"I just can't do it."
"My family is more full of readers than mathematicians."
"I was never good at math."
Hold up!
We are all math people!
It always breaks my heart when kids fall back on the comfortable "well, math is not for everyone" when faced with challenging problems. Just like with anything else, getting back up, dusting ourselves off and trying again is everything. This is the same with math.
Every kid is a Math Person. We all need math to get by in life, and the more math we know, the easier life is. And the less we need to rely on others to help us with numbers.
The act of working though math problems develops the problem solving part of our brain. This is my answer when students ask, "When will I ever use this?" You might not use this exact topic, but solving math problems is teaching your brain an important thinking skill.
Each of the people in this Math is For Everyone poster is helping to hold a sign with a math symbol on it. It's meant to remind all of our students that math is for all of us and we can all achieve if we work hard together.
You can download this free poster from my Dropbox here: MATH IS FOR EVERYONE! poster
And here's a Welcome, Math Person! poster that can be displayed for students to see as they walk into your classroom.
A math word wall can be helpful for students who need additional supports.
I just love the 2 step "how to be a math person" poster. It makes me giggle actually at how simple it is to be a math person.
ReplyDeleteIt's so simple! :)
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