Math teachers are assumed to be unable to form relationships with kids. \u00a0Societal representations of teachers portray someone who tells corny jokes, plays board games in their free time or is the geekiest of computer geeks (and in my case all three!). \u00a0Whether or not you fit typical math teacher stereotypes, it is critical\u00a0to have strong relationships with students in your role as a math teacher.<\/p>\n
This may go without saying, but having strong relationships are important for learning math, or anything. \u00a0Kids are people, and all people exist in a social context alongside other people. \u00a0Why ignore the reality of the classroom? \u00a0Why not use relationships to win students over? \u00a0I have learned a few tricks in my first few years of teaching and I hope to archive them here for my reference, and maybe someone else can make use of them as well.<\/p>\n
So your relationship to students is really made up of all the\u00a0little interactions you have with the students, most of which are focused on getting the students to complete a task. \u00a0As you explain the steps of the task individually or clarify a\u00a0point made in front of class, really think about the way in which you are saying it. \u00a0In a situation where you have to deliver the same words over and over for multiple classes, sometimes altering\u00a0the tone of your message\u00a0is the only way to\u00a0resonate with the varied types of learners you have in your classroom.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
How many ways can you say it? \u00a0Good question. \u00a0Well you could\u00a0consider varying the different kinds of intonations and inflections of your voice. \u00a0Think of a newscaster,\u00a0if they have to read a list of things, they will never say it the same way twice.<\/p>\n
The more important thing to consider is emotion\u00a0and energy. \u00a0How would you approach the slow progress of\u00a0a student who is just finished arguing, or\u00a0another student is having a giggle session with their friends, or perhaps\u00a0another who is really math phobic? You have to take into account their emotional state as you work to get them realigned to the task. \u00a0If you try to be stern with all of them, perhaps the giggle session will respond, but the math phobic kid might shut down, and the argumentative student may turn your class into an episode of Jerry Springer. \u00a0The trick isn’t to alter the messages, as they all need to get on task, instead deliver the message while trying to convey the opposite of\u00a0their emotion and\u00a0energy. \u00a0If they feel insecure you should model confidence and\u00a0positivity, and if they are full of jokes, you can be dead pan and stern. \u00a0I’ve learned the opposite of anger is usually caring, so letting angry students know that you care about them usually helps them get back on track (especially if you can tie the task to their goals, their past successes, and things that they are\u00a0passionate about).<\/p>\n
As you make your way around the room,\u00a0and around the school, working to perfect “how you say it” can be a bit of a new challenge, but it’s a good challenge. \u00a0Once you figure out the message you have to say, tailoring that message to the emotional and energy state of each student can add an\u00a0intriguing twist to your day. \u00a0You may start to engage\u00a0students you wouldn’t have otherwise, and in the process bolster your relationships with all your students.<\/p>\n
5\/30<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Math teachers are assumed to be unable to form relationships with kids. \u00a0Societal representations of teachers portray someone who tells corny jokes, plays board games in their free time or is the geekiest of computer geeks (and in my case all three!). \u00a0Whether or not you fit typical math teacher stereotypes, it is critical\u00a0to have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[4,12],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xz6U-1l","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coast2coast.me\/carl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coast2coast.me\/carl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coast2coast.me\/carl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coast2coast.me\/carl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coast2coast.me\/carl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.coast2coast.me\/carl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89,"href":"https:\/\/www.coast2coast.me\/carl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions\/89"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coast2coast.me\/carl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coast2coast.me\/carl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coast2coast.me\/carl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}