Latest / Math Therapy / 3 things every math teacher should do from day one

Transcript

3 things every math teacher should do from day one · Math Therapy

• 0:03
  Vanessa Vakharia: I had a student once say,"what I would like in this classroom, what would make me feel like I wanna come here, what would make me feel good is nobody laughs if somebody gets an answer wrong or asks a dumb question." that's a lot of information.
• 0:15
  Vanessa Vakharia: now I know this student has been laughed at.
• 0:17
  Vanessa Vakharia: They have been told that something they have asked has been dumb.
• 0:20
  Vanessa Vakharia: They have been made fun of for getting the wrong answer.
• 0:23
  Vanessa Vakharia: You know what I'm hearing?
• 0:23
  Vanessa Vakharia: Math trauma.
• 0:24
  Vanessa Vakharia: Math trauma.
• 0:25
  Vanessa Vakharia: Math trauma.
• 0:25
  Vanessa Vakharia: But also when that student says something, guaranteed other students in the room are like,"Yep, me too." So the other students feel less alone.
• 0:33
  Vanessa Vakharia: The student who says it feels heard, and you get to be like,"Great, does everyone agree that that should be a rule in the classroom?" And when everyone agrees, it's like this deep sigh of relief for the whole class.
• 0:42
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like we're all on the same page.
• 0:43
  Vanessa Vakharia: We've all got each other's backs.
• 0:45
  Vanessa Vakharia: It feels really, really good.
• 0:51
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay, guys.
• 0:52
  Vanessa Vakharia: It's me, Vanessa, and welcome to another episode of Math Therapy.
• 0:56
  Vanessa Vakharia: We took a break.
• 0:57
  Vanessa Vakharia: We are back.
• 0:58
  Vanessa Vakharia: We are refreshed and ready for back to school.
• 1:01
  Vanessa Vakharia: Now, I know a lot of you are already back in school, but most of us are actually, like, heading into back to school right now, or we just did last week.
• 1:09
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, things are starting.
• 1:10
  Vanessa Vakharia: This is the time.
• 1:11
  Vanessa Vakharia: This is the time, okay?
• 1:12
  Vanessa Vakharia: I, I actually feel so honored and excited if you're listening to this right now that I get to be a part of your, like, back to school routine because, okay, it's always a great time to help students rebuild their relationship with math.
• 1:24
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, it's always a great time to help students feel like they belong, but back to school is, like, this very special time, right?
• 1:32
  Vanessa Vakharia: Because, like, it's fresh.
• 1:34
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, they're walking in.
• 1:35
  Vanessa Vakharia: There's like- You know, after summer, we have this opportunity to start again, and we can- By the way, I believe that every day we have the chance to begin again, but, like, a new school year is very, very special.
• 1:46
  Vanessa Vakharia: So today, here is what we're doing.
• 1:48
  Vanessa Vakharia: I just wanna get us in the zone of what is happening on the podcast today.
• 1:51
  Vanessa Vakharia: I am sharing three things you can do this week to set the tone that your classroom is a Math Therapy classroom, to set the tone that every kid belongs, that every single kid is welcome to think, to be curious, to make mistakes.
• 2:06
  Vanessa Vakharia: To set the tone that you believe that every single student in your classroom has the ability to build a better relationship with math.
• 2:13
  Vanessa Vakharia: I'm gonna share three low-lift things you can do and you should do.
• 2:17
  Vanessa Vakharia: I wanna highly recommend that you do these things week one to set the tone.
• 2:22
  Vanessa Vakharia: And here's the cool thing.
• 2:23
  Vanessa Vakharia: Most of your students are going to be like, just by the, the fact of you doing these three things that I'm gonna share, they're already gonna get the vibe,"Oh, wow, this math class is different from the other math classes I have been in." They're gonna get that vibe right away.
• 2:37
  Vanessa Vakharia: Now, I'm gonna share my favorite three things, but what I'm actually sharing is three categories of things you should make sure you do week one.
• 2:46
  Vanessa Vakharia: Those three categories are collect, co-create, and connect.
• 2:52
  Vanessa Vakharia: Collect, co-create, connect.
• 2:54
  Vanessa Vakharia: Collect, you are going to get information on the students in your classroom.
• 2:59
  Vanessa Vakharia: We're gonna do this in a low-lift way that does not require you to have a one-on-one interview with every single kid.
• 3:04
  Vanessa Vakharia: You are gonna collect information about what math trauma they're bringing into the classroom, and what they need to feel like your math classroom is the math classroom that's gonna change their relationship with math.
• 3:15
  Vanessa Vakharia: That is collect.
• 3:17
  Vanessa Vakharia: Then you're gonna co-create.
• 3:18
  Vanessa Vakharia: You are going to find a way, I'm gonna give you a way, but you- if you have another way, that's fine, but you must co-create.
• 3:24
  Vanessa Vakharia: That means you must find an opportunity with the class as a whole to have every single voice heard, and their requests respected, You're gonna co-create the culture of your classroom together.
• 3:36
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're gonna find out what things your students are into and want that will help them be able to productively struggle, be curious, raise their hand when they have a question.
• 3:46
  Vanessa Vakharia: So you're gonna co-create that situation together.
• 3:49
  Vanessa Vakharia: And finally, you are going to connect.
• 3:51
  Vanessa Vakharia: That means you are gonna find a way to connect with every single student.
• 3:53
  Vanessa Vakharia: What, you're saying?
• 3:55
  Vanessa Vakharia: I have 40 students in my class.
• 3:56
  Vanessa Vakharia: How is that gonna happen?
• 3:58
  Vanessa Vakharia: Wait till you hear the strategy I'm gonna share.
• 4:00
  Vanessa Vakharia: It is my favorite thing.
• 4:01
  Vanessa Vakharia: I saw a teacher do this live three months ago, and it blew my mind.
• 4:05
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're gonna find a way to connect with every single student this week, every day.
• 4:09
  Vanessa Vakharia: That's right, every day.
• 4:10
  Vanessa Vakharia: Trust me.
• 4:10
  Vanessa Vakharia: Wait, just wait till you hear this.
• 4:12
  Vanessa Vakharia: Every day you're gonna find a way to connect with every single student, so every single student knows from you, they're gonna feel from you that they belong because you are gonna have a moment of connection with them every single day this week.
• 4:24
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay, so those are the three categories of things.
• 4:27
  Vanessa Vakharia: As we begin school, we wanna make sure that we are collecting information, that we are co-creating experiences with our students, and that we are finding moments of connection.
• 4:35
  Vanessa Vakharia: Remember, you are ready to go.
• 4:36
  Vanessa Vakharia: You've got your amazing lesson plan, you've got your classroom, you've got your supplies.
• 4:39
  Vanessa Vakharia: But every single student is going to be asking themselves,"Is this a safe space for me to raise my hand?
• 4:46
  Vanessa Vakharia: Is this a safe space for me to build skills?
• 4:48
  Vanessa Vakharia: Am I gonna actually be good at this thing?
• 4:50
  Vanessa Vakharia: Does this teacher like me?
• 4:51
  Vanessa Vakharia: Am I gonna, you know, is my teacher going to think I'm dumb?" Like, they are thinking these things, and you are gonna set the tone week one that, hell no, you are there to support them on your journey.
• 5:00
  Vanessa Vakharia: You believe in all of them.
• 5:01
  Vanessa Vakharia: This is a math therapy classroom where we make mistakes, we explore, where we believe that every single student has a math superpower, like vibes, vibes, vibes And by doing these three things, by collecting, co-creating, and connecting, you are going to answer all those questions.
• 5:16
  Vanessa Vakharia: They are going to feel from you,"Oh, hey, this is a safe place to make mistakes.
• 5:20
  Vanessa Vakharia: Huh, I can ask a question.
• 5:22
  Vanessa Vakharia: wow, this math teacher feels different about me than any of the other math teachers I've ever had." Okay, so let's do it.
• 5:27
  Vanessa Vakharia: Are we ready?
• 5:28
  Vanessa Vakharia: Let's get into three low-lift, high-impact strategies that will allow you to do these three categories of things that are gonna set the tone that this is a math therapy classroom Okay, category number one of thing you're gonna do, you are going to collect.
• 5:41
  Vanessa Vakharia: What does that mean?
• 5:42
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're gonna learn who your students are before trying to change how they feel.
• 5:46
  Vanessa Vakharia: How are you gonna do that, you ask?
• 5:48
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay, I actually have two strategies I wanna share in this, so you can pick whichever one you want.
• 5:53
  Vanessa Vakharia: Now, listen, I'm gonna share my two favorite strategies, but if you're like,"Ooh, I have another strategy that would actually fit the collect criteria," go ahead and do that.
• 6:02
  Vanessa Vakharia: I don't care what you do as long as you are gathering data Okay, so this is all about gathering baseline information about how your students currently feel about math.
• 6:10
  Vanessa Vakharia: Why do we wanna do that?
• 6:12
  Vanessa Vakharia: Why do we wanna gather baseline data about how our students currently feel about math?
• 6:16
  Vanessa Vakharia: Number one, when we do this, we give students an opportunity to feel heard.
• 6:21
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay?
• 6:22
  Vanessa Vakharia: Students are rarely asked how they feel about math.
• 6:24
  Vanessa Vakharia: They just get to math class, and somebody teaches them some shit, and that's the end of it, right?
• 6:28
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're gonna actually give them an opportunity to express how they feel.
• 6:31
  Vanessa Vakharia: So week one or two or whatever week you're on, early on in the year, they get to be like,"Yeah, you know what?
• 6:35
  Vanessa Vakharia: This is actually how I feel.
• 6:36
  Vanessa Vakharia: I'm glad somebody cares." But number two, they get to start realizing how they feel.
• 6:42
  Vanessa Vakharia: A lot of us just feel like ick in math class, and we've never had the chance to unpack that.
• 6:46
  Vanessa Vakharia: So the two things I'm gonna give you, the two strategies I'm gonna give you are gonna allow the student to unpack that for themselves.
• 6:51
  Vanessa Vakharia: It's very cathartic to do that, okay?
• 6:54
  Vanessa Vakharia: To be able to circle,"I hate math" on a sheet.
• 6:57
  Vanessa Vakharia: That actually feels really, really good for someone who's, like, low-key secretly hated, hated math forever.
• 7:01
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay.
• 7:02
  Vanessa Vakharia: Now, so that's number one.
• 7:03
  Vanessa Vakharia: But the other reason I want you to collect baseline data is this: as educators, you are never going to feel like you're doing enough.
• 7:10
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're gonna do all the things.
• 7:11
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're gonna create magical moments for your students.
• 7:13
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're gonna change their relationship with math, and you will leave every day feeling like you haven't done enough and like you're not making an impact.
• 7:19
  Vanessa Vakharia: I want you to have baseline data because you are gonna do something again, this thing again, at the end of the year in December.
• 7:26
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're going to administer the same strategy.
• 7:29
  Vanessa Vakharia: Don't worry, I'm g- about to tell you the strategy.
• 7:31
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're gonna do it again, and then you're gonna compare.
• 7:33
  Vanessa Vakharia: So I want you to actually see the progress, right?
• 7:35
  Vanessa Vakharia: We talk about growth mindset a lot, but growth mindset sometimes doesn't feel like growth unless it's visible, right?
• 7:41
  Vanessa Vakharia: It's like watching your hair grow, right?
• 7:42
  Vanessa Vakharia: If you don't compare your current hair to, like, a picture of your hair six months ago, you can't see the growth.
• 7:48
  Vanessa Vakharia: It's not like you're noticing the tiny fragment it grows every single day.
• 7:52
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're actually not.
• 7:53
  Vanessa Vakharia: Do you ever notice that that happens?
• 7:54
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, you meet up with a friend, and they're like,"Wow, your hair is so long," and you're like,"It is?" You don't notice'cause you look at yourself in the mirror every day, but your friend notices it because they haven't seen you for six months.
• 8:03
  Vanessa Vakharia: So this strategy, the collecting part, is gathering the baseline data.
• 8:07
  Vanessa Vakharia: It's like taking that picture of your hair so that you can take a picture of your hair six months later and compare the two.
• 8:13
  Vanessa Vakharia: You cannot measure a shift in math identity, confidence, or anxiety if you never record where the student started, right?
• 8:19
  Vanessa Vakharia: So this strategy, we are going to collect information on where students have started.
• 8:24
  Vanessa Vakharia: There are two things I love here.
• 8:26
  Vanessa Vakharia: The first thing I love is doing a mindset survey I actually have a template I can share with you.
• 8:32
  Vanessa Vakharia: Later in this episode, I'll let you know how to get links to any of the stuff I talk about in this episode, because I do wanna share some resources and templates to help you do these strategies.
• 8:40
  Vanessa Vakharia: But here's what a mindset survey is.
• 8:42
  Vanessa Vakharia: It's basically what it sounds like.
• 8:43
  Vanessa Vakharia: It is a survey of someone's mindsets with questions like,"How do you feel about math?
• 8:47
  Vanessa Vakharia: On a scale of one to five, like, how does math class make you feel?
• 8:51
  Vanessa Vakharia: On a scale of one to five, how did you feel about math last year?
• 8:54
  Vanessa Vakharia: On a scale of this or that..." You know what I mean?
• 8:57
  Vanessa Vakharia: You can use scales.
• 8:58
  Vanessa Vakharia: You can ask questions.
• 8:59
  Vanessa Vakharia: I like mindset surveys that allow students to circle a lot of things and write a few things, right?
• 9:04
  Vanessa Vakharia: I do want them to be writing'cause I want them to be thinking, I want them to be unpacking.
• 9:07
  Vanessa Vakharia: You can say something like, what are you most excited about this year?" You can say,"What are you most nervous about this year?" You can say,"Circle some words that describe how you're feeling." I like some writing, but the thing is, especially with those of you with large classes, I do like y- like quantitative data because it's easy to compare.
• 9:26
  Vanessa Vakharia: So, like, it is nice to do things with scales so that when you administer this mindset survey again in December, you can see if the number went up or down, right?
• 9:34
  Vanessa Vakharia: If somebody says, like, right now they're at a one, they feel, like, completely icky about math, and then in December they circle two, that is fucking amazing, right?
• 9:43
  Vanessa Vakharia: But, like, you want to be able to see, oh my God, they went up a whole point.
• 9:47
  Vanessa Vakharia: And you might be thinking,"Ugh, if they only go to a two, like, who cares?" We care.
• 9:51
  Vanessa Vakharia: Remember, in math therapy, we're looking for movement.
• 9:53
  Vanessa Vakharia: We're just looking for somebody to feel unstuck, because once we're moving, that's a promise.
• 9:59
  Vanessa Vakharia: That's hope.
• 10:01
  Vanessa Vakharia: When we are stuck, when we're not moving, that is hopelessness.
• 10:04
  Vanessa Vakharia: So that's what we're looking for.
• 10:05
  Vanessa Vakharia: So some questions you might ask on a mindset survey include: On a scale of one to five, how do you feel about math?
• 10:13
  Vanessa Vakharia: On a scale of one to five, how confident are you in your ability to learn something new this year?
• 10:18
  Vanessa Vakharia: On a scale of one to five, how did you feel about math last year?
• 10:22
  Vanessa Vakharia: On a scale of one to five, how did you feel about math five years ago?
• 10:27
  Vanessa Vakharia: You might do something like rate each statement on a scale of one to five, right?
• 10:32
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, where one is strongly disagree and five is strongly agree.
• 10:36
  Vanessa Vakharia: First question: I consider myself a math person.
• 10:38
  Vanessa Vakharia: Second question: I feel comfortable making mistakes in math class.
• 10:42
  Vanessa Vakharia: Third question: I believe I can get better at math Fourth question, I feel confident sharing my mathematical thinking.
• 10:49
  Vanessa Vakharia: Fifth question, I feel comfortable asking for help when I'm confused.
• 10:53
  Vanessa Vakharia: Stuff like that, you're, you're trying to figure out what their vibe is now, right?
• 10:57
  Vanessa Vakharia: Imagine someone circles all ones.
• 10:58
  Vanessa Vakharia: They're like,"Nope, I disagree with all of this." And again, in December, like, some of that goes up.
• 11:03
  Vanessa Vakharia: That shows that the stuff you're doing in your classroom is helping.
• 11:05
  Vanessa Vakharia: That is, like, literally a measure of your impact, of the impact you're having, so that's amazing.
• 11:10
  Vanessa Vakharia: And also, it gives you an idea of where your kids are in the classroom, right?
• 11:14
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, who's coming into that room with math trauma, and about what?
• 11:17
  Vanessa Vakharia: Now, the about what part, the, the, the mindset survey doesn't really give you that because we're circling things.
• 11:23
  Vanessa Vakharia: Maybe you could have a little pocket in which to, like, write something, but the next thing I'm gonna give you is gonna give you a little more insight as to what are they coming into the classroom with that is giving them the ick around math.
• 11:34
  Vanessa Vakharia: The other thing I love about the mindset survey, by the way, is we can get really mathy with it, right?
• 11:38
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, you can have all of this stuff.
• 11:40
  Vanessa Vakharia: You can graph it.
• 11:41
  Vanessa Vakharia: You can, like, throw it into AI and get it to compartmentalize and sort all of your data so you can see, okay, like 70% of my class feels this way about that, or like, a- and that gives you an idea of what's happening in the room.
• 11:52
  Vanessa Vakharia: When you know what's happening in the room, you can tailor your strategies, right?
• 11:55
  Vanessa Vakharia: If you're like,"Oh my God, like 10% of the room feels comfortable asking for a question when they're confused," that's a big deal.
• 12:01
  Vanessa Vakharia: If only 10% of your class feels comfortable asking a question when they're confused, that means now you are going to implement some of your math therapy strategies that help with that.
• 12:10
  Vanessa Vakharia: If 90% of the class feels comfortable asking a question when they're confused, that's amazing.
• 12:14
  Vanessa Vakharia: You kinda know you don't need to focus so much on creating the conditions for that because they're already present.
• 12:21
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay, so my second strategy in this category of, like, collecting info is the Dear Math letter.
• 12:26
  Vanessa Vakharia: Um, this was created by Sarah Strong and Gigi Butterfield.
• 12:29
  Vanessa Vakharia: They have a whole book on it.
• 12:30
  Vanessa Vakharia: I have this in my book, Math Therapy.
• 12:33
  Vanessa Vakharia: Literally, it is what it sounds like.
• 12:34
  Vanessa Vakharia: You are getting students to write a letter t-to math.
• 12:37
  Vanessa Vakharia: They are writing like,"Dear Math, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." This is fun because it disembodies the experiences they're having in a way that makes it safe to tell you about them.
• 12:47
  Vanessa Vakharia: So instead of writing you a letter being like,"This is how I feel about math," like,"I feel like shit, da, da, da, da, da, da," they can write a letter to math, right?
• 12:55
  Vanessa Vakharia: And this kind of, like, plays a little trick on the mind where it feels like it is no longer so vulnerable.
• 13:03
  Vanessa Vakharia: So I've had kids write, you know, letters like,"Dear Math, I used to really like you, and then you totally screwed me in grade four, and fractions ruined my life, and I just don't feel like we're very good friends anymore, and I've tried to become better friends with you.
• 13:16
  Vanessa Vakharia: I've tried to make up with you.
• 13:18
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, I practice all my homework, and da, da, da, da, da, da, da, but, like, you've never made me feel like I'm welcome.
• 13:24
  Vanessa Vakharia: And then things got worse in grade six because I thought we were bros, and then every single time I tried to get reacquainted with you, I would get a big red X on my paper, and that didn't feel so good.
• 13:35
  Vanessa Vakharia: So I've just decided that, like, maybe we're better as ex-besties.
• 13:39
  Vanessa Vakharia: And even though I see you around sometimes, like, and I feel a little, like, pang in my heart, I know that we're better off, like, apart." I'm just I just riffed that.
• 13:48
  Vanessa Vakharia: That wasn't very good.
• 13:49
  Vanessa Vakharia: But the point is, imagine someone wrote a letter like that.
• 13:51
  Vanessa Vakharia: You, as the teacher, are like,"Ooh, okay, I can see what happened.
• 13:54
  Vanessa Vakharia: It was fractions." So that's number one.
• 13:56
  Vanessa Vakharia: Number two, they're talking about red X's on their paper, so now I kind of know that that's a bit of a trigger, and I know what happened." Like, like, do you know what I mean?
• 14:04
  Vanessa Vakharia: It really gives you information.
• 14:05
  Vanessa Vakharia: The variety you will get from these letters is amazing.
• 14:08
  Vanessa Vakharia: And again, if you have, like, a high school math class, you can get them to do a TikTok confessional.
• 14:12
  Vanessa Vakharia: They can record it.
• 14:13
  Vanessa Vakharia: They could record it for you as a podcast.
• 14:14
  Vanessa Vakharia: They can write it down as a diary entry, whatever.
• 14:17
  Vanessa Vakharia: But the idea is they are writing a letter to math.
• 14:20
  Vanessa Vakharia: They're handing them in to you.
• 14:21
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're getting to look at it and seeing,"Okay, here's how everyone feels about math in my classroom." So that is step one.
• 14:27
  Vanessa Vakharia: Step one is we are collecting, we are gathering baseline data about everyone's emotions about math in our classroom so that we can see what the vibe is in the room, and so that we can measure the impact all of the strategies we are going to be doing are gonna have on our amazing students, so that in December you can feel great about yourself So you are going to put the following in your calendar after your...
• 14:53
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay, so you're gonna do one of these strategies, and you're gonna put the following in your calendar.
• 14:56
  Vanessa Vakharia: In December, you are gonna pick a date to re-administer a mindset survey or re-administer a Dear Math letter, right?
• 15:03
  Vanessa Vakharia: They have to do that same activity again so you have something to measure against.
• 15:06
  Vanessa Vakharia: I mean, you could even get creative and do, like, the mindset survey in the first few weeks of school, and then the mindset survey and a Dear Math letter in December.
• 15:16
  Vanessa Vakharia: I really kinda want you to do the mindset survey twice, though.
• 15:19
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, do you know what I mean?
• 15:19
  Vanessa Vakharia: It's really important for you to gather data and then recreate the study, I'm using air quotes, so you have something to measure I really want you to have evidence of the impact you've made.
• 15:32
  Vanessa Vakharia: But also, I really want you to have a snapshot of where students began so you can recognize how far they've come, and so they can recognize how far they've come.
• 15:39
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay, so that's step one, collect.
• 15:41
  Vanessa Vakharia: Step two.
• 15:42
  Vanessa Vakharia: Are we doing steps?
• 15:43
  Vanessa Vakharia: I didn't mean to be doing steps.
• 15:44
  Vanessa Vakharia: The point is, here's the second thing you're gonna do.
• 15:46
  Vanessa Vakharia: The second thing you're gonna do first week of school is you are going to co-create.
• 15:50
  Vanessa Vakharia: You are going to build your classroom culture with the students, not just for them.
• 15:55
  Vanessa Vakharia: So step one, you've collected information, right?
• 15:57
  Vanessa Vakharia: Good for you.
• 15:57
  Vanessa Vakharia: You've collected it.
• 15:58
  Vanessa Vakharia: That's awesome.
• 15:59
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're gonna read that.
• 16:00
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're gonna gather it.
• 16:01
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're gonna see what's going on.
• 16:02
  Vanessa Vakharia: And then you're gonna co-create the math therapy culture with your students.
• 16:05
  Vanessa Vakharia: Now, this is really interesting.
• 16:06
  Vanessa Vakharia: My favorite strategy to do this is a classroom agreement.
• 16:09
  Vanessa Vakharia: Some of you may have done one before, some of you may have not.
• 16:11
  Vanessa Vakharia: Again, I have templates for this online.
• 16:13
  Vanessa Vakharia: Listen to the end of this episode.
• 16:14
  Vanessa Vakharia: I will provide information on how to get these templates and resources.
• 16:18
  Vanessa Vakharia: A classroom agreement is where you are creating an agreement for how everybody should show up to that classroom, including you.
• 16:27
  Vanessa Vakharia: So you and your students are coming up with, I guess we could say rules.
• 16:31
  Vanessa Vakharia: I don't love the word rules, but, like, parameters, right?
• 16:34
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're coming up with an agreement of, like, these are the things we would like present in the classroom so we can all feel good about being here.
• 16:41
  Vanessa Vakharia: The vibe of this is like you're not just there.
• 16:44
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're not the sage on the stage, you know what I mean?
• 16:46
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like giving your students rules and being like,"This is how it's gonna be in my classroom." You're there asking them what they need in order to feel safe, right?
• 16:55
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like you're kind of like,"What do you guys need?
• 16:56
  Vanessa Vakharia: And then let's talk about what I need, and then let's meet in the middle." This co-creation really helps kids feel heard and seen and like they belong.
• 17:04
  Vanessa Vakharia: And again, this changes the vibe.
• 17:06
  Vanessa Vakharia: Most teachers are not asking their kids what they need.
• 17:08
  Vanessa Vakharia: They're just like,"These are the rules of the classroom." So already you're like a step above if you do this.
• 17:13
  Vanessa Vakharia: Now, there are several ways to do this, but first let me just like get a little more into what the whole point of this is There's two things.
• 17:19
  Vanessa Vakharia: Number one, when you ask students what they need, they will tell you what they need, and when they tell you what they need, they will tell you what has not worked in the past.
• 17:29
  Vanessa Vakharia: Example, I had a student once say,"Okay, what I would like in this classroom, what would make me feel like I wanna come here, what would make me feel good is if people didn't er- interrupt me when I was talking or if I didn't get yelled at when I got a wrong answer." Or another student said,"It would make me feel good, like I think a rule we should have in this classroom is nobody laughs if somebody gets an answer wrong or asks a dumb question." Wow, that's a lot of information.
• 17:57
  Vanessa Vakharia: If anyone asks a dumb question, now I know this student has been laughed at.
• 18:01
  Vanessa Vakharia: They have been told that something they have asked has been dumb.
• 18:04
  Vanessa Vakharia: They have been made fun of for getting the wrong answer.
• 18:06
  Vanessa Vakharia: You know what I'm hearing?
• 18:07
  Vanessa Vakharia: Math trauma.
• 18:08
  Vanessa Vakharia: Math trauma.
• 18:09
  Vanessa Vakharia: Math trauma.
• 18:09
  Vanessa Vakharia: So that again helps me, right?
• 18:11
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like I'm kind of like,"Oof, I see, I see what's going on here.
• 18:14
  Vanessa Vakharia: I see that this would be a trigger for a student." But also when that student says something, guaranteed other students in the room are like,"Yep, me too." Right?
• 18:22
  Vanessa Vakharia: So they feel, the other students feel less alone.
• 18:26
  Vanessa Vakharia: The student who says it feels heard, and you get to be like,"Great, does everyone agree that that should be a rule in the classroom?" And when everyone agrees, it's like this deep sigh of relief for the whole class.
• 18:35
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like we're all on the same page.
• 18:36
  Vanessa Vakharia: We've all got each other's backs.
• 18:38
  Vanessa Vakharia: It feels really, really good.
• 18:40
  Vanessa Vakharia: Depending on your classroom, you can do this several ways.
• 18:43
  Vanessa Vakharia: You can do this where students reply, like just, you know, we're all, we're all sitting there, and we're just having a discussion, and we're crowdsourcing things.
• 18:50
  Vanessa Vakharia: You can do this where you hand out little pieces of paper, and students reply anonymously, and then you read them out and say,"Okay, somebody has written this.
• 18:58
  Vanessa Vakharia: Who agrees with this?" You can do it, they can first chat in pairs and small groups about the things they've liked and have not liked about math classes in the past, and then prompt them with the question of,"All right, let's make up some suggestions." I actually do this, and I did this with a district last week where, you know, to start, when, when I do a full day PD, I always start this way by being like,"Let's create a classroom agreement for our time together.
• 19:22
  Vanessa Vakharia: We're here together for a whole day." This is what was so cool.
• 19:25
  Vanessa Vakharia: I did two days of PD, first with 40 elementary teachers and the next day with 40 high school teachers.
• 19:31
  Vanessa Vakharia: I, I-- Let me read you what happened'cause this actually blew my mind.
• 19:35
  Vanessa Vakharia: I was like,"Oh my God," like how cool that this happened.
• 19:40
  Vanessa Vakharia: okay, so here's group one.
• 19:42
  Vanessa Vakharia: Here's what they had on their agreement.
• 19:44
  Vanessa Vakharia: So I just, you know, started by being like,"All right, guys, we're gonna create a classroom agreement.
• 19:47
  Vanessa Vakharia: What, like, parameters do we want in place?
• 19:49
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, what are things that we want in our space that would make us feel good being here, feel safe to participate," that kind of thing.
• 19:58
  Vanessa Vakharia: I also wanna say I do like using asset-based language, so whenever I say something, I wanna phrase it in an affirmative.
• 20:05
  Vanessa Vakharia: So day one, 40 elementary teachers.
• 20:07
  Vanessa Vakharia: Here's what they came up with.
• 20:08
  Vanessa Vakharia: Number one: We will allow one another space to speak without interrupting.
• 20:12
  Vanessa Vakharia: Number two: Be curious, not judgmental.
• 20:15
  Vanessa Vakharia: Number three: We will try to be vulnerable and hold space for others to be vulnerable.
• 20:19
  Vanessa Vakharia: Number four: We will be kind to one another.
• 20:21
  Vanessa Vakharia: Five: We will try not to speak when others are speaking.
• 20:24
  Vanessa Vakharia: And six: We will own our impact.
• 20:27
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay, now listen to what happened on day two.
• 20:30
  Vanessa Vakharia: Totally new group.
• 20:31
  Vanessa Vakharia: Are you ready?
• 20:32
  Vanessa Vakharia: Number one: Be curious, not judgmental.
• 20:35
  Vanessa Vakharia: Do you recognize that?
• 20:36
  Vanessa Vakharia: The other group literally s- like, it's a Ted Lasso quote, but interesting, right?
• 20:39
  Vanessa Vakharia: They both said that.
• 20:40
  Vanessa Vakharia: Number two: If someone is talking, give them your full attention.
• 20:44
  Vanessa Vakharia: Number three: Make space for all voices.
• 20:46
  Vanessa Vakharia: Number four: Be down to take a risk and try.
• 20:49
  Vanessa Vakharia: Number five: Have"but what if it actually works out" vibes and think positive.
• 20:54
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay, I read you those to say isn't it interesting how similar the two are?
• 20:59
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, to me, it's kind of, it's beautiful because I've done this so many times, and every ti- like, sometimes there's, like, an anomaly here or there, but for the most part, similar themes come up because as humans, we, we have, like, needs and desires, right?
• 21:12
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, we all wanna be loved.
• 21:14
  Vanessa Vakharia: We all wanna feel like we belong.
• 21:15
  Vanessa Vakharia: We don't want people to interrupt us when we're speaking.
• 21:17
  Vanessa Vakharia: We wanna feel like other people are listening.
• 21:19
  Vanessa Vakharia: So, like, I like doing this exercise because it kinda shows you that, like, our human nature is very, very-- We're not so different, right?
• 21:26
  Vanessa Vakharia: But also, it does, it does show us, like, people have had such negative experiences in school, and it comes out through making this agreement.
• 21:33
  Vanessa Vakharia: So I love that.
• 21:36
  Vanessa Vakharia: Some questions you could ask if students are feeling really, really stuck is you can prompt them by saying,"Okay, so for example, guys, what would make you feel comfortable sharing an idea with the class?" Or,"What would make it ma- what would make it okay for like to make a mistake?
• 21:49
  Vanessa Vakharia: What would make you feel like it's totally cool if I make a mistake, or it's totally cool if I raise my hand, or like it's totally fine if I ask a question that someone else has already asked'cause I still don't get it?
• 21:57
  Vanessa Vakharia: What conditions would you want to be present in this classroom for that to happen?" you could say,"What, what do you guys want to happen when somebody disagrees with someone else?
• 22:05
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, what would be a good way for us to handle that in this classroom?
• 22:08
  Vanessa Vakharia: 'Cause we're not always gonna agree.
• 22:10
  Vanessa Vakharia: What would be like a good way to handle it if like, you know, one of your friends is at the board, or I'm at the board as the teacher doing something and I make a mistake?
• 22:16
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, how should we approach that?
• 22:18
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, should we just yell at each other?
• 22:20
  Vanessa Vakharia: Or like what would make it feel okay for that to happen?" You can say,"What do you need from me as your teacher?" Right?
• 22:26
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like,"What do you need me to do to, like, make you feel like, you like being in this class?" Such a great starting point, and then you can negotiate.
• 22:33
  Vanessa Vakharia: You know, I've had students say,"I j- I want you to never call on me if I don't have my hand up." And then you can be like,"Okay, I'll do that, but I do need to see you're, like, participating, so what can we do in exchange?
• 22:42
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, what would make you feel comfortable?
• 22:44
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, how can you show me you're participating without me calling on you?" Negotiate it, write it on the agreement So once you've done all that, you've collected all the information, you wanna like, you know, narrow it down.
• 22:55
  Vanessa Vakharia: You might have some categories.
• 22:57
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, you'll see what themes emerge, and you're gonna create this agreement, right?
• 23:00
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like in our math therapy classroom, these are the rules.
• 23:03
  Vanessa Vakharia: This is the vibe.
• 23:04
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, you know what I mean?
• 23:05
  Vanessa Vakharia: These are the parameters.
• 23:06
  Vanessa Vakharia: This is the way things work.
• 23:08
  Vanessa Vakharia: The guidelines for the classroom, the rules of the road, you know?
• 23:11
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, these are the guiding principles when you come in.
• 23:15
  Vanessa Vakharia: So you're gonna write all these down.
• 23:16
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're gonna put them on an agreement.
• 23:17
  Vanessa Vakharia: I would love the most if you could put them on your wall.
• 23:19
  Vanessa Vakharia: I know that not every teacher has their own classroom, so I know that that's not possible.
• 23:23
  Vanessa Vakharia: But it would be so great if students could see it somehow every single day when they walked in.
• 23:27
  Vanessa Vakharia: Now, if you don't have your own classroom and can't put it on the wall, maybe you're putting it on a slide.
• 23:32
  Vanessa Vakharia: Maybe you're putting it on something where at the beginning of every classroom, you can flash it up, and somebody gets to read them out loud for the class, you don't need to be all like, Repeat after me," and have everyone say them out loud.
• 23:42
  Vanessa Vakharia: But, like, I mean, you can, especially if you have littles, like, you could do that.
• 23:45
  Vanessa Vakharia: That could be cute.
• 23:46
  Vanessa Vakharia: But somebody gets to read them out loud, right?
• 23:48
  Vanessa Vakharia: We want a reminder at the beginning of every class we're setting the tone of our classroom.
• 23:52
  Vanessa Vakharia: This is what we're gonna do in here.
• 23:53
  Vanessa Vakharia: I would also, after you've, like, created the general agreement, You could do your own little, like, cute, a cute agreement of, like, your own math therapy non-negotiables.
• 24:03
  Vanessa Vakharia: Things like, for example, mistakes will not be treated as evidence that someone is bad at math.
• 24:08
  Vanessa Vakharia: Speed will not be prioritized over thinking.
• 24:11
  Vanessa Vakharia: Asking for help is a part of learning.
• 24:13
  Vanessa Vakharia: Everyone deserves thinking time.
• 24:15
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, whatever yours are, you could add those, but you can also use those to prompt them.
• 24:19
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, you can be like,"What do you guys think of this?
• 24:21
  Vanessa Vakharia: Should we add it to the agreement?" Because, like, that's the whole point, right?
• 24:24
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're creating, you're co-creating this together.
• 24:27
  Vanessa Vakharia: And remember, this is a living classroom tool.
• 24:29
  Vanessa Vakharia: At the end of week one, you can be like,"Guys, how are we feeling about our agreement?" I actually did this during my PD.
• 24:34
  Vanessa Vakharia: Halfway through my lesson, I said to the teachers in the room, I was like,"Guys, hold up your hands.
• 24:40
  Vanessa Vakharia: On a scale of one to five, one being we are totally fucking this up, and five being we are crushing it, we are perfect, how are we doing on our classroom agreement?" And students hel- or sorry, teachers held up fingers.
• 24:52
  Vanessa Vakharia: Some teachers held up a four instead of a five, and I said,"Okay, you're a four out of five.
• 24:56
  Vanessa Vakharia: What could we be doing to get closer to nailing that agreement?" And a, a teacher said,"Well, we had on there, like, let's respect all voices, but I've noticed that, like, not all voices are being heard." And I was like,"Interesting.
• 25:07
  Vanessa Vakharia: I, as the teacher, actually, that's kind of my responsibility.
• 25:09
  Vanessa Vakharia: Maybe I'm not making room for all voices to be heard.
• 25:11
  Vanessa Vakharia: Maybe I'm actually picking the same hands every time.
• 25:14
  Vanessa Vakharia: I might be doing that.
• 25:15
  Vanessa Vakharia: Let me reflect on that." So you know what I mean?
• 25:17
  Vanessa Vakharia: This is a living tool, and at the end of week one, you guys, you can do that.
• 25:19
  Vanessa Vakharia: You can be like,"Let's do a rubric," a single-line rubric, like Peter does in Building Thinking Classrooms, right?
• 25:24
  Vanessa Vakharia: On one end, we are totally not nailing this.
• 25:26
  Vanessa Vakharia: On the other end, we are really nailing this.
• 25:29
  Vanessa Vakharia: What could we be doing better?
• 25:30
  Vanessa Vakharia: Also, you might ask,"Guys, now that we've lived with this agreement for a couple of weeks, is there anything we wanna add or remove?" Right?
• 25:37
  Vanessa Vakharia: We can keep editing this thing.
• 25:38
  Vanessa Vakharia: And you know what'll be cool?
• 25:40
  Vanessa Vakharia: When you keep editing that agreement, you're watching growth mindset in action.
• 25:44
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're watching your students get more comfortable and feel safer to add things on.
• 25:48
  Vanessa Vakharia: It'll be interesting to see what they add and what they remove.
• 25:51
  Vanessa Vakharia: What, what may no longer be necessary.
• 25:53
  Vanessa Vakharia: Maybe they're like,"We haven't even had to worry about that don't laugh at one another when we make mistakes.
• 25:57
  Vanessa Vakharia: That doesn't even happen in this classroom." You know what I mean?
• 26:00
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, It's gonna be really, really cool to see.
• 26:02
  Vanessa Vakharia: I always find, like, revising things like that, like revising our definitions of success every month or revising a classroom agreement or revising a Dear Math letter, those things show us progress unintentionally because the evidence is there in what we write and what we compare to what we wrote previously.
• 26:21
  Vanessa Vakharia: Key point, if you want students to feel ownership over the classroom culture, you have to let them co-create it with you.
• 26:27
  Vanessa Vakharia: So this also gives them ownership.
• 26:29
  Vanessa Vakharia: Now, you're not the one who's at the helm being completely in charge of creating a math therapy culture.
• 26:34
  Vanessa Vakharia: They're all helping, and we really need that, right?
• 26:36
  Vanessa Vakharia: Because it's one thing for you, the teacher, to believe in your students, but the power is augmented when every student in the room believes in one another, right?
• 26:44
  Vanessa Vakharia: And treats one another with respect, and treats one another as though they're capable, and treats one another as though they are, they are capable of change, right?
• 26:52
  Vanessa Vakharia: And that's what you're doing.
• 26:53
  Vanessa Vakharia: So the first thing you are gonna do, the first activity you are doing week one, is collecting that information, and the next activity you're doing, it doesn't have to be in this order, I just need these three things to get done.
• 27:02
  Vanessa Vakharia: The second thing I want you to do is to co-create classroom culture with your students, and now we are moving on to the last thing, number three.
• 27:09
  Vanessa Vakharia: connect.
• 27:10
  Vanessa Vakharia: So we have collect, co-create, Connect.
• 27:13
  Vanessa Vakharia: Create a routine that makes every single student feel seen and heard within the first five minutes of class.
• 27:19
  Vanessa Vakharia: You heard me.
• 27:20
  Vanessa Vakharia: The first five minutes of class, every single one of your students is gonna feel seen and heard.
• 27:24
  Vanessa Vakharia: Research shows us time and time again that when students feel seen and heard, they are more likely to come to class, they are more likely to stay on task in class, and they are more likely to participate and engage in class.
• 27:37
  Vanessa Vakharia: And belonging, feeling like you belong, feeling like someone sees you, is actually a key trait that lends itself to motivation, so they are more motivated How are you gonna do this?
• 27:47
  Vanessa Vakharia: How are you gonna connect with every single student within the first five minutes of class?
• 27:51
  Vanessa Vakharia: You are gonna upgrade your attendance routine from here to a daily check-in question.
• 27:56
  Vanessa Vakharia: Let me show you how it's done Okay, so earlier this year, I was doing some math therapy work with a group of teachers at the Halton District School Board, and part of that work was observing classrooms just to see what was going on, see where math therapy was being used, and I observed Electra's grade 12 math classroom.
• 28:12
  Vanessa Vakharia: This blew my mind for so many-- First of all, she's an incredible, amazing teacher, like, in so many ways.
• 28:19
  Vanessa Vakharia: But she did something the first, I don't even wanna say the first five minutes of class.
• 28:22
  Vanessa Vakharia: It was like the first three minutes of class that blew my mind, and here's what she did.
• 28:27
  Vanessa Vakharia: She used her attendance check to make every single student feel seen and heard through a moment of connection.
• 28:35
  Vanessa Vakharia: How did she do that?
• 28:36
  Vanessa Vakharia: She asked every student one question when they walked into the room, and that question was: Would you rather live without your cellphone or your computer?
• 28:44
  Vanessa Vakharia: That's it.
• 28:45
  Vanessa Vakharia: Now, you might be wondering, what?
• 28:47
  Vanessa Vakharia: Who cares?
• 28:48
  Vanessa Vakharia: But here's how she did it.
• 28:50
  Vanessa Vakharia: At first, I'm sitting there observing the classroom, and I'm noticing that kids are just, like, walking in the classroom.
• 28:54
  Vanessa Vakharia: And I'm like,"This feels, like, disorganized.
• 28:56
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, what's happening?
• 28:57
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, why is everyone not sitting down and being quiet?" And it's because one by one, students were walking in the door, and she would either walk up to them as they walked in the door, or they would take a seat, and then she would go over to their seat, She had a clipboard in her hand with all their names, and she would literally say to them,"Hey, Jason.
• 29:12
  Vanessa Vakharia: Would you rather live without your cell phone or your computer?" And Jason would go,"Um, my computer." And then they would sit down.
• 29:20
  Vanessa Vakharia: And Electra might say,"All right.
• 29:22
  Vanessa Vakharia: Awesome.
• 29:23
  Vanessa Vakharia: Good answer," or whatever.
• 29:25
  Vanessa Vakharia: Then somebody else would come in.
• 29:26
  Vanessa Vakharia: "Hey, Sarah.
• 29:27
  Vanessa Vakharia: Would you rather live without your cell phone or your computer?" Definitely my cell phone.
• 29:31
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, if I lost it, I think I would die." Amazing.
• 29:35
  Vanessa Vakharia: That's such a good answer.
• 29:35
  Vanessa Vakharia: I feel the same way." And on and on it went.
• 29:38
  Vanessa Vakharia: Some students would say a little more.
• 29:39
  Vanessa Vakharia: Some students would just say,"Computer" or,"Cell phone." Either way, Electra always had these components present.
• 29:46
  Vanessa Vakharia: Number one, she would say their name.
• 29:48
  Vanessa Vakharia: Number two, she would ask the question, and number three, she would be interested in the response.
• 29:53
  Vanessa Vakharia: She would say something would make it clear that she was interested in the response.
• 29:55
  Vanessa Vakharia: She wouldn't just, like, check a box and walk away.
• 29:58
  Vanessa Vakharia: And that was her attendance check, so when Jason answered the question, he got checked off.
• 30:02
  Vanessa Vakharia: But, so that was something she has to do anyway.
• 30:04
  Vanessa Vakharia: She had to take attendance anyway, but in that, like, 10 seconds, she said his name, she asked a question, and she validated his response, right?
• 30:13
  Vanessa Vakharia: So now, the student knows that they have been acknowledged when they walk in the room.
• 30:18
  Vanessa Vakharia: They feel like they matter.
• 30:20
  Vanessa Vakharia: They have answered a question, which means they had to think.
• 30:23
  Vanessa Vakharia: For that split second, they had to think,"Is it gonna be phone or computer?" Right?
• 30:26
  Vanessa Vakharia: That's it.
• 30:26
  Vanessa Vakharia: It doesn't matter.
• 30:27
  Vanessa Vakharia: It might seem so trivial, but they've had to think.
• 30:29
  Vanessa Vakharia: Their brain has done something active, and they've been complimented and validated for their response.
• 30:34
  Vanessa Vakharia: So name has been said.
• 30:37
  Vanessa Vakharia: The student's like,"Oh my God, I'm more than just a number.
• 30:38
  Vanessa Vakharia: This teacher knows my name." Question has been asked.
• 30:41
  Vanessa Vakharia: "Oh, this teacher actually cares what I think about something." An answer has been given.
• 30:45
  Vanessa Vakharia: "Oh, I had to actually think." I mean, that's happening subconsciously, but thinking happened in the brain, and their answer was validated.
• 30:51
  Vanessa Vakharia: "Oh, wow, I did something good.
• 30:53
  Vanessa Vakharia: My thinking actually paid off.
• 30:54
  Vanessa Vakharia: It was valuable I just want you guys to sit with how powerful this is.
• 31:00
  Vanessa Vakharia: In three minutes, you c- even if you have 40 students, you can literally do this for every single student.
• 31:06
  Vanessa Vakharia: You can help them feel acknowledged, useful, valuable in five seconds each, five seconds each, literally, and you're taking attendance anyway.
• 31:15
  Vanessa Vakharia: So step number three is all about that connection, and remember, the research shows that connection is invaluable, and you're doing it at the beginning of class.
• 31:22
  Vanessa Vakharia: Right at the beginning of class, you're setting the tone.
• 31:24
  Vanessa Vakharia: "I see you.
• 31:25
  Vanessa Vakharia: I know you.
• 31:26
  Vanessa Vakharia: I care about you.
• 31:27
  Vanessa Vakharia: I think that what you have to say is important." The end And I'd also like to point out, every student has now said something.
• 31:33
  Vanessa Vakharia: They've now participated, they've now engaged, they've now, like, spoken publicly.
• 31:38
  Vanessa Vakharia: It may not seem so public'cause they're not doing it, like, on stage in front of the classroom, but they have spoken publicly, right?
• 31:43
  Vanessa Vakharia: So, like, it already kind of, like, is an icebreaker to get that fear out, right?
• 31:48
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, they are more likely now to participate again, to speak again.
• 31:52
  Vanessa Vakharia: And, you know, some of them are listening to one another's answers.
• 31:54
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, maybe that's a little side chat that happens.
• 31:56
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, it just really sets the vibe because, you know, then there's the whole debate of, like, wait, is it your computer?
• 32:02
  Vanessa Vakharia: Is it your phone?
• 32:03
  Vanessa Vakharia: Some students are seeing they have stuff in common.
• 32:05
  Vanessa Vakharia: Some wa- you know, some students are talking to one another that wouldn't normally talk to one another.
• 32:08
  Vanessa Vakharia: But this whole thing is wrapped up in three minutes, and on to the lesson, and so much valuable math therapy work has been packed into that three minutes And keep in mind, that first time they spoke, that first time they participated was not high stakes.
• 32:19
  Vanessa Vakharia: It's so low stakes, but that sets the stage for higher stake stuff.
• 32:23
  Vanessa Vakharia: Also, you as the teacher has, uh, you've learned something about your students, right?
• 32:26
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, we always wanna learn stuff about our students.
• 32:28
  Vanessa Vakharia: That's a little thing you've learned that you can, like, kind of file away as information that you can bring up at a later date to be like,"I know you.
• 32:34
  Vanessa Vakharia: You know, you're a person to me." Positive teacher-student relationships are built in, like, these repeated moments where students feel understood, they feel safe, they feel valuable, they feel useful, they feel like they belong.
• 32:46
  Vanessa Vakharia: And little routines like this build that.
• 32:49
  Vanessa Vakharia: They build that slowly but surely.
• 32:51
  Vanessa Vakharia: And this makes way for bigger routines that you can include, right?
• 32:55
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, you, you might start like that, and then you might go into a full group this or that, right?
• 32:59
  Vanessa Vakharia: And your full group this or that might be more math-related.
• 33:03
  Vanessa Vakharia: It might be something like, would you rather have your quadratic f- in factored form or in standard form?
• 33:09
  Vanessa Vakharia: Oh my God, that's actually a really juicy debate.
• 33:12
  Vanessa Vakharia: I'm gonna say factored all the way, but y- it actually depends what you're doing.
• 33:15
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay, we're not gonna get into this right now.
• 33:16
  Vanessa Vakharia: Or you might be like, would you prefer, like, long division or multiplication?
• 33:21
  Vanessa Vakharia: Right?
• 33:21
  Vanessa Vakharia: Like, and now again, the students have already spoken.
• 33:24
  Vanessa Vakharia: They've already done that in your attendance check, right?
• 33:27
  Vanessa Vakharia: So they're here now.
• 33:28
  Vanessa Vakharia: They've already spoken.
• 33:29
  Vanessa Vakharia: They've already used their voice.
• 33:30
  Vanessa Vakharia: They've already thought about something.
• 33:31
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're gonna get more engagement when you start getting into your lesson.
• 33:35
  Vanessa Vakharia: The whole point of this step of connecting is before asking students to take mathematical risks Give every student a safe way to use their voice, and that's what this step accomplishes.
• 33:46
  Vanessa Vakharia: Okay, so that wraps up our three things.
• 33:48
  Vanessa Vakharia: Number one, you are gonna find a way to collect information about how your students feel about math.
• 33:52
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're gonna do that through either a mindset survey or through a Dear Math letter or something else that you love.
• 33:57
  Vanessa Vakharia: Number two, you are going to co-create classroom culture with your students, and you're gonna do that using a classroom agreement.
• 34:04
  Vanessa Vakharia: And number three, you are gonna connect with every student by upgrading your attendance routine to add in a this or that quickie low-stakes check-in question.
• 34:14
  Vanessa Vakharia: And because I love you guys so much, I put together a little first week of Math Therapy kit for you.
• 34:18
  Vanessa Vakharia: Head to the show notes, click the link.
• 34:19
  Vanessa Vakharia: It'll be delivered straight to your inbox.
• 34:21
  Vanessa Vakharia: That will have the mindset surveys, the Dear Math template, and the classroom agreement template, as well as a few little ideas of what you can use as attendance upgrade questions.
• 34:31
  Vanessa Vakharia: Guys, I'm so excited.
• 34:32
  Vanessa Vakharia: Really, honestly, this goes back to my philosophy of believe, behave, become, right?
• 34:36
  Vanessa Vakharia: We can't just say we're a math therapy classroom and then just, like, carry on with all the stuff we were doing last year.
• 34:41
  Vanessa Vakharia: A math therapy classroom isn't something we announce.
• 34:44
  Vanessa Vakharia: It's something students experience, and you are giving them the chance to experience that week one.
• 34:48
  Vanessa Vakharia: Week one, they're gonna be like,"This is so different.
• 34:50
  Vanessa Vakharia: Oh my God, what is going on?
• 34:51
  Vanessa Vakharia: I love this." During the first week, you are going to be showing them your feelings about math matter here.
• 34:56
  Vanessa Vakharia: You have a say in how we treat one another, and you will be seen and heard in this room.
• 35:00
  Vanessa Vakharia: I care that you are here.
• 35:02
  Vanessa Vakharia: I notice that you are here.
• 35:04
  Vanessa Vakharia: I notice when you show up.
• 35:07
  Vanessa Vakharia: I'm so excited, guys.
• 35:08
  Vanessa Vakharia: I can't wait to hear what you think.
• 35:09
  Vanessa Vakharia: Make sure you head to the show notes, hit that first week of Math Therapy link.
• 35:13
  Vanessa Vakharia: And guys, make sure you text the podcast.
• 35:15
  Vanessa Vakharia: I want you to text me and tell me when you've done these three things.
• 35:18
  Vanessa Vakharia: When you've collected, co-created, and connected, tell me about it.
• 35:21
  Vanessa Vakharia: I wanna hear how it went.
• 35:22
  Vanessa Vakharia: Also, if you have any other things that fit into one of these categories that you love and swear by that you wanna share with our listeners, let me know, and I will make sure that gets out there.
• 35:30
  Vanessa Vakharia: Remember, we have a Math Therapy Facebook group, right?
• 35:32
  Vanessa Vakharia: We're, oh my God, we are one away at the recording of this podcast.
• 35:35
  Vanessa Vakharia: We are at 499 members, so I'm sure by the time you listen to this, we'll be at over 500.
• 35:39
  Vanessa Vakharia: That's 500 of us that are doing the work.
• 35:41
  Vanessa Vakharia: So send me a text.
• 35:43
  Vanessa Vakharia: Tell me what activities or strategies you swear by that fall into the collect, co-create, connect categories, and I'll put together a little list and share it as a resource in our Math Therapy Facebook group.
• 35:55
  Vanessa Vakharia: Guys, this has been amazing.
• 35:56
  Vanessa Vakharia: Happy back to school.
• 35:57
  Vanessa Vakharia: I can't wait to hear from you.
• 35:58
  Vanessa Vakharia: You guys are the best.
• 36:00
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're doing the work.
• 36:00
  Vanessa Vakharia: You're making such an impact, and I can't wait for you to have a way to measure it so you can see it, but I know you're doing it.
• 36:06
  Vanessa Vakharia: I know you're doing it.
• 36:07
  Vanessa Vakharia: Your students are so, so lucky to have you.
• 36:10
  Vanessa Vakharia: And I mean, guys, happy back to school.
• 36:12
  Vanessa Vakharia: We're here.
• 36:13
  Vanessa Vakharia: A full year of Math Therapy awaits us, and this year is gonna be the best one yet.
• 36:17
  Vanessa Vakharia: I can feel it because we are starting off so strong.
• 36:20
  Vanessa Vakharia: Love you so much.
• 36:22
  Vanessa Vakharia: See you next week, same time, same place, same channel.
• 36:24
  Vanessa Vakharia: We are back, baby.