Jennifer Lenhardt: How to Help Secondary Students Develop a Math Identity

Episode 27 of the Have a Life Teaching podcast, hosted by John Schembari, titled "Jennifer Lenhardt: How to Help Secondary Students Develop a Math Identity " was published on April 1, 2025 and runs 37 minutes.

April 1, 2025 ·37m · Have a Life Teaching

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Summary

When students ask where are they EVER going to use the Math they are learning in middle and high school, there is usually something deeper going on; And that is a disconnect in, disinterest, and lack of curiosity in learning Math which manifests itself in misbehaving students. So says, Jenn Lenhardt - author of the book Common Denominators: Cultivating Engagement and Belonging in Secondary Mathematics 7-12 and former 7-12th grade Math interventionist. In this episode, we talk with Lenhardt about getting students excited about and engaged within the process of learning Math both individually and collectively. For students to engage with Math, they have to feel that they both belong in Math classrooms and can be successful learners of Math. Teachers also have to push aside thoughts that their students can't do Math focusing instead on what they need to do next to help students learn Math precisely BECAUSE their students might struggle in learning Math. One strategy that Lenhardt recommends strongly is having students explore Math concepts through quick rotations, or stations, like we might more commonly see in elementary classrooms. Jen Lenhardt HMHJen Lenhardt LinkedInCommon Denominators BookMusic - Aylex

Episode Description

When students ask where are they EVER going to use the Math they are learning in middle and high school, there is usually something deeper going on; And that is a disconnect in, disinterest, and lack of curiosity in learning Math which manifests itself in misbehaving students. So says, Jenn Lenhardt - author of the book Common Denominators: Cultivating Engagement and Belonging in Secondary Mathematics 7-12 and former 7-12th grade Math interventionist.

In this episode, we talk with Lenhardt about getting students excited about and engaged within the process of learning Math both individually and collectively. For students to engage with Math, they have to feel that they both belong in Math classrooms and can be successful learners of Math. Teachers also have to push aside thoughts that their students can't do Math focusing instead on what they need to do next to help students learn Math precisely BECAUSE their students might struggle in learning Math.

One strategy that Lenhardt recommends strongly is having students explore Math concepts through quick rotations, or stations, like we might more commonly see in elementary classrooms.

Jen Lenhardt HMH

Jen Lenhardt LinkedIn

Common Denominators Book

Music - Aylex

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