“There is strong evidence that developing social-emotional learning skills at school contributes to all students’ overall health and well-being and to successful academic performance. It also supports positive mental health, as well as students’ ability to learn, build resilience, and thrive.”

(MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM CONTEXT, 2020 | The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1–8).

Mathematics, arguably more than any other subject area, often causes anxiety and angst among learners and educators in classrooms all across the country. Until recently, the pedagogical focus when teaching math has been predominantly on learning ‘the content’, and then applying that content to increasingly complex applications across grade levels and mathematical strands. This requires consistent engagement on the part of learners. Students who lack healthy social and emotional learning skills (SEL) are often unable to keep up with the developmental progression of learning, resulting in struggles with engagement, motivation, perseverance, and self-efficacy. They begin the think of math as difficult and of themselves as struggling learners. When this happens, traditional education systems have adopted a fixed mindset, systemically leading us to believe that only some students are capable of exceling in math studies. Nothing could be further from the truth or more damaging to student achievement and confidence. Evidence-based research now confirms that optimal student growth, development and overall achievement is a result of effective teaching that nurtures both SEL skills and academic excellence. When educators develop classroom cultures that foster emotional safety and well-being, they nurture the conditions of community, belonging and trust among students, all conditions that set the stage for student interest, engagement, and learning. As a result, all students are able to engage in meaningful ways and all students are able to excel. Remarkably, although much of the research supporting the importance of SEL in schools is new, the teaching practice is not. Great teachers have been nurturing social and emotional learning skills, primarily through the development of genuine, caring, authentic and intentional relationships with students, for as long as there have been students and classrooms! Today, more and more provincial curricula and publishers’ resources are prudently embedding SEL skills into subject specific expectations and lesson planning. Teaching strategies and practices are very intentionally supporting the idea that healthy human development is the true end goal of education, while effective educators simultaneously support children on their journeys through the various curricula.

Math 2020, The Revised Ontario Curriculum: Math curricula and teaching pedagogy around the world is changing. More and more educators are focusing on teaching students, as opposed to teaching only content. With this paradigm shift comes the responsibility of educators to really know their students, to value the unique aspects of their individual lives, and to nurture well-being while helping them to develop social and emotional learning skills. Arguably then, the overall goal of our renewed education system can be described in terms of supporting human development, rather than merely mastering the required academic expectations.

In June 2020, The Ontario Ministry of Education introduced a newly revised elementary mathematics curriculum to be implemented in September 2020. Among the most important updates, when compared to the previous curriculum, was the requirement for educators to embed the development of Social and Emotional Learning skills (SEL) into each of the 5 content related strands of learning. The actual nurturing of SEL skills, not unlike the nurturing of a healthy and positive sense of well-being, is very different than simply teaching students about the various aspects of SEL. As such, educators will very likely be looking for support with respect to what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like to nurture SEL skills, while teaching mathematics content. The fact that this new curriculum was introduced at the end of June, with little or no time for review, let alone professional learning, and in the midst of a world-wide pandemic that continues to impact education in unprecedented ways, makes the need for educator support even more urgent.

The Ontario curriculum document highlights 6 overall SEL skills that need to be developed, assessed, and reported on beginning in the fall of 2020. They are as follows:

• Identify and manage emotions

• Recognize sources of stress and cope with challenges

• Maintain positive motivation and perseverance

• Build relationships and communicate effectively

• Develop self-awareness and self-confidence

• Think critically and creatively

The model suggests that there are eight conditions that need to be nurtured and supported hierarchically in order for students to optimize the development of well-being, social & emotional learning skills, and academic achievement. The eight conditions are:

• 1. Emotional Safety and Security (provision of a secure base and development of attachment)

  2. Regulation (recognizing triggers to, and coping with, stress and anxiety)

  3. Belonging (connections to teachers, classmates, school community, culture, traditions, etc.)

  4. Positivity (positive emotional experiences)

  5. Engagement (in the active process of learning)

  6. Identity (feeling free to explore and express individual aspects of our identity and seeing such traits incorporated into the classroom / school culture)

  7. Mastery (feelings of accomplishment and self-efficacy)

  8. Meaning (feeling a sense of purpose in all aspects of education)

While the conditions described above are listed hierarchically, there is obvious overlap when nurturing them in a classroom or school community. The authors of The Third Path describe the first four conditions as The Foundational Four, in recognition that meaningful engagement in learning (condition 5) cannot be optimized until the preceding conditions have been nurtured.

Third Path MATH

While the principles of The Third Path model lend themselves to all aspects of education, few subjects lend themselves as well to the importance of teaching through relationship as does mathematics. Before engaging in the active process of learning about often abstract mathematical concepts and ideas, students must feel safely regulated and fully present. Math has traditionally been thought of as hard; something that some people can do well, while others often struggle with … almost as if our mathematical abilities are connected directly to our DNA. As stated earlier, nothing could be further from the truth! In many ways, society has condoned the idea that it’s OK not to be good at math. This is an inaccurate and dangerous mindset, and is likely to be even more prevalent post-pandemic, with so many students missing large chunks of math learning. ALL students can engage in mathematics successfully, and ALL students are entitled to a positive educational experience when it comes to learning math. In order to deliver on these student entitlements, educators must understand the importance of relationship on human development, the connections between human development and overall success at school, and the importance of social and emotional learning skills being embedded with academic expectations.

Click here for SAMPLE ACTIVITIES to Nurture SEL skills