Integrating Social-Emotional Strategies into Content Areas: Second Part – Math! | By: Committee for Children Math is a subject all students must be skilled at in today’s society and that all teachers must teach in the elementary grades. There are many feelings about teaching math, though. You may be the teacher that says, “I am just not a math person” or “I like math, but it’s not my favorite.” Or you might be one of those who show dislike of the subject outright. This distaste for math shines through like anything does when we teach. If we don’t believe in it, our kids see this. If we don’t love it, the kids feel this. If we have certain feelings about the subjects we teach, we must acknowledge it, reflect on it, and figure out ways to bring renew that spark so we can share it with our students. We must give all our students a chance to find their love of this subject. Just as reading is a foundation for success, so nowadays is math. If we don’t help the build this foundation, we are closing a door of opportunity. When we educators reflect on this notion of how we “feel” about math, I’ve noticed we often go back to memories where others labeled us “good” at math or “not good” at math. We must think about these moments and make sure we don’t do the same in our own teaching. One way to remember this is to allow ourselves to tell these stories to our students. Another way is to invite our students to tell the class how they “feel” about subject areas, such as math. This gets all the good or bad experiences out in the open and allows, you, the educator to help students push the “reset” button and truly make a difference in their feelings about math. Remember that students are not always going to like the activities in math. This is okay, and just because they don’t like one area of math, it doesn’t mean they won’t like another. Remind them it’s okay if they don’t like to do their math facts, but learning their math facts will help them be more successful later on. Remind them math is everywhere, and give real-life examples. Some kids think math is just math facts, or just geometry. Remind them that solving everyday problems, like when you have eight kids to invite to the birthday party but only five invitations, you will have to figure out how many more invitations you need so none of the kids are left out. By teaching students with real-life examples, you will give the math a context and help students become problem solvers who can make decisions in their lives. These discussions about how we feel about math and why math is important are crucial for success. Call them mathematicians and remind them that mathematicians often work together to solve problems. Integrate small-group work into your math lessons so children can practice those important skills of listening, taking turns, agreeing or disagreeing respectfully, asking questions, and being team players who work together to achieve a goal or solve a problem. These experiences are invaluable. When discussing the math “answer,” remember to discuss the process each group used to solve the problem. This learning on how each person felt as a team member in that group and what they each did well or could improve on will also increase their learning. When we teach our children how to solve math problems, we can also be teaching them social-emotional skills.