Rooted in REAL: Culturally Responsive Practice – Thursday Edition

What We Don’t Say About Urban Classrooms Series

Behavior #6: I Am Never Going to Use This

The REAL Story

At the beginning of my career, before I could see the reasons behind behaviors, I would often anticipate students shutting down during math, especially during harder concepts like systems of equations. And honestly, sometimes I just let it happen. The volume of behaviors I was managing at my urban school was overwhelming, and some days I simply did not have anything left. Some days I screamed and hollered. Some days I ignored it completely and kept moving.

But there was one specific moment that made me decide how I would handle shutdowns from that point forward.

A student hit a wall in the middle of a lesson. He made his frustration known, said we would never need this in real life, threw his pencil on the ground, and put his head down.

I kept moving. I gave him about five minutes, not because I was ignoring it, but because I knew he needed time for his nervous system to settle before any conversation would actually reach him. Then I went to him quietly, away from the class, and we talked.

I want to be clear. I do not always handle these moments softly. My approach depends on the student and what I know about them. But this student was struggling with math, we were still early in the year, and I was still building his toolbox and his confidence. That context mattered.

Unpopular opinion: it is not always about the content. A student may leave your class unable to solve a systems of equations problem and still walk away with something that matters far more. When you refuse to let them quit, when you create a space where they can take a breath but not give up, you are building determination. You are building confidence. You are teaching them to think critically under pressure and push through when something feels hard.

They may never use algebra after graduation. But they will absolutely need to know how to stay in a hard moment without walking away from it.

💡3 Moves That Actually Change the Pattern

1. Let them breathe, but not disappear. A student who shuts down is often dysregulated, not defiant. Give them a moment intentionally. Five minutes to reset is not permission to quit, and how you re-engage them afterward is what makes that clear.

2. Go to them quietly and make it personal. A public conversation in the middle of a lesson rarely works. When you approach a student individually, lower your voice, and speak to them specifically, not to the class and not to the behavior, you change the dynamic. You are no longer managing a disruption. You are talking to a person.

3. Reframe what the work is actually for. When a student says they will never use this in real life, they are not entirely wrong about the content. But they are missing the point entirely. Help them see that the skill is not algebra. It is persistence. It is critical thinking. It is learning to stay in something hard. Those skills will leave the math classroom with them, even when Algebra does not.

Close

Frustration in a math classroom is not a behavior problem. It is a signal that a student does not yet believe they are capable of what you are asking them to do.

The teachers who change students are not the ones who made the work easier. They are the ones who refused to accept quitting as an option while also refusing to leave students alone in the struggle. That combination is rare, and students remember it long after they forget everything else you taught them.

New and Early Career Teachers Navigating Urban Settings Group

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been reminded how rarely teachers are given space to slow their thinking down and talk through the work without being handed another strategy. Because of that, I opened a free, private LinkedIn group for new and early-career teachers navigating urban classrooms.

This is not coaching or PD. It’s a reflection space — a place to talk through what you’re implementing, hear how other teachers are thinking, and not feel alone in the work.

You can request access here:
​https://www.linkedin.com/groups/16349025/​
​(Manual approval is on to protect the space.)

Tiffany Smith, Ed. D., Culturally Responsive Math Specialist

Founder, Education Evolution, LLC | Creator, The REAL Framework™ | Creator of Mind the Gap Curriculum™

Know someone who’d find this helpful? Forward this email to a colleague or friend who’s passionate about creating real change in the math classroom.

Or tell them to sign up with this link: https://education-evolution.kit.com/a3118d8126