The Responsive Classroom <\/a>approach is widely used at the K-8 level to build positive, inclusive classroom communities by integrating academics and social-emotional learning. My program adapted Responsive Classroom\u2019s Morning Meeting into our Opening Meeting structure for all of our adult ed and ESOL classes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n My Opening Meetings begin as soon as students enter our Zoom classroom. I greet each student by name, and they frequently greet each other and chat informally. I stress the importance of knowing and using each others\u2019 names throughout class. Once everyone has arrived, our Opening Meeting continues with a sharing time. I project a prompt, usually a thought-provoking quote, image, video, or question, to which everyone responds, verbally or in the chat. The goal is to provide a way for students to connect and for everyone to get to know each other better. It also encourages low-stakes participation from the start of class. Sometimes, I use the sharing time as a social-emotional check-in and coordinate grid mini-lesson with a mood meter similar to the one below, which was developed by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n Available for free download at https:\/\/www.thehopefullinstitute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/A3_MOOD_METER_.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Other times, I use this as an opportunity to introduce students to inspiring words and ideas from prominent and diverse mathematicians and scientists. We conclude the sharing portion of the Opening Meeting by previewing our agenda for the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The final segment of our Opening Meeting is an activity.\u00a0 This is where I incorporate math instructional routines like Slow-Reveal Graphs, Would You Rather, Open Middle Problems, and Which One Doesn\u2019t Belong. I frequently select an activity that serves as a review of the prior lesson or as a formative pre-assessment of the day\u2019s math topic to gauge students\u2019 level of understanding at the start of class. One activity that has become popular with students is looking at student-submitted photos and identifying as much math as possible in the photos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the start of this school year, my SABES Math Team<\/a> Coach Aren Lew suggested having students submit photos of math in their daily lives, as a way for students to begin to notice that math is all around us. My students loved this assignment! Students shared pictures of their children, their meals, their collections, their neighborhoods, and their hobbies. This allowed them to connect around commonalities. Not only did it start to open their eyes to math in the real world, but it also gave them small windows into each others\u2019 lives. When I share a student-submitted photo, I don\u2019t reveal who shared it, but usually, the student who did excitedly claims ownership. I pose simple questions such as, \u201cWhat math do you notice?\u201d or, \u201cWhat math questions could you ask?\u201d Students enjoy discussing and finding as many math connections as possible in a photo. They often find unexpected math connections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are some examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n A nutrition facts label prompted discussion of multiplication, division, percentages, proportions, and measurement. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n A Boston street view produced a rich geometry discussion of shapes, lines, and angles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n A picture of a garden bed raised ideas of area and perimeter, multiplication, measurement, volume, and arrays (when students noticed a brick wall in the background).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n A picture of a calendar brought up discussion of time, measurement, multiplication, and patterns.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Students were invested because they drove the discussions. The pictures and ideas were entirely theirs, and there was no right or wrong answer. Discussing the photos also provided an accessible entry point for all students. Students who were learning English could describe what they saw with the words they knew, and sometimes they had different math connections than native English speakers. Not only was everyone connecting math to the real world, but they were also connecting with each other and building a supportive classroom community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jean Oviatt-Rothman is a Senior Learning Specialist and STEM Instructor for MassLINKS Adult Education Online Academy, a fully remote state-wide program. She worked previously in math and science coaching and curriculum leadership at the K-12 level. Jean is a member of the Adult Numeracy Network<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.terc.edu\/adultnumeracycenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2025\/02\/A3_MOOD_METER-1024x724.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nSharing Photos<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.terc.edu\/adultnumeracycenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2025\/02\/Jean_Notice-wonder.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.terc.edu\/adultnumeracycenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2025\/02\/Jean_Boston-Math-Talk.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.terc.edu\/adultnumeracycenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2025\/02\/Jean_garden-Math-Talk.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.terc.edu\/adultnumeracycenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2025\/02\/Jean_calendar-Math-Talk.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.terc.edu\/adultnumeracycenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2025\/02\/Jean_Oviatt-Rothman.jpg\")
<\/figure>