It’s that time of the year when we are getting to know our students, and our students are getting to know us and each other.

Howie Hua, a math professor at Fresno State who teaches future elementary school teachers has shared three activities teachers that can help build community and begin to create a positive classroom culture. You can read more about them on his blog, linked above, but here is a brief summary of all three:

This first one is called 20 Words and Phrases. For this, he has his students brainstorm 20 words/phrases associated with typical math classes. He steers them away from content and focuses them on the learning by asking questions like, “What were they teachers like?” “How were the desks arranged?” “What did assignments look like?” “Throw in some emotional words.”

Once they have a list of 20 words and phrases, he tells students about the PISA exam (Program for International Student Assessment) and asks where they think the US ranks out of the 72 countries that participated in 2016. The fact that the US is in the bottom half in math suggests that something needs to change with the typical math classroom.

Then he tells students, “if you were to take something out, what would you put in?” and he continues that until he has an ideal classroom. When students exchange something, he asks them to think about what that change would look like.

Once there is a completed revised list, he uses it over the course of the semester.

The second activity is called 5 qualities and is designed to get student thinking about what it means to be good in math. Professor Hua asks his students to think of someone who they personally know that they think is great at math. Then they talk to a partner about 5 qualities of that person that make them great in math. Then the group shares out.

During this time, I try not to interject unless there is something that I firmly believe is not a big factor, such as memorization or speed. I tell students that all of these 5 qualities can be practiced, and notice that none of these has to do with genetics. Everyone can be a mathematician. Throughout the course, I remind my students of the 5 qualities of being good at math, and if we have been practicing these qualities. 

Professor Howie Hua

The third activity is called Quick math conversations and is good for getting students to have conversations with multiple classmates about math/structure of our math classes and our pedagogy.

Professor Hua chooses a question like:

• What is your favorite math memory?
• How do you feel about math?
• What does your ideal math classroom look like?
• Why is math important?
• How can we create a safe environment for you to learn?

Then he puts students in groups of 4 and gives them 4 minutes to talk about it. After each question, they reflect briefly as a whole class, thank their group members and then move and introduce themselves to another group and repeat the process.