What is your relationship with math? As an elementary school teacher, I always planned to avoid math. Just do the bare minimum and keep myself safe from math. I avoid math.
When I walked into my first ever classroom I brought with me a lot of math baggage I didn’t even know I had. I had been avoiding math for almost 2 decades at that point. As far back as I can remember I never enjoyed math, and I was always casually told how good I was at reading and writing… implying that it was okay that math wasn’t my thing. I don’t even think I was bad at math… I just was better at discussions, analyzing, and finding connections in stories and telling my own stories.
Our society is SO okay with people just saying terribly disparaging things about math. “I’m not a math person” is EVERYWHERE you look (tv, social media, your family party).
Worse maybe, is IF you are a math person you are automatically a specific archetype.
Go ahead, get the picture in your mind of someone that’s a math person.
NERD alert, right?
I still hide and downplay my math person-ness from my friends and family because I feel less than. Like I cannot live up to that brilliant math person bio. I can’t calculate fast, I have almost 0 algorithms memorized, and I’m not just naturally gifted with a way with numbers.
I do though know I’m a bad ass mathematician… and so are you. But it took a LONG time because of my math baggage or math trauma. Trauma has been in the spotlight post covid, for good reason. COVID produced trauma in many of us.
In This Episode on Math Trauma We’ll Chat About:
- the definition of math trauma
- knowing our students and their traumas
- re-define math culture
Do Your Students Face Math Trauma? Check This Out!
Download this guide on tackling math trauma in your classroom, 8 ways to address math trauma in your classroom!
So, What is Math Trauma?
First trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event- accident, disaster, etc.
Add in math– this event could be failing a class, an embarrassing moment, a constant feeling of confusion, test scores, a parent or teacher’s reaction.
Then, it is our students’ emotional response to math class. Students show signs of anxiety, stress, worry, low confidence & self efficacy when in math class.
We know that test scores in math continue on the downward trend post pandemic. But that’s not the only thing that matters. We also know that students struggle to overcome these feelings of math trauma that were amplified by not having a teacher and learning at home, basically teaching yourself. Students lost out of valuable classroom time of developing a positive experience with math.
So, now our students are achieving at lower rates and have math trauma from experiences related to COVID and/or math.
What Do We Do About Math Trauma?
Address Math Trauma
We have to address math trauma – We have to acknowledge that it exists and it is real.
Disrupt Math Trauma in Society
We have to disrupt math trauma in society – We have to STOP people from saying things like “I’m not a math person, go ask your dad.” or the ELA teacher saying “I just never have been good at math”. Stop disparaging math in front of kids, or better at all. We are their role models and the way we talk about math matters. We would NEVER say reading is just not for me.
Find Out About Our Students’ Trauma
We have to find out about our students’ trauma – Not every person will have math trauma, but everyone has a feeling about math class. Let’s make it our mission to get to know that aspect of our students well. I like to use a math survey multiple times a year to check in on their mindsets and trauma. You can find one I use here.
Intentionally Develop Positive Mindsets
We have to intentionally develop positive mindsets about mathematics for our students starting at the youngest age possible. We have to empower our students to see that math is fun and a part of life. But this will require us to depart from what “school math” often looks like– worksheets, answer seeking, focus on procedures vs. reasoning.
Empower Mathematics in the Classroom
Empower mathematics in the classroom by reflecting on what your current math instructional practices. Do they support sense making? Do your students have to think everyday in math class or can they get by with just doing? After your reflection, take the steps to empower the mathematicians in your classroom to make sense of math through your instructional practices.
Re-Define Mathematician
Re-define mathematician – Our students need a diverse set of images and experiences with mathematicians to develop the definition of a real world mathematician. This was one of my biggest worries for the students I taught here in Chicago. They never saw a mathematician that looked like them, had a similar culture to them or had the same goals as them. So, the year of the at home teaching I went on a MISSION to find African American mathematicians. And OF COURSE I found a lot of them, but they just were not well known. So, I created some digital drawings and made them into posters for my students. Each day when we signed into Zoom I displayed a mathematician and their quote. We started every class by discussing the mathematicians job, mindset, and inspirational words. By the end of that year my students could name at least 5 Black mathematicians. Since then, I’ve created over 35 mathematician posters of people from all cultures and backgrounds. These posters are my attempt to help redefine the image we hold of what a mathematician is! LINK
Mentioned in this Episode:
📣 8 Ways to Address Math Trauma in your Classroom
📝 Math Survey
✅ Mathematician Posters
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