"I just don't get it. Math isn't my thing and I'll never understand it." Learners facing a mathematics subject who believe similar sentiments tend to feel defeated before they even begin the subject (Holley & Steiner,2005; Godbey, 1997). This is what the students always experience. They tend to dislike the subject because they always put in mind that the subject is a difficult one. As they say no subject is avoided and labelled negatively the way mathematics has been. It’s true but it is now the challenge for us mathematics teachers. How  to motivate the students to do well in Mathematics?  We should start with motivation. Say the topic is Rectangular Coordinate System or what we call Cartesian Plane. Since Cartesian Plane is all about location, we can use the sitting arrangement of the students. We will identify the student sitting on a specific place. Like for example, who is the student sitting on the 3^rd row, 2^nd column? The students will then identify who is the person in that specific row and column. Another activity is that you can draw two lines on the board. One is a vertical line and the other one is a horizontal line. Ask them what the meaning of an arrow head is. Since the meaning of an arrow head is you can extend the line, then extend the horizontal line until it intersects the vertical line. As you extend the line make a story in order to catch student’s attention. After extending the lines, the students will now identify what is the figure being formed on the board.  These are just some preparatory activities and there are still many ways on how you can catch student’s attention. Just always remember that you need to involve them in the activity. The activity will then bridge the students to the topic. That is now the time to discuss the lesson. 

In discussing the lesson, start with the definition of Rectangular Coordinate System. Followed by the person who devised the Cartesian Plane, Rene Descartes. Next is the discussion of the parts and its definition. Then the use of Cartesian plane which is plotting points. And last are the steps in plotting points. It seems that the flow of the discussion is easy but we need to consider the strategies and techniques as well as the instructional materials that you will use. Your strategies and techniques will depend on the kind of learners that you have. Choose a strategy in which the students will get involved with the activity. Collaborative or group activities are effective in most of the topic in math. Another is the use of technology during discussion. As we all know we are now in the modern world. Let’s make use of the technology in facilitating learning. Some common tools are laptop and projectors. You can create power point presentations or let the students watch videos related to your topic. These are just some tools in teaching mathematics. There are still more tools appropriate to the different topics in math. But let me just remind you that these are just aids in teaching. Let us not forget that we are still the best teaching aid for our students.

Another thing that we need to consider is the application of Mathematics in our daily life. In my own experience as a teacher, students always ask me of what is the application of a topic to real-life situations. Going back to the topic, Cartesian Plane, what do you think is the application of these to our daily life. The application of the Rectangular Coordinate system is location.  We all know that this is very important in our daily life. Another is we have positive and negative numbers in a Cartesian plane. Like in life there are positive and negative things. The positive ones are your strengths, achievements and accomplishments while the negative ones are your weaknesses and failures. But let us not forget that we can turn these negatives into a positive one. There are many more applications of different topics in math, it's for us to discover. Sometimes they are implied and sometimes you have to read between the lines but let us always remember that mathematics is very important in our lives. You cannot live without math. Let’s keep in mind that it’s more fun in Mathematics, just learn to understand and appreciate it.