3 Ways to Engage Middle Schoolers in Math

Are you tired of all those blank stares and sighs when you gear up for your math lesson? Well, I have 3 awesome tricks up my sleeve to help you engage middle schoolers and make math class rigorous and fun! Let’s jump right in.

Tailor activities to their interests to engage middle schoolers.

Let’s face it, middle schoolers have some unique interests. They speak a whole other language and love things like non-creased shoes, stickers on water bottles, and hoodies. So, why not embrace it and incorporate their interests into your math lessons. By including their hobbies and interests in your lessons, you’ll pique their interests and show them that you are listening to their interests.

Here are some examples of student interest lessons that I use:

1. Swifty Collaborative Coloring – “In My Math Era”
2. Numerical Expressions Hoodie Craftivity
3. Basketball Review Cube

Get them up and moving with stations!

Who says you have to sit the whole math class? Spice things up with math stations! Use stations where students have to move around to different tables to complete a station or use a scavenger hunt where students hunt for answers around the room. Physical activity helps keep students engaged and burn off some of the middle school energy.

Here are some stations that I use:

1. Football Ratio Stations
2. Expressions Valentine Stations
3. 6th Grade Test Prep Boot Camp

Incorporate real-world problem solving to engage middle schoolers.

Integrate practical math problems into your lessons that they can relate to! Budgeting, party planning, or designing a dream bedroom on a budget are math skills that come in handy in the real-world and students will be motivated to complete the challenge.

Here are some real-world activities that I use:

1. Get to Know You Math Cube – one of the sides shares how they use math during the summer.
2. Real World Math Project and Bulletin Board
3. Also, I like to create word problems about everyday activities that they would see!

What are you going to try? Remember, the key is to make math fun, relatable, and hands-on!

Action Steps:

1. Check out more engaging math activities HERE.
2. Do you want to learn more about creating unique math resources like these? Check out the FREE Math Graphics Training Here