Roicki — For the Kids to Succeed in My Math Class, I Needed to Build Relationships. Here’s the Formula I Used: Teacher + Students = Team
Building relationships is crucial for creating a harmonious and effective classroom environment. At the beginning of my teaching career, I did not fully grasp the significance of developing relationships with my students. I believed that my main responsibility was to deliver educational content. However, as I gained more experience over the next 15 years, I came to understand that the rules and strictness I enforced did not make my students feel valued or like active participants in a collaborative learning community. Classroom interactions were often brief and filled with conflict, centered around right or wrong answers. This focus on correctness left little room for positive relationship-building among students.
Through my own experiences in the classroom, I gradually realized the critical role relationships play in student learning. I spent a significant amount of time intervening in student arguments, which prompted me to recognize the importance of cultivating positive relationships. I also had conversations with school counselors and learned through trial and error, all of which contributed to my change in perspective on the power of relationships. However, the pressure to cover extensive content made me question how I could simultaneously develop students’ social skills and encourage positive relationships. There seemed to be a trade-off between the two. Below, I outline strategies I utilized to foster social skills and cultivate a strong class culture.
1. Establishing classroom norms for sharing, helping, and teamwork:
When I was teaching third grade, I dedicated time at the beginning of the school year to build a secure and supportive learning environment. Instead of immediately diving into math lessons like many of my colleagues, I spent the initial weeks collaborating with my students to establish a set of norms that would guide our actions throughout the year. One aspect we focused on was collaboration, which played a vital role in our math learning.
To introduce the concept of collaboration, I introduced a task called "Broken Circles." The students had to silently exchange pieces of differently colored circles until each person had a complete circle. This activity required them to rely on each other’s observations and pass the necessary pieces without using gestures or pointing. After completing the task, we discussed the challenge and I asked the students to share their thoughts on working in groups. Based on their feedback, we co-created a set of norms titled T.E.A.M.
Within these norms, we emphasized the importance of sharing as a crucial social skill for effective collaboration. The students expressed enjoyment in discussing their work and actively listening to their peers, so we incorporated these expectations into our official norms. Additionally, we discussed the significance of helping others and explored appropriate ways to provide support. From our previous conversations on learning through challenges, the students thought it would be beneficial to ask questions and understand each other’s thinking. To capture these ideas, we created an anchor chart with sentence starters for various group work situations.
To ensure ample practice of our T.E.A.M. expectations, I designed group tasks with specific requirements. For example, each student received a different colored marker to highlight their individual contributions, and everyone in the group had to fully explain how the problem was solved. The outcome of this work set my students up for success throughout the school year. Involving them in the creation of norms fostered a sense of ownership and responsibility, leading to increased adherence during work times. Initially, they required frequent redirection and guidance due to the novelty of collaborative work. However, regular revisiting of the norms eventually helped them internalize and apply them without reminders.
2. Encouraging diverse problem-solving approaches:
In typical math lessons, there is often an excessive focus on finding the correct answers to problems. This emphasis stems from curriculum materials primarily consisting of closed tasks, which imply a single correct answer or solution method. I aimed to shift this mindset among my students by not only encouraging them to solve problems collaboratively but also to appreciate the value of discussing diverse ways of thinking. Consequently, I dedicated more time to planning lessons that would introduce open-ended problems.
Incorporating open tasks elevated our discussions to a higher level. Comparing multiple strategies and representations enabled us to analyze underlying mathematical structures, identifying the most efficient solutions. Students learned that considering others’ perspectives helped them discover new and improved problem-solving strategies. Additionally, discussing multiple answers prompted students to evaluate the reasonability of solutions within specific contexts, fostering empathy and a better understanding of alternative viewpoints both inside and outside of school. Through this approach, students developed their problem-solving skills while simultaneously strengthening their interpersonal relationships.
Joe Roicki, an educational professional with expertise in math curriculum, emphasizes the importance of establishing and nurturing relationships before diving into academic content. From personal experience, he believes that students require a strong social foundation in order to develop trust with their teachers and peers, and to feel comfortable within the school environment. Although the constant pressure of covering a packed curriculum can be overwhelming for educators, Roicki encourages finding moments to pause, take a breath, and prioritize the development of essential skills that will have a positive impact on all aspects of learning.
As a program specialist on the professional development and implementation success team for Great Minds’ pre-K-12 Eureka Math curriculum, Roicki brings his years of experience as a math teacher for Grades 2-5 in various regions such as New York, Florida, and Washington states. Additionally, he has supported K-8 classroom teachers for a total of 16 years, until the 2017-18 school year.
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