3 Ways to Connect With Students in Math Class

Teaching math can be a tough gig. Sure, there are all those numbers, symbols, and algorithms, but the true challenge is not merely to get students to understand how all of those numbers, symbols, and algorithms work—but to get them truly engaged in math so that they stay engaged throughout class and, hopefully, throughout their lives.

During my more than 20 years in the classroom, I taught everything from the times tables to the quadratic formula using chalkboards, whiteboards, smart boards, iPads, and, lastly, artificial intelligence. While my teaching tools have changed over time, what has truly made the difference in empowering my students to achieve in math is building relationships with them and helping them build their relationships with the content.

3 Ways to Build Relationships in Math Class

1. Know what your students are into, bring it up, and connect it to the math you’re teaching. Most teachers would agree on how important it is to know something about our students’ interests. But knowing that isn’t enough. You’ve got to bring it up! When we take the time to show our students that we are aware of their interests, they know that we truly see them and are paying attention. This makes them much more receptive to learning the math we’re teaching.

For example, last year I had a student I’ll call Maria who loved to cook. As she walked into class, I said, “Hey, Maria, I know you love cooking, and today’s lesson is going to be all about adding fractions, which is a huge part of cooking. I think you’re going to find it really exciting!” In all honesty, Maria wasn’t nearly as excited as I was (at least she sure wasn’t showing it), but she was visibly more engaged than normal throughout the lesson and told me that she did think about class when she was at home using measuring cups that night.

Of course, keeping track of 30 (or more!) students’ interests can be challenging. My method is simply to have each student write down their name and one thing they are interested in on a note card. You can then make a simple list with each student’s name and their interest. When planning a lesson, glance at the list, and see whose interest you can match with what you’ll be teaching. Again, it doesn’t need to be an in-depth discussion—the key here is to bring it up, so the students feel seen and valued.

Not sure how to connect interests with content? Head over to ChatGPT, and enter something like “I have a student who loves to play soccer, and I’m teaching about angles and degrees. How can I connect the two?”

The results from this prompt are below:

As you can see, ChatGPT offers some good suggestions that are relevant. But, of course, you always need to read ChatGPT’s outputs closely and verify that they‘re correct and worthwhile. Keep in mind that you can get more specific in what you’re searching for, including more information such as the students’ grade level or even favorite soccer team.

Perhaps the best suggestion there is to use diagrams or video clips to further illustrate the connections, as angles are better understood (and easier to teach) when students are able to visualize the math being discussed. I especially like the connections that the first two items listed make about shooting and passing angles. Once students see all the angles involved in playing soccer, they won’t ever be able to unsee them.

2. Tell stories. Along with knowing your students’ interests, it’s important that they know some of yours. When you tell stories about your own life and share how math has affected you, it not only makes for a memorable moment but also helps your students see you as a real person.

A big key here: Your story doesn’t need to be an epic tale of the time you climbed Mount Kilimanjaro or pulled someone from a burning car—it can be simple. My students love the story about how I got scammed out of $5 while traveling, which I connected with our unit on money.

Another simple way to tell a story is to take a photo of something you come across that involves math and turn that into a story. Recently, I stopped at a taco shop on my way home, and while waiting in the drive-through, I became infuriated when I saw this sticker:

I snapped a photo and brought it into class the next day, and we had an incredible discussion about why adding 70 cents, and then taking it off if I pay with cash, is not a discount! Some of the students noticed that .70¢ is mathematically incorrect, indicating that it’s .70 of a cent instead of a dollar.

As a huge bonus, some of my students go to the same taco shop. They tell me that they point out the sign to their friends and family and talk about how we discussed it in class.

3. Build students’ relationships with the content. It’s no secret that many students have a relationship with math that is not exactly positive (and often far from it). Instead of trying to constantly show students how the math that you’re teaching fits into their lives, flip the script and show them how their lives fit into the math you’re teaching.

One of my favorite games to play with my students is simply called “Stump the Teacher.” I ask students to name something in their lives that they think has nothing to do with math; and if they can stump me with a topic that I can’t somehow relate to math, they win a prize. Here are some recent examples:

Ketchup? We talk about the price, number of ounces, and ratios of ketchup to fries. Soccer? We discuss distance, angles, and keeping score.

The best part of the game is when the students start answering for each other and relating their own lives to the math we’ve been studying. I once had a student ask me, “What does love have to do with math?” I was stumped and about to admit defeat and hand out prizes when another student yelled out, “I know: When you’re in love, that can be very expensive!”

We all laughed at that, creating a memory that helped to bind our class closer together. Building relationships in math class can be just that simple. This type of thing makes your teaching more effective and your class more enjoyable for your students and for you.