A limited-series podcast about the narratives that shape math learning, and how changing those narratives can change what’s possible in classrooms.
What Counts explores the math narratives that shape classrooms, and how teachers can help students rewrite what’s possible.
Created as part of the Math Narrative Project, the series supports narrative change by translating project learnings into real-world stories, shared language, and practical reflection for educators and the communities they serve.
Season 1 focuses on relationships.
It began as an internal learning companion for Impact Florida’s Solving with Students Cadre, with a specific purpose: to help shift the way teachers think about math instruction by placing relationships at the heart of teaching and learning. It follows a central Math Narrative Project recommendation to show teachers the impact of their relationships with students on math learning, and support teachers in prioritizing relationship-building in their classrooms.
The series is presented by Impact Florida and produced by De LeCourt.
What it is
A limited-series podcast series that explores different forces shaping math learning. Season 1 focuses on why relationships are critical to math learning.
A practical companion for teachers, coaches, and school communities grounded in teacher and student voice.
A way to hear how relationship-building shows up as daily practice in math class through routines, language, and moments that help students stay engaged through struggle.
How to use it
Listen with a purpose: Choose one episode and one question you want to answer about your own classroom (or school).
Try one move: Each episode offers small practices you can test without overhauling your instruction.
Bring it to your team: Use it for PLC discussion, coaching conversations, or shared language with families and colleagues.
Start listening to What Counts
Episodes
Start listening to What Counts
Episode 1: What do relationships have to do with math?
Abi was in 10th grade when a teacher discovered something no test had caught: she couldn’t add and subtract negative numbers. One number line later, everything changed.
Episode 1 asks a question we rarely connect to math: What do relationships have to do with learning? Teachers across Florida share why trust and student voice drive achievement, engagement, and even teacher retention… and why the system still treats relationships like an optional add-on.
Episode 2: Math is emotional
Somewhere along the way in math class, a lot of students stop saying “this is hard” and start saying “I’m not a math person.”
Episode 2 explores why math carries so much emotional weight, and how a few words can shape what students believe about themselves for years. Florida teachers share what they’ve learned about shame, silence, and the “armor” students bring into math class… and how listening closely, adjusting language, and inviting real feedback can help students re-engage and try again.
Episode 3: But how do I build relationships?
Teachers tell us relationships matter. Then they ask the question that’s harder: How?
In Episode 3, Florida educators share practical ways to build connection without turning your classroom into a therapy session. They offer examples of routines that help you understand students as math learners, small practices that compound over time, and feedback systems that turn listening into trust. It’s a shift from relationship-building as a “nice idea” to relationship-building as infrastructure for learning.
Episode 4: The web of relationships
A student shares an answer. A few kids laugh. Instead of calling anyone out, the teacher pauses and recenters the class on the norms they created together. Then, the room corrects itself.
Episode 4 widens the lens from teacher-student relationships to the ecosystem around them. This ecosystem is built on peer dynamics, classroom culture, and the small structures that shape whether students feel safe taking risks. Teachers across Florida share what changes when connection becomes collective and when community, not control, holds the room.
Episode 5: When relationships add up
Tafari was a quiet eighth grader in a new, high-pressure algebra class during the first COVID year. He was smart enough to slip through the cracks, and stressed enough to be misread. Years later, he’d become a freshman at Harvard. But back then, one teacher simply saw what others didn’t.
In the finale, we follow Tafari’s story over time to see how relationships compound through a steady rhythm of attention, a reframe that changes how adults respond to a student, and a network of belief that keeps him on track. It’s not just a story about Harvard. It’s about the quieter wins happening every day—the moment a student tries again, or starts to believe they have a future they couldn’t see before.
Questions or comments?
Contact Claire Riddell, Director of Solving With Students at Impact Florida
claire@impactfl.org