August 20, 2026 • 36 mins
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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.
- Collect: find out what baggage kids might be bringing into class
- Co-Create: make ALL voices valued, heard, and respected (including yours!)
- Connect: break down the student-teacher barrier, even in a big class
For more, download the FREE Math Therapy Toolkit here and let us know how it goes - you've got this!
Contact us:
- Vanessa Vakharia: Instagram, TikTok, Email
- Math Therapy: Text the Podcast
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Vanessa Vakharia (00:03):
I had a student once say,"what I would
like in this classroom, whatwould make me feel like I wanna
come here, what would make mefeel good is nobody laughs if
somebody gets an answer wrong orasks a dumb question." that's a
lot of information.
now I know this student has beenlaughed at.
They have been told thatsomething they have asked has
been dumb.
They have been made fun of forgetting the wrong answer.
(00:23):
You know what I'm hearing?
Math trauma.
Math trauma.
Math trauma.
But also when that student sayssomething, guaranteed other
students in the room are like,"Yep, me too." So the other
students feel less alone.
The student who says it feelsheard, and you get to be like,
"Great, does everyone agree thatthat should be a rule in the
classroom?" And when everyoneagrees, it's like this deep sigh
of relief for the whole class.
Like we're all on the same page.
(00:43):
We've all got each other'sbacks.
It feels really, really good.
Okay, guys.
It's me, Vanessa, and welcome toanother episode of Math Therapy.
We took a break.
We are back.
We are refreshed and ready forback to school.
Now, I know a lot of you arealready back in school, but most
(01:05):
of us are actually, like,heading into back to school
right now, or we just did lastweek.
Like, things are starting.
This is the time.
This is the time, okay?
I, I actually feel so honoredand excited if you're listening
to this right now that I get tobe a part of your, like, back to
school routine because, okay,it's always a great time to help
students rebuild theirrelationship with math.
Like, it's always a great timeto help students feel like they
(01:27):
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, aftersummer, we have this opportunity
to start again, and we can- Bythe way, I believe that every
day we have the chance to beginagain, but, like, a new school
year is very, very special.
So today, here is what we'redoing.
(01:48):
I just wanna get us in the zoneof what is happening on the
podcast today.
I am sharing three things youcan do this week to set the tone
that your classroom is a MathTherapy classroom, to set the
tone that every kid belongs,that every single kid is welcome
to think, to be curious, to makemistakes.
To set the tone that you believethat every single student in
(02:10):
your classroom has the abilityto build a better relationship
with math.
I'm gonna share three low-liftthings you can do and you should
do.
I wanna highly recommend thatyou do these things week one to
set the tone.
And here's the cool thing.
Most of your students are goingto be like, just by the, the
fact of you doing these threethings that I'm gonna share,
they're already gonna get thevibe,"Oh, wow, this math class
(02:32):
is different from the other mathclasses I have been in." They're
gonna get that vibe right away.
Now, I'm gonna share my favoritethree things, but what I'm
actually sharing is threecategories of things you should
make sure you do week one.
Those three categories arecollect, co-create, and connect.
(02:52):
Collect, co-create, connect.
Collect, you are going to getinformation on the students in
your classroom.
We're gonna do this in alow-lift way that does not
require you to have a one-on-oneinterview with every single kid.
You are gonna collectinformation about what math
trauma they're bringing into theclassroom, and what they need to
feel like your math classroom isthe math classroom that's gonna
(03:14):
change their relationship withmath.
That is collect.
Then you're gonna co-create.
You are going to find a way, I'mgonna give you a way, but you-
if you have another way, that'sfine, but you must co-create.
That means you must find anopportunity with the class as a
whole to have every single voiceheard, and their requests
respected, You're gonnaco-create the culture of your
(03:35):
classroom together.
You're gonna find out whatthings your students are into
and want that will help them beable to productively struggle,
be curious, raise their handwhen they have a question.
So you're gonna co-create thatsituation together.
And finally, you are going toconnect.
That means you are gonna find away to connect with every single
student.
What, you're saying?
(03:55):
I have 40 students in my class.
How is that gonna happen?
Wait till you hear the strategyI'm gonna share.
It is my favorite thing.
I saw a teacher do this livethree months ago, and it blew my
mind.
You're gonna find a way toconnect with every single
student this week, every day.
That's right, every day.
Trust me.
Wait, just wait till you hearthis.
Every day you're gonna find away to connect with every single
student, so every single studentknows from you, they're gonna
(04:18):
feel from you that they belongbecause you are gonna have a
moment of connection with themevery single day this week.
Okay, so those are the threecategories of things.
As we begin school, we wannamake sure that we are collecting
information, that we areco-creating experiences with our
students, and that we arefinding moments of connection.
Remember, you are ready to go.
You've got your amazing lessonplan, you've got your classroom,
(04:38):
you've got your supplies.
But every single student isgoing to be asking themselves,
"Is this a safe space for me toraise my hand?
Is this a safe space for me tobuild skills?
Am I gonna actually be good atthis thing?
Does this teacher like me?
Am I gonna, you know, is myteacher going to think I'm
dumb?" Like, they are thinkingthese things, and you are gonna
set the tone week one that, hellno, you are there to support
(04:59):
them on your journey.
You believe in all of them.
This is a math therapy classroomwhere we make mistakes, we
explore, where we believe thatevery 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 thosequestions.
They are going to feel from you,"Oh, hey, this is a safe place
(05:20):
to make mistakes.
Huh, I can ask a question.
wow, this math teacher feelsdifferent about me than any of
the other math teachers I'veever 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 threecategories of things that are
gonna set the tone that this isa math therapy classroom Okay,
category number one of thingyou're gonna do, you are going
(05:40):
to collect.
What does that mean?
You're gonna learn who yourstudents are before trying to
change how they feel.
How are you gonna do that, youask?
Okay, I actually have twostrategies I wanna share in
this, so you can pick whicheverone you want.
Now, listen, I'm gonna share mytwo favorite strategies, but if
you're like,"Ooh, I have anotherstrategy that would actually fit
the collect criteria," go aheadand do that.
(06:02):
I don't care what you do as longas you are gathering data Okay,
so this is all about gatheringbaseline information about how
your students currently feelabout math.
Why do we wanna do that?
Why do we wanna gather baselinedata about how our students
currently feel about math?
Number one, when we do this, wegive students an opportunity to
feel heard.
Okay?
Students are rarely asked howthey feel about math.
(06:24):
They just get to math class, andsomebody teaches them some shit,
and that's the end of it, right?
You're gonna actually give theman opportunity to express how
they feel.
So week one or two or whateverweek 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." Butnumber two, they get to start
realizing how they feel.
A lot of us just feel like ickin math class, and we've never
(06:44):
had the chance to unpack that.
So the two things I'm gonna giveyou, the two strategies I'm
gonna give you are gonna allowthe student to unpack that for
themselves.
It's very cathartic to do that,okay?
To be able to circle,"I hatemath" 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 youto collect baseline data is
this (07:06):
as educators, you are never going to feel like you're
doing enough.
You're gonna do all the things.
You're gonna create magicalmoments for your students.
You're gonna change theirrelationship with math, and you
will leave every day feelinglike you haven't done enough and
like you're not making animpact.
I want you to have baseline databecause you are gonna do
something again, this thingagain, at the end of the year in
December.
(07:26):
You're going to administer thesame strategy.
Don't worry, I'm g- about totell you the strategy.
You're gonna do it again, andthen you're gonna compare.
So I want you to actually seethe progress, right?
We talk about growth mindset alot, but growth mindset
sometimes doesn't feel likegrowth unless it's visible,
right?
It's like watching your hairgrow, right?
If you don't compare yourcurrent hair to, like, a picture
of your hair six months ago, youcan't see the growth.
(07:48):
It's not like you're noticingthe tiny fragment it grows every
single day.
You're actually not.
Do you ever notice that thathappens?
Like, you meet up with a friend,and they're like,"Wow, your hair
is so long," and you're like,"Itis?" You don't notice'cause you
look at yourself in the mirrorevery day, but your friend
notices it because they haven'tseen you for six months.
So this strategy, the collectingpart, is gathering the baseline
data.
It's like taking that picture ofyour hair so that you can take a
(08:10):
picture of your hair six monthslater and compare the two.
You cannot measure a shift inmath identity, confidence, or
anxiety if you never recordwhere the student started,
right?
So this strategy, we are goingto collect information on where
students have started.
There are two things I lovehere.
The first thing I love is doinga mindset survey I actually have
(08:30):
a template I can share with you.
Later in this episode, I'll letyou know how to get links to any
of the stuff I talk about inthis episode, because I do wanna
share some resources andtemplates to help you do these
strategies.
But here's what a mindset surveyis.
It's basically what it soundslike.
It is a survey of someone'smindsets with questions like,
"How do you feel about math?
On a scale of one to five, like,how does math class make you
(08:51):
feel?
On a scale of one to five, howdid 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 thatallow students to circle a lot
of things and write a fewthings, right?
I do want them to be writing'cause I want them to be
thinking, I want them to beunpacking.
You can say something like, whatare you most excited about this
year?" You can say,"What are youmost nervous about this year?"
(09:14):
You can say,"Circle some wordsthat describe how you're
feeling." I like some writing,but the thing is, especially
with those of you with largeclasses, I do like y- like
quantitative data because it'seasy to compare.
So, like, it is nice to dothings with scales so that when
you administer this mindsetsurvey again in December, you
can see if the number went up ordown, right?
(09:34):
If somebody says, like, rightnow they're at a one, they feel,
like, completely icky aboutmath, and then in December they
circle two, that is fuckingamazing, right?
But, like, you want to be ableto 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'relooking for movement.
We're just looking for somebodyto feel unstuck, because once
(09:56):
we're moving, that's a promise.
That's hope.
When we are stuck, when we'renot moving, that is
hopelessness.
So that's what we're lookingfor.
So some questions you might askon a mindset survey include: On
a scale of one to five, how doyou feel about math?
On a scale of one to five, howconfident are you in your
ability to learn something newthis year?
(10:18):
On a scale of one to five, howdid you feel about math last
year?
On a scale of one to five, howdid you feel about math five
years ago?
You might do something like rateeach statement on a scale of one
to five, right?
Like, where one is stronglydisagree and five is strongly
agree.
First question (10:36):
I consider myself a math person.
Second question (10:38):
I feel comfortable making mistakes in
math class.
Third question (10:42):
I believe I can get better at math Fourth
question, I feel confidentsharing my mathematical
thinking.
Fifth question, I feelcomfortable asking for help when
I'm confused.
Stuff like that, you're, you'retrying to figure out what their
vibe is now, right?
Imagine someone circles allones.
They're like,"Nope, I disagreewith all of this." And again, in
December, like, some of thatgoes up.
(11:03):
That shows that the stuff you'redoing in your classroom is
helping.
That is, like, literally ameasure of your impact, of the
impact you're having, so that'samazing.
And also, it gives you an ideaof where your kids are in the
classroom, right?
Like, who's coming into thatroom with math trauma, and about
what?
Now, the about what part, the,the, the mindset survey doesn't
really give you that becausewe're circling things.
(11:23):
Maybe you could have a littlepocket in which to, like, write
something, but the next thingI'm gonna give you is gonna give
you a little more insight as towhat are they coming into the
classroom with that is givingthem the ick around math.
The other thing I love about themindset survey, by the way, is
we can get really mathy with it,right?
Like, you can have all of thisstuff.
You can graph it.
You can, like, throw it into AIand get it to compartmentalize
(11:44):
and sort all of your data so youcan 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 inthe room.
When you know what's happeningin the room, you can tailor your
strategies, right?
If you're like,"Oh my God, like10% of the room feels
comfortable asking for aquestion when they're confused,"
that's a big deal.
If only 10% of your class feelscomfortable asking a question
when they're confused, thatmeans now you are going to
(12:06):
implement some of your maththerapy strategies that help
with that.
If 90% of the class feelscomfortable asking a question
when they're confused, that'samazing.
You kinda know you don't need tofocus so much on creating the
conditions for that becausethey're already present.
Okay, so my second strategy inthis category of, like,
collecting info is the Dear Mathletter.
Um, this was created by SarahStrong and Gigi Butterfield.
(12:29):
They have a whole book on it.
I have this in my book, MathTherapy.
Literally, it is what it soundslike.
You are getting students towrite a letter t-to math.
They are writing like,"DearMath, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah." This is fun because itdisembodies the experiences
they're having in a way thatmakes it safe to tell you about
them.
So instead of writing you aletter being like,"This is how I
(12:50):
feel about math," like,"I feellike shit, da, da, da, da, da,
da," they can write a letter tomath, right?
And this kind of, like, plays alittle trick on the mind where
it feels like it is no longer sovulnerable.
So I've had kids write, youknow, letters like,"Dear Math, I
used to really like you, andthen you totally screwed me in
grade four, and fractions ruinedmy life, and I just don't feel
(13:13):
like we're very good friendsanymore, and I've tried to
become better friends with you.
I've tried to make up with you.
Like, I practice all myhomework, and da, da, da, da,
da, da, da, but, like, you'venever made me feel like I'm
welcome.
And then things got worse ingrade six because I thought we
were bros, and then every singletime I tried to get reacquainted
with you, I would get a big redX on my paper, and that didn't
(13:34):
feel so good.
So I've just decided that, like,maybe we're better as
ex-besties.
And even though I see you aroundsometimes, like, and I feel a
little, like, pang in my heart,I know that we're better off,
like, apart." I'm just I justriffed that.
That wasn't very good.
But the point is, imaginesomeone wrote a letter like
that.
You, as the teacher, are like,"Ooh, okay, I can see what
happened.
It was fractions." So that'snumber one.
(13:56):
Number two, they're talkingabout red X's on their paper, so
now I kind of know that that's abit of a trigger, and I know
what happened." Like, like, doyou know what I mean?
It really gives you information.
The variety you will get fromthese letters is amazing.
And again, if you have, like, ahigh school math class, you can
get them to do a TikTokconfessional.
They can record it.
They could record it for you asa podcast.
They can write it down as adiary entry, whatever.
(14:17):
But the idea is they are writinga letter to math.
They're handing them in to you.
You're getting to look at it andseeing,"Okay, here's how
everyone feels about math in myclassroom." So that is step one.
Step one is we are collecting,we are gathering baseline data
about everyone's emotions aboutmath in our classroom so that we
can see what the vibe is in theroom, and so that we can measure
(14:41):
the impact all of the strategieswe are going to be doing are
gonna have on our amazingstudents, so that in December
you can feel great aboutyourself So you are going to put
the following in your calendarafter your...
Okay, so you're gonna do one ofthese strategies, and you're
gonna put the following in yourcalendar.
In December, you are gonna picka date to re-administer a
mindset survey or re-administera Dear Math letter, right?
(15:03):
They have to do that sameactivity again so you have
something to measure against.
I mean, you could even getcreative and do, like, the
mindset survey in the first fewweeks of school, and then the
mindset survey and a Dear Mathletter in December.
I really kinda want you to dothe mindset survey twice,
though.
Like, do you know what I mean?
It's really important for you togather data and then recreate
(15:25):
the study, I'm using air quotes,so you have something to measure
I really want you to haveevidence of the impact you've
made.
But also, I really want you tohave a snapshot of where
students began so you canrecognize how far they've come,
and so they can recognize howfar 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 secondthing you're gonna do.
(15:46):
The second thing you're gonna dofirst week of school is you are
going to co-create.
You are going to build yourclassroom culture with the
students, not just for them.
So step one, you've collectedinformation, 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 goingon.
And then you're gonna co-createthe math therapy culture with
your students.
Now, this is really interesting.
(16:06):
My favorite strategy to do thisis a classroom agreement.
Some of you may have done onebefore, some of you may have
not.
Again, I have templates for thisonline.
Listen to the end of thisepisode.
I will provide information onhow to get these templates and
resources.
A classroom agreement is whereyou are creating an agreement
for how everybody should show upto that classroom, including
you.
(16:27):
So you and your students arecoming up with, I guess we could
say rules.
I don't love the word rules,but, like, parameters, right?
You're coming up with anagreement of, like, these are
the things we would like presentin the classroom so we can all
feel good about being here.
The vibe of this is like you'renot just there.
You're not the sage on thestage, you know what I mean?
Like giving your students rulesand being like,"This is how it's
(16:49):
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,"Whatdo you guys need?
And then let's talk about what Ineed, and then let's meet in the
middle." This co-creation reallyhelps kids feel heard and seen
and like they belong.
And again, this changes thevibe.
Most teachers are not askingtheir kids what they need.
They're just like,"These are therules of the classroom." So
(17:09):
already you're like a step aboveif you do this.
Now, there are several ways todo this, but first let me just
like get a little more into whatthe whole point of this is
There's two things.
Number one, when you askstudents what they need, they
will tell you what they need,and when they tell you what they
need, they will tell you whathas not worked in the past.
Example, I had a student oncesay,"Okay, what I would like in
(17:34):
this classroom, what would makeme feel like I wanna come here,
what would make me feel good isif people didn't er- interrupt
me when I was talking or if Ididn't get yelled at when I got
a wrong answer." Or anotherstudent said,"It would make me
feel good, like I think a rulewe should have in this classroom
is nobody laughs if somebodygets an answer wrong or asks a
dumb question." Wow, that's alot of information.
(17:57):
If anyone asks a dumb question,now I know this student has been
laughed at.
They have been told thatsomething they have asked has
been dumb.
They have been made fun of forgetting 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, Isee, I see what's going on here.
I see that this would be atrigger for a student." But also
(18:17):
when that student sayssomething, guaranteed other
students in the room are like,"Yep, me too." Right?
So they feel, the other studentsfeel less alone.
The student who says it feelsheard, and you get to be like,
"Great, does everyone agree thatthat should be a rule in the
classroom?" And when everyoneagrees, 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'sbacks.
(18:38):
It feels really, really good.
Depending on your classroom, youcan do this several ways.
You can do this where studentsreply, like just, you know,
we're all, we're all sittingthere, and we're just having a
discussion, and we'recrowdsourcing things.
You can do this where you handout little pieces of paper, and
students reply anonymously, andthen you read them out and say,
"Okay, somebody has writtenthis.
Who agrees with this?" You cando it, they can first chat in
(19:01):
pairs and small groups about thethings they've liked and have
not liked about math classes inthe past, and then prompt them
with the question of,"All right,let's make up some suggestions."
I actually do this, and I didthis with a district last week
where, you know, to start, when,when I do a full day PD, I
always start this way by beinglike,"Let's create a classroom
agreement for our time together.
(19:22):
We're here together for a wholeday." This is what was so cool.
I did two days of PD, first with40 elementary teachers and the
next day with 40 high schoolteachers.
I, I-- Let me read you whathappened'cause this actually
blew my mind.
I was like,"Oh my God," like howcool that this happened.
okay, so here's group one.
(19:42):
Here's what they had on theiragreement.
So I just, you know, started bybeing like,"All right, guys,
we're gonna create a classroomagreement.
What, like, parameters do wewant in place?
Like, what are things that wewant 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 usingasset-based language, so
whenever I say something, Iwanna phrase it in an
(20:04):
affirmative.
So day one, 40 elementaryteachers.
Here's what they came up with.
Number one (20:08):
We will allow one another space to speak without
interrupting.
Number two (20:12):
Be curious, not judgmental.
Number three (20:15):
We will try to be vulnerable and hold space for
others to be vulnerable.
Number four (20:19):
We will be kind to one another.
Five (20:21):
We will try not to speak when others are speaking.
And six (20:24):
We will own our impact.
Okay, now listen to whathappened on day two.
Totally new group.
Are you ready?
Number one (20:32):
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 (20:40):
If someone is talking, give them your full
attention.
Number three (20:44):
Make space for all voices.
Number four (20:46):
Be down to take a risk and try.
Number five (20:49):
Have"but what if it actually works out" vibes and
think positive.
Okay, I read you those to sayisn't it interesting how similar
the two are?
Like, to me, it's kind of, it'sbeautiful because I've done this
so many times, and every ti-like, sometimes there's, like,
an anomaly here or there, butfor the most part, similar
themes come up because ashumans, we, we have, like, needs
(21:11):
and desires, right?
Like, we all wanna be loved.
We all wanna feel like webelong.
We don't want people tointerrupt us when we're
speaking.
We wanna feel like other peopleare listening.
So, like, I like doing thisexercise because it kinda shows
you that, like, our human natureis very, very-- We're not so
different, right?
But also, it does, it does showus, like, people have had such
negative experiences in school,and it comes out through making
(21:33):
this agreement.
So I love that.
Some questions you could ask ifstudents are feeling really,
really stuck is you can promptthem by saying,"Okay, so for
example, guys, what would makeyou feel comfortable sharing an
idea with the class?" Or,"Whatwould make it ma- what would
make it okay for like to make amistake?
What would make you feel likeit's totally cool if I make a
mistake, or it's totally cool ifI raise my hand, or like it's
(21:53):
totally fine if I ask a questionthat someone else has already
asked'cause I still don't getit?
What conditions would you wantto be present in this classroom
for that to happen?" you couldsay,"What, what do you guys want
to happen when somebodydisagrees with someone else?
Like, what would be a good wayfor us to handle that in this
classroom?
'Cause we're not always gonnaagree.
What would be like a good way tohandle it if like, you know, one
of your friends is at the board,or I'm at the board as the
(22:15):
teacher doing something and Imake a mistake?
Like, how should we approachthat?
Like, should we just yell ateach other?
Or like what would make it feelokay for that to happen?" You
can say,"What do you need fromme as your teacher?" Right?
Like,"What do you need me to doto, 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
(22:36):
on me if I don't have my handup." And then you can be like,
"Okay, I'll do that, but I doneed to see you're, like,
participating, so what can we doin exchange?
Like, what would make you feelcomfortable?
Like, how can you show me you'reparticipating without me calling
on you?" Negotiate it, write iton the agreement So once you've
done all that, you've collectedall the information, you wanna
like, you know, narrow it down.
You might have some categories.
(22:57):
Like, you'll see what themesemerge, and you're gonna create
this agreement, right?
Like in our math therapyclassroom, 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 theclassroom, the rules of the
road, you know?
Like, these are the guidingprinciples when you come in.
So you're gonna write all thesedown.
You're gonna put them on anagreement.
(23:17):
I would love the most if youcould put them on your wall.
I know that not every teacherhas their own classroom, so I
know that that's not possible.
But it would be so great ifstudents could see it somehow
every single day when theywalked in.
Now, if you don't have your ownclassroom and can't put it on
the wall, maybe you're puttingit on a slide.
Maybe you're putting it onsomething where at the beginning
of every classroom, you canflash it up, and somebody gets
to read them out loud for theclass, you don't need to be all
(23:39):
like, Repeat after me," and haveeveryone 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 themout loud, right?
We want a reminder at thebeginning of every class we're
setting the tone of ourclassroom.
This is what we're gonna do inhere.
I would also, after you've,like, created the general
agreement, You could do your ownlittle, like, cute, a cute
(24:00):
agreement of, like, your ownmath therapy non-negotiables.
Things like, for example,mistakes will not be treated as
evidence that someone is bad atmath.
Speed will not be prioritizedover thinking.
Asking for help is a part oflearning.
Everyone deserves thinking time.
Like, whatever yours are, youcould add those, but you can
also use those to prompt them.
Like, you can be like,"What doyou guys think of this?
(24:21):
Should we add it to theagreement?" Because, like,
that's the whole point, right?
You're creating, you'reco-creating this together.
And remember, this is a livingclassroom tool.
At the end of week one, you canbe like,"Guys, how are we
feeling about our agreement?" Iactually did this during my PD.
Halfway through my lesson, Isaid to the teachers in the
room, I was like,"Guys, hold upyour hands.
On a scale of one to five, onebeing we are totally fucking
(24:43):
this up, and five being we arecrushing it, we are perfect, how
are we doing on our classroomagreement?" And students hel- or
sorry, teachers held up fingers.
Some teachers held up a fourinstead of a five, and I said,
"Okay, you're a four out offive.
What could we be doing to getcloser to nailing that
agreement?" And a, a teachersaid,"Well, we had on there,
like, let's respect all voices,but I've noticed that, like, not
(25:04):
all voices are being heard." AndI was like,"Interesting.
I, as the teacher, actually,that's kind of my
responsibility.
Maybe I'm not making room forall voices to be heard.
Maybe I'm actually picking thesame hands every time.
I might be doing that.
Let me reflect on that." So youknow what I mean?
This is a living tool, and atthe end of week one, you guys,
you can do that.
You can be like,"Let's do arubric," a single-line rubric,
like Peter does in BuildingThinking Classrooms, right?
On one end, we are totally notnailing this.
(25:26):
On the other end, we are reallynailing this.
What could we be doing better?
Also, you might ask,"Guys, nowthat 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 thatagreement, you're watching
growth mindset in action.
You're watching your studentsget more comfortable and feel
(25:47):
safer to add things on.
It'll be interesting to see whatthey add and what they remove.
What, what may no longer benecessary.
Maybe they're like,"We haven'teven had to worry about that
don't laugh at one another whenwe make mistakes.
That doesn't even happen in thisclassroom." You know what I
mean?
Like, It's gonna be really,really cool to see.
I always find, like, revisingthings like that, like revising
our definitions of success everymonth or revising a classroom
(26:09):
agreement or revising a DearMath letter, those things show
us progress unintentionallybecause the evidence is there in
what we write and what wecompare to what we wrote
previously.
Key point, if you want studentsto feel ownership over the
classroom culture, you have tolet them co-create it with you.
So this also gives themownership.
Now, you're not the one who's atthe helm being completely in
(26:32):
charge of creating a maththerapy culture.
They're all helping, and wereally need that, right?
Because it's one thing for you,the teacher, to believe in your
students, but the power isaugmented when every student in
the room believes in oneanother, right?
And treats one another withrespect, and treats one another
as though they're capable, andtreats one another as though
they are, they are capable ofchange, right?
And that's what you're doing.
(26:53):
So the first thing you are gonnado, the first activity you are
doing week one, is collectingthat information, and the next
activity you're doing, itdoesn't have to be in this
order, I just need these threethings to get done.
The second thing I want you todo is to co-create classroom
culture with your students, andnow we are moving on to the last
thing, number three.
connect.
So we have collect, co-create,Connect.
Create a routine that makesevery single student feel seen
(27:16):
and heard within the first fiveminutes of class.
You heard me.
The first five minutes of class,every single one of your
students is gonna feel seen andheard.
Research shows us time and timeagain that when students feel
seen and heard, they are morelikely to come to class, they
are more likely to stay on taskin class, and they are more
likely to participate and engagein class.
(27:37):
And belonging, feeling like youbelong, feeling like someone
sees you, is actually a keytrait that lends itself to
motivation, so they are moremotivated How are you gonna do
this?
How are you gonna connect withevery single student within the
first five minutes of class?
You are gonna upgrade yourattendance routine from here to
a daily check-in question.
Let me show you how it's doneOkay, so earlier this year, I
(27:59):
was doing some math therapy workwith a group of teachers at the
Halton District School Board,and part of that work was
observing classrooms just to seewhat was going on, see where
math therapy was being used, andI 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
(28:21):
five minutes of class.
It was like the first threeminutes of class that blew my
mind, and here's what she did.
She used her attendance check tomake every single student feel
seen and heard through a momentof connection.
How did she do that?
She asked every student onequestion when they walked into
the room, and that question was: Would you rather live without (28:39):
undefined
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 thereobserving 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 notsitting down and being quiet?"
And it's because one by one,students were walking in the
(29:02):
door, and she would either walkup 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 clipboardin her hand with all their
names, and she would literallysay to them,"Hey, Jason.
Would you rather live withoutyour cell phone or your
computer?" And Jason would go,"Um, my computer." And then they
would sit down.
And Electra might say,"Allright.
(29:22):
Awesome.
Good answer," or whatever.
Then somebody else would comein.
"Hey, Sarah.
Would you rather live withoutyour cell phone or your
computer?" Definitely my cellphone.
Like, if I lost it, I think Iwould die." Amazing.
That's such a good answer.
I feel the same way." And on andon it went.
Some students would say a littlemore.
Some students would just say,"Computer" or,"Cell phone."
(29:43):
Either way, Electra always hadthese components present.
Number one, she would say theirname.
Number two, she would ask thequestion, and number three, she
would be interested in theresponse.
She would say something wouldmake it clear that she was
interested in the response.
She wouldn't just, like, check abox and walk away.
And that was her attendancecheck, so when Jason answered
the question, he got checkedoff.
But, so that was something shehas to do anyway.
(30:04):
She had to take attendanceanyway, but in that, like, 10
seconds, she said his name, sheasked a question, and she
validated his response, right?
So now, the student knows thatthey 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 hadto think,"Is it gonna be phone
(30:25):
or computer?" Right?
That's it.
It doesn't matter.
It might seem so trivial, butthey've had to think.
Their brain has done somethingactive, and they've been
complimented and validated fortheir 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 careswhat I think about something."
An answer has been given.
(30:45):
"Oh, I had to actually think." Imean, that's happening
subconsciously, but thinkinghappened 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 youguys to sit with how powerful
this is.
In three minutes, you c- even ifyou have 40 students, you can
literally do this for everysingle student.
(31:06):
You can help them feelacknowledged, useful, valuable
in five seconds each, fiveseconds each, literally, and
you're taking attendance anyway.
So step number three is allabout that connection, and
remember, the research showsthat connection is invaluable,
and you're doing it at thebeginning of class.
Right at the beginning of class,you're setting the tone.
"I see you.
I know you.
(31:26):
I care about you.
I think that what you have tosay 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'causethey'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
(31:47):
that fear out, right?
Like, they are more likely nowto participate again, to speak
again.
And, you know, some of them arelistening to one another's
answers.
Like, maybe that's a little sidechat that happens.
Like, it just really sets thevibe because, you know, then
there's the whole debate of,like, wait, is it your computer?
Is it your phone?
Some students are seeing theyhave stuff in common.
Some wa- you know, some studentsare talking to one another that
(32:07):
wouldn't normally talk to oneanother.
But this whole thing is wrappedup in three minutes, and on to
the lesson, and so much valuablemath therapy work has been
packed into that three minutesAnd keep in mind, that first
time they spoke, that first timethey participated was not high
stakes.
It's so low stakes, but thatsets 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 learnstuff about our students.
(32:28):
That's a little thing you'velearned that you can, like, kind
of file away as information thatyou can bring up at a later date
to be like,"I know you.
You know, you're a person tome." Positive teacher-student
relationships are built in,like, these repeated moments
where students feel understood,they feel safe, they feel
valuable, they feel useful, theyfeel like they belong.
And little routines like thisbuild that.
(32:49):
They build that slowly butsurely.
And this makes way for biggerroutines that you can include,
right?
Like, you, you might start likethat, and then you might go into
a full group this or that,right?
And your full group this or thatmight be more math-related.
It might be something like,would you rather have your
quadratic f- in factored form orin standard form?
(33:09):
Oh my God, that's actually areally juicy debate.
I'm gonna say factored all theway, but y- it actually depends
what you're doing.
Okay, we're not gonna get intothis right now.
Or you might be like, would youprefer, like, long division or
multiplication?
Right?
Like, and now again, thestudents have already spoken.
They've already done that inyour attendance check, right?
So they're here now.
They've already spoken.
They've already used theirvoice.
(33:30):
They've already thought aboutsomething.
You're gonna get more engagementwhen you start getting into your
lesson.
The whole point of this step ofconnecting is before asking
students to take mathematicalrisks Give every student a safe
way to use their voice, andthat's what this step
accomplishes.
Okay, so that wraps up our threethings.
Number one, you are gonna find away to collect information about
(33:51):
how your students feel aboutmath.
You're gonna do that througheither a mindset survey or
through a Dear Math letter orsomething else that you love.
Number two, you are going toco-create classroom culture with
your students, and you're gonnado that using a classroom
agreement.
And number three, you are gonnaconnect with every student by
upgrading your attendanceroutine to add in a this or that
(34:12):
quickie low-stakes check-inquestion.
And because I love you guys somuch, I put together a little
first week of Math Therapy kitfor you.
Head to the show notes, clickthe link.
It'll be delivered straight toyour inbox.
That will have the mindsetsurveys, the Dear Math template,
and the classroom agreementtemplate, as well as a few
little ideas of what you can useas attendance upgrade questions.
Guys, I'm so excited.
(34:32):
Really, honestly, this goes backto my philosophy of believe,
behave, become, right?
We can't just say we're a maththerapy classroom and then just,
like, carry on with all thestuff we were doing last year.
A math therapy classroom isn'tsomething we announce.
It's something studentsexperience, and you are giving
them the chance to experiencethat 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 firstweek, you are going to be
(34:54):
showing them your feelings aboutmath matter here.
You have a say in how we treatone 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 youthink.
Make sure you head to the shownotes, hit that first week of
Math Therapy link.
And guys, make sure you text thepodcast.
(35:15):
I want you to text me and tellme 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 otherthings that fit into one of
these categories that you loveand swear by that you wanna
share with our listeners, let meknow, and I will make sure that
gets out there.
Remember, we have a Math TherapyFacebook group, right?
We're, oh my God, we are oneaway at the recording of this
podcast.
We are at 499 members, so I'msure by the time you listen to
(35:37):
this, we'll be at over 500.
That's 500 of us that are doingthe work.
So send me a text.
Tell me what activities orstrategies you swear by that
fall into the collect,co-create, connect categories,
and I'll put together a littlelist and share it as a resource
in our Math Therapy Facebookgroup.
Guys, this has been amazing.
Happy back to school.
I can't wait to hear from you.
(35:58):
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 cansee it, but I know you're doing
it.
I know you're doing it.
Your students are so, so luckyto have you.
And I mean, guys, happy back toschool.
We're here.
A full year of Math Therapyawaits us, and this year is
gonna be the best one yet.
I can feel it because we arestarting off so strong.
(36:20):
Love you so much.
See you next week, same time,same place, same channel.
We are back, baby.
I had a student once say,"what I would
like in this classroom, whatwould make me feel like I wanna
come here, what would make mefeel good is nobody laughs if
somebody gets an answer wrong orasks a dumb question." that's a
lot of information.
now I know this student has beenlaughed at.
They have been told thatsomething they have asked has
been dumb.
They have been made fun of forgetting the wrong answer.
(00:23):
You know what I'm hearing?
Math trauma.
Math trauma.
Math trauma.
But also when that student sayssomething, guaranteed other
students in the room are like,"Yep, me too." So the other
students feel less alone.
The student who says it feelsheard, and you get to be like,
"Great, does everyone agree thatthat should be a rule in the
classroom?" And when everyoneagrees, it's like this deep sigh
of relief for the whole class.
Like we're all on the same page.
(00:43):
We've all got each other'sbacks.
It feels really, really good.
Okay, guys.
It's me, Vanessa, and welcome toanother episode of Math Therapy.
We took a break.
We are back.
We are refreshed and ready forback to school.
Now, I know a lot of you arealready back in school, but most
(01:05):
of us are actually, like,heading into back to school
right now, or we just did lastweek.
Like, things are starting.
This is the time.
This is the time, okay?
I, I actually feel so honoredand excited if you're listening
to this right now that I get tobe a part of your, like, back to
school routine because, okay,it's always a great time to help
students rebuild theirrelationship with math.
Like, it's always a great timeto help students feel like they
(01:27):
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, aftersummer, we have this opportunity
to start again, and we can- Bythe way, I believe that every
day we have the chance to beginagain, but, like, a new school
year is very, very special.
So today, here is what we'redoing.
(01:48):
I just wanna get us in the zoneof what is happening on the
podcast today.
I am sharing three things youcan do this week to set the tone
that your classroom is a MathTherapy classroom, to set the
tone that every kid belongs,that every single kid is welcome
to think, to be curious, to makemistakes.
To set the tone that you believethat every single student in
(02:10):
your classroom has the abilityto build a better relationship
with math.
I'm gonna share three low-liftthings you can do and you should
do.
I wanna highly recommend thatyou do these things week one to
set the tone.
And here's the cool thing.
Most of your students are goingto be like, just by the, the
fact of you doing these threethings that I'm gonna share,
they're already gonna get thevibe,"Oh, wow, this math class
(02:32):
is different from the other mathclasses I have been in." They're
gonna get that vibe right away.
Now, I'm gonna share my favoritethree things, but what I'm
actually sharing is threecategories of things you should
make sure you do week one.
Those three categories arecollect, co-create, and connect.
(02:52):
Collect, co-create, connect.
Collect, you are going to getinformation on the students in
your classroom.
We're gonna do this in alow-lift way that does not
require you to have a one-on-oneinterview with every single kid.
You are gonna collectinformation about what math
trauma they're bringing into theclassroom, and what they need to
feel like your math classroom isthe math classroom that's gonna
(03:14):
change their relationship withmath.
That is collect.
Then you're gonna co-create.
You are going to find a way, I'mgonna give you a way, but you-
if you have another way, that'sfine, but you must co-create.
That means you must find anopportunity with the class as a
whole to have every single voiceheard, and their requests
respected, You're gonnaco-create the culture of your
(03:35):
classroom together.
You're gonna find out whatthings your students are into
and want that will help them beable to productively struggle,
be curious, raise their handwhen they have a question.
So you're gonna co-create thatsituation together.
And finally, you are going toconnect.
That means you are gonna find away to connect with every single
student.
What, you're saying?
(03:55):
I have 40 students in my class.
How is that gonna happen?
Wait till you hear the strategyI'm gonna share.
It is my favorite thing.
I saw a teacher do this livethree months ago, and it blew my
mind.
You're gonna find a way toconnect with every single
student this week, every day.
That's right, every day.
Trust me.
Wait, just wait till you hearthis.
Every day you're gonna find away to connect with every single
student, so every single studentknows from you, they're gonna
(04:18):
feel from you that they belongbecause you are gonna have a
moment of connection with themevery single day this week.
Okay, so those are the threecategories of things.
As we begin school, we wannamake sure that we are collecting
information, that we areco-creating experiences with our
students, and that we arefinding moments of connection.
Remember, you are ready to go.
You've got your amazing lessonplan, you've got your classroom,
(04:38):
you've got your supplies.
But every single student isgoing to be asking themselves,
"Is this a safe space for me toraise my hand?
Is this a safe space for me tobuild skills?
Am I gonna actually be good atthis thing?
Does this teacher like me?
Am I gonna, you know, is myteacher going to think I'm
dumb?" Like, they are thinkingthese things, and you are gonna
set the tone week one that, hellno, you are there to support
(04:59):
them on your journey.
You believe in all of them.
This is a math therapy classroomwhere we make mistakes, we
explore, where we believe thatevery 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 thosequestions.
They are going to feel from you,"Oh, hey, this is a safe place
(05:20):
to make mistakes.
Huh, I can ask a question.
wow, this math teacher feelsdifferent about me than any of
the other math teachers I'veever 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 threecategories of things that are
gonna set the tone that this isa math therapy classroom Okay,
category number one of thingyou're gonna do, you are going
(05:40):
to collect.
What does that mean?
You're gonna learn who yourstudents are before trying to
change how they feel.
How are you gonna do that, youask?
Okay, I actually have twostrategies I wanna share in
this, so you can pick whicheverone you want.
Now, listen, I'm gonna share mytwo favorite strategies, but if
you're like,"Ooh, I have anotherstrategy that would actually fit
the collect criteria," go aheadand do that.
(06:02):
I don't care what you do as longas you are gathering data Okay,
so this is all about gatheringbaseline information about how
your students currently feelabout math.
Why do we wanna do that?
Why do we wanna gather baselinedata about how our students
currently feel about math?
Number one, when we do this, wegive students an opportunity to
feel heard.
Okay?
Students are rarely asked howthey feel about math.
(06:24):
They just get to math class, andsomebody teaches them some shit,
and that's the end of it, right?
You're gonna actually give theman opportunity to express how
they feel.
So week one or two or whateverweek 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." Butnumber two, they get to start
realizing how they feel.
A lot of us just feel like ickin math class, and we've never
(06:44):
had the chance to unpack that.
So the two things I'm gonna giveyou, the two strategies I'm
gonna give you are gonna allowthe student to unpack that for
themselves.
It's very cathartic to do that,okay?
To be able to circle,"I hatemath" 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 youto collect baseline data is
this (07:06):
as educators, you are never going to feel like you're
doing enough.
You're gonna do all the things.
You're gonna create magicalmoments for your students.
You're gonna change theirrelationship with math, and you
will leave every day feelinglike you haven't done enough and
like you're not making animpact.
I want you to have baseline databecause you are gonna do
something again, this thingagain, at the end of the year in
December.
(07:26):
You're going to administer thesame strategy.
Don't worry, I'm g- about totell you the strategy.
You're gonna do it again, andthen you're gonna compare.
So I want you to actually seethe progress, right?
We talk about growth mindset alot, but growth mindset
sometimes doesn't feel likegrowth unless it's visible,
right?
It's like watching your hairgrow, right?
If you don't compare yourcurrent hair to, like, a picture
of your hair six months ago, youcan't see the growth.
(07:48):
It's not like you're noticingthe tiny fragment it grows every
single day.
You're actually not.
Do you ever notice that thathappens?
Like, you meet up with a friend,and they're like,"Wow, your hair
is so long," and you're like,"Itis?" You don't notice'cause you
look at yourself in the mirrorevery day, but your friend
notices it because they haven'tseen you for six months.
So this strategy, the collectingpart, is gathering the baseline
data.
It's like taking that picture ofyour hair so that you can take a
(08:10):
picture of your hair six monthslater and compare the two.
You cannot measure a shift inmath identity, confidence, or
anxiety if you never recordwhere the student started,
right?
So this strategy, we are goingto collect information on where
students have started.
There are two things I lovehere.
The first thing I love is doinga mindset survey I actually have
(08:30):
a template I can share with you.
Later in this episode, I'll letyou know how to get links to any
of the stuff I talk about inthis episode, because I do wanna
share some resources andtemplates to help you do these
strategies.
But here's what a mindset surveyis.
It's basically what it soundslike.
It is a survey of someone'smindsets with questions like,
"How do you feel about math?
On a scale of one to five, like,how does math class make you
(08:51):
feel?
On a scale of one to five, howdid 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 thatallow students to circle a lot
of things and write a fewthings, right?
I do want them to be writing'cause I want them to be
thinking, I want them to beunpacking.
You can say something like, whatare you most excited about this
year?" You can say,"What are youmost nervous about this year?"
(09:14):
You can say,"Circle some wordsthat describe how you're
feeling." I like some writing,but the thing is, especially
with those of you with largeclasses, I do like y- like
quantitative data because it'seasy to compare.
So, like, it is nice to dothings with scales so that when
you administer this mindsetsurvey again in December, you
can see if the number went up ordown, right?
(09:34):
If somebody says, like, rightnow they're at a one, they feel,
like, completely icky aboutmath, and then in December they
circle two, that is fuckingamazing, right?
But, like, you want to be ableto 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'relooking for movement.
We're just looking for somebodyto feel unstuck, because once
(09:56):
we're moving, that's a promise.
That's hope.
When we are stuck, when we'renot moving, that is
hopelessness.
So that's what we're lookingfor.
So some questions you might askon a mindset survey include: On
a scale of one to five, how doyou feel about math?
On a scale of one to five, howconfident are you in your
ability to learn something newthis year?
(10:18):
On a scale of one to five, howdid you feel about math last
year?
On a scale of one to five, howdid you feel about math five
years ago?
You might do something like rateeach statement on a scale of one
to five, right?
Like, where one is stronglydisagree and five is strongly
agree.
First question (10:36):
I consider myself a math person.
Second question (10:38):
I feel comfortable making mistakes in
math class.
Third question (10:42):
I believe I can get better at math Fourth
question, I feel confidentsharing my mathematical
thinking.
Fifth question, I feelcomfortable asking for help when
I'm confused.
Stuff like that, you're, you'retrying to figure out what their
vibe is now, right?
Imagine someone circles allones.
They're like,"Nope, I disagreewith all of this." And again, in
December, like, some of thatgoes up.
(11:03):
That shows that the stuff you'redoing in your classroom is
helping.
That is, like, literally ameasure of your impact, of the
impact you're having, so that'samazing.
And also, it gives you an ideaof where your kids are in the
classroom, right?
Like, who's coming into thatroom with math trauma, and about
what?
Now, the about what part, the,the, the mindset survey doesn't
really give you that becausewe're circling things.
(11:23):
Maybe you could have a littlepocket in which to, like, write
something, but the next thingI'm gonna give you is gonna give
you a little more insight as towhat are they coming into the
classroom with that is givingthem the ick around math.
The other thing I love about themindset survey, by the way, is
we can get really mathy with it,right?
Like, you can have all of thisstuff.
You can graph it.
You can, like, throw it into AIand get it to compartmentalize
(11:44):
and sort all of your data so youcan 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 inthe room.
When you know what's happeningin the room, you can tailor your
strategies, right?
If you're like,"Oh my God, like10% of the room feels
comfortable asking for aquestion when they're confused,"
that's a big deal.
If only 10% of your class feelscomfortable asking a question
when they're confused, thatmeans now you are going to
(12:06):
implement some of your maththerapy strategies that help
with that.
If 90% of the class feelscomfortable asking a question
when they're confused, that'samazing.
You kinda know you don't need tofocus so much on creating the
conditions for that becausethey're already present.
Okay, so my second strategy inthis category of, like,
collecting info is the Dear Mathletter.
Um, this was created by SarahStrong and Gigi Butterfield.
(12:29):
They have a whole book on it.
I have this in my book, MathTherapy.
Literally, it is what it soundslike.
You are getting students towrite a letter t-to math.
They are writing like,"DearMath, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah." This is fun because itdisembodies the experiences
they're having in a way thatmakes it safe to tell you about
them.
So instead of writing you aletter being like,"This is how I
(12:50):
feel about math," like,"I feellike shit, da, da, da, da, da,
da," they can write a letter tomath, right?
And this kind of, like, plays alittle trick on the mind where
it feels like it is no longer sovulnerable.
So I've had kids write, youknow, letters like,"Dear Math, I
used to really like you, andthen you totally screwed me in
grade four, and fractions ruinedmy life, and I just don't feel
(13:13):
like we're very good friendsanymore, and I've tried to
become better friends with you.
I've tried to make up with you.
Like, I practice all myhomework, and da, da, da, da,
da, da, da, but, like, you'venever made me feel like I'm
welcome.
And then things got worse ingrade six because I thought we
were bros, and then every singletime I tried to get reacquainted
with you, I would get a big redX on my paper, and that didn't
(13:34):
feel so good.
So I've just decided that, like,maybe we're better as
ex-besties.
And even though I see you aroundsometimes, like, and I feel a
little, like, pang in my heart,I know that we're better off,
like, apart." I'm just I justriffed that.
That wasn't very good.
But the point is, imaginesomeone wrote a letter like
that.
You, as the teacher, are like,"Ooh, okay, I can see what
happened.
It was fractions." So that'snumber one.
(13:56):
Number two, they're talkingabout red X's on their paper, so
now I kind of know that that's abit of a trigger, and I know
what happened." Like, like, doyou know what I mean?
It really gives you information.
The variety you will get fromthese letters is amazing.
And again, if you have, like, ahigh school math class, you can
get them to do a TikTokconfessional.
They can record it.
They could record it for you asa podcast.
They can write it down as adiary entry, whatever.
(14:17):
But the idea is they are writinga letter to math.
They're handing them in to you.
You're getting to look at it andseeing,"Okay, here's how
everyone feels about math in myclassroom." So that is step one.
Step one is we are collecting,we are gathering baseline data
about everyone's emotions aboutmath in our classroom so that we
can see what the vibe is in theroom, and so that we can measure
(14:41):
the impact all of the strategieswe are going to be doing are
gonna have on our amazingstudents, so that in December
you can feel great aboutyourself So you are going to put
the following in your calendarafter your...
Okay, so you're gonna do one ofthese strategies, and you're
gonna put the following in yourcalendar.
In December, you are gonna picka date to re-administer a
mindset survey or re-administera Dear Math letter, right?
(15:03):
They have to do that sameactivity again so you have
something to measure against.
I mean, you could even getcreative and do, like, the
mindset survey in the first fewweeks of school, and then the
mindset survey and a Dear Mathletter in December.
I really kinda want you to dothe mindset survey twice,
though.
Like, do you know what I mean?
It's really important for you togather data and then recreate
(15:25):
the study, I'm using air quotes,so you have something to measure
I really want you to haveevidence of the impact you've
made.
But also, I really want you tohave a snapshot of where
students began so you canrecognize how far they've come,
and so they can recognize howfar 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 secondthing you're gonna do.
(15:46):
The second thing you're gonna dofirst week of school is you are
going to co-create.
You are going to build yourclassroom culture with the
students, not just for them.
So step one, you've collectedinformation, 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 goingon.
And then you're gonna co-createthe math therapy culture with
your students.
Now, this is really interesting.
(16:06):
My favorite strategy to do thisis a classroom agreement.
Some of you may have done onebefore, some of you may have
not.
Again, I have templates for thisonline.
Listen to the end of thisepisode.
I will provide information onhow to get these templates and
resources.
A classroom agreement is whereyou are creating an agreement
for how everybody should show upto that classroom, including
you.
(16:27):
So you and your students arecoming up with, I guess we could
say rules.
I don't love the word rules,but, like, parameters, right?
You're coming up with anagreement of, like, these are
the things we would like presentin the classroom so we can all
feel good about being here.
The vibe of this is like you'renot just there.
You're not the sage on thestage, you know what I mean?
Like giving your students rulesand being like,"This is how it's
(16:49):
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,"Whatdo you guys need?
And then let's talk about what Ineed, and then let's meet in the
middle." This co-creation reallyhelps kids feel heard and seen
and like they belong.
And again, this changes thevibe.
Most teachers are not askingtheir kids what they need.
They're just like,"These are therules of the classroom." So
(17:09):
already you're like a step aboveif you do this.
Now, there are several ways todo this, but first let me just
like get a little more into whatthe whole point of this is
There's two things.
Number one, when you askstudents what they need, they
will tell you what they need,and when they tell you what they
need, they will tell you whathas not worked in the past.
Example, I had a student oncesay,"Okay, what I would like in
(17:34):
this classroom, what would makeme feel like I wanna come here,
what would make me feel good isif people didn't er- interrupt
me when I was talking or if Ididn't get yelled at when I got
a wrong answer." Or anotherstudent said,"It would make me
feel good, like I think a rulewe should have in this classroom
is nobody laughs if somebodygets an answer wrong or asks a
dumb question." Wow, that's alot of information.
(17:57):
If anyone asks a dumb question,now I know this student has been
laughed at.
They have been told thatsomething they have asked has
been dumb.
They have been made fun of forgetting 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, Isee, I see what's going on here.
I see that this would be atrigger for a student." But also
(18:17):
when that student sayssomething, guaranteed other
students in the room are like,"Yep, me too." Right?
So they feel, the other studentsfeel less alone.
The student who says it feelsheard, and you get to be like,
"Great, does everyone agree thatthat should be a rule in the
classroom?" And when everyoneagrees, 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'sbacks.
(18:38):
It feels really, really good.
Depending on your classroom, youcan do this several ways.
You can do this where studentsreply, like just, you know,
we're all, we're all sittingthere, and we're just having a
discussion, and we'recrowdsourcing things.
You can do this where you handout little pieces of paper, and
students reply anonymously, andthen you read them out and say,
"Okay, somebody has writtenthis.
Who agrees with this?" You cando it, they can first chat in
(19:01):
pairs and small groups about thethings they've liked and have
not liked about math classes inthe past, and then prompt them
with the question of,"All right,let's make up some suggestions."
I actually do this, and I didthis with a district last week
where, you know, to start, when,when I do a full day PD, I
always start this way by beinglike,"Let's create a classroom
agreement for our time together.
(19:22):
We're here together for a wholeday." This is what was so cool.
I did two days of PD, first with40 elementary teachers and the
next day with 40 high schoolteachers.
I, I-- Let me read you whathappened'cause this actually
blew my mind.
I was like,"Oh my God," like howcool that this happened.
okay, so here's group one.
(19:42):
Here's what they had on theiragreement.
So I just, you know, started bybeing like,"All right, guys,
we're gonna create a classroomagreement.
What, like, parameters do wewant in place?
Like, what are things that wewant 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 usingasset-based language, so
whenever I say something, Iwanna phrase it in an
(20:04):
affirmative.
So day one, 40 elementaryteachers.
Here's what they came up with.
Number one (20:08):
We will allow one another space to speak without
interrupting.
Number two (20:12):
Be curious, not judgmental.
Number three (20:15):
We will try to be vulnerable and hold space for
others to be vulnerable.
Number four (20:19):
We will be kind to one another.
Five (20:21):
We will try not to speak when others are speaking.
And six (20:24):
We will own our impact.
Okay, now listen to whathappened on day two.
Totally new group.
Are you ready?
Number one (20:32):
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 (20:40):
If someone is talking, give them your full
attention.
Number three (20:44):
Make space for all voices.
Number four (20:46):
Be down to take a risk and try.
Number five (20:49):
Have"but what if it actually works out" vibes and
think positive.
Okay, I read you those to sayisn't it interesting how similar
the two are?
Like, to me, it's kind of, it'sbeautiful because I've done this
so many times, and every ti-like, sometimes there's, like,
an anomaly here or there, butfor the most part, similar
themes come up because ashumans, we, we have, like, needs
(21:11):
and desires, right?
Like, we all wanna be loved.
We all wanna feel like webelong.
We don't want people tointerrupt us when we're
speaking.
We wanna feel like other peopleare listening.
So, like, I like doing thisexercise because it kinda shows
you that, like, our human natureis very, very-- We're not so
different, right?
But also, it does, it does showus, like, people have had such
negative experiences in school,and it comes out through making
(21:33):
this agreement.
So I love that.
Some questions you could ask ifstudents are feeling really,
really stuck is you can promptthem by saying,"Okay, so for
example, guys, what would makeyou feel comfortable sharing an
idea with the class?" Or,"Whatwould make it ma- what would
make it okay for like to make amistake?
What would make you feel likeit's totally cool if I make a
mistake, or it's totally cool ifI raise my hand, or like it's
(21:53):
totally fine if I ask a questionthat someone else has already
asked'cause I still don't getit?
What conditions would you wantto be present in this classroom
for that to happen?" you couldsay,"What, what do you guys want
to happen when somebodydisagrees with someone else?
Like, what would be a good wayfor us to handle that in this
classroom?
'Cause we're not always gonnaagree.
What would be like a good way tohandle it if like, you know, one
of your friends is at the board,or I'm at the board as the
(22:15):
teacher doing something and Imake a mistake?
Like, how should we approachthat?
Like, should we just yell ateach other?
Or like what would make it feelokay for that to happen?" You
can say,"What do you need fromme as your teacher?" Right?
Like,"What do you need me to doto, 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
(22:36):
on me if I don't have my handup." And then you can be like,
"Okay, I'll do that, but I doneed to see you're, like,
participating, so what can we doin exchange?
Like, what would make you feelcomfortable?
Like, how can you show me you'reparticipating without me calling
on you?" Negotiate it, write iton the agreement So once you've
done all that, you've collectedall the information, you wanna
like, you know, narrow it down.
You might have some categories.
(22:57):
Like, you'll see what themesemerge, and you're gonna create
this agreement, right?
Like in our math therapyclassroom, 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 theclassroom, the rules of the
road, you know?
Like, these are the guidingprinciples when you come in.
So you're gonna write all thesedown.
You're gonna put them on anagreement.
(23:17):
I would love the most if youcould put them on your wall.
I know that not every teacherhas their own classroom, so I
know that that's not possible.
But it would be so great ifstudents could see it somehow
every single day when theywalked in.
Now, if you don't have your ownclassroom and can't put it on
the wall, maybe you're puttingit on a slide.
Maybe you're putting it onsomething where at the beginning
of every classroom, you canflash it up, and somebody gets
to read them out loud for theclass, you don't need to be all
(23:39):
like, Repeat after me," and haveeveryone 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 themout loud, right?
We want a reminder at thebeginning of every class we're
setting the tone of ourclassroom.
This is what we're gonna do inhere.
I would also, after you've,like, created the general
agreement, You could do your ownlittle, like, cute, a cute
(24:00):
agreement of, like, your ownmath therapy non-negotiables.
Things like, for example,mistakes will not be treated as
evidence that someone is bad atmath.
Speed will not be prioritizedover thinking.
Asking for help is a part oflearning.
Everyone deserves thinking time.
Like, whatever yours are, youcould add those, but you can
also use those to prompt them.
Like, you can be like,"What doyou guys think of this?
(24:21):
Should we add it to theagreement?" Because, like,
that's the whole point, right?
You're creating, you'reco-creating this together.
And remember, this is a livingclassroom tool.
At the end of week one, you canbe like,"Guys, how are we
feeling about our agreement?" Iactually did this during my PD.
Halfway through my lesson, Isaid to the teachers in the
room, I was like,"Guys, hold upyour hands.
On a scale of one to five, onebeing we are totally fucking
(24:43):
this up, and five being we arecrushing it, we are perfect, how
are we doing on our classroomagreement?" And students hel- or
sorry, teachers held up fingers.
Some teachers held up a fourinstead of a five, and I said,
"Okay, you're a four out offive.
What could we be doing to getcloser to nailing that
agreement?" And a, a teachersaid,"Well, we had on there,
like, let's respect all voices,but I've noticed that, like, not
(25:04):
all voices are being heard." AndI was like,"Interesting.
I, as the teacher, actually,that's kind of my
responsibility.
Maybe I'm not making room forall voices to be heard.
Maybe I'm actually picking thesame hands every time.
I might be doing that.
Let me reflect on that." So youknow what I mean?
This is a living tool, and atthe end of week one, you guys,
you can do that.
You can be like,"Let's do arubric," a single-line rubric,
like Peter does in BuildingThinking Classrooms, right?
On one end, we are totally notnailing this.
(25:26):
On the other end, we are reallynailing this.
What could we be doing better?
Also, you might ask,"Guys, nowthat 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 thatagreement, you're watching
growth mindset in action.
You're watching your studentsget more comfortable and feel
(25:47):
safer to add things on.
It'll be interesting to see whatthey add and what they remove.
What, what may no longer benecessary.
Maybe they're like,"We haven'teven had to worry about that
don't laugh at one another whenwe make mistakes.
That doesn't even happen in thisclassroom." You know what I
mean?
Like, It's gonna be really,really cool to see.
I always find, like, revisingthings like that, like revising
our definitions of success everymonth or revising a classroom
(26:09):
agreement or revising a DearMath letter, those things show
us progress unintentionallybecause the evidence is there in
what we write and what wecompare to what we wrote
previously.
Key point, if you want studentsto feel ownership over the
classroom culture, you have tolet them co-create it with you.
So this also gives themownership.
Now, you're not the one who's atthe helm being completely in
(26:32):
charge of creating a maththerapy culture.
They're all helping, and wereally need that, right?
Because it's one thing for you,the teacher, to believe in your
students, but the power isaugmented when every student in
the room believes in oneanother, right?
And treats one another withrespect, and treats one another
as though they're capable, andtreats one another as though
they are, they are capable ofchange, right?
And that's what you're doing.
(26:53):
So the first thing you are gonnado, the first activity you are
doing week one, is collectingthat information, and the next
activity you're doing, itdoesn't have to be in this
order, I just need these threethings to get done.
The second thing I want you todo is to co-create classroom
culture with your students, andnow we are moving on to the last
thing, number three.
connect.
So we have collect, co-create,Connect.
Create a routine that makesevery single student feel seen
(27:16):
and heard within the first fiveminutes of class.
You heard me.
The first five minutes of class,every single one of your
students is gonna feel seen andheard.
Research shows us time and timeagain that when students feel
seen and heard, they are morelikely to come to class, they
are more likely to stay on taskin class, and they are more
likely to participate and engagein class.
(27:37):
And belonging, feeling like youbelong, feeling like someone
sees you, is actually a keytrait that lends itself to
motivation, so they are moremotivated How are you gonna do
this?
How are you gonna connect withevery single student within the
first five minutes of class?
You are gonna upgrade yourattendance routine from here to
a daily check-in question.
Let me show you how it's doneOkay, so earlier this year, I
(27:59):
was doing some math therapy workwith a group of teachers at the
Halton District School Board,and part of that work was
observing classrooms just to seewhat was going on, see where
math therapy was being used, andI 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
(28:21):
five minutes of class.
It was like the first threeminutes of class that blew my
mind, and here's what she did.
She used her attendance check tomake every single student feel
seen and heard through a momentof connection.
How did she do that?
She asked every student onequestion when they walked into
the room, and that question was: Would you rather live without (28:39):
undefined
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 thereobserving 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 notsitting down and being quiet?"
And it's because one by one,students were walking in the
(29:02):
door, and she would either walkup 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 clipboardin her hand with all their
names, and she would literallysay to them,"Hey, Jason.
Would you rather live withoutyour cell phone or your
computer?" And Jason would go,"Um, my computer." And then they
would sit down.
And Electra might say,"Allright.
(29:22):
Awesome.
Good answer," or whatever.
Then somebody else would comein.
"Hey, Sarah.
Would you rather live withoutyour cell phone or your
computer?" Definitely my cellphone.
Like, if I lost it, I think Iwould die." Amazing.
That's such a good answer.
I feel the same way." And on andon it went.
Some students would say a littlemore.
Some students would just say,"Computer" or,"Cell phone."
(29:43):
Either way, Electra always hadthese components present.
Number one, she would say theirname.
Number two, she would ask thequestion, and number three, she
would be interested in theresponse.
She would say something wouldmake it clear that she was
interested in the response.
She wouldn't just, like, check abox and walk away.
And that was her attendancecheck, so when Jason answered
the question, he got checkedoff.
But, so that was something shehas to do anyway.
(30:04):
She had to take attendanceanyway, but in that, like, 10
seconds, she said his name, sheasked a question, and she
validated his response, right?
So now, the student knows thatthey 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 hadto think,"Is it gonna be phone
(30:25):
or computer?" Right?
That's it.
It doesn't matter.
It might seem so trivial, butthey've had to think.
Their brain has done somethingactive, and they've been
complimented and validated fortheir 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 careswhat I think about something."
An answer has been given.
(30:45):
"Oh, I had to actually think." Imean, that's happening
subconsciously, but thinkinghappened 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 youguys to sit with how powerful
this is.
In three minutes, you c- even ifyou have 40 students, you can
literally do this for everysingle student.
(31:06):
You can help them feelacknowledged, useful, valuable
in five seconds each, fiveseconds each, literally, and
you're taking attendance anyway.
So step number three is allabout that connection, and
remember, the research showsthat connection is invaluable,
and you're doing it at thebeginning of class.
Right at the beginning of class,you're setting the tone.
"I see you.
I know you.
(31:26):
I care about you.
I think that what you have tosay 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'causethey'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
(31:47):
that fear out, right?
Like, they are more likely nowto participate again, to speak
again.
And, you know, some of them arelistening to one another's
answers.
Like, maybe that's a little sidechat that happens.
Like, it just really sets thevibe because, you know, then
there's the whole debate of,like, wait, is it your computer?
Is it your phone?
Some students are seeing theyhave stuff in common.
Some wa- you know, some studentsare talking to one another that
(32:07):
wouldn't normally talk to oneanother.
But this whole thing is wrappedup in three minutes, and on to
the lesson, and so much valuablemath therapy work has been
packed into that three minutesAnd keep in mind, that first
time they spoke, that first timethey participated was not high
stakes.
It's so low stakes, but thatsets 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 learnstuff about our students.
(32:28):
That's a little thing you'velearned that you can, like, kind
of file away as information thatyou can bring up at a later date
to be like,"I know you.
You know, you're a person tome." Positive teacher-student
relationships are built in,like, these repeated moments
where students feel understood,they feel safe, they feel
valuable, they feel useful, theyfeel like they belong.
And little routines like thisbuild that.
(32:49):
They build that slowly butsurely.
And this makes way for biggerroutines that you can include,
right?
Like, you, you might start likethat, and then you might go into
a full group this or that,right?
And your full group this or thatmight be more math-related.
It might be something like,would you rather have your
quadratic f- in factored form orin standard form?
(33:09):
Oh my God, that's actually areally juicy debate.
I'm gonna say factored all theway, but y- it actually depends
what you're doing.
Okay, we're not gonna get intothis right now.
Or you might be like, would youprefer, like, long division or
multiplication?
Right?
Like, and now again, thestudents have already spoken.
They've already done that inyour attendance check, right?
So they're here now.
They've already spoken.
They've already used theirvoice.
(33:30):
They've already thought aboutsomething.
You're gonna get more engagementwhen you start getting into your
lesson.
The whole point of this step ofconnecting is before asking
students to take mathematicalrisks Give every student a safe
way to use their voice, andthat's what this step
accomplishes.
Okay, so that wraps up our threethings.
Number one, you are gonna find away to collect information about
(33:51):
how your students feel aboutmath.
You're gonna do that througheither a mindset survey or
through a Dear Math letter orsomething else that you love.
Number two, you are going toco-create classroom culture with
your students, and you're gonnado that using a classroom
agreement.
And number three, you are gonnaconnect with every student by
upgrading your attendanceroutine to add in a this or that
(34:12):
quickie low-stakes check-inquestion.
And because I love you guys somuch, I put together a little
first week of Math Therapy kitfor you.
Head to the show notes, clickthe link.
It'll be delivered straight toyour inbox.
That will have the mindsetsurveys, the Dear Math template,
and the classroom agreementtemplate, as well as a few
little ideas of what you can useas attendance upgrade questions.
Guys, I'm so excited.
(34:32):
Really, honestly, this goes backto my philosophy of believe,
behave, become, right?
We can't just say we're a maththerapy classroom and then just,
like, carry on with all thestuff we were doing last year.
A math therapy classroom isn'tsomething we announce.
It's something studentsexperience, and you are giving
them the chance to experiencethat 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 firstweek, you are going to be
(34:54):
showing them your feelings aboutmath matter here.
You have a say in how we treatone 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 youthink.
Make sure you head to the shownotes, hit that first week of
Math Therapy link.
And guys, make sure you text thepodcast.
(35:15):
I want you to text me and tellme 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 otherthings that fit into one of
these categories that you loveand swear by that you wanna
share with our listeners, let meknow, and I will make sure that
gets out there.
Remember, we have a Math TherapyFacebook group, right?
We're, oh my God, we are oneaway at the recording of this
podcast.
We are at 499 members, so I'msure by the time you listen to
(35:37):
this, we'll be at over 500.
That's 500 of us that are doingthe work.
So send me a text.
Tell me what activities orstrategies you swear by that
fall into the collect,co-create, connect categories,
and I'll put together a littlelist and share it as a resource
in our Math Therapy Facebookgroup.
Guys, this has been amazing.
Happy back to school.
I can't wait to hear from you.
(35:58):
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 cansee it, but I know you're doing
it.
I know you're doing it.
Your students are so, so luckyto have you.
And I mean, guys, happy back toschool.
We're here.
A full year of Math Therapyawaits us, and this year is
gonna be the best one yet.
I can feel it because we arestarting off so strong.
(36:20):
Love you so much.
See you next week, same time,same place, same channel.
We are back, baby.
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