walked into the room, and that question was: Would you rather live without your cellphone or your computer? That's it. Now, you might be wondering, what? Who cares? But here's how she did it. At first, I'm sitting there observing the classroom, and I'm noticing that kids are just, like, walking in the classroom. And I'm like, "This feels, like, disorganized. Like, what's happening? Like, why is everyone not sitting down and being quiet?" And it's because one by one, students were walking in the door, and she would either walk up to them as they walked in the door, or they would take a seat, and then she would go over to their seat, She had a clipboard in her hand with all their names, and she would literally say to them, "Hey, Jason. Would you rather live without your cell phone or your computer?" And Jason would go, "Um, my computer." And then they would sit down. And Electra might say, "All right. Awesome. Good answer," or whatever. Then somebody else would come in. "Hey, Sarah. Would you rather live without your cell phone or your computer?" Definitely my cell phone. Like, if I lost it, I think I would die." Amazing. That's such a good answer. I feel the same way." And on and on it went. Some students would say a little more. Some students would just say, "Computer" or, "Cell phone." Either way, Electra always had these components present. Number one, she would say their name. Number two, she would ask the question, and number three, she would be interested in the response. She would say something would make it clear that she was interested in the response. She wouldn't just, like, check a box and walk away. And that was her attendance check, so when Jason answered the question, he got checked off. But, so that was something she has to do anyway. She had to take attendance anyway, but in that, like, 10 seconds, she said his name, she asked a question, and she validated his response, right? So now, the student knows that they have been acknowledged when they walk in the room. They feel like they matter. They have answered a question, which means they had to think. For that split second, they had to think, "Is it gonna be phone or computer?" Right? That's it. It doesn't matter. It might seem so trivial, but they've had to think. Their brain has done something active, and they've been complimented and validated for their response. So name has been said. The student's like, "Oh my God, I'm more than just a number. This teacher knows my name." Question has been asked. "Oh, this teacher actually cares what I think about something." An answer has been given. "Oh, I had to actually think." I mean, that's happening subconsciously, but thinking happened in the brain, and their answer was validated. "Oh, wow, I did something good. My thinking actually paid off. It was valuable I just want you guys to sit with how powerful this is. In three minutes, you c- even if you have 40 students, you can literally do this for every single student. You can help them feel acknowledged, useful, valuable in five seconds each, five seconds each, literally, and you're taking attendance anyway. So step number three is all about that connection, and remember, the research shows that connection is invaluable, and you're doing it at the beginning of class. Right at the beginning of class, you're setting the tone. "I see you. I know you. I care about you. I think that what you have to say is important." The end And I'd also like to point out, every student has now said something. They've now participated, they've now engaged, they've now, like, spoken publicly. It may not seem so public 'cause they're not doing it, like, on stage in front of the classroom, but they have spoken publicly, right? So, like, it already kind of, like, is an icebreaker to get that fear out, right? Like, they are more likely now to participate again, to speak again. And, you know, some of them are listening to one another's answers. Like, maybe that's a little side chat that happens. Like, it just really sets the vibe because, you know, then there's the whole debate of, like, wait, is it your computer? Is it your phone? Some students are seeing they have stuff in common. Some wa- you know, some students are talking to one another that wouldn't normally talk to one another. But this whole thing is wrapped up in three minutes, and on to the lesson, and so much valuable math therapy work has been packed into that three minutes And keep in mind, that first time they spoke, that first time they participated was not high stakes. It's so low stakes, but that sets the stage for higher stake stuff. Also, you as the teacher has, uh, you've learned something about your students, right? Like, we always wanna learn stuff about our students. That's a little thing you've learned that you can, like, kind of file away as information that you can bring up at a later date to be like, "I know you. You know, you're a person to me." Positive teacher-student relationships are built in, like, these repeated moments where students feel understood, they feel safe, they feel valuable, they feel useful, they feel like they belong. And little routines like this build that. They build that slowly but surely. And this makes way for bigger routines that you can include, right? Like, you, you might start like that, and then you might go into a full group this or that, right? And your full group this or that might be more math-related. It might be something like, would you rather have your quadratic f- in factored form or in standard form? Oh my God, that's actually a really juicy debate. I'm gonna say factored all the way, but y- it actually depends what you're doing. Okay, we're not gonna get into this right now. Or you might be like, would you prefer, like, long division or multiplication? Right? Like, and now again, the students have already spoken. They've already done that in your attendance check, right? So they're here now. They've already spoken. They've already used their voice. They've already thought about something. You're gonna get more engagement when you start getting into your lesson. The whole point of this step of connecting is before asking students to take mathematical risks Give every student a safe way to use their voice, and that's what this step accomplishes.

Summary

Vanessa Vakharia 33:46

Okay, so that wraps up our three things. Number one, you are gonna find a way to collect information about how your students feel about math. You're gonna do that through either a mindset survey or through a Dear Math letter or something else that you love. Number two, you are going to co-create classroom culture with your students, and you're gonna do that using a classroom agreement. And number three, you are gonna connect with every student by upgrading your attendance routine to add in a this or that quickie low-stakes check-in question. And because I love you guys so much, I put together a little first week of Math Therapy kit for you. Head to the show notes, click the link. It'll be delivered straight to your inbox. That will have the mindset surveys, the Dear Math template, and the classroom agreement template, as well as a few little ideas of what you can use as attendance upgrade questions. Guys, I'm so excited. Really, honestly, this goes back to my philosophy of believe, behave, become, right? We can't just say we're a math therapy classroom and then just, like, carry on with all the stuff we were doing last year. A math therapy classroom isn't something we announce. It's something students experience, and you are giving them the chance to experience that week one. Week one, they're gonna be like, "This is so different. Oh my God, what is going on? I love this." During the first week, you are going to be showing them your feelings about math matter here. You have a say in how we treat one another, and you will be seen and heard in this room. I care that you are here. I notice that you are here. I notice when you show up. I'm so excited, guys. I can't wait to hear what you think. Make sure you head to the show notes, hit that first week of Math Therapy link. And guys, make sure you text the podcast. I want you to text me and tell me when you've done these three things. When you've collected, co-created, and connected, tell me about it. I wanna hear how it went. Also, if you have any other things that fit into one of these categories that you love and swear by that you wanna share with our listeners, let me know, and I will make sure that gets out there. Remember, we have a Math Therapy Facebook group, right? We're, oh my God, we are one away at the recording of this podcast. We are at 499 members, so I'm sure by the time you listen to this, we'll be at over 500. That's 500 of us that are doing the work. So send me a text. Tell me what activities or strategies you swear by that fall into the collect, co-create, connect categories, and I'll put together a little list and share it as a resource in our Math Therapy Facebook group. Guys, this has been amazing. Happy back to school. I can't wait to hear from you. You guys are the best. You're doing the work. You're making such an impact, and I can't wait for you to have a way to measure it so you can see it, but I know you're doing it. I know you're doing it. Your students are so, so lucky to have you. And I mean, guys, happy back to school. We're here. A full year of Math Therapy awaits us, and this year is gonna be the best one yet. I can feel it because we are starting off so strong. Love you so much. See you next week, same time, same place, same channel. We are back, baby.