My friends often tease me for having a condition we call Signupitis. The main symptom of this is my inability to not sign up for an interesting-sounding course, webinar or workshop. Maybe it's to fill the void of my empty nest, but anyway, I've always got something on the go. Right now, I'm taking my third course with the Mehrit Centre, a Canadian hub of learning and teaching about all things to do with child development and self-regulation: the ability of a person to bring themselves back to a state of homeostasis when experiencing stress in the biological, social, pro-social, cognitive and/or emotional domains. I have learned a great deal from the Centre's founder, Dr. Stuart Shanker, that has helped me in my work with teachers, parents and students, and also in my personal life as a parent, daughter and friend.
I am now seeing "misbehaviour" as stress behaviour, and my curiosity about the cause of that stress is piqued every time a student is sent to the office for some infraction, or an adult reacts to something in an unexpected way. Recently at our school, we have been noticing the number of students who tend to "wander" during math class, taking long bathroom breaks and circuitous routes back to class. Or, they show up late for school, conveniently missing math. When they are in class they are inattentive or disruptive. Teachers become frustrated. What's going on?
It is interesting to me that these behaviours do not seem to occur in primary classes, where math is generally about exploration and play with numbers. We see it begin to percolate around grade 4, coinciding with the introduction of textbooks and worksheets, and in some districts, letter grades. I remember my own childhood math anxiety. The pressure to memorize timestables was excruciating. It shook my confidence as a learner. Word problems sent me into limbic overload, especially when my dad tried to help me with homework. He could not understand why I did not understand and I felt embarrassed, distressed and defeated. In high school, I only took as much math as I needed to graduate and although later I had to take a "math for teachers" course, I rejoiced that I would never have to open a math text again.
In Reframed: Self-reg for a just society (2002), Dr. Shanker writes,
Scientists have been delving into the social and psychological causes of HMA
(High Math Anxiety): for example, negative maths experiences, poor self-esteem
and self-confidence, gender and racial stereotypes. But the biggest problem of
all is that anxiety breeds anxiety. The more anxious the student, the more she is
drawn to maladaptive coping strategies (e.g. avoidance), which results in still
greater anxiety down the road (as the student falls further behind). The more
anxious the adult trying to teach the child, the more anxious the child becomes
and vice versa. The greater the societal angst, the more all of the above becomes
exacerbated. (p. 154)
What is the solution? In some jurisdictions, well-meaning ministerial committees have developed math courses with different foci. In BC, Workplace Math was developed to address the mathematical expertise needed in many workplace situations. Unfortunately, in some settings, courses like these are seen to be opportunities to stream students. Kids know who takes these courses. It perpetuates the notion that there is something wrong with the child, that they have some failure to thrive in learning that cannot be remediated. It is as though the curriculum is a house built for one size and shape of human, with "average" abilities. When a student struggles to thrive in the house, we carry out expensive retrofitting, to fix what we could have addressed in the blueprints.
In his popular 2016 book, The End of Average: Unlocking our potential by embracing what makes us different, Todd Rose explains that there is no such thing as average, and that it is time we stopped settling for approaches that do not promote individual success and benefit everyone in the long run. Shelley Moore, BC scholar, author and inclusion champion, talks about the folly of teachers aiming for "the inside pin" in her bowling analogy. If we want everyone to succeed, we have to aim for the outside pins and dismiss our assumptions about who can be successful at what. Proponents of Universal Design for Learning have convinced me that when we design learning experiences beginning with the end in mind, and allow multiple entry points and a variety of ways to achieve success, we increase the odds that all students will achieve success. However, few of us have been taught to teach this way. Successful adoption of Universal Design for Learning and Differentiated Instruction as part of our teaching practice would require collaboration with colleagues - and - giving students voice. For those who believe that professional autonomy is more important that collective effort and efficacy, this will be challenging.
I keep coming back tot the JOY of learning that is missing in many of our classrooms. Joy does not mean lack of effort, rigour and pain. Like childbirth and ultrarunning, some of the greatest joys come from doing difficult things. Stress is part of learning, but it does not have to be toxic stress. Children who are well supported in learning environments where making mistakes is celebrated as a result of risk-taking, will thrive in our volatile, unpredictable, chaotic and often ambiguous world. VUCA: it's a thing! Let's equip our students to thrive in multiple settings, from math class, to ADST, to English Lit, to their own areas of passion. Let's reduce societal angst, and instead promote inclusion, equity and excellence in our educational environment.
Thanks for reading.
