Teaching math isn鈥檛 just about working through problems. Often, it鈥檚 about helping students work through baggage, too.
After years of historic declines in math performance nationwide and sharp post-pandemic spikes in general and math-specific anxiety, teachers may need to help students unpack negative emotions around math to help them gain traction in the subject.
鈥淧eople are not OK with math; there鈥檚 so much trauma surrounding it,鈥� Vanessa Vakharia, a K-12 math teacher and instructional coach in Ontario, Canada, said at the annual National Council of Teachers of Mathematics conference here this week.
Vakharia, who had crippling math anxiety until late high school, now chronicles her own and others鈥� traumatic experiences with math in the podcast. One in 4 K-12 educators reported being math-anxious in a 2019 survey by the EdWeek Research Center, and in a separate survey the center conducted last month, more than 40 percent of math teachers said they鈥檇 had at least some math anxiety.
鈥淲e鈥檙e talking about unpacking trauma, but none of us are therapists,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his is about how we can do this as educators with our expertise in a way that鈥檚 safe in our classroom and that we feel comfortable with.鈥�
She highlighted five steps teachers can take to help students understand and let go of negative math experiences.
1. Create a myth-busting mindset.
Often small classroom practices鈥攈ighlighting students鈥� wrong answers in front of the class, for example鈥攃an undermine students鈥� math identity, particularly for students from groups historically underrepresented in math, Vakharia said.
鈥淚t is a deeply embedded trauma being told what we need to look like, sound like, be like, perform like in order to be good at math, being told you have to shed your identity in order to be good at math,鈥� Vakharia said.
She suggested teachers explicitly bust common misconceptions鈥攕uch as that math ability is static or that creative or artistic students don鈥檛 need math鈥攁nd quickly counter students鈥� negative talk about math.
鈥淟et鈥檚 say something that鈥檚 more accurate,鈥� Vakharia tells her students. 鈥淪o instead of saying 鈥業鈥檓 not a math person,鈥� how about, 鈥業 don鈥檛 feel as comfortable with math as I would like to, but I believe I could if I wanted to.鈥� That鈥檚 actually fair.鈥�
2. Help students map out math trauma.
Vakharia encourages her students to identify and talk about experiences that made them feel bad about math.
These could include someone dismissing a student鈥檚 math struggles by saying they 鈥�,鈥� media portrayals suggesting that 鈥渆verybody hates math,鈥� or parents who pressure or yell at their children during math homework (as student tweets like the one below can attest).
鈥淵our goal is to figure out what trauma exists in your classroom so that you can adjust your teaching style and your pedagogy, so you know what students will react to,鈥� she said.
For example, Vakharia鈥檚 students discuss situations that trigger their anxiety鈥攕uch as having another student yell 鈥淚鈥檓 done鈥� while they are still working鈥攁nd make student and teacher pacts to reduce class stressors.
3. Motivate students to persist.
Research suggests the vast majority of math-anxious students aren鈥檛 initially low-performers. Rather, the fear and stress they experience before starting math tasks takes up their mental bandwidth and leads them to avoid math-related tasks. Over time, students with severe math anxiety tend to progress more slowly in math, but even math-anxious students who objectively perform on average or even high in math often end up disengaging and avoiding math classes and fields they might otherwise thrive in.
69传媒 with math anxiety tend to choose less-effective ways to study, too, like rereading already-solved problems instead of trying to solve new ones. That makes students less prepared come test time, which can create a cycle of .
Some classes keep a 鈥渇ailure wall,鈥� in which students regularly post cards describing mistakes or failures and what they learned from them. The process helps students both reflect on their own learning and realize they are not alone in struggling, Vakharia said.
4. Have 鈥榤ath identity makeovers.鈥�
鈥淚f you ask any kid what being good at math is, they鈥檒l say it means you鈥檙e really fast. It means you don鈥檛 make any mistakes. It means you always get the right answer. That kind of thing,鈥� Vakharia said. 鈥淲e have to myth-bust that for them.鈥�
Vakharia advised teachers to use math journals and data reviews to help students analyze their own progress and think about what success means to them.
鈥淲hen you have a track record of all the things in your class, you can prove that they can get better at a skill. And then you can go farther: Why did you [previously] think that you couldn鈥檛 do this? And why do you think you can do it now?鈥� And they鈥檒l say things like, 鈥業 practiced,鈥� or 鈥業 got some help, I sought these resources.鈥� ... This is really helpful in bringing a growth mindset to life and myth-bust what it means to be good at math.鈥�
Teachers should also help students to understand that having a disability that interferes with math, like , doesn鈥檛 mean they can鈥檛 do math or succeed in a math field.
5. Measure and highlight progress.
Assessments can be particularly daunting for students with math anxiety. When possible, Vakharia advised teachers to avoid timed tests, and to allow students to talk through feelings of anxiety before assessments.
Second chances are also helpful. For example, when students ask to redo a test or assignment, she asks them to first list how they prepared the first time, and what they plan to do differently this time.
